Cape Town

”Oh Lord, I’m burning.” These were the last words of 21-year-old Pollsmoor prisoner Marilyn Syfers as flames engulfed her cell on the evening of April 4 this year. They are recorded in an affidavit from a fellow inmate, which forms part of the documentation of the official inquiry into the incident. Some details of the tragedy have already been made public.

The aroma of meat sizzling on the side of the road was an incongruous distraction at the entrance to Virgin Active’s new Khayelitsha ”township gym”, which aims to educate local residents about the advantages of a healthy diet and exercise. ”It’s not going to be easy to convince them, but we must convince them bit by bit,” said trainee assistant Noxolo Jaho on Wednesday.

Hospitalised former president FW de Klerk had a ”peaceful” night after a tracheotomy was successfully performed, Panorama Medi-Clinic said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Melissa Rademan said De Klerk was in a stable condition in an intensive-care unit at the hospital.

Former South African president FW de Klerk is to undergo a tracheotomy, his spokesperson Dave Steward confirmed on Tuesday afternoon. De Klerk originally went to hospital the weekend before last to have a cancerous growth removed from his colon. He has been sedated for about a week.

Mushin Ertugral has been appointed Ajax Cape Town head coach with immediate effect, Ajax CEO John Comitis announced on Tuesday. The former Kaizer Chiefs coach is a replacement for Gordon Igesund, who was fired last week although he still had 12 months to go on his contract.

The former commander of detectives at the Maitland police station was among three police officers remanded in custody by the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. The former commander — Captain Trevor Chetty — and inspectors Ronnie Matthews and John Stevens face charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice.

Members of Parliament have been told to lay off the bottle and stick to tap water. ”There is no need to use bottled water in Parliament; you can use tap water … there is nothing wrong with it,” Water Research Commission CEO Dr Rivka Kfir told members of the National Assembly’s science and technology committee.

The South African National Defence Force rejected claims on Monday that it is excluding whites from promotion — but steps have to be taken ”from time to time to try to correct an abnormality”, defence ministry spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said. ”It is an exercise … that aims to meet representivity imperatives,” he said.

Hospitalised former president FW de Klerk is recovering well, his family said on Friday. ”He’s very relaxed at the moment and everyone is very positive, and it seems as if we’re over the worst and now it’s just the road ahead,” De Klerk’s eldest son, Jan, told the South African Press Association.

South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon has extended a hand to President Thabo Mbeki to assist him in dealing with ”major problems and crises” facing the country. But Leon has warned that the president had in the past refused to accept that his party could oppose the government politically while at the same time cooperate in resolving problems.

Former state president FW de Klerk had a second operation on Thursday after developing respiratory problems and is on a ventilator, according to Cape Town’s Panorama Medi-Clinic. De Klerk underwent surgery at the clinic on Saturday to remove a tumour, which was later found to be cancerous, from his colon.

The head of the Medical Research Council (MRC), Professor Anthony MBewu, on Wednesday dismissed as incorrect a set of minutes recording that he agreed to be a medical investigator in Matthias Rath’s South African vitamin campaign. The minutes, compiled by Rath aides, are part of a set of documents recording contact between the controversial German and the MRC in 2004.

The Tafelsig anti-eviction movement on Wednesday called on residents in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain, to boycott a by-election being held in the area. ”We don’t want to vote for anybody, because everybody sold us out,” claimed Ashraf Cassiem, chairperson of the anti-eviction movement in Tafelsig, part of Cape Town.

A tiny minority of individuals has inflicted pain on millions of people in the violence associated with the security sector strike, attacks on local government councillors and those using murder to advance their social and political goals, President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday. He described the violence as ”an anti-democratic plague”.

There have been further sightings of the critically endangered riverine rabbit beyond its normal distribution, CapeNature said in a statement on Wednesday. ”This is very significant for conservation as it means there is now a whole new area to discover,” read a statement from CapeNature’s Natasha Rockman.

South Africa had an obligation to oversee and regulate the thousands of militarily-qualified citizens selling their skills abroad, Parliament’s Defence Portfolio Committee heard on Tuesday. ”If you keep dangerous animals in your yard, you have responsibility to ensure they don’t get out and harm people,” Defence Department official Siviwe Njikela told committee members.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has charged that its alliance partner, the ruling African National Congress, is making contradictory statements on whether or not its deputy leader, Jacob Zuma, has been summoned to account for statements made during his recent rape trial.