The dark and dangerous world fuels international criminal syndicates that control the illicit gold economy and as organised crime grips the country, it infiltrates our political landscape with dire consequences
Trust had paid out more than R700m but too many claimants ‘are being misdiagnosed, incorrectly classified or rejected’, say activists
Welkom mayor Nkosinjani Speelman has allegedly been continuing to perform his duties, despite his ‘suspension’
His father was robbed of freedom and of his land, now he hopes justice will be won for those to come
‘The land belongs to the people. Not any individual owns the land. People own property, not land’
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/ 29 January 2016
As Benny Malakoane showed off progress in Free State, 317 patients were left in the dark over their cancer status.
An expectation of rain in maize-producing areas has seen the price of the yellow variety fall to a three-week low.
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The brutal slaying of a young man whose body was found cut up has unsettled the once quiet town. <b>Eamon Allan</b> goes home to see what happened.
In a bumpy backstreet in Mthatha stands the offices of the ex-mineworkers’ union, founded in 1987. There are seven stacks of dusty files in one corner, each the height of an adult, containing compensation applications and other paperwork for each of the union’s members in the Eastern Cape. “About 18 000 members,” says Zanele Mbuyisa, a […]
The recent tragedy in Welkom has not deterred illegal miners from going back underground. Monako Dibetle finds out what drives them.
At the time of writing on Thursday, the bodies of 76 illegal miners had been brought to the surface at Harmony Gold’s Eland shaft in Welkom.
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/ 21 February 2009
On a hot Saturday afternoon in Thabong, Welkom, ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe was approached by a visibly disgruntled 85-year-old woman.
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/ 15 February 2009
President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Saturday that burglary and housebreaking should be taken more seriously by the police and courts.
Free State Stars registered their first victory of the Absa Premiership season when they beat Bay United 3-2 at the Welkom Stadium on Sunday.
Gold Fields, the world’s fourth-largest gold producer, on Friday confirmed that the illegal strike at its Beatrix mine near Welkom in the Free State had been called off.
Trade union Solidarity on Friday said 100 of its members were trapped 900m underground at Gold Fields’ Beatrix mine outside of Welkom in the Free State
A fourth-minute strike by Jimmy Kauleza seemed to have paved the way for a Free State Stars victory, but a 69th-minute piledriver by Nhlanhla Shabalala got a much-needed point for league championship contenders Ajax Cape Town in an entertaining Absa Premiership match at the Welkom Rugby Stadium on Wednesday.
Griquas recovered from a lethargic first half where they were trailing 22-24 against the Griffons to win their compulsory Currie Cup friendly rugby match in Welkom on Saturday 64-34. Spearheaded by Tobie Botes who first shined at flyhalf and then at scrumhalf, the Kimberley side simply overran their opponents.
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/ 29 January 2007
A former Free State Miss South Africa finalist, Taryn Thompson, and her husband appeared in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court on Monday on drug-related charges. Thompson was released on bail of R1 000 while her husband was remanded and will formally apply for bail on February 5, said police spokesperson Captain Magda Muller.
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/ 10 December 2006
South Africa, the world’s top gold producer, has launched a crackdown against ”pirates” who live for months in the bowels of abandoned pits, plundering booty worth millions of rands. Known as the ”Zama Zama”, which means ”Let’s try our luck”, the so-called ”gold pirates” have struck terror among local miners as well as police by setting up booby traps and homemade bombs to keep them away.
A Thabong man shot dead a 14-year-old plaintiff in a case against him outside the Welkom Magistrate’s Court on Friday, Free State police said. The man then shot and wounded himself, Captain Rosa Benade said. The man allegedly went to the state prosecutor and said he wanted to plead guilty on a charge of assaulting the teenager.
Three lions killed two security guards at a game farm near Virginia in the Free State on Wednesday, police said. Captain Rosa Benade said the two men — one aged 36 and the other 70 — worked as security guards at the farm, which is situated 7km from Hennenman.
An Odendaalsrus man who held his girlfriend and two-year-old boy hostage in a house in Kutlwanong was overpowered by police early on Saturday morning, Free State police said. ”This morning at about 6am members of the task force from Pretoria went into the house and managed to arrest the suspect,” Superintendent William Mokoena said.
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/ 18 January 2006
A woman arrested for abandoning her newborn baby near the Hennenman railway station would remain in custody until her next court appearance at the end of the month, Free State police said on Wednesday. She appeared briefly in the Hennenman Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for child neglect and would appear again on January 30, Captain Stephen Thakeng said.
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/ 17 January 2006
A newborn baby girl found naked and abandoned near the Hennenman train station in the northern Free State over the weekend had been sexually assaulted, local police said on Tuesday. Constable Kiddy Kitime said the baby was found at 6.45pm on Sunday and taken to the Bongani Hospital for treatment.
Detectives are investigating the murder of a woman who was hacked to death with a garden spade, Free State police said on Monday. The body of the 40-year-old woman was found at midnight on Saturday in front of a house in Marico Street at Saaiplaas in Virginia.
Harmony Gold on Monday complied with a Labour Court ruling by withdrawing retrenchment notices issued to about 5 000 Free State mineworkers, the National Union of Mineworkers said. The court found that Harmony Gold had rushed the procedure set down in the Labour Relations Act to retrench workers.
Two pilots were killed in the northern Free State when their gliders collided on Monday afternoon, police reported. The men, John McLachlan and Dieter Hiress of Welkom, were participating in a race with three other gliders in their group when the accident occurred.