About 142 court cases linked to xenophobic violence have been opened countrywide, the National Prosecuting Authority said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Tlali Tlali said 102 of these were in Gauteng. Provincial police liaison officers approached said none of the 142 cases had reached the conviction stage yet.
South Africa’s security chief on Friday accused rightwingers linked to the former apartheid government of fanning xenophobic violence that has spread to Cape Town, the second largest city and tourist centre. At least 42 people have been killed and thousands driven from their homes in 12 days of attacks.
Anti-immigrant violence has spread to Cape Town, where mobs attacked Somalis and Zimbabweans and looted their homes and shops, police said on Friday. Hundreds of African migrants were evacuated overnight from a squatter camp near Cape Town, the hub of South Africa’s prized tourism industry.
Proteas batsman Herschelle Gibbs has been released on R500 bail after he was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol in Sea Point, Cape Town, Western Cape police said on Friday. Superintendent Billy Jones said the 34-year-old cricketer was released at 8am on Friday after he was detained at 3.35am.
Cape Town’s director of health, former anti-conscription campaigner Ivan Toms, was found dead in his home on Tuesday morning, police said. Police spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said foul play was not suspected at this stage. He said police used a key from a neighbour to gain access to Toms’ Mowbray home at about 9.30am.
A 30-year-old man was arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a two-year-old girl from Valhalla Park in Cape Town, police said on Saturday. Spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said that the child’s mother went to work at a nearby spaza-shop and left the child in the care of her sister on Thursday.
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/ 25 February 2008
Police found 34 petrol bombs in the Precinct Six area of the N2 Gateway housing project in Delft outside Cape Town, Western Cape police said on Monday. ”Delft police were patrolling Precinct Six on Sunday and they found three plastic crates in a hole covered with a door,” spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said.
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/ 5 February 2008
The disciplinary hearing of a suspended Western Cape police officer linked to the alleged drunken-driving arrest of Tony Yengeni began on Tuesday, police said. Senior Superintendent Billy Jones said Goodwood station commissioner Senior Superintendent Siphiwe Hewana would face internal misconduct charges.
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/ 26 November 2007
The possible breach of the parole conditions of former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni was under investigation after he was arrested for drunken driving, the Correctional Services Ministry said on Monday. Yengeni was arrested in Cape Town on Sunday evening on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, police said.
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/ 12 November 2007
The 45-year-old driver accused of causing a bus accident on Friday appeared briefly in the Piketberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, Western Cape police said. Ten farm workers died when their bus went over a cliff near Piketberg in the Boland, and seven remain in a critical condition in hospital.
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/ 14 October 2007
Opposition parties and the South African National Editors’ Forum have expressed concern at reports of police plans to arrest Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya and journalist Jocelyn Maker over the theft of Health Minister Manto-Tshabalala-Msimang’s medical records.