Lectures were suspended indefinitely at the University of Zululand on Tuesday after protesting students failed to heed an ultimatum to return to class. The university’s management decided to close down the university after a student meeting in the morning failed to resolve the crisis at the troubled institution.
A 50-year-old Pietermaritzburg pastor was on Tuesday sentenced to life in prison by the city’s high court for raping a nine-year-old girl. ”The rape has gained him very little, but killed the spirit of three women — the victim, her mother and his own wife,” acting Judge Aboobaker Mohamed said during sentencing.
International model and actress Caprice Bourret’s ,5-million tanzanite-and-diamond belt buckle that was reported missing at a Sandton nightclub in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning has been found. ”It was found by one of her security guards in the ladies’ toilet when they retraced her steps,” said a spokesperson.
Rescuers on Wednesday raced against time to get stragglers away from the rumbling Philippine volcano Mayon, with nearly 40 000 people so far fleeing the danger zone. A two-day effort by the military and local government has seen 39 278 people safely evacuated from villages surrounding the mountain.
The United States Federal Reserve has finally suspended a run of interest-rate hikes stretching back more than two years, explaining that slowing economic growth will vanquish the menace of inflation. But the reprieve for investors, consumers and businesses around the world could be short-lived, economists warn.
”In 1956, on the day of the big march I ranked among South Africa’s fortunate: I was lucky enough to be free to be able to march to the Union Buildings, the centre of the apartheid domination. I was also one of the four women chosen to lead the march. Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and I took the thousands of protests to the Nationalist prime minister, JG Strijdom,” writes Sophia Williams-De Bruyn.
Israeli air strikes killed 14 villagers in south Lebanon on Tuesday as Beirut pleaded for a swift end to Israel’s war with Hezbollah guerrillas that has cost up to 1Â 000 Lebanese and 100 Israeli lives in four weeks. Diplomats at the United Nations in New York said a vote on a resolution to end the war might not take place before Thursday as fighting in south Lebanon raged on.
The Johannesburg High Court found Sipho Dube guilty on Tuesday of murdering six children and a woman, raping three girls and indecently assaulting boys. Judge Seun Moshidi also convicted Dube (30) of 10 kidnappings, one theft, one robbery, one common assault and one assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has applied for permission to broadcast the upcoming appeal of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik live on television. According to papers filed at the Supreme Court of Appeal on Tuesday, the public broadcaster wants to broadcast both television footage and live radio.
The police will arrest a ”drug kingpin” who escaped from the Johannesburg International airport at the weekend if the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will give them his name. ”I call on the DSO [Directorate of Special Operations] to provide the South African Police Service [SAPS] with the name of the alleged ‘kingpin’,” Commissioner Sean Tshabalala said on Tuesday.