Cape Town – It was a heartbreaking scene as a Chinese shopkeeper’s wife wept openly after his death at the hands of gunmen on Tuesday.
Two unknown males armed with a firearm entered a shop in Mfuleni and chased the wife of the shop owner with the firearm, police said.
“The suspects returned and fatally shot her 32-year-old husband several times and fled the scene on foot,” Western Cape police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said.
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Cape Town – Pupils at New Eisleben Secondary School stoned a Cape Argus photographer’s vehicle on Wednesday morning during violent protests against the school’s principal.
Hundreds of pupils protested outside and inside the school premises this morning. Garbage was dumped in the school’s corridors.
Attempts at contacting the principal were unsuccessful – his office phone went unanswered.
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Durban – A DA district councillor is facing charges of interference with police work after allegedly refusing a parking ticket and damaging a police vehicle.
Elleanor Peterson, 38, an uMgungundlovu councillor, was arrested after an altercation with metro police outside a popular Florida Road restaurant on Thursday night.
She has since resigned as a councillor.
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Durban – The Durban metro policeman whose horse was rescued from sinking sand on the beach at the weekend said he did not see signs warning that the area was under construction and that it was dangerous.
“I can say with absolute certainty that there was no one there at the time,” Inspector Jeffrey Gunter said on Tuesday.
Warning signs had been erected and tape had been put up on three sides of the rectangular area to cordon it off, but, Gunter said, he entered from the side closest to the sea, from where none of the warning signs were visible and where there was no tape.
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Pietermaritzburg – One man has been shot dead and another severely assaulted with a brick in the Lynnfield Park area just outside Pietermaritzburg.
Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane said the men had been confronted at their home at about 6pm on Monday. It is believed Thembelani Mkhize, 34, and Thobani Ncube, 35, were returning home when they were attacked.
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Durban – Community Safety MEC Willies Mchunu has condemned the brutal killing of two men in KwaNongoma yesterday.
Police were reluctant to speculate on the motive for the killings of Bhande Joseph Khumalo, 71, and Hlehla Sibiya, 61, but Mchunu has linked the deaths to a long-running feud between two families in eMatheni village.
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Johannesburg – The Economic Freedom Fighters is pleased that Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi uses a public health hospital instead of a private one, the movement said on Wednesday.
“The EFF approves because one of our fundamental principles and policy positions is that all elected public representatives should use public services and institutions,” the organisation said in a statement.
“All public representatives in all legislatures and Parliament will use public institutions and services, particularly schools and heath care.”
On Tuesday, Motsoaledi was admitted to Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria for a surgical procedure.
He is likely to be off work for about a week, health ministry spokesperson Joe Maila said.
– SAPA
Durban – Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa urged Ulundi residents on Tuesday to help police in their hunt for the killers of an ANC councillor.
“We call upon members of the community to come forward with information, no matter how little it may seem, which would assist in the apprehension and most importantly securing of convictions,” Mthethwa said.
Earlier, Mthethwa and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Betty Mmamonnye Ngobeni visited the family of the slain councillor Makhosonke Msibi in Ulundi.
Msibi was gunned down on Sunday night after returning from a meeting in Nongoma.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Mdunge said on Monday that a man knocked at the door of Msibi’s house. His son opened the door and a man asked to see the councillor.
According to Mdunge the man fired shots at Msibi when he emerged. The 48-year-old councillor sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was declared dead at the scene.
Mthethwa called for political tolerance ahead of the 2014 national elections.
“We are aware that we have now entered a silly season where some leaders would make inflammatory remarks which fuel violence and political intolerance. We urge them to exercise maturity and refrain from making remarks that are destructive and perpetuate killings and violence,” said Mthethwa.
– SAPA
Johannesburg – Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius will likely know his trial date when he appears in court next Monday on murder charges for shooting dead his girlfriend, a family spokesperson said.
The 26-year-old double amputee athlete known as the “Blade Runner” will return to court on the day slain model Reeva Steenkamp would have turned 30.
“We don’t foresee long proceedings… Chances are very high that a trial date will be set,” family spokesperson Anneliese Burgess told AFP.
Case finalised
Prosecutors said on Tuesday they have finalised their case against the sprinter.
“We have finalised the indictment, which contains a full list of the charges,” said Bulelwa Makeke, the National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson. “It will be served on Monday.”
A one-day appearance was expected and “shouldn’t be long”, Makeke told AFP later.
In a statement police confirmed they had also completed the murder investigation.
Pistorius is charged with fatally shooting Steenkamp in the early hours of 14 February through a locked bathroom door in his upmarket Pretoria home.
The star athlete claims he mistook her for an intruder, but prosecutors argue it was premeditated murder, which carries a sentence of life imprisonment.
Pistorius’s lawyers want the charge reduced to culpable homicide. His attorney Kenneth Oldwage told AFP he would meet with prosecutor Gerrie Nel to discuss the trial date before the appearance.
Steenkamp, a model and law graduate who had been dating Pistorius for just a few months, suffered gunshot wounds to her head, elbow and hip.
British television channel Sky News broadcast graphic leaked images of the blood-spattered bathroom where she was killed.
Postponement expected
Police expect Monday’s procedural hearing to be postponed after the indictment is served.
By then the prosecution and defence may also have finalised a start date for the trial, which is supposed to take place early next year.
Pistorius was the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied competitors at the London Olympics last year.
His family said in June he had started training again for “mental and emotional equilibrium” after taking a break.
He is free pending trial on bail of R1m.
– AFPJohannesburg – Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius will likely know his trial date when he appears in court next Monday on murder charges for shooting dead his girlfriend, a family spokesperson said.
The 26-year-old double amputee athlete known as the “Blade Runner” will return to court on the day slain model Reeva Steenkamp would have turned 30.
“We don’t foresee long proceedings… Chances are very high that a trial date will be set,” family spokesperson Anneliese Burgess told AFP.
Case finalised
Prosecutors said on Tuesday they have finalised their case against the sprinter.
“We have finalised the indictment, which contains a full list of the charges,” said Bulelwa Makeke, the National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson. “It will be served on Monday.”
A one-day appearance was expected and “shouldn’t be long”, Makeke told AFP later.
In a statement police confirmed they had also completed the murder investigation.
Pistorius is charged with fatally shooting Steenkamp in the early hours of 14 February through a locked bathroom door in his upmarket Pretoria home.
The star athlete claims he mistook her for an intruder, but prosecutors argue it was premeditated murder, which carries a sentence of life imprisonment.
Pistorius’s lawyers want the charge reduced to culpable homicide. His attorney Kenneth Oldwage told AFP he would meet with prosecutor Gerrie Nel to discuss the trial date before the appearance.
Steenkamp, a model and law graduate who had been dating Pistorius for just a few months, suffered gunshot wounds to her head, elbow and hip.
British television channel Sky News broadcast graphic leaked images of the blood-spattered bathroom where she was killed.
Postponement expected
Police expect Monday’s procedural hearing to be postponed after the indictment is served.
By then the prosecution and defence may also have finalised a start date for the trial, which is supposed to take place early next year.
Pistorius was the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied competitors at the London Olympics last year.
His family said in June he had started training again for “mental and emotional equilibrium” after taking a break.
He is free pending trial on bail of R1m.
– AFP
Johannesburg – National police commissioner Riah Phiyega has concluded discussions with Gauteng commissioner Lieutenant General Mzwandile Petros regarding his employment contract, her spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“Discussions about Lieutenant General Petros’s employment contract and other related issues have been concluded,” said Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale.
“She [Phiyega] has undertaken to engage the public on the matter before the end of August 2013.”
Petros’s contract ends in mid-August.
He served as provincial commissioner of the Western Cape for seven years and has held his current position in Gauteng for almost three years.
– SAPA
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