TOUGHER PAROLE BILL
A Bill requiring that prisoners serve at least half their sentences before they can be considered for parole has reached its second reading in the National Assembly, approved by all parties except the African Christians.
The Parole and Correctional Supervision Amendment Bill also provides for victims of serious violent crimes to make an input when an offender is being considered for parole, and stipulates that life prisoners may be considered for parole only after serving at least 25 years.
NEW MADUNA ROW
Democratic Party chief whip Douglas Gibson says he will introduce a motion to ask for an investigation into the conduct of Mineral and Energy Affairs Minister Penuell Maduna.
This latest chapter in the saga of Maduna’s battles involves the minister’s statement in September that DP MP Kobus Jordaan had “provoked him at every turn” because he feared the secrets which Maduna harboured about Jordaan’s past. Gibson quoted the minister as saying: “If he continues along these lines we will have his past exposed.” Maduna’s remarks had been interpreted in the media as an allegation that Jordaan was a spy, Gibson said.
MANDELA SCOFFS AT ‘SPIES’
President Nelson Mandela yesterday challenged Pan Africanist Congress MP Patricia de Lille to read her list of alleged spies from the apartheid era, out loud, outside of parliament. De Lille claimed in parliament last week that seven members of the current Cabinet – members of the African National Congress – were spies for the old regime.
Mandela said he has seen no such list. He said he ordered a police and army investigation into alleged spies three years ago, which turned up no evidence of Cabinet ministers’ involvement. Mandela said: “I don’t think, personally, there’s evidence anywhere against the people who have been named .”
WINNIE ON MARCH
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela told a million-plus black American women at a rally in Philadelphia, USA at the weekend that “We have a shared responsibility to save the world from the violence that wrecks it”. Madikizela was keynote speaker at the march, billed as the female answer to the Million Men March and a pledge by black women in the United States to retrieve and restore their communities.
RICHARDSON IN KENYA
US envoy Bill Richardson has called for an international conference to improve dialogue among strife-torn countries in the Great Lakes region.
Richardson, speaking on Tuesday in Nairobi, said the conference could involve the United Nations, governments, the Organisation of African Unity and “various other parties that deal with some of the various refugee and humanitarian problems in the region.”
In Kenya, the fourth stop on a six-nation tour, he said he had urged his “old friend” President Daniel arap Moi to ensure upcoming elections are free and fair.
MINE SAFETY BILL TABLED DRAFT legislation aimed at promoting the health and safety of workers on the country’s mines was tabled in Parliament on Friday. The Mine Health and Safety Amendment Bill provides for a system of administrative fines of up to R200 000 for employers who contravene safety and health regulations. The Bill stems from recommendations by the Mining Regulations Advisory Committee.