North West –

Two people have been arrested following the killing of a rhino cow in the Kruger National Park, North West police said on Sunday.

“A rifle and two horns were also recovered,” police spokeswoman Colonel Ronel Otto said.

The two alleged poachers, originally from Mozambique, were caught in the park after the poaching near the Pafuri camp.

They would face charges of rhino poaching and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition in the Makhado Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

The arrests brought the number of alleged poachers arrested in the park since January to 43.

On Tuesday the environmental affairs department said the number of rhino poached in the country thus far this year was 273. – Sapa

Pretoria – An eleven-year-old girl clung to her little brother at night to try to escape her stepfather who raped her six nights in a row – all because he wanted to get back at her mother who he believed was being unfaithful.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – Flights to and from OR Tambo Airport were possibly delayed by the controversial Jet Airways plane transporting Gupta wedding guests, as it performed what seemed to be a sightseeing flight over Pretoria before landing at Waterkloof Airforce base early last Tuesday morning.

This came to light in an interview with Athol Franz, owner and editor of African Pilot magazine, aired on eNews Channel Africa on Monday. 

In the interview Franz explained how having a flight plan is requirement for any commercial flight, but that air traffic controllers at OR Tambo International had no idea about the movements of, what has come to be known as, the Gupta flight.

“The air traffic controllers at OR Tambo had to take evasive action. Certain aircraft were held waiting on the ground and other aircraft that were in the air were diverted, because they had no idea what this plane was doing at that time,” Franz explained, citing an earlier conversation he’d had with an air traffic controller from OR Tambo. 

He added that although they had the plane on radar and were tracking it, they had no idea of where it was going. They assumed that it would land at OR Tambo and couldn’t release any planes till it had done so. 

According to Beeld, the flight approached Pretoria from the east, flying over Bronkhorstspruit, before turning north. After this it turned left and circled over the capital, in the vicinity of the Union Buildings.

For more http://www.news24.com

Cape Town – Deborah Patta has quit as anchor of 3rd Degree, according to a report on Tuesday, leaving the show’s future up in the air.

According to eNCA, Patta, who was also the show’s executive producer, a position she has also relinquished, will anchor the show for the last time on Tuesday 14 May.

She will now be pursuing other opportunities as a freelancer for international news companies, the report said, after the management of both eNCA and e.tv accepted her resignation.

ENCA reported group head of news Patrick Conroy as saying that Patta wanted to explore other options after 15 years of service.

“We’ve been in discussions about the future of 3rd Degree for several months. In the end she felt she wanted to try something new working as an independent freelancer. We agreed and will now explore a different on-air offering,” eNCA quoted Conroy as saying.

According to Conroy, planned changes were already in the pipeline, and 3rd Degree will “take a break” for a while, but no final decision has been made

News24

Polokwane – Mamelodi Sundowns pilled more misery on Black Leopards’ relegation troubles when they defeated the Limpopo outfit 5-2 in their PSL match at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Tuesday night. 

Downs’ victory was made possible by Elias Pelembe, Teko Modise, Nyasha Mushekwi and Hlompho Kenana while Mongezi Bobe and Samuel Mabunda were on the score-sheet for Leopards. 

The visitors stunned the home fans when they took an early lead trough their skipper Modise. The former Orlando Pirates and SuperSport United midfielder connected well with Pelembe’s marvellous pass and Modise just chipped the ball over Leopards ‘keeper Postnet Omony.

Pelembe was not done as he was now on the receiving end of a brilliant through ball from Kekana and all the Mozambican did as he found himself with acres of space, was to slot beyond Omony to score his first goal of the season.  

Sundowns made it 3-0 in the 28th minute to effectively take the match beyond reach for Lidoda Duvha. Kekana unleashed a rocket of a shot from a free kick situation from 35-yards out that ripped the back of the net as Leopards conceded their 54th goal of the season.  

Leopards who were starring at an embarrassing scoreline at this stage grabbed their opening goal of the match 10 minutes after Sundowns had scored their third. Their captain Bobe was unnoticed at the back post as he headed home Raymond Monama’s cross. 

Mushekwi compounded Leopards’ misery as he was on hand to poke home after a blunder from Omony.

Lidoda Duvha capitalised on Sundowns putting their foot off the peddle when Mabunda unleashed a shot from range that sailed into the back of the net in the 65th minute.

But Sundowns were not done scoring. Pelembe showed his footballing skills when he dribbled past three Leopards defenders on the left side and then scored his second from close range to make it 5-2. 

The result boosts Sundowns’ hopes of making it into the top eight while Leopards are in serious danger of automatic relegation as they remain bottom of the table with two games to go.

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By Obakeng Maje

Potchefstroom-The recent media statement issued by the NW Health Department in which they attempt to repudiate and water-down the concerns of the NW Department of Social Development about the closure of the Witrand Drug Rehabilitation is indicative of the seriousness of the rift within the NW Cabinet DA said. 

“In its attempt to spin itself out of taking responsibility for the plight of NW people addicted to drugs, abandoned by the NW Department of Health, it pretended that everything is business as usual at Witrand” DA Chris Hattingh said. 

The Department of Health in the province yesterday dispute the claims that the Witrand Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Potchefstroom has been closed down.

The Department of Health failed to disclose that they only provide care for people with mental disabilities simultaneously suffering from drug-addiction at the Witrand rehabilitation center said DA’s Chris Hattingh. The opposition party said addicted people without mental disabilities are simply being shown the door or dumped at offices of the NW Department of Social Development which in turn does not have access to a NW Drug Rehabilitation facility.

The shocking reality of the NW Drug Addiction Rehabilitation crisis is, that because of an inter-departmental feud based on funding issues,  NW drug addiction patients (without mental disabilities) have been abandoned since April 2012.

“It is of particular concern that not even the NW Premier could resolve the rift amongst two of her cabinet members – with absolute no comprehension of the devastating effects that drug dependency have on the community – specifically the NW youth community which find themselves being targeted by ruthless drug-peddlers” said Hattingh.

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