Readers respond to our call to expose government bling. One writes that at a housing lekgotla held last year October at the Vista campus of the University of the Free State, participants were categorised as delegates, VIPs and VVIPs (very very important persons). While the VIPs had to share the parking lot with the plebeians, the double-vee-i-pees were allocated their own reserved parking area near the entrance of the conference centre.
For a nation whose past 50 years or so have been shaped by its intimate love affair with the gun, it is truly amazing how one junior minister’s call to use guns for what they were created can cause such a fuss. There are still those whose intention is to preserve civilisation as we know it.
British actress Teresa Norton was arrested at Camps Bay beach for refusing to put her dog on a leash and to give her name and address to a law enforcement officer, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Tuesday. Officer Willem Boonzaaier is charged before magistrate Alta Fredericks with assaulting Norton.
Teazers boss Emmanuel ”Lolly” Jackson and his manager appeared in court on Tuesday on charges of fraud and contravening immigration law, Johannesburg police said. Media reports said that 11 exotic dancers from Russia and the Ukraine were also being questioned.
Statistics South Africa should appear before the finance portfolio committee to explain alleged unreliability in the Producer Price Index (PPI), said the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday. ”Reliable official data is essential to policy-making,” said DA finance spokesperson Kobus Marais.
The Presidency on Tuesday could not confirm reports that African National Congress deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe would be deployed to the Cabinet within days. ”I don’t know … I have not been advised on anything,” said presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga.
Five men have been arrested in connection with the murder and rape of a former Banyana Banyana player, East Rand police said on Tuesday. Police spokesperson Johannes Ramphora said the body of Eudy Simelane was found in a field next to the Kwa Thema hostel.
Gordon Brown said on Tuesday the government needs to send a message that cannabis is ”unacceptable,” increasing speculation he will decide to tighten drug laws. The British prime minister said he was particularly worried about the growing use of skunk cannabis, which he described as ”more lethal”.
The Robben Island Museum has rejected a report that wild animals on the 574 hectare island are starving to death because of poor environmental management. A media report said the problem was mainly the result of an explosion in the wild rabbit population, which were ”eating everything in sight”.
The state attorney’s office came under fire in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday for its handling of an application by attempted murder accused Gary Beuthin for a restraining order against prison authorities for alleged intimidation and victimisation.