Cape Town

The two Sizzlers killers were found guilty in the Cape High Court on Thursday on nine counts of premeditated murder, one of attempted murder and one of armed robbery, all of which carry prescribed minimum sentences. On the murder charges, Adam Roy Woest and Trevor Basil Theys face nine prescribed life sentences.

The Democratic Alliance is showing its ”greed for power” by urging voters in radio adverts not to vote for other opposition parties, the African Christian Democratic Party said on Thursday. ”By telling voters that their vote will be wasted on a ‘smaller’ opposition party, the DA has once again showed its greed for power,” an ACDP MP said.

A mysterious third person may have been involved in the Sizzlers massacre that left nine people dead in January last year, the Cape Town High Court heard on Wednesday. Defence counsel Nehemiah Ballem, representing taxi operator Trevor Basil Theys, said his client was afraid of this third person.

In a surprise move on Tuesday the state closed its case in the Sizzlers multiple murder trial. The accused, Waterfront restaurant manager Adam Roy Woest and taxi operator Trevor Basil Theys, were prepared for a marathon trial after the judge entered pleas of not guilty to nine charges of murder, among others.

The Democratic Alliance has criticised apparent government plans to do away with visa requirements for about 2,9-billion people, mainly from poorer countries around the world. ”This opens up the serious prospect of millions of people flooding into South Africa to compete for jobs and social grants,” the DA said.

South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel says the challenge nations face today is to translate the potential benefits of globalisation into real gains for the poorest in the world. On Monday, Manuel delivered the Oxford University Inaugural Global Economic Governance Lecture in the United Kingdom.

The National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) on Monday rejected claims made by the Democratic Alliance regarding South African arms sales to Haiti. ”Accusations of impropriety by the DA’s [federal council chairperson] Mr James Selfe, as reported in the press, are simply untrue,” an NCACC statement said.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is in the process of launching litigation against the government, TAC national chairperson Zackie Achmat said on Monday. Achmat said the TAC wants an urgent resolution on government procurement policy for Aids medicines.

The Democratic Alliance is using the Promotion of Access to Information Act to ”get to the bottom of the Haiti arms shipment fiasco”, it said on Monday. On Sunday, Minister of Education and National Conventional Arms Control Committee chairperson Kader Asmal said the shipment left South Africa with the full consent of the committee.

The sole survivor in the Sizzlers gay massage-parlour massacre on Monday told the Cape High Court that he and those who died were promised they would not be killed. Before Judge Nathan Erasmus and two assessors are Victoria and Alfred Waterfront waiter Adam Roy Woest and taxi operator Trevor Bazil Theys.

South African Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana has warned farmers not to threaten their workers with retrenchment in the wake of the severe drought that has negatively affected the farming sector in most parts of the country. "The law does not allow farmers to retrench workers at their whim," the minister said.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota has denied that a South African Air Force (SAAF) aircraft, or one chartered by the SAAF, is in Haiti. Lekota was responding to a letter by the Democratic Alliance’s James Selfe on Thursday, asking him to confirm or deny that the South African National Defence Force currently has aircraft in Haiti.

Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (Ecaar) says it intends to challenge Thursday’s Cape High Court dismissal with costs of its bid to have South Africa’s multibillion-rand arms deal scrapped. ”Obviously we’re disappointed,” said Ecaar spokesperson Terry Crawford-Browne.