News flashes - May 31, 2005
May 31, 2005 Edition 3
SA to resume co-operation with Israel
Israel and South Africa are to resume security co-operation after a 15-year gap, with defence officials to visit Israel for the first time since the end of apartheid, Haaretz newspaper reported today. South African officials are due to meet the defence ministry director and tour Israel's defence and aircraft industries to discuss possible joint ventures. Israel was one of the main suppliers of weapons and military technology to South Africa during the apartheid regime, but the ties were severed when white rule was replaced by a democratic government in 1994. Since it swept to power in 1994, the African National Congress, Africa's oldest liberation movement, has taken a decidedly pro-Palestinian stance, criticising Israel for building settlements in the Palestinian territories. - Sapa-AFP.
DA councillor lashes out and jumps ship
The DA's leadership style and policies have come under fire from one of its councillors, who has defected to the Independent Democrats. Mervyn Cirota announced yesterday he was jumping ship and quitting as the DA's councillor for Ward 74 in Johannesburg. Cirota said the DA's approach to politics only helped to entrench the racial divisions created by apartheid. The DA played down Cirota's departure, saying he had decided to defect after realising he was to be removed from his position as a councillor because of an "appalling" performance record over the past year. - Thokozani Mtshali
Priest in custody over repeated rapes
An elderly Limpopo priest has been arrested for allegedly repeatedly raping a 14-year-old girl. The 66-year-old Zion Christian Church (ZCC) preacher is charged with luring the girl to his Mauluma village subsistence farm with promises of part-time work last year. "He then allegedly raped her, and gave her money to keep her quiet. He also somehow allegedly convinced the girl to come back, and raped her on a number of other occasions over a six-month period. The victim was paid between R5 and R20 each time," said a local police spokesperson yesterday. - African Eye News Service
10 years for abuse of step-granddaughter
The Bloemfontein High Court sentenced a Botshabelo man to 10 years imprisonment yesterday for raping his step-granddaughter while her parents were at work, Free State police said. William Rabanye raped the girl, who was 12 years old at the time, during 2002 and 2003. "The victim fell prey to the old man every day after school while the parents were at work," police said. . - Sapa.
Free State child's head crushed by pipe
A 10-year-old boy died when his head was crushed by a cement water pipe in Tweeling in the eastern Free State, police said. A group of children found the pipe abandoned at an old construction site and pushed it up a steep slope. - Sapa.
Soweto cops help with tsunami relief
Soweto police today handed the Red Cross a donation to help victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. Police spokesperson Sergeant Richard Munyai said police had contributed R3300. - Sapa.
Farmers' loan scheme launched in Limpopo
Agriculture minister Thoko Didiza launched a scheme to provide emerging farmers with low-interest loans yesterday. "The project means that emerging farmers can obtain loans of about R10 000 at low interest rates," said spokesperson Steve Galane. - Sapa.
