Durban

Police on Wednesday recovered the body of a 13-year-old girl who was apparently raped and then thrown over a cliff in Durban’s Molweni area. The police search-and-rescue unit had to retrieve Londi Mdunge’s body, which had fallen nearly 60m down a cliff overlooking the Inanda Dam.

Two security guards at a Durban railway station were shot dead and robbed of a shotgun, police said on Friday. The two men were on duty at the Zwelethu railway station in Durban’s Umlazi area on Thursday night when a group of four armed men approached them and opened fire.

African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Jacob Zuma has criticised the media for calling people who walked out during President Thabo Mbeki’s address at a funeral ”Zuma supporters”. ”They are not Zuma supporters,” he said on Wednesday about those who walked out of the funeral of struggle hero Moses Mabhida.

The South African and Indian cricket teams were both anxiously watching the skies over Kingsmead on the fifth morning of the second Castle Lager Test on Saturday. The start of play was delayed by 55 minutes, and the players were taken off the field again half an hour later because of the heavily overcast conditions at the ground.

The second Castle Lager Test between South Africa and India at India took another twist on the fourth day on Friday when South Africa suffered a dramatic batting collapse to go to lunch on 192 for six. They have an overall lead of 280. Led by the exuberant youngster Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, India claimed six wickets for the addition of just 44 runs in nine overs and two balls.

Two wickets for Makhaya Ntini and three for Morne Morkel gave South Africa the edge at lunch on the third day of the second Castle Lager Test against India at Kingsmead on Thursday. At lunch, India had 183 for eight. India resumed play in the extended session on their overnight score of 103 for three, with the little master, Sachin Tendulkar, poised to score his first half century this year.

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first in the second Castle Lager Test against India at Kingsmead on Tuesday. The Proteas premier batsman, Jacques Kallis, has been ruled out with a back injury and fast bowler Dale Steyn has not yet recovered from the left thigh injury that forced him off the field during the first Test at the Wanderers.

Fraud convict Schabir Shaik underwent explorative surgery in a Durban hospital on Monday. Shaik’s brother Mo Shaik said Schabir had undergone an angiogram at St Augustine’s hospital. Mo Shaik said the procedure was performed after his brother’s physicians had become concerned at ”swelling in the heart”.

Lawyers for Durban businessman Schabir Shaik on Friday failed to lodge papers with the Constitutional Court appealing his corruption and fraud conviction and sentence. Hearing radio reports on the possibility of papers being filed, court officials kept the general office open an extra half-hour, to 4pm.

Linda Barron, the former CEO of the Comrades Marathon Association, has been acquitted of culpable homicide and drunken-driving charges in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court, the Mercury reported on Friday. A popular Cape Town-based musician was killed after being struck by Barron’s car.

The body of a five-year-old girl who drowned while trying to flee a rapist was found on the banks of a Durban river on Tuesday, police said. The girl and three friends were walking along the banks of the Mbokodweni River on their way to the beach. The four were accosted by a man who, it is believed, wanted to rape them.

The request by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to have documents pertaining to meetings between Jacob Zuma, French arms manufacturer Thint and Schabir Shaik released from Mauritius was on Tuesday postponed to March. Zuma and Thint’s legal teams will oppose the application for the documents to be handed over to the NPA.

International tour operators are threatening to ”pull the plug” on Durban following the gang-rape of a French tourist, the Sunday Tribune newspaper reported. The 26-year-old French national had decided to go for a walk with the Belgian swimming team’s coach on Tuesday night when they were attacked.

Two men appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday in connection with the alleged gang rape of an official of the French swimming team attending the International Paralympic Committee’s Swimming World Championships. Police arrested four people on Tuesday night, but only two were charged on Friday, said police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Phindile Radebe.

The International Paralympic Committee’s World Swimming Championships finished just like they started, with Natalie du Toit winning a gold medal. The South African claimed her sixth gold this week, in the final event, the 5km open-water swim at the Hazelmere Dam.

An official of a European swimming team attending the International Paralympic Committee’s Swimming World Championships in Durban was gang-raped on the city’s beachfront, the Daily News reported on Friday. Sources said the woman had decided to go for a walk with a swimming official from another country on Tuesday night.

Natalie du Toit continued her relentless form at the IPC World Swimming Championships on Wednesday evening, winning her fourth gold medal at the King’s Park Aquatic Centre. Swimming in the women’s S9 400m freestyle, the 22-year-old beat rival Stephanie Dixon for the fourth time this week, missing out on her own world record by just four seconds.

Kaizer Chiefs added to AmaZulu’s relegation woes when they beat them 2-0 in their Premier Soccer League (PSL) encounter at Chatsworth Stadium on Wednesday. The game started on a high note with Chiefs putting pressure on their hosts, but they failed to penetrate a stubborn-looking AmaZulu defence.

Durban’s policing authorities announced on Tuesday that they would be going all out to prevent a repeat of last year’s festive season when three women were raped in the paddling pools in broad daylight. There would also be a ”zero tolerance” towards those consuming too much alcohol.