Fifty years ago, Sophia Williams-De Bruyn helped lead 20 000 women in a march on white-ruled South Africa’s capital in one of the first major demonstrations against the tightening of apartheid laws. Having lived more than a decade under South Africa’s multiracial democracy, Williams-De Bruyn’s outrage has barely dimmed.
Eskom on Monday warned the public of a new ”refund” scam where criminals use Eskom and South African Revenue Service (Sars) letterheads to defraud large companies, businesses and individuals. Scam operators forge letterheads stating that an overpayment has been made and request that the money be refunded.
A 35-year-old man appeared in the Ermelo Magistrate’s Court on Monday after he allegedly stole a corpse from a local mortuary and had sex with it, Mpumalanga police said. The man faces charges of breaking and entering, theft and violation of the body of a dead person, said Superintendent Abie Khoabane.
A man had to be rescued after he was stuck for three days on a ledge in an unused building in Auckland Park on Monday, emergency services said. The homeless man from Limpopo had been trying to hide from robbers and climbed up a series of stairs to reservoir tanks previously used to produce gas at Egoli Gas company.
Australian television cricket commentator Dean Jones was fired from his job on Monday after referring to South African Muslim batsman Hashim Amla as a ”terrorist”, Independent Online reported. Jones, who is a former Australian Test player, admitted to making the comment and apologised.
Civil servants who fraudulently claimed social grants include police officers, National Prosecuting Authority employees and a staffer in the president’s office. The list of 1 792 civil servants who are required to pay back fraudulently obtained grants was released by the Department of Social Development.
Police were within their rights when they arrested two Scorpions members at Johannesburg International airport, a senior official said on Monday. ”In my view the police have done nothing wrong, I’m happy with their reactions,” said Sean Tshabalala, police divisional Commissioner for protection and security services.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Pravin Gordhan is to be asked by South Africa’s official opposition whether the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust has been registered as a non-profit organisation and whether Sars would pursue any donors who made donations to the trust for a donations tax.
Pilot error, faulty equipment and inclement weather all contributed to the plane crash that claimed the life of former national cricket captain Hansie Cronje, an inquest heard on Monday. The Hawker Siddeley 748 crashed into the Outeniqua mountain range outside George on June 1 2002.
Alleged serial rapist and multiple murderer Sipho Dube (30) deserves to be locked up for life, the uncle of one of his victims said on Monday. The judge presiding over Dube’s case, Judge Seun Moshidi, said in his summary judgement on Monday that the crimes were characterised by the same modus operandi.
An official complaint is to be lodged against veteran Australian commentator Dean Jones for a remark he made, Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola said on Monday. Jones was heard to say on a live TV broadcast that ”the terrorist has got another wicket” when Proteas fielder Hashim Amla caught Kumar Sangakkara.
The National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) on Monday suspended two national MPs and a KwaZulu-Natal MPL from the party. ”We are currently investigating the conduct of certain members of Nadeco, and will, if necessary, institute disciplinary action soon,” Nadeco president Ziba Jiyane said in a statement.
Authorities at the University of Zululand have threatened to close the institution if protesting students did not return to class on Monday, a spokesperson said. ”All students have been requested to go back to class immediately. Failure to comply … by 3pm, the university will be closed by 4pm today [Monday],” said a university spokesperson.
The victims of the Port Elizabeth floods have enough food and blankets but urgently need help rebuilding their homes, the Nelson Mandela metro said on Monday. ”About 90% of those people evacuated from informal houses will have to rebuild their homes,” said metro spokesperson Lourens Schoeman.
Western Province got off to the best possible start at the Spar National Netball Championships in Port Elizabeth on Monday, beating defending champions Central Gauteng by 45 goals to 38 in their opening match. Central Gauteng certainly did not appear to be champion material in the first quarter.
The first koala to be born in Africa has finally emerged from his mother’s pouch, the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria said on Monday. Conservation staff at the zoo have reported that the young joey, as young koalas are known, is regularly seen with its head out of mother Renée’s pouch.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called off its week-long strike over wages at Kumba Resources after a weekend of consultations, it said on Monday. The NUM downed tools on Sunday and Solidarity on Monday in demand of a 9% wage increase for higher earners and 10,5% for lower earners.
A mere 2 647 taxi operators of more than 135 000 in the country have registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), the Department of Labour said on Monday. Said departmental spokesperson Kgomotso Sebetso: ”It’s not fair that the taxi owners don’t want to comply with the law.”
Cash-in-transit heist gangs hit at least six vans on Monday — three of them from Fidelity Cash Management Services and three from Coin Security. Although shots — including assault-rifle fire — went off in all but one of the attacks, only one security guard was wounded. Four robbers were arrested.
The Asbestos Relief Trust, set up to compensate asbestosis claimants, paid out more than R91-million in 1 378 claims in the past two years. Trust chairperson John Doidge said in his report on Monday: ”The manager’s report shows that to date we have been able to compensate 1 378 people suffering with an asbestos related disease.
Eight robbers armed with assault rifles were on the run in downtown Johannesburg on Monday after a failed cash-in-transit heist on the M2 East highway, police said. A BMW rammed into the back of a cash-in-transit van on the freeway near the Village Road off ramp at 9.15am, said Captain Schalk Bornman.
A two-day judicial inquest to determine who, if anybody, could be held responsible for the plane crash which claimed the life of Hansie Cronje starts in the Cape High Court on Monday. Cronje, the former captain of the national cricket team, died on June 1 2002, when the Hawker Siddeley 748 aircraft he was travelling in crashed near to George aerodrome en-route from Bloemfontein.
South Africa’s gold and foreign exchange reserves edged up during July, but at a slow pace, showing that the country’s central bank was inactive in currency markets while the rand remained volatile. Figures from the South African Reserve Bank showed that net reserves rose to ,447-billion at the end of July from ,185-billion at the end of June.
The South African government lacks the political will to address the high levels of violent crime in the country, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Sunday. DA leader Tony Leon said the minister of safety and security’s remark that people who whinge about crime should leave the country is reflective of a government who has lost touch with the unspeakable horrors of crime.
Forensic auditors have uncovered records of more than R25-million listed as having been paid to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its structures by Brett Kebble and companies linked to the slain magnet, the Sunday Independent reported. The ANC says it has not been quizzed about any such alleged funds.
The African National Congress is developing a new policy that will limit the number of empowerment deals its members and their spouses may make, the Sunday Times reported. Based on its newly compiled ”Rich List”, the newspaper said new evidence has emerged that the party’s executives are richer than ever.
Two senior members of the Scorpions elite investigation unit have been arrested for alleged involvement in an international drugs syndicate, media reports said on Sunday. They were arrested at Johannesburg International airport during an undercover operation by the police’s crime intelligence unit.
The joint operations centre (JOC) set up to respond to the Port Elizabeth area floods finally closed on Saturday, said disaster-management officials. ”We’ve closed our JOC now … We believe there’s no further risk to life,” said Nelson Mandela Metro disaster-management chief Shane Brown.
The wreck of the Safmarine Agulhas is breaking up and containers still on board may break free, the East London harbour authorities warned on Saturday. ”She’s almost in two, but she hasn’t broken in two. She’s about to go. It won’t be much longer,” said the National Port Authority in East London.
A man was burnt to death when his nephew crashed their car on Saturday night in what an eyewitness described as ”a race with a tow-truck”. ER24 spokesperson Neil Noble said the Ford Sierra hit a traffic sign on the M41, crossed the median and collided with oncoming traffic. The car caught alight on impact.
Water has been successfully pumped out of the bulk carrier that started taking on water in heavy seas off KwaZulu-Natal and the vessel is no longer listing, officials said late on Saturday night. A spokesperson for the Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre in Cape Town said the ship was due in Durban at about 11am on Sunday.
Dubbed ”Little Chelsea” for seemingly trying to emulate, on a modest scale, English champions Chelsea’s pursuit of talent via a sizeable chequebook, Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday cruised to a third successive Telkom Charity Cup title while beating Bloemfontein Celtic 2-0 in a one-sided final at FNB Stadium.