South Africa’s fight against money laundering and terrorism financing needs tough new laws to close regulatory loopholes and give authorities more power to crack down on crime. Murray Michell, the head of South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre, said draft laws would also help unclog an overburdened judicial system and streamline oversight.
The Cape High Court on Monday heard a graphic account of how Najwa Petersen stabbed her husband, Taliep, in the neck one night, eight months before he was murdered. It also heard that the theatre personality’s life was insured for R5,3-million, and that Najwa tried after his death to have the money paid into a Namibian bank account.
The government is looking at giving food vouchers or cash to poor households to help them cope with spiralling food prices. ”We’re looking at a range of options … such as food vouchers, [as well as] increasing cash transfers in the case of people already on the social-assistance programme,” Social Development Director General Vusi Madonsela said on Monday.
African National Congress president Jacob Zuma on Sunday urged communities to take more responsibility for education, health, and fighting crime. ”This is not the time to rest. This is the time to intensify the fight for a truly united, non-racial, non-sexist, and democratic South Africa,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery in Khayelitsha.
The Stormers climbed to fourth in the Super 14 with a 20-10 victory over the ACT Brumbies on Saturday. The South Africans scored all their points in a 15-minute purple patch in the first half before holding on as the Brumbies hit back with two tries in the second period
A hacker has allegedly gained access to suspended National Prosecuting Authority head Vusi Pikoli’s computer and is attempting to blackmail him, his attorney said on Friday. ”An individual is claiming to have hacked Mr Pikoli’s system. The hacker is threatening to release Mr Pikoli’s documents to the press, if he is not paid,” said his attorney Aslam Moosajee.
Australia’s Brumbies will not to be sidetracked by history or the widely acclaimed Stormers injuries in the run-up to Saturday’s make-or-break Super 14 clash at Newlands. The history books will show that the last time the Brumbies lost at Newlands was in 1998, and apart from one draw in 2006, they’ve always defeated the Stormers in the Mother City in a decade of clashes.
British actress Teresa Norton was arrested at Camps Bay beach for refusing to put her dog on a leash and to give her name and address to a law enforcement officer, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Tuesday. Officer Willem Boonzaaier is charged before magistrate Alta Fredericks with assaulting Norton.
South Africa’s international land borders are as porous as the proverbial sieve, with tens of thousands of refugees streaming into the country each week, alongside gun-smugglers and drug-traffickers, says the Democratic Alliance (DA). The party called for the deployment of South African National Defence Force troops to the worst-affected border regions,
The Robben Island Museum has rejected a report that wild animals on the 574 hectare island are starving to death because of poor environmental management. A media report said the problem was mainly the result of an explosion in the wild rabbit population, which were ”eating everything in sight”.
South African President Thabo Mbeki’s failure to criticise neighbouring Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe has weakened his international stature, analysts said. Once hailed as a leader focussed on Africa’s revival, Mbeki’s silence on Zimbabwe has been blamed either on misplaced loyalty or crippling deference.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu urged world leaders on Sunday to stay away from the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in August. South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate lit a ”Tibetan” Olympic torch, which was kindled in Delhi on January 30 and will travel to cities on five continents before arriving in May back in Dharamsala, India.
There was a need for a ”new South African” who embodied everything that was morally good, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday. He was addressing several thousand people at the national Freedom Day celebrations at a blustery Turfhall Stadium in Cape Town.
The Stormers picked up two second-half tries to keep their hopes of reaching the Super 14 semifinals alive with a 26-16 victory over the Otago Highlanders on Saturday. Hooker Tiaan Liebenberg and his replacement Schalk Brits scored in the space of 10 minutes to break open a game that was deadlocked 9-9 at halftime.
Najwa Petersen’s legal team is fighting a bid by the state to lead evidence on what her husband, Taliep, told a sister about the state of their marriage, and how Najwa stabbed him. Najwa is in the dock in the Cape High Court along with three men she allegedly hired to murder Taliep on the night of December 16 2006.
Najwa Petersen looked suspiciously ”normal” only hours after her husband Taliep’s funeral, one of Taliep’s sisters told the Cape High Court on Thursday. She also did not give a convincing answer when asked whether she was involved in the theatre personality’s murder, Ma’atoema Groenmeyer said.
Fidentia chief executive J Arthur Brown was on Thursday late for a scheduled appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, on charges that include fraud involving the Transport, Education and Training Authority (Teta). In the dock without him were co-accused Dr Piet Bothma, Teta’s chief executive, and Jacobus Theart.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Thursday proposed six steps to help the economy weather the current storm. ”Overall, sustainable and consistent policy is required,” DA spokesperson Kobus Marais told a media briefing at Parliament. ”Reverting to knee-jerk, short-term and populist measures will do more harm than ever before,” he said.
Taliep Petersen’s sister gave up on the 10111 emergency number on the night her brother was killed, driving to a police station instead to get help, the Cape High Court heard on Thursday. Ma’atoema Groenmeyer told the court she believed her abortive 10111 call was the first attempt that anyone made to summon police.
Authorities are boosting security at Table Mountain to fight crime, which has caused a drop in tourist numbers, a Cape Town city official said on Thursday. Councillor Simon Grindrod said the mountain’s Signal Hill area — popular with lovers seeking a secluded spot or tourists wanting unparalleled views across Table Bay — will have 24-hour security.
Ajax Cape Town’s brave 2-0 win over Orlando Pirates at the Athlone Stadium saw them reclaim their position at the top of the Absa Premiership standings. There was action from the outset as Ajax started the game at a cracking pace, with Nhlanhla Shabalala and Nathan Paulse bringing out saves from Bucs keeper Senzo Meyiwa within the opening six minutes.
In the agony of remorse, one of the men arrested for Taliep Petersen’s murder painstakingly wrote out a 15-page confession detailing his role in the murder. But it was Taliep’s wife, Najwa, who actually pulled the trigger after giving her husband a last embrace, Waheed Hassen said.
South Africa’s skills problem remains massive, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Wednesday. ”The scale of the problem has become bigger in the interim. There’s a need for us to up our game,” she told a media briefing on the 2007 report of the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition.
Najwa Petersen was the one who fired the shot that killed her husband, Taliep, the Cape High Court heard on Wednesday. The claim was made in a confession by Waheed Hassen, one of the hit men she allegedly hired to carry out the killing. The confession was admitted unopposed as evidence.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille was emerging as a person who would go to extremes to cover up the truth, a former member of the DA said on Tuesday. ”[She is] a person who criticises the judiciary and the media because their duties do not fit her political agenda,” Kobus Brynard, a Western Cape MPL for the African National Congress, said.
One of the alleged killers of entertainer Taliep Petersen made a written confession that he had committed ”a terrible sin”, the Cape High Court heard on Tuesday. However, the accused, Waheed Hassen, maintains the confession was false, and that he was coached by police on what to say.
South Africa does not need the likes of sacked Sunday Times columnist David Bullard, Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan said on Tuesday. ”He is the type of person South Africa does not need within its borders,” he told a media briefing at Parliament.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Monday vowed to take her fight against the Erasmus commission to the Constitutional Court. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool in December 2007 to investigate the City of Cape Town’s probe into controversial councillor Badih Chaaban.
One of Taliep Petersen’s alleged murderers has told the Cape High Court he confessed to a role in the killing in the hope of getting ”help” from the authorities in other criminal cases he faced. Waheed Hassen also told the court that he was assaulted by police and that he witnessed the beating of an armed-robbery suspect.
The Cape High Court on Monday watched a police video in which murder accused Waheed Hassen not only admitted to a role in the killing of Taliep Petersen, but expressed remorse. The video came at the start of the second day of a trial within a trial, in which Hassen is contesting the admissibility of statements he made to the police.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa on Monday asked President Thabo Mbeki to meet South Africa’s ”collective leadership” to discuss three critical matters of concern. In a letter to Mbeki, Holomisa said, firstly, that there was the question of South Africa’s involvement in resolving the tribulations of Zimbabwe.
The vote recount in a number of constituencies in Zimbabwe following March 29 elections is futile because ballot boxes have been tampered with, a South African member of the Southern African Development Community observer team said on Monday.