RAPE CASE QUIETLY CLOSED Police on Monday closed investigations into the alleged rape of former gender commissioner Nomboniso Gasa in January on Robben Island. The case has been closed unsolved, as no suspect has been arrested, but police say it may be periodically re-opened if new evidence comes up. The case has been tinged with controversy as Gasa filed a complaint against the investigating police for their insensitive treatment of her. The provincial commissioner has since issued a formal apology to her on behalf of his department.
TWINS ILL, BUT ‘DOING WELL’
Siamese twins Monde and Nomonde Mokoena are still under close observation at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on Monday afternoon after being declared “very ill” over the weekend. While their vital signs are stable, both girls have picked up various post-operation infections. Hospital representatives said the twins are “doing rather well”, but they will remain on ventilators and intravenous drips until they are better.
JUDGES WRITE TO TRC
Five top judges submitted a written document to the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission on Sunday, prior to the TRC’s special hearings on the judiciary, scheduled for late this month. The judges – Justice Michael Corbett, Chief Justice Ismail Mahomed, Justice Hennie Joubert, Constitutional Court president Justice Arthur Chaskalson and Justice Pius Langa – presented the document as an account of the institutional circumstances during the apartheid era which rendered the violation of human rights possible. The judges said in their submission they had “no authority to represent any other present or former members of the judiciary.” Their submission makes no mention of the views of so-called “hanging judges” or judges who made pro-apartheid judgements.
HUNTERS WOUND KIDSHUNTERS in the Umhlagana forest in the Eastern Cape repeatedly shot and wounded two children playing nearby on the weekend. Mzulingi Seku and Thembi Ganxa have been hospitalised with multiple injuries to the pelvis, stomach ribs, head, and legs. No arrests have yet been made.
UGANDA MURDERS
REBELS in western Uganda herded up villagers living near a forest at the weekend, made them dig holes in a field, lined them up and shot them dead.
The rebels, from the little-known Allied Democratic Forces, said to be backed by Sudan, killed 14 adult men from the village to take their killing toll to 70 civilians this month alone.
The Ugandans claim that the rebels were recently armed by the Sudanese government and have embarked on the killing spree to prove their usefulness. The Ugandans describe the ADF as a disparate coalition of Muslims and dissidents from Rwanda and the former Zaire.
THE DEEP SLEEP SLEEPING sickness has claimed several lives recently in the northern regions of Angola. State radio reported on Friday that 21 people died of the disease in Uije, and numerous others have been infected in Kwanza-Norte and Bengo. Angolan health authorities are ill-equiped to cope with the spread of the disease, due to a shortage of specialists and technical assistance. Sleeping sickness, also known as trypanosomiasis, is a fatal wasting disease transmitted by the tsetse fly.