The police have officially confirmed that they have arrested three top political office bearers at the Nongoma Local Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal earlier on Friday. However, they did not reveal the charges except that the suspects will appear in court on Monday where they would be presented with the charge sheet. “The SAPS confirms that there are politicians and officials attached to the Nongoma Local Municipality that have been arrested. They are expected to appear in court on Monday morning.…

Angry residents of KwaMashu township in Durban in KwaZulu-Natal have flipped the script, saying the 21 days the government gave them to register their spaza shops is the same period within which foreign nationals must leave the country. The residents said this earlier on Thursday, November 21, during a march across the township against foreign nationals.  Conducted under the watchful eyes of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Durban metro police, the group of protestors carried placards reading “Enough…

Kwazulu-Natal police, led by Provincial Commissioner General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, have raided a factory in which expired and contaminated food items are stored before distribution to the various wholesalers and spaza shops. This is part of a campaign against contaminated food announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week following the deaths of 22 schoolchildren nationwide from food poisoning.

The former minister of the South African Police Service (SAPS), Bheki Cele, has shed more light about the criminal incidents that have happened at his home since he left office. Cele told SABC’s Face the Nation last night that he is being followed by unknown cars and recently, there was a break-in at his house in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Cele was speaking about the matter for the second time. He first made some scant revelations about this while speaking to Vuma…

Academic Mary de Haas of UKZN has long studied the prevalence of violence and its intersectionalities in Natal. She examines the complex relationships between violence and other social, political, and economic factors within the provincial context. The Moerane Commission later confirmed that Glebelands, townships, municipalities and taxi ranks are killing fields. Although the Moerane Report has been widely criticised for not being implemented effectively, it remains crucial for understanding the root causes of political violence in the province. Many reports…

South African authorities should screen all officials, patrol back routes and introduce technology tools such as drones on the country’s borderlines if they are serious about fighting cross-border crime and human trafficking. This is according to a former police officer turned crime researcher who spoke to African Times in the wake of the arrests of three suspects linked to cross-border human trafficking. In the latest incident, police nabbed three people in connection with transporting 23 foreign nations believed to be…

A VIP Protection Unit police officer assigned to Free State MEC for Finance, Gadija Brown, has appeared in court on a charge of attempted murder after allegedly using his firearm to avenge himself for being assaulted with a beer bottle at a tavern. Warrant Officer Vusumuzi Matthews Makhaza, 49, was released on warning when he appeared in the Mangaung Magistrate’s Court this week. Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) spokesperson Robbie Raburabu said Makhaza was arrested last month following the incident,…

The rapidly increasing prevalence of ukuthwala, or child marriages, in the Nkomazi region of Mpumalanga has prompted a well-known lobby group advocating for women’s rights to join forces with concerned community members in a bid to combat the disturbing practice. Positive Women’s Network (PWN) decided to lend a helping hand following the discovery that many young girls in areas such as Mjejane, Tonga, and other villages surrounding Nkomazi were forced to marry older men by their families. According to Thandi…

A woman from Mpumalanga is scheduled to appear in the Emalahleni Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on charges of killing her seven-month-old daughter by setting fire to their shack. Mpumalanga police have reported that on Sunday morning, the mother allegedly locked the infant inside the shack in Marikana Extension 16, Vosman, near Emalahleni, and set it on fire, reducing it to ashes.“Upon arrival at the crime scene, a group of people was found deeply perturbed by the horrifying incident in which…

 In a strange turn of events, a member of a 10-man gang of robbers escaped death after being shot by an accomplice during a cash-in-transit robbery in Limpopo. Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba said the heist took place at around 4:40 pm on the Senotlelo-Mokgwaneng main road in Matlelerekeng outside Sekhukhune District on Monday. “According to reports, a cash-in-transit van was travelling along the Senotlelo-Mokgwaneng road when it was attacked by a group of about ten suspects driving a…