HUNDREDS AT STAGGIE MEMORIAL
HUNDREDS of people attended a memorial service for gangster Rashaad Staggie, lynched a year ago by People Against Gangsterism and Drugs vigilantes, at the Manenberg sports ground on the Cape Flats on Monday. The service was organised by the Community Outreach Forum, a gangsters’ organisation. Police reported no incidents. Later a wreath was laid in London Road in Salt River to commemorate Staggie’s death, and a 21-gun salute was fired. On Sunday, Pagad members marched through a gang stronghold in Athlone, also without incident.
TOUGHER SANCTIONS FOR SIERRA LEONE NIGERIAN President Sani Abacha used the weekend inauguration of Liberian President Charles Taylor to announce tougher sanctions and blockades against Sierra Leone. Abacha said peace initiatives had broken down, adding: ”I hope the elements in Sierra Leone will see reason and return to the negotiating table.”
AFRICAN DRUG CONTROLS REPRESENTATIVES of African drug control bodies meet in Algeria on Tuesday to plan inter-African co-operation and exchange of information on organised crime syndicates and the trafficking of narcotics. The meeting will be followed by the 14th African Conference of Interpol member states.
WELFARE FRAUD CLEAN-UP The welfare ministry is to reregister SA’s 3-million social welfare recipients in an ambitious plan to end abuse of the system. The process, expected to weed out 300 000 fraudulent aid recipients and save R2-billion in two years, aims at eliminating duplicate payments, payments to children over 18, and other irregularities. The project is expected to take 18 months and will cost about R110-million.
COPS TAKE ACTION MEMBERS of the SA Police Union embark on various form of labour action this week to protest a proposed 7,5% pay rise. Action to be taken includes taking the three days sick leave allowed without having to provide a doctor’s note, as well as refusing to work overtime.
INDEPENDENT DEFIES DENELTHE Sunday Independent yesterday defied a court interdict and named the Middle Eastern country to which Denel hopes to sell arms. Denel refused to comment today on the report, which said the newspaper was publishing the name because it is ”in the public domain”, and was common knowledge abroad.
WREATHS FOR MURDERED BLIND STUDENT FIFTY Wits university staff accompanied disabled students to lay a wreath in Hillbrow at the spot where a blind student was stabbed to death by three muggers. Matshidiso Sexton Sebolai, 22, a blind BA Law student was with two disabled friends when three knife-wielding men attacked them. Sebolai, stabbed twice in the chest and stomach, was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital.
CROSS BORDER ANTI-THEFT SUCCESS POLICE announced that a joint anti-car-theft operation combining forces with Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, netted 1 576 stolen vehicles valued at R95-million. More than 140 people were arrested. As a result of this success, the operation will be extended to Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Swaziland and Tanzania.
SCOTTISH DOCTOR MURDERED POLICE are searching for three men who hijacked, shot and stabbed a Scottish doctor in KwaZulu-Natal, on his way to perform surgery in Richards Bay. Spence William Alexander, 38, was shot and stabbed when he tried to escape from his hijacked minibus.