Murder accused Najwa Petersen not only hired hit men to kill her husband, Taliep, she even arranged to let them into the family home to do the deed, the Cape High Court heard on Monday. Fahiem Hendricks, who is in witness protection, was testifying in the trial of Najwa and three men charged with Taliep’s execution-style shooting.
Staff at Le Monde, France’s newspaper of record, went on strike on Monday to protest plans to axe a quarter of its journalists and sell off several magazines. It is only the second time that journalists at the loss-making newspaper, founded in 1944, have walked off the job.
Zimbabwe’s post-election crisis intensified on Monday after a high court judge threw out an opposition demand for the immediate release of results from the March 29 presidential polls. The opposition reacted angrily to the ruling, urging Zimbabweans to show their disgust at the hold-up by launching a general strike from Tuesday.
The fate of the Scorpions will be discussed at a meeting between African National Congress (ANC) general secretary Gwede Mantashe and Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille, the DA said on Monday. The opposition leader called for a meeting with the ANC after a decision was taken to ”dissolve” the Scorpions and incorporate them into the police.
People searching the internet for information about suicide methods are more likely to find sites encouraging suicide than those offering help or support, according to a study released on Friday. The same set of search terms were fed into Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask.
The deadline for applicants to apply for presidential pardons for politically motivated offences has been extended until May 31, pardon committee chairperson Tertius Delport said on Monday. ”Some time ago we knew that we were going to run out of time for people to put in applications.”
Worldwide urban populations are expected to double within 10 to 15 years, presenting threats and opportunities, city planners said at the Planning Africa conference on Monday. Urban planners from 26 commonwealth countries met in Sandton to debate three global challenges facing all cities — urbanisation, poverty and climate change.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it is to take up the issue of racial transformation in cricket following the Proteas’ loss to India last week. ”The white wonder boys are not as invincible as they would have us believe,” the federation said in a statement issued from its Western Cape office.
Armed robbers broke into the Johannesburg High Court on Sunday night and took documents relating to what is allegedly the biggest bank cash heist in the country, director of public prosecutions Charin de Beer said on Monday. The robbers escaped after being involved in a shoot-out with Johannesburg metro police.
Zimbabwe’s High Court on Monday refused to order the immediate release of delayed presidential election results, in a major blow to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Rejecting an MDC application to force the electoral commission to release the result, Judge Tendai Uchena said: ”I dismiss the case with costs.”