THE South African navy has rescued three fisherman off stormswept Gough Island in the southern Atlantic after they had spent nine days days marooned on a beach with the body of a drowned shipmate. The fishermen – all South Africans – were plucked off the island by helicopter when bad weather lashing the island briefly […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday WHILE South Africa’s corruption-busting superhero Judge Willem Heath has had his wings clipped by the Constitutional Court, early indications are that his Special Investigative Unit (SIU) will continue its work. The Heath Commission has recovered about R314m for the state since it began its work three years ago, but Heath […]

A DOOR-to-door search for orphans near White River in Mpumalanga has ended with 254 children being recommended for foster care. The department of social services’ Operation Nakekela (“take care”) focused on Masoyi tribal trust for two weeks after social workers reported that many children were living alone at home after their parents died of diseases […]

REFUGEE camps in northwestern Tanzania, brimming with the constant influx of Burundians and Rwandans fleeing unrest in their countries, are starting to overflow, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said. The dire situation has forced the UNHCR to reopen an old camp used to accommodate refugees fleeing the genocide in Rwanda and closed since 1996. In […]

CAPE Town’s most popular tourist beaches are in the grip of a crime wave, with increasing numbers of bathers reporting that thieves are making off with their belongings while they swim, police said this week. “It has become an organised crime in itself. We now have thieves going down to the beach and watching people […]

A FORMER senior official in the Rwandan army has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts ranging from genocide to rape in connection with the deaths of 12 Belgian peacekeepers and the country’s prime minister. The indictment handed down by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda against Captain Innocent Sagahutu also accuses him of acting in […]

THE driver and co-driver of a truck which hit an electrical pole near the Northern Cape town of Warrenton, leaving numerous homes without power, have been arrested on a range of charges, including driving without a licence, police said. A minor riot then ensued when police tried to stop local residents from helping themselves to […]

THE SA policing system needed an overhaul to pull it into line with international standards, President Thabo Mbeki said this week. Mbeki said the police’s crime intelligence capacity was “very weak” in the face of rampant organised crime. While an improved intelligence capacity was required, increased visible policing on the streets and the willingness of […]

THREE commando members accused of forcing a Northern Province youth to eat his own faeces have pleaded not guilty in the Potgietersrus Magistrate’s Court. Christiaan Jacobus Human, Gert Johannes Pretorius and Hermanus Johannes Nel are out on R1 000 bail each. They were arrested after David Maimela, 20, was beaten on October 6 and forced […]

TWENTY people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo after eating a poisonous kind of manioc. The people died last week on the island of Idjwi after eating a type of manioc whose pulp contains a high concentration of cyanic acid. Six people survived the incident. “The victims probably neglected to soak the manioc […]