THIRD FORCE ON CAPE FLATS?
SAFETY and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi is to investigate claims that prisoners are being used as hitmen as part of “third force” operations on the violence-torn Cape Flats. The announcement was made after a meeting on Tuesday morning between Mufamadi, Justice Minister Dullah Omar and Deputy Minister for Intelligence Joe Nhlanhla. Omar said he had briefed Mufamadi on recent allegations of third force activity, and in particular a claim that prisoners are being released from prison at night to perpetrate violence against special targets before returning to jail. Omar said he had told his colleagues that though these allegations are untested, they are serious enough to warrant urgent action.
DEMAND FOR ZIM REPORT
MORE copies of the controversial report on the Zimbabwe army’s Fifth Brigade Matabeleland massacres in the 1980s are being printed to meet huge public demand, a Legal Resources Foundation official said on Wednesday. The initial 1 000 copies have already been sold out. An additional 200 complimentary copies were distributed to key people and government officials. The report, entitled “Breaking the silence: building true peace”, was jointly written by the LRF and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace. There has still been no official response from the Zimbabwean government on allegations in the report.
NEW ZULU BISHOP
The new Anglican Bishop of Zululand, Anthony Mdletshe, will be enthroned on Saturday by Archbishop of Cape Town Njongonkulu Ndungane. Mdletshe, 56, succeeds Bishop Peter Harker, who retired earlier this year.
AFRICAN AIDS CONFERENCE
NEARLY 4 000 experts from all over the world are expected in Abidjan in December for the 10th international conference on sexually transmitted diseases and Aids in Africa. Africa, with 30-million Aids sufferers, accounted for 80% of the Aids cases recorded in the world in 1996. The conference is being organised jointly by the Ivory Coast government, the African Anti-Aids Society, the African Union Against Venereal Diseases and the UN agency concerned with Aids. The last such meeting was held in Kampala in 1995.
NEW ARREST IN FRASER CASE
SOUTH African police investigating the kidnapping in February of baby Timothy Funnell on Wednesday arrested another Malawian national in connection with the case. South African High Commisioner to Malawi Leon Viljoen said Brian Chizunga Nkhata, 25, was arrested on Monday night by South African police investigating officer Tobie Strauss at the Mount Soche hotel near Blantyre. He will appear in court on Thursday charged with kidnapping. Baby Timothy’s biological father Lawrie Fraser, his girlfriend Jennifer Uys and another Malawian, Charles Mwandira, 26, are already standing trial for the botched kidnapping.
BUSHY TAKES A BREAK
AFTER securing the arrest of some of the most wanted people in KwaZulu-Natal, Director Bushy Engelbrecht is to take a break from the investigations he has been conducting into the Richmond violence since May this year. Engelbrecht received widespread acclaim for his team’s efforts in arresting some of the chief suspects in the Richmond violence, including expelled African National Congress strongman Sifiso Nkabinde, who is facing 18 counts of murder. Engelbrecht will be returning to Pretoria to attend to other commitments, including writing university examinations. While he is away the investigations in Richmond will be conducted by Superintendent Fritz Rost, who was previously Engelbrecht’s assistant.
PAC AGAINST MOZ TREKBOERS
THE Pan Africanist Congress on Wednesday voiced its support for the chiefs and people of Mozambique who are resisting occupation of their land by settler farmers from South Africa. PAC deputy president Dr Motsoko Pheko said in some cases South African farmers had reportedly arrived in Mozambique unescorted by government officials and had informed locals that they were authorised to take over land by authority of the agreement signed by President Chissano and President Nelson Mandela in May 1996. “Mozambique is not a ‘no man’s land’ where anyone who lives in it helps himself to it,” Pheko said.