Police are investigating cases of kidnapping and attempted murder, after yet another abduction in Cape Town, this time in Blackheath. Police confirm that a 35-year-old woman was snatched from her luxury car in Ipswich Road in Blue Downs after 10 this morning. A video doing the rounds on social media claims that the woman is the wife of a business owner. Police confirm that she was alone in the car […]
VOC Government has defended the passing of the Expropriation Bill, which allows for expropriation of land only for ‘public purposes and in the public interest’. READ MORE HERE While several political parties have raised serious concerns, Public Works minister Patricia De Lille emphasized that the bill provides clarity on how and when land can be expropriated. As per the bill, compensation is dependent on an agreement between the relevant parties […]
INTERNATIONAL Palestinians have launched a general strike in the occupied West Bank cities of Jenin, Hebron and other towns in protest at the Israeli military raid on Jenin that left four Palestinians dead on Wednesday. Wafa news agency reported that on Thursday, dozens of shops in Jenin city and nearby villages had closed after a day of mourning, during which thousands of Palestinians buried the four victims. 'As we have said for some […]
INTERNATIONAL Human and digital rights advocates have welcomed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ recent recognition that spyware has become a significant threat to the UN's human rights work. But they say now is the time for member states to finally enforce a global moratorium on the sale and use of surveillance technologies until regulations catch up with technology. “Digital surveillance is one of the biggest threats facing activists and human rights movements today,” […]
LOCAL Deputy Minister of Social Development Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu says plans are under way to decriminalise sex work by 2024. Many sex workers in the Northern Cape say the delay in decriminalising their occupation endangers lives and infringes on their rights to earn an income. Zulu says talks with sex workers are ongoing. She addressed sex workers and different civil society organisations in Kimberley on Wednesday. “The Bill should be going to […]
VOC After several years of debates and public participation, the National Assembly has passed the Expropriation Bill. In a statement, Public Works minister Patricia de Lille says the bill seeks to replace the ‘unconstitutional Expropriation Act of 1975’. The first version of Bill was withdrawn in 2008 and re-tabled in 2015, only to be returned to national legislature in 2017 over an inadequate public participation process. In August 2018, the […]
LOCAL Motorists can expect another slash in the price of petrol in October, however, diesel is likely to be more expensive. The Central Energy Fund says petrol may decrease by around one rand with diesel expected to rise between 12c and 17c per litre. The Automobile Association’s Spokesperson Layton Beard said: “We are looking at around R6 in taxes that is added to every litre of fuel, R3.94 goes to […]
INTERNATIONAL Qatari and Hamas officials were among thousands who walked in the funeral procession of influential Egyptian Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi in Doha on Tuesday, as figures from around the Muslim world paid tribute to the scholar. Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, died in Qatar on Monday at the age of 96. He was among the Islamic world's most renowned - and controversial - clerics and public intellectuals and is […]
INTERNATIONAL A US State Department official said on Tuesday that Washington will continue to impose sanctions on Iranian entities engaged in rights abuses following the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. "The United States strongly supports the human rights of all Iranian women, including the right to peacefully assemble and to express themselves without fear of violence," Jennifer Gavito, deputy assistant secretary for Iran and Iraq at the State Department, said during an event hosted […]
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.
