IN BRIEF MORE CAPE SHOOTINGS A MAN was killed and four others injured in a drive-by shooting attack on a house in Woodstock, Cape Town on Thursday — the second such attack on the house this week. The house came under attack in similar fashion on Sunday. The attack led to the death of Ismael Samuels, 52. Four other men were wounded in the shooting and taken to Groote Schuur Hospital for treatment. Earlier on Sunday morning shots were fired by the occupants of a Volkswagen Golf at the home of alleged druglord Colin Stanfield in Rondebosch East. One man was killed.
Meanwhile, two women were shot and wounded in a drive-by shooting while standing on a street corner in Elsies River, Cape Town on Wednesday night. Chantal Thompson, 19, was hit in the right arm and back while Esther Pietersen, 39, was hit in the left cheek. Both were taken to Tygerberg Hospital.
ZAIRE GENERALS FREED THREE former generals of the Mobutu government in Zaire, detained in December as illegal immigrants, have been freed by a Pretoria court. Generals Kpama Baramoto, Mudima Mavuna and Ngbale Nzimbi, who fled to South Africa early in 1997, said they were political refugees entitled to apply for asylum. Police had told the court the generals had falsified temporary papers given to them by the Department of Home Affairs. The generals told the court that “powerful political pressures” were behind the state’s refusal to allow them to apply for refugee status. The court said the detentions were unwarranted.
CALL FOR EXTENSION OF UN MANDATE
UNITED Nations secretary general Kofi Annan is recommending that the UN peacekeeping force in Angola should have its mandate extended by three months to prop up the uncertain peace process in that country. In his report, Annan is scathing about delays in the peace process. Rebel group Unita has not yet fully disarmed in line with the November 1994 Lusaka peace accords it signed with the Luanda government, which specified that it was to surrender control of more than 300 districts in 15 of Angola’s 18 provinces.
R22,6m DEVELOPMENT FUNDS FROZEN
A SPECIAL tribunal investigating civil service corruption has frozen R22,6-million invested by the Eastern Cape Development Agency in a joint venture with a Malaysian company. An Indonesian bank has warned that the transaction is fraudulent. The money is part of a R26-million deposit, the balance of which is still missing. The account will now be controlled by the new agency board in consultation with the provincial premier.
BLIND SA SAILOR IN TROUBLE
GEOFF HILTON-BARBER, a blind sailor who is attempting a solo voyage from South Africa to Australia, is experiencing trouble with his battery charger, the power source for vital communications equipment. It is hoped that a passing cargo ship will be able to drop off batteries to the yachtsman, who is 1 200km south-west of Western Australia, and hopes to end his seven-week voyage in Fremantle around January 22.
KOROMA MEETS UN
SIERRA Leone junta leader Lieutenant Colonel Johnny Paul Koroma met Ugandan diplomat and United Nations envoy Francis Okello in Freetown on Thursday, hoping to catalyse the implementation of an accord for restoring constitutional democracy by April 22. The accord was signed last October, but has proved ineffective while junta forces and militiamen loyal to ex-president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah continue fighting.
POLICE PROBED OVER MASSACRE
AN inquiry into allegations of police complicity in the Christmas Day 1995 massacre of 18 ANC supporters at Shobashobane on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast will begin in Uvongo next week. Allegations against the police include claims that police were informed of the attack but did nothing, that the police conspired with the attackers, that they dragged their feet after the event, and that the village was searched for weapons the day before. Thirteen accused, including an IFP leader, were found guilty of murder for their part in the massacre.