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/ 7 April 2008

ATM crime explodes in South Africa

Eight ATMs have been bombed in South Africa in less than a week, an escalating trend that has become a nearly daily offence in the crime-ridden country, police said on Monday. Three police officers and two civilians appeared in court on Monday in connection with the bombing of a cash machine last week, said police spokesperson Louis Jacobs.

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/ 7 April 2008

Egyptian diplomat’s family robbed

An Egyptian diplomat’s family living in Groenkloof was held up at gunpoint and robbed over the weekend, Pretoria police said on Monday. ”Four suspects entered the house after they held up the guard. They then held up the family and robbed them of household goods and jewellery, then fled the scene.

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/ 3 March 2008

SACP urges police to finalise donation probe

The South African Communist Party has asked the South African Police Service to finalise its investigation into a donation scandal after an internal audit cleared their secretary general Blade Nzimande. The SACP audit was set up to investigate the whereabouts of R500 000 donated to the party by controversial businessman Charles Modise.

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/ 19 January 2008

NPA supports withdrawal of Nel charges

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has come out in support of the chief prosecutor of Pretoria’s decision to withdraw charges against advocate Gerrie Nel, head of the Scorpions in Gauteng, it said on Friday. The Pretoria Regional Court this week withdrew charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice against Nel.

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/ 14 January 2008

Charges against Gerrie Nel withdrawn

Charges against Gerrie Nel, the head of the Directorate of Special Operations, or the Scorpions, in Gauteng, were withdrawn in the Pretoria Regional Court on Monday. ”After careful consideration of the evidence in the docket, the decision was made to withdraw the charges,” chief prosecutor Matric Lupondo said during Nel’s brief appearance.

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/ 10 January 2008

Cops: NPA tried to prevent Nel prosecution

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) made a ”concerted effort” to undermine investigations into Scorpions boss Gerrie Nel and prevent his prosecution, Gauteng police said on Thursday. In a statement, Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said prosecutors had refused to look at evidence presented to them in September, which implicated Nel in criminal activity.

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/ 9 January 2008

DA: Nel arrest a ‘witch-hunt’

The arrest of Gauteng Scorpions boss Gerrie Nel is a witch-hunt to protect police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, said the Democratic Alliance on Wednesday. ”The axing of Vusi Pikoli and now Gerrie Nel has all the appearance of a witch-hunt to protect Selebi,” said DA spokesperson on Safety and Security Dianne Kohler Barnard.

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/ 9 January 2008

Armed policemen arrest Scorpions boss

Scorpions boss Gerrie Nel was arrested at his Pretoria home on charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice on Tuesday night, his attorney Ian Small Smith confirmed on Wednesday. Nel was arrested by about 20 armed policemen in front of his wife and children at his home at around 9pm on Tuesday.

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/ 7 November 2007

Three suspected armed robbers apprehended

Three men were arrested in Johannesburg on Wednesday in connection with an attempted armed robbery. ”The suspects were arrested in Braamfontein and they fit the description of the suspects that were spotted at Pick ‘n Pay in Jorissen Street while fleeing from the police,” said Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.

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/ 2 November 2007

Scorpions boss in fraud probe

Scorpions boss Gerrie Nel is under police investigation for fraud and corruption, a media report said on Friday. Nel led the investigation into the shooting of mining magnate Brett Kebble and led the state’s aborted probe into alleged criminal activity by police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.

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/ 31 October 2007

Cops probe abuse allegations at Oprah school

South African police are investigating alleged abuses at billionaire United States television magnate Oprah Winfrey’s all-girl leadership academy, a police spokesperson said on Wednesday. Rapport newspaper has reported a matron at the school allegedly fondled one of the pupils, and grabbed a girl by the throat and threw her against a wall.

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/ 7 October 2007

Actor charged with theft

Isidingo actor Thami Afrika is out on R3 000 bail, reported Sunday World. Afrika, who plays the role of a lawyer in the television soapie, was arrested on Wednesday for possession of suspected stolen goods. He appeared in the Germiston Regional Court with a Nigerian co-accused on charges of theft.

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/ 12 September 2007

Two dead in Jo’burg plane crash

A passenger in a two-seater Tiger Moth died and its pilot was critically injured when the plane crashed into a truck, a taxi and a car on the old Vereeniging Road, south of Johannesburg, on Wednesday, said emergency workers. The taxi driver also died and 22 people were injured in the crash in Ennerdale at 4.45pm, said a Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson.