LIVE UPDATES | Rebuilding SA: Air supply for PMB as airline, taxi group and supermarket join hands
July 17 2021 - 14:00
Retired magistrates and prosecutors roped in to expedite unrest cases
Justice minister Ronald Lamola has gazetted new “court directions” to fast-track looting and public unrest cases.
In a statement on Saturday, Lamola said the directions will “provide for special measures for the processing of cases and accused persons through the magistrates' courts during adjusted alert 4 regulations”. He said the directions also provide for the use of technology in the courtrooms.
July 17 2021 - 12:55
Rules banning fuel in containers to be amended after complaints
The minerals and energy department says a flood of complaints has forced it to review this week's ban on filling containers with petrol and diesel.
The ban followed widespread looting and torching of infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng this week, and is intended to prevent hoarding.
The department said on Friday it had “considered the concerns it has received” and planned to clarify the meaning of “container”.
July 17 2021 - 12:54
Toddler thrown from looted, burning building has flashbacks to incident
A Durban toddler whose mother threw her from the first floor of a burning building into the arms of a group of people waiting to catch her on the ground has flashbacks to the incident.
Pictures and videos of two-year-old Melokuhle ’Melo’ Manyoni, in a red gown and nappy, being hurled from the burning building by her mother have become the international face of the lengths that people have gone through to escape the violence and looting that has gripped KwaZulu-Natal since Monday
July 17 2021 - 11:48
Are the flames that devoured SA being fanned in Ramaphosa’s cabinet?
Does President Cyril Ramaphosa have a fifth columnist problem in his government?
Does he have, at the heart of his administration, people who by day pretend to stand with him and by night make common cause with his enemies?
The response of his government to this week's unprecedented orgy of violent looting will have left many mulling the question.
July 17 2021 - 10:15
We got a convoy: Trucks return to N3, but police and army miss the memo
The reopened N3 thundered again early on Saturday as hundreds of trucks left Johannesburg loaded with food and other essential goods to replenish KwaZulu-Natal's looted stores.
But while an army of private security vehicles shepherded the convoys east, police and the military were virtually absent.
TimesLIVE saw four police cars at the Heidelberg weighbridge but no other state security forces between Johannesburg and Heidelberg, or between Heidelberg and Harrismith.
July 17 2021 - 09:31
‘Unprecedented co-operation’ between public and private sectors gets relief trucks rolling, says B4SA
With police and soldiers securing the critical N3 artery, truckloads of critical medical supplies and pharmaceuticals are beginning to roll from Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal once more.
The relief effort has been boosted by “unprecedented co-operation” between the private and public sectors, restoring hopes that the vaccine rollout will soon be back on track, said Business for SA health working group chairperson Stavros Nicolaou.
“B4SA has worked closely with government to ensure the protection of oxygen supplies through police escorts, protection for medical and pharmaceutical warehouses, co-ordination and transportation of urgent medical supplies,” said Nicolaou.
July 17 2021 - 08:00
Air supply for PMB as airline, taxi group and supermarket join hands
The SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) has joined hands with Shoprite, regional airline Airlink and global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) to provide relief and supplies to counter the devastation in Pietermaritzburg.
Between them the organisations aim to move more than 2,000 food packages and provisions to hungry people in the KwaZulu-Natal capital.
A team of 85 volunteers from Airlink and HSF are due to land in the city on Sunday where minibus taxis belonging to Santaco members will ferry them to those areas in most need of support.