The Democratic Alliance has officially asked Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla to release a two-year-old report on compensation for crime victims. DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard has also promised to invoke the Access to Information Act should Mabandla fail to comply.
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The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) is consulting the public on changing the apartheid-era names of some streets in Randburg, JDA head Lael Bethlehem said on Wednesday. She said Randburg was dominated by apartheid-era names and, in particular, Hendrik Verwoerd and Hans Strijdom drives had to be renamed.
During his address at the launch of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors on Wednesday, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel highlighted the need for a better life, free of fraud and corruption for men and women and the role a truly independent auditor’s board will play in this regard.
Four thousand train commuters were arrested for various offences during a month-long operation, mainly by police reservists in the Gauteng Metrorail system, police said on Wednesday. Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said: ”Several people were arrested for possession and dealing in drugs …”
Hezbollah fired more rockets into Israel on Wednesday than on any previous day of the 22-day-old war, after helicopter-borne commandos attacked guerrilla targets in Israel’s deepest raid into Lebanon. Air strikes in support of the helicopter raid in the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek in north-eastern Lebanon killed 19 people, including four children.
A joint South African-Lesotho police operation resulted in 264 people being arrested, Free State police said on Wednesday. ”The aim of the bilateral operation was to combat the flow of illicit firearms, ammunition, drugs and vehicles between the borders,” Superintendent Sam Sesing said.
Pakistan edged closer on Wednesday to reforming Islamic laws that discriminate against women, one of which makes rape victims liable to prosecution for adultery unless they produce four male witnesses. A Cabinet meeting approved in principle a draft of amendments to the Hudood Ordinances, as the laws are called, that will be presented to the National Assembly.
South Africans must teach their young sons not to feel threatened by assertive girls. If they are threatened, it could lead to aggression. This was one of the suggestions given on how to promote gender equity by Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula at the official launch of Women’s Month on Wednesday.
Fourteen people were rescued from a truck in a flooded river in Plettenberg Bay using a front-end loader, the National Sea Rescue Institute said on Wednesday. A massive cold front has brought freezing conditions and flooding to the country. Four bodies were recovered after a car was washed away in floods in George.