The South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) Johannesburg offices were burgled for the seventh time on Sunday, the commission said. ”The commission is concerned that the same gang of armed robbers could be responsible for these criminal activities,” a spokesperson said.
Nine people, including four children, were shot and killed at a farm in southern Colombia where the owner had been threatened by guerrillas over extortion payments, police said. The killings were the second massacre in a week attributed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Narend Singh, the former KwaZulu-Natal arts, culture and tourism minister who resigned amid a sex scandal, is back, representing his party in the National Assembly, media reports said on Monday. Singh was sworn in on Friday to serve on the finance, agriculture and land affairs portfolio committees.
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) has received expressions of interest for its soccer radio broadcasting rights after cancelling its temporary radio agreement with the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The latest development follows the sale of television broadcasting rights to SuperSport for more than R1-billion.
Large veld fires forced the closure of the N3 highway near Harrismith and left hundreds of cattle dead on Monday. The fires and poor visibility were worst in the Swinburne and Montrose areas near Van Reenen’s Pass. At least one vehicle in the Van Reenen’s Pass area had caught alight and its occupants had to be rescued.
The national office of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has once again called its Western Cape region to order, this time over a call to boycott all Chinese imports. Last week, the region called on its members and working-class communities ”to not purchase Chinese-made products”.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has resigned, ending a months-long stand-off with Republican and Democratic critics who called for his ouster over the Justice Department’s botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firing of United States attorneys, officials said on Monday.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Monday accused police of brutality by using excessive force during workers’ protests, saying they had fired tear gas and rubber bullets without warning. It said in a statement that rubber bullets were fired at striking mineworkers in the North West last week.
The death toll from floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains and snow melt in South Asia since June approached 3 200 on Monday as some rivers in India continued to overflow, the government said. In the massive flood plain of the eastern Indian state of Bihar — one of the worst-hit areas — the death toll reached nearly 500 with 20-million people affected.
The preferred bidder to build and operate South Africa’s first private sector-owned power generation plants was announced by Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica on Monday. The AES Consortium — led by AES Pacific Ocean Holdings and several local companies — has been selected to build and operate the gas-turbine plants in Durban and Port Elizabeth.