The latest crime statistics released on Tuesday prove crime is out of control despite government assurances to the contrary, opposition parties said. ”We are alarmed at the increase in murder [2,4%], the 118% increase in bank robberies … and the sharp increase in robberies at residential premises,” Inkatha Freedom Party spokesperson Velaphi Ndlovu said.
South Africa’s high murder rate rose further in the past year while rape figures dropped, according to police statistics on Tuesday. With around 50 murders, 148 rapes and nearly 700 serious assaults committed each day, violent crime is a particular concern.
A blazing Cherokee Jeep smashed into the main terminal building at Scotland’s Glasgow airport on Saturday, police said, a day after two car bombings were foiled in central London. Police said two people were arrested in Saturday’s incident. The airport was closed afterwards. There were no reports of any injuries.
Dina Rodrigues, the mastermind in the June 2005 murder of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton, was on Thursday sentenced to life in prison. Two of her co-accused, Sipho Mongezi Mfazwe and Mongezi Bobotyane, also received life sentences. The packed public gallery applauded the sentences loudly.
The Mail & Guardian on Wednesday faced possible legal action and even an interdict over a new instalment it plans to publish in its series of articles detailing the criminal networks surrounding Glenn Agliotti, a friend of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Johannesburg’s first real snowfall in more than 20 years and the freezing temperatures that accompanied it claimed at least one life on Wednesday morning. Motorists were warned to avoid all passes in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday due to snowfalls, the South African Weather Service said.
Delegates were on Wednesday morning filling up the ballroom at Gallagher Estate, venue of the African National Congress’s (ANC) policy conference in a bitterly cold Midrand, Gauteng, raising the roof with song. About 1Â 500 delegates are expected to attend the four-day conference, due to be opened by President Thabo Mbeki.
President Thabo Mbeki is to deliver the opening address at the African National Congress’s policy conference in a bitterly cold Midrand, Gauteng, where delegates started arriving on Wednesday morning. The conference takes place against intense behind-the-scenes jockeying over the leadership of the party, and coincides with a bitter public-service strike.
Many residents of Gauteng woke up on Wednesday morning to a layer of snow turning lawns, rooftops and cars white, while the South African Weather Service predicted a freezing day with temperatures staying below eight degrees Celsius in Johannesburg. A number of roads in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were closed to motorists due to snow on Wednesday morning.
The government formally tabled a final public-service wage proposal, including a 7,5% increase, at wage talks on Friday — but unions said they were not yet ready to sign the offer. Unions have 21 days to accept or reject the offer. Until then, the wage talks are suspended.