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/ 10 October 2007
In his Saharan robes the tanned Frenchman passed unnoticed in Nouadhibou, a chaotic Mauritanian fishing port with an iron ore terminal and a lucrative second line in drug and people smuggling. Those he befriended knew Dominique Christian Mollard as an undercover worker with a non-governmental organisation.
"He’s behaving like Cosatu belongs to him," muttered one observer. It was a reference to Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi — the high-spirited, joke-cracking star of the show at the federation’s recent central committee (CC) meeting. Everything was going Vavi’s way.
Those who fought against apartheid are not everyone’s heroes, the Afrikanerbond said on Tuesday. ”These heroes from the ‘struggle’ past are not the only heroes and definitely not everyone’s heroes,” said Afrikanerbond managing director Jan Bosman.
A Pretoria man released his family on Tuesday after holding them hostage for nine hours, police said. Captain Lucas Sithole said the man took his 13-year-old son and 43-year-old wife hostage at their Eldoraigne home on Monday night. ”The man held them at gunpoint and threatened to kill them due to family-related problems,” he said.
Warren Foster speaks to the creators of a new production about the floundering art of physical theatre.
Tears of joy flowed on Tuesday when the Richtersveld community got a court order restoring land taken from them seventy years ago. ”I am overwhelmed with joy. I can’t hold back my tears,” said community leader Willem Diergaardt. ”This is a big moment in the history of the Richtersveld.”
Women are being regularly tortured by Zimbabwean security forces for their opposition to President Robert Mugabe’s regime, a report by a leading rights group charged on Tuesday. ”Many of us have been detained more than once and suffered extreme abuse perpetrated by state actors,” Jenni Williams, national coordinator of Women of Zimbabwe Arise, said.
Chief Justice Pius Langa steered clear on Tuesday of the controversy around Cape Judge President John Hlophe and suspended National Director of Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli. He told students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban that he knew there were many who wanted him to speak on President Thabo Mbeki’s decision to suspend Pikoli.
United Nations officials warned on Tuesday that fighting between rebels and army troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had displaced up to 500 000 people and left many in an ”appalling” situation. The warning came as heavy fighting between forces loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda and the army continued in the Nord-Kivu region on Tuesday.
Four people were injured and 38 students arrested during protests by University of Johannesburg students on Tuesday. Police spokesperson Constable Sefako Xaba said police were guarding the institution because the management had an interim interdict to prevent the disruption of academic activities.