UK COPS ARRIVE A BRITISH police team arrived in South Africa at the end of June to work closely with the Derpartment of Safety and Security and the South African Police Services. The team will review management systems and help in training, evaluation and monitoring of the department. It will draw up a report with a view to adapting British experience to areas indicated by the department.
CAPE FLATS BOMB A HOUSE on the Cape Flats was petrol-bombed early on Friday morning but the owners escaped injury, police spokesman Superintendent Wicus Holtzhausen said. Property valued at about R10 000 was damaged. Holtzhausen said the owners of the house in Apricot Street Bonteheuwel, were awakened by a loud noise and saw that the lounge was on fire. They extinguished the blaze with a garden hose.
FREEDOM OF ALIWAL NORTH THE Eastern Cape town of Aliwal Northis set to roll out the red carpet for President Nelson Mandela when he is granted the freedom of the town on September 5, town clerk Jan Scheepers said on Thursday. He said Mandela had agreed to receive the honour from Mayor Eric Manzi on behalf of the town council. It will be Mandela’s first visit to Aliwal North since he became President.
STATE APPEALS AWB SENTENCES The state is to appeal the 10-year suspended sentences with correctional supervision meted out to four Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members convicted murder in the East London High Court. State advocate Glenn Turner said he had been surprised by the leniency of the sentence as he had originally asked for the men to receive jail terms of 12 to 15 years. Cyril Salzwedel, 29, of Morningside, Darryl Lottering, 22, of Panmure, Charl Lottering, 22, of Milner Estate and Barry Lottering, 26, of Panmure were found guilty in May of beating to death Mcoseleli Benta and malicious damage to Tommy Orie’s vehicle on the night of March 12, 1994 in Cambridge.
OLDEST MAN DIES AT 118 MPUMALANGA’s oldest man died aged 118 in Schoemansdal on Tuesday. Special Constable Johannes Mabila Lubisi died just hours after journalists from a national magazine missed an interview with him on Tuesday afternoon. Police spokesman Captain Harry Shabangu said on Thursday Lubisi, who was born in 1878 and joined the Ermelo police on December 21, 1940, died peacefully at home of old age. Lubisi had 16 children, all of whom are still alive. He is also survived by 100 grandchildren, 200 great grandchildren and about 20 great-great-grandchildren.
ROMMEL GENERAL DIES MAJOR-GENERAL Friedrich Wilhelm von Mellenthin, former chief of intelligence and operations under Field Marshal Rommel during World War II, died at his Sandton home last Saturday. He was 92. Von Mellenthin, born of aristocratic descent in Breslau on August 30, 1904, emigrated with his family to South Africa in 1950. He reached the pinnacle of his military career in 1945 when he was appointed chief of staff over 50 0000 soldiers in the German Wehrmacht. Von Mellenthin joined Trek Airways in 1954 as a shareholder and sales director. In 1961 he was appointed Lufthansa director for Africa at the Johannesburg head office. He retired from Lufthansa in 1969. Married twice, he is survived by his wife Sybille and his six children, 19 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.