See the news highlights for April 2013
Soldiers die during an anti-poaching drive and the realities of rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park were highlighted to the media in April this year.
• April 2: Five SANDF soldiers were killed when a helicopter crashed in the Kruger National Park on Saturday night. They were part of Operation Rhino, a continuous anti-poaching initiative in the park. Police and SANDF investigated the scene for an entire day to establish the cause of the accident.
• April 5: Between March 21 and April 1, 56 incidents of poacher incursions were recorded in the Kruger National Park. 203 rhinos have been poached in South Africa this year. In total 60 people have been arrested, 36 of them in the KNP. The reduced number of arrests was contributed to the fact that a case against nine alleged poachers was withdrawn in the local Magistrate’s Court.
• April 9: Three Mafia-style taxi bosses were found guilty of orchestrating the taxi wars in the Lowveld and Gauteng during the late ‘90’s and sentenced to life imprisonment. The case dragged on for years as it was investigated by the now-disbanded Scorpions and the police taxi violence unit and taken over by the Hawks.
• April 12: Journalists were taken on a tour to learn more about rhino poaching and saw how post-mortems were conducted to procure evidence. They walked 12 km to scenes and were taken through the procedure followed when a carcass is found at the site of where a white rhino calf’s carcass was discovered.
• April 16: A painting featuring a white Jacob Zuma was removed from Mbombela Art Gallery’s exhibition for World Art Day. Zuma is depicted in the painting as a white man and it was deemed unsuitable by the municipality’s manager of arts and culture. The artist had no qualms about the decision and said that art was meant to ignite discussion between groups.
• April 19: ‘n Man lê in Mediclinic Nelspruit met erge kopbeserings nadat hy, vriende en familie naby ‘n bekende eetplek aangerand is. Bakstene, klippe en bottels is na mans, vrouens en kinders gegooi. Selfs die polisie het deurgeloop en twee sake van kwaadwillege saakbeskadiging is aangemeld. Die slagoffer sou vandag ‘n operasie ondergaan.
• April 23: The Ehlanzeni District’s municipal manager, Adv Hugh Mbatha, will not face any disciplinary action after being deemed guilty of maladministration and theft by the Public Protector. Only a written warning will be issued and delegates who took part in the trip to Italy (with ‘stolen’ funds) will be required to pay back the money. The Public Protector was concerned about the quality of the implementation of remedial action and that the council was challenging some of the PP findings.
• April 26: Four people died in a helicopter crash on Tuesday and information is slowly emerging surrounding the circumstances of the incident. The aircraft was headed to Johannesburg from Casterbridge, when it crashed the Schoemanskloof area. The Civil Aviation Authority’s spokesperson said an investigation could take a minimum of six months, depending on the complexity of the investigation.
• April 30: The reasons for a high-profile delegation to visit Indonesia were questioned as the mission relates to land that doesn’t belong to Mbombela Municipality. The purpose of the trip is to investigate the system used to collect revenue for services from informal settlements. Despite requests for comment from the DA councilor and Lowvelder the council has yet to respond.
