Seismic monitoring networks need to be improved and monitoring should continue, a panel examining seismic events in gold-mining areas said on Monday. The panel was appointed after the 5,3-magnitude quake in Stilfontein last year that killed two people and injured several dozen others.
Police were ”worried” on Monday after a fifth man allegedly involved in the burglary of a Benoni police safe was killed, a spokesperson said. One of the three police officers arrested in connection with the theft, 40-year-old Inspector Khomani Robert Mashele, was gunned down in his Kempton Park home early on Monday morning.
Former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni is to begin serving time in prison for fraud this week after his final bid to challenge his 2003 sentence failed on Monday. The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein dismissed his application for leave to appeal against the four-year prison sentence.
Smoking scenes in Tom and Jerry cartoons are now banned in Britain, following a viewer’s complaint to the government agency that polices the airwaves. In one episode of the classic United States cartoon series, Tom is seen smoking a roll-up cigarette in a bid to impress a female cat.
Inner Johannesburg and its surrounding areas suffered an electricity blackout on Monday, Johannesburg City Power said. Spokesperson Kgaladi Ncube said the blackout was traced back to a substation and that there was a problem with one of the transformers. ”Areas in the north and south-east of Johannesburg were affected.”
A photograph stored on a hijacker’s cellphone has led to his arrest, Ekurhuleni metro police said on Monday. Metro spokesperson Vusi Mabanga said a man was robbed of his Volkswagen Golf at gunpoint in Reiger Park on the East Rand on Friday. On Saturday, the victim and his friend searched for the stolen vehicle.
The National Democratic Convention’s (Nadeco) national executive committee has come out in support of a Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling last week that the party’s members should choose their leaders. The court ordered two camps within Nadeco to hold an inaugural federal congress to choose the party’s office bearers.
Indian music legend Bismillah Khan, who enthralled generations with his shehnai, an Indian wind instrument, died on August 21 of a heart attack, hospital officials said. He was 90. Khan, a recipient of India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, or Jewel India, had been ailing for months.
Veteran art director Ed Thrasher, who worked on hundreds of albums with such artists as Frank Sinatra and received 12 Grammy Award nominations, has died. He was 74. He joined Warner Brothers Records in 1964 where he did the photography for many of the albums as well as print ads and posters.
Joseph Hill, lead vocalist and songwriter for the traditional ”roots” reggae group Culture, died on August 19. He was 57. Hill abruptly fell ill and died in Berlin while the group were in the middle of a European tour, according to his daughter Andrea. She did not know the cause of death.