Durban

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Tuesday confirmed that it had received a letter from Schabir Shaik’s legal team giving notice that he intends challenging his conviction in the Constitutional Court. Shaik’s lawyer Reeves Parsee said he was fielding ”50 calls a day from the press and I tell them the same thing. I am not going to comment”.

Fraud convict Schabir Shaik has been admitted to hospital, Correctional Services Department officials said on Monday. The offcials refused to divulge his condition but confirmed that he was in hospital. ”We can only acknowledge that he’s been taken to hospital,” said deputy commissioner of communications Manelisi Wolela.

Buyers are slowly lining up for Schabir Shaik’s shares in African Defence Systems, but no decision has been made on who will have first shot at what are often viewed as the crown jewels in the crumbling Nkobi empire. Mo Shaik, the brother of the convicted Durban businessman, said on Monday that ”there are various interested parties”, but he would not disclose who they were.

Fraud convict Schabir Shaik’s move to Empangeni’s Qalakabusha prison was due to his chronic medical condition, the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons announced in Durban on Thursday. Judge Nathan Erasmus said he personally investigated the transfer following continued media speculation over ”preferential treatment”.

The South African National Defence Force’s Chief of Joint Operations died shortly after having minor surgery, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Wednesday in Durban. Lieutenant General Sipho Binda (54) died in One Military hospital in Pretoria on Tuesday night.

Carlo Scott scored a brace to place Bloemfontein Celtic in fourth place in the Castle Premiership log table when they beat Amazulu 3-1 at the Princess Magogo Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The first goal was scored by Amazulu in the second minute by Benedict Chenene.

There was no sign of businessman Schabir Shaik at Durban’s Westville Prison by 6.30am on Thursday morning, where he was expected to report for a 15-year jail sentence. The media arrived before dawn, on the lookout for the black BMW in which Shaik was expected to arrive. It was their second day spent waiting outside the prison.

Schabir Shaik’s family declared a ”media shutdown” and were on Tuesday refusing to divulge whether lawyers would seek redress in the Constitution Court. Asked on Tuesday morning if the family would take Schabir’s case to the Constitutional Court, Mo said: ”It should become clearer at the end of the day.”

The pilot of a light aircraft was killed when his plane crashed into a house north of Durban on Friday afternoon. Witnesses at Sgodiphola, 40km north of Tongaat on the R614 road to Greytown, said the plane was already in flames before it hit the house in foggy weather. It is believed that the aircraft took off from Virginia airport in Durban.

The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday granted the state leave to appeal against the voiding of the search-and-seizure raids by the Scorpions on Jacob Zuma’s properties and that of his attorney, Michael Hulley. The application for leave to appeal was not opposed by Zuma’s legal team.

Seamer Yusuf Abdullah turned in an impressive bowling performance for the Nashua Dolphins in their MTN Domestic League cricket match against the Cape Cobras at Kingsmead on Friday night to put the home side on the path to victory by 22 runs.

Dolphins head coach Graham Ford has asked to be released from his contract with the Dolphins for personal reasons. Ford, who coaches Kent in the English County Championship, returned to the Dolphins set-up this season after an absence from the local scene. He is highly respected in cricketing circles and is still considered one of the best coaches in the country.

The Warriors earned their first win in six MTN Domestic Championship matches when they beat the Dolphins by three wickets in Durban on Friday. The visitors dismissed the Dolphins for 191 in 44 overs before replying with 192 for seven to win with six balls remaining.

Police arrested 22 people during a protest against increased taxi fares in Pietermaritzburg’s Copesville suburb on Monday. Initial reports said that tear gas was used to disperse protesters. However, there were also unconfirmed reports that stun grenades and rubber bullets were used by police to disperse the estimated 1 000-strong crowd.

Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Thabo Mbeki unveiled a plaque at Durban’s Resistance Park on Sunday. Well known anti-apartheid activist Fatima Meer also spoke in Resistance Park, so named because of a ”non-white” gathering held at the park in 1946 in protest against race laws.