victims Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Members of the Winterveld community north of Pretoria used to be afraid to report cases of rape to the police. Charges were rarely laid and even when they were, there was no form of counselling available to assist victims to face perpetrators in the courts. That was before a group […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Thursday 11.40am. STAR pole-vaulter Ockert Brits has pulled out of the South African Commonwealth Games team, troubled by a hamstring injury. Brits will also no longer be competing in the Athletics World Cup, which begins at the Johannesburg Stadium on Friday. Brits informed Athletics SA secretary-general Banele Sindani of his […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 9.30pm. FORMER chief of police Johann Coetzee on Thursday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he found the assasination of former Communist party chief Joe Slovo’s wife, Ruth First, morally repugnant, and again denied having any part in the parcel-bomb murder. Coetzee told the TRC’s amnesty committee that he […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 8.00PM. UNITED Nations secretary general Kofi Annan has warned that the UN will pull out of Angola if the government and Unita don’t stop fighting. Annan called for the UN brokered 1994 peace accords to be implemented immediately. He recommended the Security Council conduct a full-scale review of the situation […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 10.30pm. A DIAMOND prospector who was robbed of R10,8-million’s worth of diamonds by former Civil Co-operation Bureau policeman Ferdi Barnard told the Pretoria High Court on Thursday that he had trusted Barnard and had not expected to be robbed. Barnard — who is serving a life sentence for the murder […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.00pm. THE Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has alleged that young elephants from Botswana are being ill-treated in a warehouse near Johannesburg. SPCA director Marcelle French claimed the elephants were tied together by their front legs and that one front leg and one back leg were chained. […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 7.30pm. The Langa Commission’s final report on alleged election fraud in Lesotho contained no surprises, an aide of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday afternoon. The director-general in Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s office, Frank Chikane, indicated that the findings were similar to the commission’s interim report in August, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 9.00pm. FORMER police commissioner General Johann Coetzee told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee in Pretoria on Wednesday that he never agreed to any political assassinations, including that of Ruth First. Coetzee, who is applying for amnesty for the bombing of the ANC’s London offices in March 1982, was […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 3.30pm. PARLIAMENT on Tuesday approved legislation paving the way for life assurance giants Sanlam and Old Mutual to proceed with their plans to demutualise later in the year or early next year. The demutualisation will see the two giants convert from mutual societies into listed companies. The National Council of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 9.00pm. ALMOST half the Alien Investigation Unit in Pretoria has been arrested for taking bribes and sleeping with foreign prostitutes. A senior Home Affairs official has also been arrested, and a further 15 cases are under investigation, SABC3 reports. The arrests, which include the former acting commander of the unit, […]