VOC The Hawks says evidence against arson accused, Zandile Mafe, will be revealed in court on Tuesday. The 49-year-old is expected to appear on a host of charges in connection to the devastating blaze at Parliament. The State intend to oppose bail. The City of Cape Town last week released a preliminary report by its fire services who tended to the fire, citing sprinkler and alarm system failures. […]
INTERNATIONAL On Monday, sources in the Israeli government leaked the news that Israel had informed the US State Department that, from now on, all major business deals between Israel and China would be cleared with Washington first. According to Haaretz, this was an Israeli initiative rather than succumbing to a direct US demand. The announcement comes after the Israeli government has been pushing the boundaries of US goodwill towards the country in recent months. In […]
INTERNATIONAL Thousands of Rohingya have been left homeless after a fire gutted parts of their refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh, police said. About 850,000 of the persecuted mostly Muslim minority, many of whom escaped a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar that the United Nations investigators concluded was executed with “genocidal intent”, live in a network of camps in Bangladesh’s border district of Cox’s Bazar. “About 1,200 houses were burnt in […]
INTERNATIONAL Six months ago, pilot Hana Khan saw her picture on an app that appeared to be “auctioning” dozens of Muslim women in India. The app was quickly taken down, no one was charged, and the issue shelved – until a similar app popped up on New Year’s Day. Khan was not on the new app called Bulli Bai – a slur for Muslim women – that was hawking activists, […]
INTERNATIONAL More than 160 people were killed and 5,000 arrested in Kazakhstan after the riots that shook Central Asia’s largest country over the past week. The interior ministry, quoted on Sunday by local media, said initial estimates put property damage at about 175 million euros ($198m) after the deadly violence. More than 100 businesses and banks were attacked and looted and about 400 vehicles destroyed, the ministry said. A total […]
LOCAL Police Minister Bheki Cele has appealed to communities to assist the police in their fight against crime. He was speaking at the Elukwatini stadium in Mpumalanga, during the funeral service of local police station commander Beauty Marivate. She died in hospital after being shot when attending to a business robbery in the area last week. Eight suspects have been arrested in connection with her murder. Cele says communities need to […]
LOCAL Police in the Western Cape say they've arrested over 400 people since the new year began. Police spokesperson, Wesley Twigg, says they had various operations over the festive season including contact tracing where they arrested suspects on charges of murder, attempted murder and assault. Twigg says they also confiscated more than 30 illegal firearms. "Days into the New Year, Western Cape police through targeted operations have confiscated a total […]
LOCAL The Western Cape government says their provincial disaster management centre has made sure they have extensive preparations in place to ensure the prevention of fires at the province’s facilities. Premier Alan Winde says they have since 2011 provided aerial support to municipalities, totalling R125 million. The programme also includes specialised ground support teams which are protecting communities in the event of fires. Winde says an allocation of R41-million has […]
LOCAL The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) announced that the deadline for applications for the 2022 academic year, initially due to end today, has been extended to January 21. NSFAS says it follows a meeting between stakeholders. Since applications opened in November last year, more than 600k applications have been received. Meanwhile, the South African Union of Students (SAUS) says it wants all students to return to class this […]
VOC became the first Muslim radio station in South Africa when a special events license was granted to the station in Ramadan/January 1995. Subsequent temporary broadcast licenses were granted, permitting the station to broadcast for 24 hours.
