A renowned conservationist recounted on Wednesday how he and his friends narrowly escaped an attack by an enraged bull elephant. Lawrence Anthony and his two friends were on a night drive at Thula Thula Game Reserve near Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday night when the animal attacked them.
A gang of thieves held up an entire hotel in northern KwaZulu-Natal, robbing the hotel, staff and guests of cash, cellphones and cars, police said on Wednesday. Superintendent Jay Naicker said the gang of nine entered the Ghost Mountain Inn in the town of Mkuze shortly before midnight on Monday night.
A total of 28 people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed by a series of forest fires that have swept through parts of South Africa and Swaziland since the end of last month, officials said on Thursday. ”Twenty-six deaths have been reported thus far” in South Africa alone, said a statement issued after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Six-year-old Steven Siebert’s murderer, Theunis Olivier, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Cape High Court on Wednesday. Handing down sentence, Judge Essa Moosa described Olivier as a cold and callous murderer. ”The victim must have endured excruciating pain,” he said.
Eleven South African officials were suspended from office on Wednesday for allegedly helping 10 ”dangerous” inmates escape jail, officials said. ”The 11 officials of the Department of Correctional Services were suspended on Wednesday morning. They have been handed their letters of suspension,” department spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said.
The average abused woman leaves her husband 37 times before she divorces him. After every lame excuse, every bunch of flowers and every empty promise, she takes him back again. And again. And again. Why? Women’s rights activists, social workers and clinical psychologists agree: abused women are kept in abusive relationships by a combination of fear, emotional or financial dependence, low self-esteem or a false sense of loyalty.
Winter had one last blast before making way for spring as snow fell in parts of South Africa on Tuesday. Snow had fallen near the Hex River in the Western Cape, in Sutherland in the Northern Cape, near Tiffendell in the Eastern Cape and in parts of Lesotho and the Drakensberg, according to South African Weather Service forecaster Elke Brouwers.
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A bag of papers belonging to African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma which was found outside a Durban flat has been sent for forensic testing. Police spokesperson Phindile Radebe said the bag was found outside a Durban beachfront flat that had been broken into early on Monday morning.
Convicted child killer Theunis Olivier should spend the rest of his life in jail, the Cape High Court heard on Monday. Testifying in court, Eileen Siebert, mother of murdered six-year old boy Steven Siebert said Olivier deserved to die in prison. ”Steven posed no threat to him [Olivier], and yet he choose to kill him for his own pleasure,” she said.
Paramedics from the KwaZulu-Natal provincial Emergency Medical Rescue Services and Netcare 911 on Saturday responded to reports of a collision between two trains at Dargle near the Midmar Dam in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said that a goods train had collided with a locomotive.
One of three women raped last year in KwaZulu-Natal was so traumatised she had to be led away from an identification parade without identifying anyone, the Scottburgh High Court heard on Thursday. The report from the identification parade was submitted to the court after one of the three accused expressed dissatisfaction with the parade.
Medical experts who declared child murderer Theunis Olivier fit to stand trial should reappear in court to answer allegations that they did not follow proper procedures, the Cape High Court ruled on Thursday. ”Serious allegations have been made against these professional people and they should be given an opportunity to answer,” the judge said.
The latest HIV-infection figures of 29% among pregnant women suggest a first-time decline may be starting for the pandemic, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Thursday. ”The overall picture suggests that HIV-prevalence in South Africa may be at a point where we should begin to witness a downward trend,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.
Task teams have been established to investigate bomb attacks on ATMs in every province where they have taken place, police said on Thursday. National police spokesperson Superintendent Ronnie Naidoo said each province had its own task team to investigate the ATM bombings. The task teams were coordinated at national level, he said.
A woman told the Scottburgh High Court on Wednesday she ”didn’t feel like” she was part of her own body as a man raped her on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. The woman, who may not be identified, said: ”I didn’t feel like I was a part of my body. I wasn’t there. When something like that happens, you switch off.” The student was the second victim to testify at the trial.
Rural fires that blazed for weeks in South Africa killed at least 26 people, marking the worst loss of life from such infernos since the 1980s, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday. Ten deaths have been confirmed in Mpumalanga and 16 in KwaZulu-Natal, where veld and forest fires broke out on July 2.
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The unusual sight of a minibus carrying 23 goats led to the arrest of three suspected stock thieves in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday, police said. Spokesperson Captain Charmaine Streuwig said officers from the Ladysmith stock-theft unit were following up a lead on the theft of goats when they made the arrest.
Four automated teller machines (ATMs) were blown up in separate incidents around the country in the past week. However, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre is confident there has been a decline in such incidents recently, and that the downward trend will continue.
A picture of death and destruction emerged on Monday as officials counted the cost of veld fires that ravaged several provinces. By late afternoon, nine fires were still burning in Mpumalanga and Swaziland. More runaway fires were also reported in KwaZulu-Natal.
The possibility of declaring fire-ravaged parts of Mpumalanga disaster zones could not be precluded, Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi said on Monday. Earlier in the day, Mufamadi and Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks conducted a helicopter surveillance of sites destroyed by fires in the province.
Six firemen died on Sunday while trying to bring raging fires in Mpumalanga under control, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Monday. The department’s commercial manager Kim Weir said five firefighters died after they could not get their vehicle away from the front of the fire.
Eleven people were reported by police to have burnt to death in fires that engulfed parts of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal on Friday. In Mpumalanga, a holidaying Johannesburg couple were burnt beyond recognition after trying to escape an enormous fire that ripped through a tourist lodge on Friday night.
The police believe they have struck a blow against ATM bombers following arrests in the North West and KwaZulu-Natal, police said on Friday. Police spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said that on Wednesday North West police arrested six men who were linked to four cases involving explosions at ATMs in the province during July.
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi says there is not a ”shred of evidence” to support the contention he gave instructions to members of his party to commit ”murder and destruction” in KwaZulu-Natal during the late 1980s. Responding to a Sunday Times column, he said on Friday he could not ignore certain ”serious charges” made against him.
Soweto’s Dube hostel — plagued in recent weeks by violent protests against poor service delivery — resembles a ghost town. Washing swaying in the wind is the only sign of life, along with the dank smell of urine mingled with that of burnt rubbish.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Youth Brigade hopes to pull the country’s youth out of its voting slumber through a ”Miss IFP” beauty pageant, launched on Wednesday. The contest is a bid to get young and first-time voters interested in the electoral process ahead of the 2009 elections.
A 25-year-old woman was arrested after she threw her new-born baby into a toilet pit near the southern KwaZulu-Natal town of Harding, police said on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Captain Zandra Hechter said the woman was arrested on Tuesday night after police received a report from neighbours.
Snowfall and thunderstorms are expected in the southern and western parts of the country, said the South African Weather Service on Tuesday. A cold front over the Western Cape on Tuesday night is expected to result in heavy rainfalls and thunderstorms in the extreme south-western parts of the province.