Post Wednesday, February 17, 2021

UKZN’S R42 MILLION SPLURGE ON OPERATION CLEVER Millions for house, fancy cars and bodyguards CHARLENE SOMDUTH charlene.somduth@inl.co.za AVRIL Sahadew lived a life of luxury while investigating allegations of corruption at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Sahadew joined the university in 2012 after having worked as a forensic investigator for two large auditing firms in South Africa. In 2016, UKZN began investigations into what is now known as Operation Clever. The aim of the investigation was, among other things, to look into allegations that seats at the university’s medical school were being sold. Within a few months she took over the investigation. According to the university, shortly after this Sahadew received threats to her life. The university has not provided details of the threats except to say that they were found…

VACCINE WILL NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE DURING THIS TIME Third Covid wave could strike by June CHANELLE LUTCHMAN chanelle.lutchman@inl.co.za EXPERTS believe that South Africa could have at least two more Covid-19 waves during the year. Professor Salim Abdool Karim, co-chairperson of the Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee, told the POST this week that he believed the third wave would happen in June and the fourth in December. Karim, the director of the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa, said it took between three and three-and-a-half months after the first wave ended for the second wave to begin. “If we look at the second wave and calculate, we could see the third wave by June or July. The severity of the third wave will be hard to predict…

ROYAL RECOVERY RELIGIOUS leaders gathered this week for a joint prayer for King Goodwill Zwelithini. The King, 73, was hospitalised last week. Doctors wanted to monitor him after his glucose levels increased unexpectedly. During his State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said: ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the Royal Household and the Zulu nation at this time. It is our collective wish that Isilo Samabandla Wonke is soon restored to good health.’ SIBONELO NGCOBO African News Agency (ANA)…

LETTER TO THE UNITED NATIONS Long-term trauma of farm attacks CHARLENE SOMDUTH charlene.somduth@inl.co.za CIVIL rights organisation AfriForum has written to the UN about the impact of farm attacks on minors and their families. The letter, which was submitted to the UN this month, said depression, learning and concentration problems and self-harm were some of the challenges experienced by children following an attack. AfriForum issued the letter on behalf of the Wilmien Potgieter Fund. The fund is in memory of Wilmien, aged 2, who was killed together with her parents in December 2010 on their farm in the Lindley district in the Free State. Her father, Attie Potgieter, 40, was attacked with a panga and a garden fork and stabbed with a knife while the child and her mother, Wilna, 36,…

FARMER STABBED AND STRANGLED Two arrested for killing CHARLENE SOMDUTH charlene.somduth@inl.co.za SWIFT work by the police has resulted in the arrest of two men accused of killing and robbing, Dan Shadew. Shadew, 74, a retired farmer and tuck shop owner, was stabbed twice and strangled to death during a robbery at his home in Holmbosch, Nonoti, a rural area outside KwaDukuza on February 6. On Thursday, the KwaDukuza SAPS arrested two men – aged 22 and 25. Colonel Thembeka Mbhele, a provincial police spokesperson, said the suspects were arrested and charged with murder and robbery. The pair appeared in the KwaDukuza Magistrate’s Court on Monday and the case was adjourned to Tuesday. Shadew’s family could not be reached for comment.…

‘I JUST WANTED TO PROTECT MY FAMILY’ Dad injured by rock-throwing robber CHARLENE SOMDUTH charlene.somduth@inl.co.za WHEN Stephen Naidoo heard that intruders were trying to get into his property, he grabbed a baseball bat to confront the suspects. Upon seeing him, one of them threw a baseball-sized rock at Naidoo. The rock struck the customer service agent at Eskom in the throat and neck. Naidoo, 53, of KwaDukuza, who lives with his wife and three children, suffered open lacerations and a fractured hyoid bone. He also sustained soft-tissue injuries to the throat and his vocal cords, on the left side of his throat, were damaged. Last Monday, Naidoo was working from home when his wife saw three men on the CCTV camera cutting the razor wire off their back boundary wall.…