The son of a Johannesburg metro police officer was stabbed outside Greenside High School on Wednesday after four boys robbed his 14-year-old cousin, the boy’s father said. Senior metro officer Simon Motlhakoana said his 17-year-old son, Moeketsi, was stabbed with a knife above the right ear by a 20-year-old youth from Malvern High School in Kensington.
President Thabo Mbeki will host talks with his Singaporean counterpart, President Sellapan Ramanathan, in Pretoria on Thursday. Ramanathan, who is the first Singaporean president to visit South Africa, arrived in the country on Wednesday. High on their agenda are trade and economic relations between the two countries, said the Foreign Affairs Department in a statement.
Ethiopia must withdraw its troops from Somalia immediately or face an all-out war that ”no army” could resist, three senior Somali leaders warned on Wednesday. The three, including top Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hussein Aidid, who holds a post in Somalia’s government, were meeting in the Eritrean capital for talks.
Officials at Virginia Tech faced tough questions on Wednesday as to why a student behind the worst mass shooting in United States history remained at the school although local police knew he was troubled and despite repeated complaints from fellow students and staff.
The Johannesburg home of Gauteng’s provincial minister of health Brian Hlongwa was robbed and four family members held up on Tuesday night, police said. ”I can confirm that yesterday [Tuesday] evening about 8.30pm in the Sandton area four family members were held up and household items were taken,” police said.
A strike by public servants came a step closer on Wednesday when the biggest public sector union rejected the state’s offer of a 5,3% wage increase. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) said in a statement it rejected the proposal ”with the contempt it deserves”.
Slain South African swimmer Kenneth Smith was a well-mannered, humble and courageous person. This was the opinion of most of the people who spoke about Smith during his memorial service in Johannesburg on Wednesday. He just touched lives,” said Easlyn Young, manager of the Learn to Swim programme in South Africa.
An 18-year-old youth was arrested on Wednesday for sending a package containing the severed head of a Chihuahua dog through the post, Pretoria police said.”It was apparently related to satanic belief,” said Inspector Paul Ramaloko. The Pretoria resident was handed to police by his parents on Wednesday afternoon.
The office of the ombudsman for long-term insurance has begun a form of naming and shaming of companies slow to respond to complaints logged with it. Deputy ombudsman Jennifer Preiss told reporters in Cape Town on Wednesday that the office felt it was sending out too many reminders to insurance companies not responding to complaints.
Morocco is facing an ”extreme” threat of more terror attacks in Casablanca and other cities following a spate of suicide bombings, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday. ”Terrorism can strike any time,” said spokesperson and Communications Minister Nabil Benbdellah.