Ah, the gutter. There’s plenty of mud down there — which is what it being used in the unseemly spat between Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride and some of his officers.
”If anyone cooperates with the police or incriminates me, I will rape your wives before I kill them, kill your children and kill everything that moves at homes, including the cats and dogs.”
This quote has been attributed to McBride by Chief Superintendent Stanley Segathevan and was read out in court on July 11. The entire quote was also splashed across the front page of the Times as a kind of quasi-headline on Thursday, demonstrating, if nothing else, that this man can sell newspapers.
Segathevan, along with Chief Superintendent Patrick Johnson and Superintendent Itumeleng Koko, say they have gone into hiding with their families and asked the court to grant an order restraining McBride from coming within 100m of them and from harassing, intimidating or injuring them.
They claim to have been threatened, harassed and intimidated since making a report on a car crash involving McBride seven months ago.
McBride has denied allegations that he was drunk at the time and claims to remember nothing of the incident. At the time, metro police were accused of assaulting witnesses who tried to stop them removing McBride from the scene, and of trying to cover up for him.
On Thursday, the Johannesburg High Court ordered McBride and five of his metro police officers not to intimidate, harass or threaten the three men.
Where does the truth lie? Will we ever know what actually happened? Was McBride drunk? Why does he not remember anything after the incident? Why has McBride not moved to address the allegations? Will we ever know what actually happened?
| FULL SPEED AHEAD |
NOT SO FAST |
Bill Flynn
Not so much full speed ahead as a tribute to this South African star of the stage and screen who died at his home in Johannesburg this week. He brought much joy to theatre- and film-goers the world over, and will be fondly remembered for his acting and writing in such works as Heel against the Head and Saturday Night at the Palace. As theatre producer Bobby Heaney said: ”Bill was the most loved actor in the whole country.” |
![]() Robert Mugabe
Just when you think things can’t get any worse in Zimbabwe, they do. Mugabe’s crackdown on prices has sparked panic buying, and shelves in many shops are empty. Eldred Masunungure, a political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe, says the crackdown is Mugabe’s response to the notion that ”he is going to be driven out [of power] by the economy”. ”I think he is perfectly aware of the consequences of his actions, their impact on the economy, but in his calculations, if this is going to ease political pressure on his government, then it is worth it,” he says as the horror unfolds. |
Most-read stories
July 5 to 11
1. Fit to step down?
Thabo Mbeki says he is prepared to serve another term as ANC president if the ”leadership” asks him to stick around. But, in the face of strong opposition within his party, why is the president so determined to take it to the wire?
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2. Zim official invades US July 4 party
A Zimbabwe Foreign Ministry official gatecrashed the United States embassy’s July 4 celebrations on Wednesday to criticise outgoing ambassador Christopher Dell, saying ”diplomats are supposed to be bridge builders not bridge busters”.
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3. Price crisis deepens in Zimbabwe
Hundreds of war veterans and ruling party militiamen and loyalists summoned by President Robert Mugabe arrived by the busload at his party headquarters for a meeting on Friday as government-ordered price cuts spurred mounting chaos in the economy.
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4. Plan to peg Zim dollar to the rand
A plan to rescue Zimbabwe’s flailing economy by pegging the Zimbabwe dollar to the South African rand is being put together by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Sunday Independent reported.
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5. ‘1 001 crooked ways to stay in power’
Zimbabwe’s leading dissident cleric said African efforts to mediate an end to his country’s political crisis are a hopeful step and he urged the international community on Tuesday to support them.
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6. Joy at Zimbabwe price slash ebbs fast
Shops in Zimbabwe’s normally thriving eastern border city of Mutare are fast running out of stock. Seven days after President Robert Mugabe’s government began a blitz on shops and businesses, forcing them to slash prices by half, Mutare’s biggest stores look in part like they’ve been decimated.
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7. Produce or be seized, Mugabe tells firms
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Friday told manufacturers to carry on with normal production despite an official price freeze, warning that his government would seize firms that stopped producing basic goods.
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8. SA expresses concern over Zim meltdown
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) should step in to save the deteriorating economy of Zimbabwe, South Africa’s minister of foreign affairs said on Tuesday.
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9. Zim crackdown will be ‘sustained at all costs’
Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, on Monday predicted chaos as a result of the government’s clampdown on the business community, which has seen the prices of many goods more than halved and over 1 300 business people arrested.
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10. Pizza restaurant shows that sex sells
A new pizza restaurant in western Canada that delivers pornography with every pie has once again proven the adage: sex sells.
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