Soweto’s Dube hostel — plagued in recent weeks by violent protests against poor service delivery — resembles a ghost town. Washing swaying in the wind is the only sign of life, along with the dank smell of urine mingled with that of burnt rubbish.
Embattled Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride will be given ”time off” pending the outcome of a court case against him. Ekurhuleni mayor Duma Nkosi would not be drawn on whether McBride would be suspended or given paid or unpaid leave.
A meeting to resolve a dispute about moving ambulance services and clinics in Gauteng from municipal to provincial administration ”achieved nothing” on Monday, a trade union said. The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), which opposes the move, met provincial health minister Brian Hlongwa in Johannesburg.
The hostage taker at a hair salon in Vanderbijlpark was shot dead by police early on Saturday morning. A single shot was fired, bringing to an end an eight-hour hostage drama around 2.10am. ”It’s over, he is no longer,” said police spokesperson Captain William Mcera. Both hostages were safe, he said.
Brett Kebble murder accused Glenn Agliotti will go on trial for alleged drug dealing in October, the Germiston Magistrate’s Court decided on Wednesday. Agliotti and three others, Stephanos Paparas, his father Dimitrio and Stanley Poonin appeared together before Magistrate JC Van Wyk on drug-dealing charges.
Gauteng must plan ahead if it wants to ease problems arising from increased migration, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday. It was clear that metropolitan areas like Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban would attract people ”from elsewhere in the country”, Mbeki said during an imbizo in Braamfontein on Sunday.
Corruption distorts human values and freedom and negatively affects the delivery of services to those most in need, President Thabo Mbeki said on Monday. The president was speaking in Sandton, Johannesburg, at the Fifth Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Protecting Integrity. The conference brought together delegates from over 100 countries.
Community involvement is essential in the fight against crime, Britain’s metropolitan police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said on Thursday as he wound his way though the streets of Alexandra to assess the outcome of a partnership programme geared to promote community responsibility in the Johannesburg township.
On the mend at the Milpark Hospital, Sunday Times columnist David Bullard still has ”great faith in the future of South Africa” after being shot in an armed robbery. ”I am unwilling to be beat down,” Bullard said on Friday.
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/ 10 February 2007
One person died and two were missing after a helicopter crash outside Durban on Friday night, KwaZulu-Natal police said. ”I saw it circle and then go down into the trees … There was a loud bang,” said witness Erinn Demsey. She had run out to her veranda when she heard the loud hum of the helicopter’s propellers.