Describing murderer, rapist and kidnapper William Kekana as ”Satan incarnate”, Judge Monica Leeuw in the Temba Circuit High Court on Tuesday sentenced him to six life sentences plus 60 years. ”He is the real reincarnation of the devil himself. I would say he is the devil personified,” Leeuw said, staring at Kekana in the dock.
Killer rapist blames apartheid
Although the economic powerhouse of Gauteng has only 1,4% of South Africa’s land area of 1,219-million square kilometres, it has 24% of the population aged between 25 and 59 years, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. It also announced that the life expectancy at birth in South Africa is forecast to be only 50,7 years next year.
Doctors will continue negotiating with the Department of Health in a bid to resolve differences over doctors requiring licences to dispense medicine. The South African Medical Association (Sama) is currently in communication with the department and has received a ”positive response”, Sama chairperson Kgosi Letlape said on Tuesday.
The Department of Foreign Affairs could still not confirm on Tuesday that South African citizens were among the suspected terrorists arrested in Pakistan on the weekend. On Monday a Pakistani newspaper reported that two South Africans were among terrorism suspects arrested after a shootout on a house in Gujarat early on Sunday.
A new R5 coin with added security features was launched at the South African Mint Company in Pretoria on Tuesday in a bid to outsmart counterfeiters. The new coin, seven million of which will come into circulation next Monday, sports a silver-coloured border with a bronze-coloured centre.
Convicted murderer and rapist William Kekana told the Temba Circuit High Court on Tuesday he had murdered members of a Pretoria family because they were white. Kekana’s remark elicited a gasp from the presiding judge and the public gallery. "I found it very easy and simple to commit the crimes," Kekana said.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=119316">Kekana is guilty</a>
The German government has provided €7,5-million (about R60-million) in funding for development in Cape Town’s poverty-stricken Khayelitsha township for social development purposes. This money is to be matched rand-for-rand by South Africa. This was announced by Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo on Monday.
The timing and manner of National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka’s resignation speak of political pressure, not just a personal desire to move on, political analysts agreed on Monday. ”I am sure it is a pressurised resignation. He must be exhausted,” said political analyst Nic Boraine.
Ngcuka exit a matter of pressure
The Mpumalanga Parks Board has won a court judgement against the owners of a wildlife sanctuary who imported eight lions into the province illegally. The conservation authority removed the lions from Enkosini Wildlife Sanctuary in January 2003 after it was discovered they had been imported without a permit.
There is no need for alarm at an expected budget deficit in the education and social development departments of the Eastern Cape, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Monday. ”The scenario was being attended to,” Finance Ministry spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said in a statement.
William Kekana was found guilty in the Temba Circuit Court on Monday on all 14 charges relating to the hijacking, abduction, murder and rape of Janine Drennan and members of her family. Judge Monica Leeuw described Kekana as a ”pathological liar” who tried to blame his now-dead accomplice.
Recent media reports on unemployment and poverty, among whites especially, indicate the African National Congress is not succeeding in distributing wealth, the Freedom Front Plus said on Monday. ”Current trends point to a redistribution of poverty instead,” FF+ labour spokesperson Willie Spies said in a statement.
Johannesburg police believe they are making good progress in the investigation into the kidnap and murder of student Leigh Matthews, a spokesperson said on Monday. Matthews’s naked body was found in the veld at Walkerville Manor, south of Johannesburg, last Wednesday.
A European Union body will donate about R4,2-billion to the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) to help combat HIV/Aids, the council said on Monday. ”This is the initial amount. Out of those [donated] amounts, we will conduct trials and others things,” MRC spokesperson Julian Jacobs said.
A year after he was expelled from Zimbabwe as the correspondent for The Guardian, Andrew Meldrum has written a book that predicts a bright future for the country despite the havoc brought by President Robert Mugabe. Where We Have Hope: A Memoir of Zimbabwe chronicles Meldrum’s beginnings as an American journalist in Zimbabwe after its independence from Britain in 1980.
MDC faces crucial by-election
Four of the 22 Boeremag treason trialists lost their bid on Friday in the Pretoria High Court to secure bail. Acting Judge Peter Mabuse dismissed the bail applications of Mokopane medical doctor Johan Pretorius Jnr and Bela-Bela farmers Gerhardus ”Oom Vis” Visagie, Rudi Gouws and Herman van Rooyen.
The Tshwane University of Technology has obtained a court interdict barring students from its GaRankuwa campus, where they caused hundreds of thousands of rands’ damage on Thursday. The interdict was obtained in an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday night, a university spokesperson said.
South Africa is expected to take over the chair of one of the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) crucial organs from Lesotho on Thursday, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The reigns of the SADC’s politics, defence and security organ will be handed to Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota.
The Development Bank of Southern Africa’s chief financial officer, Abdul-Kader Mohamed, has been appointed the chief operating officer of broadcast signal distributor Sentech. The appointment was among several approved at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting in Pretoria, a statement read.
Trade unions at Telkom plan to tackle ”shareholder fundamentalism” at the communications monopoly that plans to lay off thousands of workers after record profits. The mooted retrenchments form part of Telkom’s strategy to reduce staff costs as a percentage of revenue to 17% from 22,6%.
Former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe has rejected allegations by former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock that he is protecting police generals of the apartheid era, it was reported on Thursday. De Kock testified in the amnesty rehearing of Gideon Nieuwoudt and two others regarding the death of the Motherwell Four.
The government should not adopt a ”one-size-fits-all” approach to upgrading informal settlements across South Africa, a leading housing development NGO has cautioned ahead of Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu presenting a comprehensive housing plan for informal settlements to the Cabinet.
The body of Leigh Matthews, believed to have been kidnapped almost two weeks ago, was found south of Johannesburg on Wednesday, police confirmed. Johannesburg police spokesperson Superintendent Chris Wilken said she was found in the veld at about 3.30pm.
A patient suffered a broken leg and several others were injured on Wednesday when the ceiling of a Vanderbijlpark hospital caved in, Vaal Rand police said. Captain Maria Mazibuko said the ceiling of the outward patients department at the Medi-Vaal private hospital suddenly gave way and fell on patients.
A Lutheran Church elder was killed and two others critically injured while travelling to Pretoria on Wednesday afternoon to buy new chairs for their church. The accident happened on the Ben Schoeman highway in Centurion, Gauteng. When the church’s bishop arrived on the scene, he found the church’s money had gone missing.
The South African government gave the signal on Wednesday that the public debate about foreign ownership of land in the country will continue. President Thabo Mbeki backed the national discussion of the issue of foreign land ownership during his Budget vote in the National Assembly in June.
An impasse in free trade talks between the Southern African Customs Union and the United States is unlikely to be resolved before the US presidential elections. ”The political climate leading up to elections may not lend itself to any material shift in US positions,” the Department of Trade and Industry official said on Wednesday.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa said on Wednesday it is negotiating with striking workers from petrol stations, car dealers and panel beaters following discussions with the Automobile Manufacturers Employers’ Organisation. The strike started on Tuesday.
Strong leadership, access to life-prolonging drugs and reducing infections will be the main challenges facing Southern Africa in the next decade, Aids campaigners say. About 70% of people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa, with the majority of them in the 14-nation Southern African region.
A passenger died on a London-bound South African Airways (SAA) flight on Tuesday night, forcing the aircraft to return to Johannesburg, the company said on Wednesday. SAA said flight SA238 left Johannesburg International airport at 8.30pm on Tuesday but returned two hours later due to the woman’s death.
The South African government has welcomed the announcement by the United States State Department that the debarment of Armscor, Fuchs and Denel has been rescinded. The debarment was originally instituted in 1994 as a result of activities undertaken in the US by these companies during the pre-1994 arms embargo era.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=119078">SA can now sell arms to the US</a>
The government should be bolder in its approach to making South Africa’s flagship industrial initiative at Coega in the Eastern Cape a ”sure thing”, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. The area is currently defined as an industrial development zone, but the DA said it should be defined as an export processing zone.