US SCRAPS MOZ DEBT
THE United States has written off $8-million of Mozambique’s debt, two-thirds of the total to have been repaid by mid-1999, the US embassy in Maputo said on Thursday. An agreement formalising the move was signed on Wednesday by Bank of Mozambique Governor Adriano Maleiane and Michael McKinley, the US embassy’s charge d’affaires. The remaining debt of $3,9-million dollars has been rescheduled over a 16-year period starting from the year 2004. Mozambique’s total debt to the United States is around $50-million.
CAPE FLATS WAR
IN the ongoing war between gangsters and vigilantes on the Cape Flats, minor damage was caused to a house in Belhar after a petrol bomb was hurled at a property in Buren Street late on Wednesday night. A number of shots were also fired at the house, owned by Elizabeth Jacobs, but no-one was injured. Police spokesman Superintendent Wicus Holtzhausen on Thursday said a member of the Jacobs family allegedly disarmed a gang member and removed his firearm earlier this week and this could have led to the attack on the house.
DON’T STEAL FROM GANGSTERS
A MAN was shot dead and another seriously wounded after they allegedly attempted to steal a car belonging to gangster Colin Stanfield in Rondebosch, Cape Town, in the early hours of Thursday. A third suspect fled the scene. Police later arrested a 16-year-old youth and confiscated a 9mm pistol. Police spokesman Senior Superintendent John Sterrenberg said a security guard employed by Stanfield went to investigate after hearing a noise and allegedly fired shots at the suspects, killing one and wounding another. Stanfield is currently out on bail while standing trial on drug charges.
R17m HEIST MEN SURRENDER
FOUR members of the armed gang that ambushed a security van and made off with R17-million two weeks ago, have handed themselves over to police. Police allowed them to leave in the company of their lawyer after they agreed to co-operate with police in identifying other gang members. Three men were arrested last week, and R680 000 recovered.
BOMB THREAT KIDS
A THIRTEEN-year-old pupil at King David School in Johannesburg was arrested by police after a hoax bomb threat that forced the evacuation of the entire school. On Tuesday, another schoolboy from the Northern Cape was arrested for a bomb threat at his Delportshoop school near Kimberley.