South Africa

Zimbabwe’s High Court in Harare has postponed hearing Mail & Guardian chief executive Trevor Ncube’s case against the withdrawal of his Zimbabwean citizenship. The Zimbabwean government claims Ncube — who publishes the Standard and the Zimbabwe Independent in that country — is not a Zimbabwean citizen.

The two South Africans accused of having links to terror group al-Qaeda will release a statement on Wednesday, their lawyer said on Tuesday night. This follows an evening meeting between the two and lawyer Shaheed Dollie. ”We want to do this instead of causing a media frenzy,” said Dollie.

South Africa said on Wednesday it had asked the United Nations to delay placing two South Africans on its list of suspects linked to al-Qaeda. Foreign ministry spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said the request amounted to an objection by the South African government.

Tsotsi star Presley Chweneyagae faces a charge of fraud after he was arrested for driving with an allegedly fake driver’s licence, Beeld reported on Wednesday. Chweneyagae (22) was arrested in Pretoria on Tuesday and released on bail of R2 000.

A deputy director with the Scorpions at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Pretoria was fined R8 000 for driving under the influence of alcohol, media reports said on Wednesday. David Damerell (48) entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the state at the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Tuesday.

A Swedish couple who moved to South Africa watched TV news reports in horror as their personal things were plundered from a ship stranded on the south coast of England. Jan and Anita Bokdal shipped household goods valued at R100 000 from Sweden to Cape Town at the beginning of the year on a container ship.

The Johannesburg metro police will employ 500 officers a year until 2010 to ensure safety in the city during the Soccer World Cup, Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said on Tuesday. They will be deployed on the city’s roads and busy areas. ”In addition to that, more surveillance cameras will be installed to ensure that people are safe.”

Parliament’s correctional services committee is to find out for itself on Thursday how Annanias Mathe escaped from Pretoria’s C-Max prison late last year. Head of the portfolio committee Dennis Bloem said on Tuesday the visit will not replace an existing probe into the serial offender’s escape from the prison’s maximum-security section in November last year.

The Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) is to contribute R55-million to fund the municipal services for a middle-income housing development in Polokwane, Limpopo, it announced on Tuesday. ”DBSA will fund the installation of the necessary municipal services and infrastructure on the land,” said Helge Switala, DBSA’s investment officer on the project.

The Arts and Culture Ministry has sprung to the defence of senior African National Congress member Tony Yengeni, who is under fire from animal lovers over his ritual stabbing of a bull at the weekend. This is not a matter for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals because it goes much deeper than cruelty to animals, said the ministry on Tuesday.

Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride will break his silence about his December car crash on Wednesday. ”The executive mayor of Ekurhuleni, Duma Nkosi, and chief of police Robert McBride will tomorrow [Wednesday] jointly address the media on the latter’s unfortunate car accident,” the spokesperson for the Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality said on Tuesday.

Allegations of animal cruelty against fraud convict Tony Yengeni cannot be dealt with by simply using criminal law, the South African Human Rights Commission said on Tuesday. ”The commission’s perspective is that one cannot take a simplistic approach to matters like this. It goes to the very heart of how people define themselves,” said chairperson Jody Kollapen.

South Africa is holding talks with the United States on two South Africans Washington wants placed on a United Nations list of people with suspected ties to al-Qaeda, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday. ”We are speaking with the Americans on this issue,” said Ronnie Mamoepa, without elaborating.

Trevor Ncube, the chief executive of the Mail & Guardian, said on Tuesday that he was ”delighted” that the Zimbabwe High Court in Harare would meet on January 24 to consider the threat to withdraw his Zimbabwean citizenship. The Zimbabwe government is preventing Ncube from renewing his passport, claiming he is not a citizen of Zimbabwe.

Two South Africans accused of having links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan are expected to make submissions to government on Tuesday as to why they should not be on the United Nations suspected terrorists’ list, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Tuesday.

The Johannesburg Hospital is investigating allegations that its pharmacists dispensed expired medicines, media reports said on Tuesday. Pharmacists at the hospital allegedly dispensed expired medicines to state patients, sticking labels over the expiry dates.

”Darling, they’ve shot me. I can’t hold the door closed any longer,” said Willem Smit before giving a mighty shove and locking three robbers away from his family. Smit (41) of Acasia, north of Pretoria, was shot through the kitchen door on their smallholding in front of his wife, Magda (44) and their 13-year-old son, Steven.

Police arrested a man after he allegedly threatened to detonate a bomb on a Johannesburg-bound Air Botswana flight on Monday evening. ”He apparently banged on the cockpit door and demanded that it be opened and threatened to bomb the plane,” said spokesperson Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo.

North West police have seized drugs with an estimated street value of R270-million from a factory on a farm near Hartbeespoort Dam. Police spokesperson Superintendent Pieter du Plessis said: ”The drug ‘ice’ was seized on Monday morning when the Potchefstroom organised-crime unit and South African Revenue Service Pretoria investigators reacted to a tip-off …”