Law 'like a spider's web'

As long ago as 1837, Mr Bumble, a character in the Charles Dickens play, Oliver Twist, said "the law is an ass - an idiot." But, here in South Africa not only is it an ass but a rich ass because the law seems to be aimed more at protecting big money than human lives.

Last week a Cape...

Our neighbourhood fears

More South Africans are afraid of walking alone in their residential neighbourhoods today than a decade ago. In some cases men are more afraid than women, and the youth than the elderly. This is according to a new Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study on South Africans' fear of crime.

The study, by a research specialist in the HSRC's Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme, Benjamin Roberts, looks at...

Ons mag steel!

Misdadigers voel geregtig daarop om te vat van mense wat meer as hulle het. So het gevonniste huisrowers in ’n studie aan navorsers gesê wat wou bepaal waarom hulle dié misdaad gepleeg het. Dr. Johan Burger, ’n senior navorser by die Instituut vir Sekerheidstudie (ISS), het gister gesê in dié studie is bevind dat huisrowers hulle op “ryker” woonbuurte toespits.

“Baie van die meer welvarende woongebiede word omring deur armer woongebiede (soos...

40 families attacked every day

Johannesburg - Every day in the past year, 40 families have been attacked by robbers in their homes. And the three hours between midnight and 03:00 is the time that robbers prefer to strike. About 32% of all robberies countrywide occur after midnight.

According to a report by the South African Police Services (SAPS), homeowners should be on the alert also for robbers between 21:00 and 23:59 because 23% of robberies occurred during...

'We are prepared to die for the revolution' 
 
Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Saturday "We are prepared to die in defence of one another and for our revolution. And that is why we cannot apologise for being revolutionaries," said Vavi addressing guests at unionist Bheki Mkhize's tombstone unveiling in Ulundi, northern KwaZulu-Natal.

He praised Mkhize for his commitment to the union and to the African National Congress...

Freed to kill

Johannesburg - Two of five-year-old Danielle Esterhuizen's killers were released from prison just days before her murder. The Johannesburg High Court also heard on Thursday that the shooter David Nqomane, 31, was a serial offender. He was previously deported to Mozambique but returned to South Africa and was found...

Who are you going to kill?

I get confused easily. I was fine at four plus four, even four times four was manageable during maths. But then they got all technical and started adding Xs and Ys and train stations and Adam carrying five apples who gave three to Neil, who needed to reach B with Ashley before getting off with...

'The police hung up on her'

Botshabelo - "You pick up the casings and bring them to us." That's what a policeman reportedly told Boet Robberts, owner of Ke-a-Rona Butchery in Botshabelo, after an armed robbery. "It's just unacceptable!"

Harry Nel, 50, said on Monday he had been taking money out to the bakkie that was parked in front of the butchery.

He had been putting the last two bags of money in the bakkie when...

Daughter's murder: ‘no police action’  

The Mngadi family in Sweetwaters, Pietermaritzburg, is still in the dark about the case of their daughter who was brutally murdered by her estranged boyfriend on June 12. What annoys the family most is that it has been eight days since Ncengeni Mngadi (28) was murdered and police have still not come to take statements from them. Also, the fact that her murderer, who slit her throat, has still not been arrested despite being...

Oh, my Southern Africa

How my heart does bleeds for you.
What turmoil this land has never before faced,
Born of this land, the blood of Africa runs so deep in my veins,
How my heart wept for the land I had as a child.
How my heart was ripped from the breast when my feet departed the soil of my mother earth.
But how my heart ached for the streets, which seemed to run with blood while there.
How many loved ones lives taken, how many a hungry face...

Poor police work keeps jails overflowing 

A senior judge has expressed extreme concern over unjustified arrests of innocent people by police. He urged magistrates to take a tough stance on cases which drag on for years and end up clogging the criminal justice system and result in overcrowding.

Judge Deon van Zyl, the recently appointed acting inspecting judge of prisons, on Friday said shoddy police investigation should not be allowed to infringe on...