THE provincial government said that cooperation with Botswana will enhance economic and social ties to benefit residents on both sides of the border. This came at the Prof Zacharia Keodirelang Matthews memorial lecture held at Moeding College in Otse, Botswana, at the weekend.

Matthews was a struggle icon and one of the founders of the ANC who died in Botswana where his remains were later exhumed for reburial in South Africa. The two day celebration was also part of the 30^th anniversary of the 1985 Gaborone massacre when 12 people died during an apartheid raid.

Provincial MEC for culture, arts and traditional affairs Tebogo Modise led a delegation that compromised government officials and members of the media.

In her remarks, Modise said: “Matthews was a man of integrity and honour. He dedicated his life to the people of South Africa and Botswana.

“He was one of the first people to draft the Freedom Charter and was a man of his time. Matthews, ironically, was one who, in some ways, stood apart from and even ahead of that time. It was in this that his greatness inspired all of us,” Modise said.

“Matthews, who died at the age of 68, was the first ambassador for Botswana to the US. He was a towering figure in the 20^th century. He did not just bestride the continent of Africa but became a political colossus of the entire world stage,” she said.

Matthews was the first black person to obtain a BA LLB degree in South Africa.

*NB: The article first appeared on The New Age newspaper   

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Johannesburg – Former leader of the Congress of SA Students Andrew Babeile has been arrested over his alleged involvement in the destruction of property belonging to the Naledi Local Municipality in North West during a protest this week.

Babeile, Lindwall Steytler, Handy Ntshotshoba, Mvuyo Ncobo and an unnamed man handed themselves over to the police on Wednesday night.

According to councillors and police, they destroyed municipal property and assaulted the municipality’s chief financial officer David Thornhill on Tuesday afternoon.

Babeile is no stranger to controversy. In 1998, he was found guilty of stabbing a white pupil with a pair of scissors at Warrenton High School, following an argument over race.

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Potchefstroom – The fight against stock theft progressed when Wolmaransstad police apprehended six men for possession of suspected stolen goats last week, North West police said on Sunday.

The arrests came after police were dispatched to attend a complaint about a suspicious vehicle seen parked along the R501 (Wolmaransstad-Leeudoringstad) road on Friday morning, spokesman Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said.

“According to the information available at this stage, they found the car and questioned all six occupants of a Volkswagen Jetta,” he said.

They allegedly informed the police that they had run out of petrol.

Their vehicle was searched, and two goats were found inside the boot.

The suspects, aged between 21 and 49, were arrested for possession of suspected stolen livestock and were due to appear in the Wolmaransstad Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

(Courtesy of African News Agency)

Johannesburg – Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir was apparently planning to use the firearm found in his cell to shoot police officers escorting him to court in order to escape from prison.

Forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan said he received information while he was out of the country about Krejcir’s alleged plot. He immediately alerted police.

“I warned them that the escape was planned for next week or upon his (Krejcir’s) next visit out of the prison at Zonderwater. I gave the ‘probability’ of an attempt as greater than 95 percent,” O’Sullivan told The Star on Sunday.

For more http://www.iol.co.za