MALARIA WARNING
The national health department on Thursday said 20 111 cases of malaria have been reported this year, which led to 61 deaths. The department warned holidaymakers to take precautions against malaria when they visit high-risk areas this summer. Deputy director of the department’s Communicable Disease Control Dr Rajendra Maharaj said high-risk areas for contracting malaria include the Kruger National Park, northern and eastern areas near Mozambique, and KwaZulu-Natal tourist destinations such as Kosi Bay, Sodwana Bay, Mkhuze Game Reserve and St Lucia Lake. Visitors to these area should consult medical practitioners and pharmacies about malaria risk and take antimalarial drugs, Maharaj said.
NO SNAIL MAIL TO ISRAEL
THE SA Post Office on Thursday announced the immediate cessation of all mail services between SA and Israel as a result of the general strike in Israel that has effectively closed all sectors of the country’s economy. Sapo said all incoming and outgoing international flights have been cancelled. “However, customers may continue to send mail to Israel, which will be held by the post office until the channels have been reopened.”
26 POLICE TORTURE CASES
A TOTAL of 26 cases of torture are still under investigation by the South African Police Service’s Independent Complaints Directorate, Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi told Parliament on Thursday. The directorate received reports on 56 cases of torture between April 1 and October 31, and has finalised its probes into 30 of these, he said. A conviction was secured in one of the finalised probes, and in two the accused were acquitted. The ICD is awaiting the attorney-general’s decision in five cases, and six are pending before the courts. In 14 cases the complainants withdrew the charges or could not be found, and in two other cases the ICD is awaiting the decision of the SAPS’s disciplinary office.
R5bn LOST TO FRAUD
WHITE collar crimes in South Africa investigated by police involved R5-billion over the past 18 months — but police cannot say what fraction of the actual crime rate that represents. Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi told Parliament on Thursday that in the past 18 months, 800 000 fraud cases had been reported. Police had scored some notable successes, arresting 4 082 suspects in the first half of this year, and 7 427 last year.
AWB RECRUITS AGAINST CRIME
AFRIKANER Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre’Blanche joined the ‘farm crime’ row by announcing that member of his paramilitary Ystergaard group, all former army instructors, would recruit unemployed white men as farm guards, trained “to answer fire with fire”. Terre’Blanche said the Afrikaans churches were helping him draw up lists of whites dependent on charity.
POLICE chief George Fivaz has criticised Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen, who called on farmers to take the law into their own hands to protect themselves against crime. Fivaz said farmers themselves were often the obstacle to rural security. Fifteen farmers have been killed in criminal attacks since the start of November.
R5bn LOST TO FRAUD
WHITE collar crimes in South Africa investigated by police involved R5-billion over the past 18 months — but police cannot say what fraction of the actual crime rate that represents. Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi told Parliament on Thursday that in the past 18 months, 800 000 fraud cases had been reported. Police had scored some notable successes, arresting 4 082 suspects in the first half of this year, and 7 427 last year.
BOESAK MUST PAY HIS OWN WAY
ALAN BOESAK has lost his court petition for R600 000 to supplement his legal fees in his upcoming fraud trial. Judge MC De Klerk said it would be “unconscionable” for the state’s legal aid to provide a “Rolls Royce” defence for someone who already has R1-million at his disposal, and added that there are many other causes, like starving children or dying hospital patients, which have a better claim on state aid. Boesak had told the court that a mystery US donor who promised him R1-million to fund his legal bills would pull out unless the Legal Aid Board covered the rest. Boesak, a leading former anti-apartheid spokesman, goes on trial in February on charges of defrauding foreign donors.
MABONA TOLD TO PAY UP
DISGRACED Mpumalanga safety and security chief Steve Mabona, forced to resign over the “licence fraud” scandal earlier this year, has been ordered to repay the province R52 000. Mabona ran up the bills when he leased a car for the use of his bodyguard.
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