South Africa, an economic and political leader in Africa, is also the continent’s number-one jailer. If prisons are a reflection of society, what conclusions are to be drawn from this reality, particularly in a nation rightfully proud of its nascent democracy? Wendell Roelf investigates.
The man sitting opposite me looks avuncular. With wispy greying hair and beard, Andre du Toit could easily play Father Christmas, but instead he is serving a 20-year sentence in a maximum-security prison for a double murder. ”I was terrified. I’ve never ever been to a prison in my whole life, and in a matter of three, four seconds, my whole life changed,” he says.
An accused man is arrested. At the court’s holding cells he is savagely raped. His assailants shove a ”bullet” filled with contraband dagga up his rectum, to be couriered into prison. His ordeal has only begun. This is the testimony of ”Frank Erasmus”, contained in a letter read out to members of Parliament in October 2004.
Authorities went house to house in a search for victims in burned-out towns on Monday as firefighters in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma battled grass fires across the drought-stricken region. Since Tuesday, fires have charred thousands of hectares and destroyed more than 250 structures in the three states.
Seven yachts competing in the gruelling around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race set sail from Cape Town on Monday in light winds for the second and most dangerous leg of the global dash. A shot from the starter’s cannon at 1pm local time signalled the start of the 6 100-nautical-mile leg.
Rescue workers searched into the early hours of Tuesday for at least 20 people feared trapped in the wreckage of an ice rink in Bavaria after the building’s roof collapsed following heavy snowfall. Eleven people were confirmed dead, according to television news reports. At least four children were among the victims of the collapse.
Two mountain fires, fanned by a strong south-westerly wind, burned out of control in the Boland on Monday night, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. One of the fires was raging in Du Toit’s Kloof at Donkerhoek and the second above Dewdale on the Hottentots Holland flank.
Australia hit back with three wickets but South Africa’s run grind continued on the second day of the third cricket Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday. Century-maker Ashwell Prince (119) and wicketkeeper Mark Boucher (5) fell to contentious umpiring decisions in the middle session.
How is a small country to compete in a global marketplace where size is rewarded? Case in point is the tiny Southern African country of Swaziland, nestled between geographic giants South Africa and Mozambique. Its neighbouring countries also have booming economies, while Swaziland is mired in its 10th year of declining economic growth.
South Africans are quite optimistic about 2006, a Gallup International Voice of the People survey shows. While almost half (48%) of the 52Â 000 world citizens who were interviewed in the global survey felt that 2006 would be a better year than 2005, about 60% of South Africans believed it would be better.