SECOND BLACK NAT LEADER
THE National Party at the weekend elected Pieter Saaiman as its Northern Cape provincial leader, the second person of colour to lead a NP provincial branch. Saaiman, 46, will replace Dr Kraai van Niekerk, who is retiring. Mpumalanga NP leader David Malatsi was the party’s first black provincial leader. Saaiman was unanimously elected provincial leader by the NP’s Northern Cape congress in Kimberley on Saturday.
NKABINDE IN HOSPITAL
ALLEGED KwaZulu-Natal warlord Sifiso Nkabinde, arrested last week on 18 charges of murder, was on Sunday transferred to the Westville Prison hospital ward after complaining of pains in his legs, neck and arms. About a month ago Nkabinde was hospitalised for a stress-related illness, and was discharged from a Durban hospital after two days of treatment. Nkabinde was on Monday examined by a doctor and found to be in no immediate danger, Correctional Services spokesman Philemon Ntuli said. Ntuli said Nkabinde was examined by a Correctional Services doctor in the Westville Prison and after a thorough examination no further treatment was found to be necessary. However, the prison doctor recommended that Nkabinde be examined by a doctor from outside of the Department of Correctional Services to obtain a second opinion.
AFRIKAANS RADIO NATIONWIDE
RIGHT-WING Afrikaans community radio station Radio Pretoria said on Saturday it will start broadcasting nationwide from October 11. During a celebration of the station’s fourth birthday on Saturday, Radio Pretoria executive chairman dominee Mossie van den Berg said the station has acquired sophisticated equipment enabling it to broadcast as far afield as Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique. “We believe Radio Pretoria is the first community radio in South Africa which will be heard throughout South Africa and further afield,” van den Berg said. Test broadcasting via satellite will start on the evening of October 10.
KENYAN RUSTLERS KILL 31
THIRTY-ONE people were killed when armed bands believed to have come from neighbouring Uganda attacked villages in western Kenya’s Turkana district over the weekend. The dead include nine of the raiders, apparently killed by Turkana herdsmen. Eight children and five women also died, and scores of other people were wounded. Numerous head of cattle were stolen, but police said the livestock was recovered after heavy fighting between the raiders and security forces. Clashes pitting the Pokot, who live both in Kenya and Uganda, against the Kenyan Turkana have left nearly 90 people dead during the past three months.
VORSTER BUST REMOVED
A BUST of aparthied prime minister John Vorster was on Monday removed from Johannesburg Central police station, formerly known as John Vorster Square. The official renaming of the station takes place on Thursday, when Johannesburg Mayor Isaac Mogase will unveil a new sign marking the name change. Removing the bust was “a historic event which marked the beginning of police restructuring”, Johannesburg central community policing forum chairman Paul O’Sullivan said. The bust had been in the station since August 1968, when the station was officially opened by Vorster, then prime minister. The bust will be placed in Pretoria in a police museum.
SUPER-JAIL OPENED
CORRECTIONAL Services Minister Sipo Mzimela on Monday opened SA’s first closed maximum security prison, which will hold the country’s 95 most dangerous convicts, including convicted hit-squad assassin Eugene de Kock. Inmates at the new unit will not be allowed to smoke, shave or talk to one another, and will be locked in their solitary cells for 23 hours a day. Mzimela said in Pretoria that the new concept is a forerunner to envisaged super maximum prisons, the first of which is expected to be launched in Kokstad in KwaZulu-Natal in 1999. He said the new facility will house murderers, rapists and escaped inmates.
MADIBA BRINGS ON SPICE GIRLS
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela and Britain’s Prince Charles will throw a Superconcert in Johannesburg on November 1, featuring the popular Spice Girls and a host of local musicians. The charity “Two Nations in Concert” evening will be held to celebrate the friendship and historic ties between the United Kingdom and South Africa. All proceeds will go to the The Nations Trust (TNT), established to assist young people starting out in business. Performers will include Rebecca Malope, Brenda Fassie, Billy Ocean, Trevor Rabin, Bayete, Pure Magic, Just Jinger, Vusi Mahlasela and the Soweto String Quartet.
SA JOINS HERITAGE CONVENTION
THE World Heritage Convention will come into effect in South Africa on October 10 this year, the department of tourism and environment affairs said on Monday. South Africa will become the 150th member of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage, which was ratified on May 28 this year. A tentative list of potential world heritage sites in South Africa will be drawn up through a consultative and participatory process, which will be taken forward by the South African World Heritage Convention Committee established on September 4. The committee will assist the department in co-ordinating implementation of the convention.