WELBEDACHT, South Africa, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Mthembeni
Shezi, an ANC local councillor in the run-down suburb of
Welbedacht on South Africa’s east coast, was wrapping up a
routine meeting last month when two men barged in, sprayed the
room with gunfire and shot him five times in the chest.

“It was like a movie. The men just shot indiscriminately. It
was scary. Everyone panicked. We hit the floor. I didn’t think I
would come out of there alive,” said one woman present, who
remains too frightened to reveal her name.

MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) – A survivor of last month’s police killing of 34 strikers at a South African mine says officers shot fleeing and surrendering men beyond the eyes of the media, challenging police assertions that they fired only in self-defence.

The testimony of Malusi King Danga, a 27-year-old general worker at Lonmin’s Marikana mine, sheds light on shootings on a rocky outcrop near the platinum mine on August 16.

MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) – A survivor of last month’s police killing of 34 strikers at a South African mine says officers shot fleeing and surrendering men beyond the eyes of the media, challenging police assertions that they fired only in self-defense.

The testimony of Malusi King Danga, a 27-year-old general worker at Lonmin’s Marikana mine, sheds light on shootings on a rocky outcrop near the platinum mine on August 16.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The mastermind of a “Boer Army” white supremacist plot to assassinate Nelson Mandela and drive blacks out of South Africa was found guilty of high treason on Thursday after a trial that lasted almost ten years.

Former university lecturer Mike du Toit was the first member of the “Boeremag”, a rag-tag militia of apartheid loyalists, to be found guilty in connection with a botched 2002 coup attempt in Africa’s biggest economy which aimed to overthrow the ruling African National Congress.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa released its disgraced former police chief from prison on medical grounds on Friday, after serving 229 days of a 15-year sentence and prompting accusations the ruling ANC bends justice for the politically connected.

Jackie Selebi, also the former head of international police agency Interpol, is the most prominent member of the African National Congress to be convicted of corruption, for taking bribes from a drug smuggler.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A coal train ploughed into a truck packed with farm workers at a level crossing in eastern South Africa on Friday, cutting it in half and killing 19 people who were on their way to pick fruit, police and emergency services said.

Police spokesman Joseph Mabusa said it appeared the truck driver had miscalculated when crossing the track, leaving his vehicle directly in the path of a freight train carrying coal to neighbouring Mozambique.

JOHANNESBURG, July 13 (Reuters) – A train ploughed into a
truck packed with farm workers at a level crossing in eastern
South Africa on Friday, cutting it in half and killing at least
19 people who were on their way to pick fruit, police and
emergency services said.

Police spokesman Joseph Mabusa said it appeared the truck
driver had badly miscalculated when crossing the track, leaving
his vehicle directly in the path of a freight train carrying
coal to Mozambique. It was too early to say precisely what
happened however, he added.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s economy is still largely under the control of whites who held power under apartheid, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday, and he called for a “dramatic shift” to redress the wealth balance more evenly in favor of the black majority.

Such calls have been a staple of ANC strategy documents for years and Zuma’s policy speech comes months before he will seek re-election as leader of the faction-ridden movement in December. He has also been facing demands from the party’s youth wing to nationalize mines and seize white-owned farmland.

JOHANNESBURG, June 26 (Reuters) – South Africa’s economy is
still largely under the control of whites who held power under
apartheid, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday, and he called
for a “dramatic shift” to redress the wealth balance more evenly
in favour of the black majority.

Such calls have been a staple of ANC strategy documents for
years and Zuma’s policy speech comes months before he will seek
re-election as leader of the faction-ridden movement in
December. He has also been facing demands from the party’s youth
wing to nationalise mines and seize white-owned farmland.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s economy is still mostly under the control of whites who held power under apartheid and the government needs to take more drastic steps to make sure the black majority can benefit from its wealth, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.

Zuma, speaking at the start of a major policy meeting of his ruling African National Congress, said the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality posed long-term risks for Africa’s richest country 18 years after the end of apartheid.