Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi’s case has been transferred to the Johannesburg High Court for trial to begin on April 14 2009.
Suspended national prosecutions chief Vusi Pikoli was ”bitterly disappointed” at a two-day delay in the inquiry into his fitness to hold office.
Stalwarts of South Africa’s struggle for freedom from apartheid are angered and saddened at the xenophobic violence sweeping the country. ”We did not struggle to find ourselves in this present situation,” Rivonia trialist Andrew Mlangeni said at the opening of the Liliesleaf Farm museum on Friday.
The border between South Africa and Zimbabwe should be ”comprehensively” abolished, Methodist Bishop Paul Verryn told academics at the University of the Witwatersrand on Wednesday. ”In exactly the same way we pulled down the fences in 1994 and found that instead of restricting, it enabled,” Verryn told a colloquium on xenophobia.
Ekurhuleni police chief Robert McBride returned to work on Tuesday amid an eruption of bloody xenophobic clashes throughout the province. ”All leave has been cancelled [under the circumstances],” McBride said. ”I’m working.” He would not answer any more questions, explaining: ”I’m really busy at the moment.”
The arrest warrant against police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi was cancelled last year because acting prosecutions boss Mokotedi Mpshe thought the Scorpions might undermine him and serve it while he was still reviewing the matter, the inquiry into Pikoli’s fitness to hold office heard on Friday.
Suspended prosecuting head Vusi Pikoli considered ”unconstitutional” an instruction by Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Brigitte Mabandla not to pursue warrants of arrest for police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi. This was evidence on Thursday in the Ginwala inquiry’s hearing into the fitness of Pikoli to serve as National Director of Public Prosecutions.
The real reason for the suspension of National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Vusi Pikoli related to a criminal probe into police chief Jackie Selebi, Pikoli’s lawyers said on Wednesday. ”It was to put a spoke in the wheels of the investigation and prosecution of the police National Commissioner, Mr Jackie Selebi,” they said.
Power cuts are hitting Transnet’s service, its chief executive, Maria Ramos, announced in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The power cuts are a problem, particularly as far as the company’s expansion projects are concerned, she said. ”We were affected and we are from time to time affected by the power issues — like everybody else.”
Consumers should carry the costs of fuel hikes and coal-price fluctuations rather than Eskom, the power utility said on Wednesday. Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga was arguing for regular electricity-price adjustments similar to those in the fuel sector. Eskom had suggested to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa a system, used worldwide, of ”pass-through costs”.