Protesting students stormed into lecture theatres at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg on Wednesday, disrupting classes and chasing away lecturers. ”We have called police back to campus in a bid to have order restored,” management spokesperson Shirona Patel said.
South African police said on Wednesday they believed a serial killer was responsible for the deaths of eight women whose bodies were found dumped in sugar-cane fields on the KwaZulu-Natal. A police spokesperson for the Umzinto area said that while a forensics expert had not yet made his findings public, the most recent discovery of three bodies suggested a serial killer was at work.
The Scorpions crime unit is in the political spotlight again amid reports it was preparing to arrest the nation’s police commissioner, the latest high-profile official targeted by the elite force. Unease over the unit has been building within the ruling African National Congress since President Thabo Mbeki announced the formation of the FBI-style crime unit in 1999.
China and Vietnam evacuated hundreds of thousands of people from low-lying coastal areas on Wednesday as Typhoon Lekima lashed the region with torrential rains and heavy winds. The storm passed over the central Vietnam province of Quang Binh on Wednesday night and blew westward toward Laos, officials said.
Africa’s largest media company, Media24, has admitted to falsifying the circulation figures of 12 of its 60 magazine titles. Three senior managers from Touchline Media, a Media24 subsidiary, have resigned and are under investigation in connection with the false circulation numbers.
The Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) has called on the government to probe the increasing prices of basic foodstuffs. ”We believe that the skyrocketing food prices are the result of anti-competitive conduct by the major role players in the food production and supply chain,” Fawu said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that President Thabo Mbeki did have the power to sack former National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha. The president had the power to terminate his employment under section 209(2) of the Constitution, read with section 3 of the Intelligence Services Act.
A fugitive who had been on the run for more than three years was re-arrested this week and sentenced on Wednesday to 18 years in jail for hijacking, Johannesburg police said. Sergeant Sanku Tsunke said that ”most wanted fugitive” Thabiso Reginald Makwela (26) had escaped from custody in 2004.
South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher on Wednesday said he was honoured to break Ian Healy’s Test record for dismissals behind the stumps with 396 victims. The 30-year-old stumped Pakistani batsman Umar Gul for 12 on the third day of the first Test against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi to reach the milestone.
So-called surprise visits by businessman Tokyo Sexwale to branches of the South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) have raised the ire of the student body. ”We demand a public apology from Mr Sexwale for bringing the name of our organisation into disrepute,” said Sasco president David Maimela on Wednesday.