No image available
/ 22 January 2007
A charge of assault has been opened against Sunnyside police for brutally assaulting a prostitute in Pretoria, police confirmed on Monday. ”We have obtained a statement and we are busy with the investigations,” said Gauteng police spokesperson Govindsamy Mariemuthoo.
No image available
/ 22 January 2007
Thirty-four government officials have been arrested in Mpumalanga for fraud and corruption, the provincial health and social services department said on Monday. Spokesperson Mpho Gabashane said the officials were from different departments in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng.
No image available
/ 21 January 2007
Ten people have been arrested for the possession of six tonnes of abalone with a street value of R10-million, Gauteng police said on Sunday. ”Police investigations are continuing and police are investigating the possibility that they have been operating as a syndicate,” Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said.
No image available
/ 19 January 2007
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi moved swiftly on Friday in a meeting with editors to revoke instructions that police information to the media be restricted to only provincial channels. ”Whatever it was, that is revoked,” he said at the meeting with a South African National Editors’ Forum delegation in Pretoria.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
Parties who have not lodged a notice to appeal against the Gautrain viaduct to be built through Centurion can no longer do so, the Gauteng provincial government said this week. ”People were given time to lodge notice of intention … That period is now over,” said spokesperson for the Gauteng department of agriculture, conservation and environment Sizwe Matshikiza.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
Senior editors and journalist are to meet police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi in Pretoria on Friday to discuss the centralisation of police communication departments. The restructuring removes area media-liaison officers within the police who previously facilitated the dissemination of information on crime.
No image available
/ 18 January 2007
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi’s decision that the media will only be allowed to direct questions to provincial officials is an attempt to gag the media, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Thursday. ”It does not only infringe on media freedom but also on the constitutional right to freedom of speech,” said Pieter Groenewald, the party’s spokesperson on safety and security.
No image available
/ 17 January 2007
Gauteng police on Wednesday told media organisations not to make direct contact with police stations following the newly introduced police-centralisation process. ”There will be no comments to media enquiries from any member of the service in the province … Do not attempt to make direct contact at police stations,” Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 17 January 2007
Holiday season traffic deaths and accidents dropped by less than 5% compared with a year ago, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Wednesday. Radebe issued his report on the December 1 to January 10 holiday season traffic at Atteridgeville in Gauteng. The number of fatal accidents dropped by 59 from 1 428 to 1 369 compared with the same time a year ago.
No image available
/ 17 January 2007
Gauteng provincial minister of community safety Firoz Cachalia said on Wednesday he is concerned about allegations that police abused their power by threatening and intimidating a prostitute and a photographer in Pretoria. ”In a democratic society everyone is entitled to humane and lawful treatment by the police,” Cachalia said.
No image available
/ 16 January 2007
More than 3Â 500kg of toxic waste has been illegally dumped in a landfill site in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, since late December. Working in the scorching heat at the Walkerville de Deur landfill site on Tuesday, the IFRT Spill Response team had to plough through metres of stinking garbage to locate two bags, weighing about 50kg each.
No image available
/ 16 January 2007
Several publications on Tuesday expressed fears that the current restructuring of the South African Police Service (SAPS) will severely limit the media’s ability to access information. Up until the restructuring started, media outlets approached designated police officers at area level. However, media organisations have now been told to contact designated officers at a provincial level.
No image available
/ 16 January 2007
Crime-combating strategies should be decentralised and province-specific, the South African Institute for Race Relations said on Tuesday. Researcher Kerwin Lebone said the institute advocated the decentralisation of crime-fighting strategies following the release of a report on crime across the provinces.
No image available
/ 16 January 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has rejected the Gauteng education department’s plans to close underperforming schools and instead proposed a rescue plan that it said would help improve matric results in those schools. DA education spokesperson George Boinamo told reporters in Cape Town on Tuesday about the proposed six-point plan.
No image available
/ 16 January 2007
The Department of Minerals and Energy could implement a retail petrol-price cut of 24 cents per litre (c/l) on February 7, provided the daily over-recovery remains at or above the January 15 level. South Africa’s daily unleaded petrol price over-recovery eased to 31,869c/l on January 15 from 34,879c/l on January 12.
No image available
/ 14 January 2007
A 44-year-old man was arrested on Saturday in connection with the fatal shooting of his wife and the wounding of two of her colleagues at an Absa bank on Friday, said Gauteng police. Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said the man was arrested at a flat in Turffontein, south of Johannesburg, at 4.30pm.
No image available
/ 13 January 2007
In a dramatic final day at The Links at Fancourt, the 2007 Ernie Els Junior Tour came to an end with another new champion in the boys’ competition. It was Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation member Keenan Davidse who triumphed after a magnificent two-under par 71 on Friday morning gave him an unassailable lead after the second round.
No image available
/ 12 January 2007
Typically changeable Cape Town weather, the pragmatists would have said as the skies opened over Newlands last week, forcing the final Test against India into a gripping if soggy final act. There’s always one rainy day around New Year, the veterans would have pointed out. Nothing out of the ordinary.
No image available
/ 11 January 2007
Two men have been arrested after they blew up an ATM in Mamelodi East outside Pretoria, Gauteng police said on Friday. Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said the men blew up a Standard Bank ATM at a Shell garage and an AK-47 rifle, a 9mm pistol and a BMW were seized by the police.
No image available
/ 10 January 2007
Provincial education departments experienced a smooth start to the first day of school on Wednesday with no major problems being reported. Schools reopened in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the North West and Free State. ”All our schools opened today [Wednesday],” said Gauteng education spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi.
No image available
/ 10 January 2007
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), which represents about two-thirds of all teachers in South Africa, has welcomed the fact that the threat to close poorly performing schools has been retracted. Sadtu was responding to a threat from Gauteng education provincial minister Angie Motshekga to close dysfunctional schools.
No image available
/ 10 January 2007
The plight of grade 11 pupils who failed last year is the biggest challenge facing education in South Africa in 2007, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said on Wednesday. Sadtu president Willie Madisha told a media conference in Johannesburg the Department of Education will have to give clear directions on how to deal with grade 11s who failed.
No image available
/ 10 January 2007
The Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust has denied news reports that it has been meeting African National Congress leaders to discuss ”so-called alternative candidates” for president. The chairperson of the trust’s Gauteng branch, Clement Mlangeni, told reporters in Johannesburg on Wednesday: ”It is our humbly held view that the media reports are malicious and confusing to the public.”
No image available
/ 10 January 2007
All Gauteng schools opened on Wednesday for the start of the 2007 school year with a few minor hitches reported, the provincial education department said. ”All our schools opened today [Wednesday],” said spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi. ”From our side we are quite excited that everything went smoothly.”
Underperforming schools in Gauteng and the Free State will remain open, the provincial education departments said on Tuesday. ”The [provincial minister] is not closing any schools for non-performance,” said the Gauteng education department spokesperson Mbela Phetlhe.
Provincial education departments on Tuesday reported readiness for the arrival of millions of pupils at the start of the 2007 school year on Wednesday. Schools will reopen in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the North West and Free State. ”The Gauteng department of education is ready to roll out the 2007 academic calendar,” education provincial minister Angie Motshekga said.
Shebeens near schools are a source of school violence and an access to drugs and alcohol for minors, the Young Communist League of South Africa said on Tuesday. The league was announcing at a Johannesburg press conference the launch of its Joe Slovo ”Right to Learn” campaign, which will run from Thursday until the end of January.
A state funeral and private burial will be held respectively in Pretoria, Gauteng, and Bloemfontein, Free State, on Saturday for the late former state president Marais Viljoen, who died in Pretoria last week, according to the South African government news agency, BuaNews.
Gauteng provincial minister of community safety Firoz Cachalia will provide feedback on the crime operation he launched six months ago at the end of January, his spokesperson said on Monday. ”A detailed evaluation will be undertaken later this week to identify the successes of Operation Iron Fist and to establish what challenges still need to be overcome,” said Phumla Sekhonyane.
Confusion reigned at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday when a Pretoria High Court judge arrested for drunken driving failed to appear at the court. After waiting outside the court for about half an hour, journalists learnt that Judge Nkola Motata, who was arrested on Friday, had already been released on bail. He will appear at the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court on February 27.
The Gauteng department of education has threatened to close down 200 badly performing schools, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. Spokesperson for the department Panyaza Lesufi said the department has given principals until the end of January to present plans to turn their schools around.
President Thabo Mbeki should appoint a judicial commission to investigate the 1999 arms deal, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Sunday in the wake of new revelations on the affair. The media reported on the weekend that Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is investigating alleged ”substantial payments” from BAE Systems to a senior South African Defence Ministry official.