No image available
/ 28 September 2005
On the day Benedict Vilakazi’s rape accuser laid a charge against him, his wife SMSed the girl pretending to be the soccer star, the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court heard on Wednesday. The girl earlier in the week told the court that if Vilakazi’s wife had not found out about the rape, the secret would have died with her.
No image available
/ 27 September 2005
After admitting having had sex with a 15-year-old girl he is accused of raping, soccer star Benedict Vilakazi told her uncle he was ”sorry” and he ”knew it was wrong”, the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court heard on Tuesday. The girl’s uncle said he had never discussed his niece’s age with Vilakazi until the incident had happened.
No image available
/ 26 September 2005
Storms and strong winds in East London have caused the hull of the stranded bulk carrier Kiperousa to break up, sending about 800 giant logs into the sea. Terry Taylor, spokesperson for the East London Ports Authority, said weekend storms accompanied by very strong winds and surf had opened the hull up to the sea.
No image available
/ 21 September 2005
West Indian cricketing legend Brian Lara on Tuesday met another hero, former South African president Nelson Mandela.
No image available
/ 9 September 2005
The number of confirmed typhoid cases in Delmas, Mpumalanga, rose to 100 on Friday, but the situation is gradually being brought under control, health officials said. Up to 700 people are now suffering from diarrhoea, but proper management and precautions should see the outbreak in Delmas brought under control.
The family of a man who was allegedly raped by three women say he is so traumatised that he won’t speak a word to anyone. ”He isn’t all right. We are trying to talk to him but he is not saying anything. We are just trying to sort things out,” said Michelle, the 30-year-old victim’s sister-in-law.
The bulk carrier stranded on the coast near East London and her heavy cargo are causing concern as bad weather hampers the removal of potentially hazardous logs. The hull of the Kiperousa is already showing cracks and breaking up while salvors go about the ”slow, risky business” of removing the logs from the hull.
Six hours of negotiations between striking unions and Metrorail were a ”total disaster and waste of time”, said United Transport and Allied Trade Unions (Utatu) general secretary Chris de Vos after Wednesday’s meeting. The strike, which has left thousands of commuters inconvenienced, will enter its fourth day on Thursday.
Rescuers searched on Tuesday night for the bodies of four construction workers buried when an excavation trench collapsed outside a water-sports shop in Randburg earlier that day. At about 7.30pm, a man was rescued after being wedged for four hours under a boulder lying diagonally over the trench.
The National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa will not be compromised by a reduced car pool, said Makhosini Nkosi, the unit’s spokesperson, on Sunday. He was reacting to reports in the media that the unit owes money to the Imperial Fleet Hire vehicle rental company.