SOME 14225 were reported raped in the first 11 months of last year, according to police figures presented on Monday at a conference on crimes against children. Northern Province divisional commissioner of human resources, Neels Steenkamp, said at the Nylstroom conference that reported rapes of children have doubled since 1994, when 7559 cases were reported. […]

THE Mouthpeace Workers Union said on Friday it was shocked by an announcement that Anglo-American Platinum Corporation is to trim its 35000 operational labour force by 5% this year. This comes after Amplats human resources director Eric Ngubane announced on Thursday that the employee cutbacks are part of the group’s restructuring process through its breakthrough […]

THE Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed on Friday, with costs, an appeal by Sasol and Gauteng’s director of mineral development against a High Court decision in March 1999. The High Court had set aside Sasol’s authorisation to strip-mine the Rietspruit wetland on the Vaal River for coal. The ruling means that mining companies and the […]

KHULANI Springbok Patrols in Mkuze in Northern KwaZulu-Natal was robbed of about R3-million in the early hours of Sunday. According to police spokesperson Captain Vishnu Naidoo, 15 armed men overpowered branch manager Andre de Lange, his wife and their adult son at their home in nearby Hluhluwe at 3.20am before taking the family to the […]

JUSTICE Minister Dullah Omar launched Human Rights Week in Johannesburg on Monday, saying that political killings and the high crime rate are a reflection of the scant regard for human rights. Omar added that high levels of intolerance continue in the country despite having a “human rights friendly” Constitution. Human Rights Week runs until Human […]

NIGERIA and five other countries in the Gulf of Guinea have provisionally adopted an international manual for monitoring marine pollution, independent newspaper The Guardian reported on Monday. Environmental scientists from Benin, Cameroon, Cte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria met at the weekend in Lagos and agreed to adopt the manual to co-ordinate tackling pollution in […]

AN estimated thousand municipal workers in Welkom went on strike on Monday after the council unilaterally downgraded their conditions of service. The move will see employees losing all study leave, leave encashment provisions and travel allowances. 14

POLICE are holding two Zambian men in Lusaka and have deported two foreigners in connection with the bombs which exploded in in the city a fortnight ago. The foreigners, an American identified as Gilbert Herbert and an Austrian named David Clay, who were arrested together with the duo, were deported to South Africa and Zimbabwe […]

TRADITIONAL leaders around South Africa will receive the same government salaries and benefits after talks between Constitutional Development Minister Valli Moosa, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom and the Congress of Traditional Leaders (Contralesa). Moosa announced at the weekend that the government plans to bring uniformity to the salaries of kings and […]