South African Police Service (SAPS) offices in Cullinan, near Pretoria, have been shut down after they were found to constitute a health threat, the Department of Labour said on Monday. Department spokesperson Zolisa Sigabi said the Crime Investigation Department building was shut down on Friday for contravening the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Street posters promoting politician-turned-business-tycoon Tokyo Sexwale for president have appeared in Buffalo City (East London) in the Eastern Cape. The Dispatch Online reported on Monday that big colour posters reading ”Tokyo for president” were seen on poles in and around the city.
The army chiefs of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) met on Monday for 48 hours of security talks behind closed doors. Monday’s talks in the city of Lubumbashi, in the south-east of the DRC, were also due to be attended by the United Nations mission in the DRC in an ”observer” role.
The Johannesburg metro police department has disputed a claim by the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) that metro police have joined striking council workers in the city in large numbers. Samwu had issued a statement earlier on Monday claiming 3Â 000 metro police officers had joined the strike.
Two dozen foreign embassies in Kenya on Monday called for ”zero tolerance” on campaign violence as elections loom in the East African nation where national votes seldom pass without bloodshed. With campaigns just beginning to roll ahead of an expected December presidential poll, one rally has already been ambushed by men armed with bows-and-arrows.
Racially based policies disempower the people they seek to promote, reveals a South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) report released on Monday. ”These policies reinforce the apartheid-style ideology that value is not associated with capability, but with the colour of one’s skin,” said SAIRR researcher Hannah Botsis.
Murder accused Fred van der Vyver acted extremely strangely after the death of his girlfriend, Inge Lotz, the Cape High Court heard on Monday. The submission came from prosecutor Carien Theunissen in closing argument in Van der Vyver’s trial. He is alleged to have bludgeoned her to death in her Stellenbosch flat on March 16 2005.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has laid a charge against South African Broadcasting Corporation board deputy chairperson Christine Qunta of contravening provisions of the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act. The charge was laid at Cape Town Central police station on Monday by DA spokesperson Mike Waters.
Jacques Kallis scored his 25th Test century to guide South Africa to a commanding 294-3 after the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi on Monday. Kallis (118 not out) and Hashim Amla (71) put on 170 for the third wicket to justify captain Graeme Smith’s decision to bat first on a slow pitch.
The body of an unidentified teenager was found in Soweto on Sunday close to where a yearly beach party, attended by thousands, was held at the township’s Power Park dam on Saturday night. Police said the girl, who has not yet been identified, had two stab wounds to her neck.