Latest news with #Gqeberha
The Herald
13 hours ago
- The Herald
Reward offered for information about double murder at waste site
The family of the Gqeberha father and son who were shot dead during a robbery at a dump site earlier in 2025 have put up a reward for any information that may lead to an arrest and successful prosecution of the perpetrators. Heinrich Minnie, 47, and his son, Tiaan, 26, were killed at the Arlington Waste Facility in Victoria Drive on February 5. Since then, little progress has been made in the double murder investigation. On Thursday, the family announced that they were offering a reward of R6,000. Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said the case was being investigated by the Eastern Cape Provincial Serious and Violent Crimes Investigation team. He also confirmed the reward being offered by the victims' family. 'A R6,000 reward is being offered by the family for information given to the police that may result in the successful arrest and prosecution of the perpetrator or perpetrators responsible for these murders,' Beetge said. 'Any person with information that could assist the police in their investigation is urged to contact Warrant Officer John Lourens on 071-352-4706, or Crime Stop on 08600-10111. Callers may opt to remain anonymous.' The father and son had been disposing of rubbish at the tip in Walmer when they were gunned down in broad daylight. Tiaan was shot dead while still seated inside the vehicle, while Heinrich's body was found next to the bakkie. According to the police at the time, the suspected motive was robbery. The Herald
The Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald
Funnyman gets serious with the three ‘Ds'
Still funny, now real, Barry Hilton is tackling depression, dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with humour in his new set. Of course, like with anything SA's favourite cousin sets his mind to, he starts it off with a question. 'What do two pirates, a billionaire, a celebrity chef, Spider-Man, and one of SA's most inspiring comedic storytellers have in common?' he asks. 'They all share a common thread — dyslexia.' Hilton was referring to actors Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean), billionaire Richard Branson, chef Jamie Oliver, and Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, who all grew up facing learning challenges that set them apart — yet none let that define their success. Now, the former Gqeberha resident joins this group, stepping forward not just with laughter, but with a powerful message about living with depression, dyslexia and ADHD in his candid and compelling keynote. In Barry Hilton in 3D, he reveals how humour became his survival tool, a bridge to connection, and a path to healing. This is more than a comedy show — it is a vital conversation about resilience, mental health and the courage to be truly yourself. Hilton is on a mission to tackle mental health issues using the unexpected yet universal power of humour. After quietly struggling with these mental and learning challenges for years, Hilton reached a turning point. 'I broke down,' he said, 'and that breakdown turned into a breakthrough.' What followed was a commitment to speak honestly and to help others, not by hiding behind the punchlines, but by using them to open difficult doors. In a country where humour is often a default defence mechanism, Barry Hilton in 3D offers some insight and empathy with a story that resonates in boardrooms and schools alike. 'We've got to start checking in on the 'happy one', the class clown, the team joker. 'Sometimes, they're the ones carrying the heaviest load. 'Humour saved my life and I want to show others how it can do the same for them or for someone they love.' The engaging live session covers practical lessons on using humour to build resilience and spotting red flags early, especially in the 'always fine' team member. He said it was further an honest, funny, and deeply human keynote that touched on workplace wellness, youth mental health and learning differences. 'We are all just trying to stay afloat. Some of us are laughing on the outside and drowning on the inside. This talk is my lifebuoy to the world,' he said. Barry Hilton in 3D: Depression, Dyslexia, ADHD is now available for corporate events, conferences, fundraising galas and educational sessions. The Herald
The Herald
a day ago
- Automotive
- The Herald
Volkswagen welcomes 540 young trainees through YES programme
Volkswagen Group Africa (VWGA) has announced an intake of 540 young unemployed graduates for its 2025 Youth Unemployment Services (YES) programme. The YES programme was initiated by the government in 2019 to alleviate youth unemployment. The company said 296 trainees will work for VWGA: 232 at will be stationed at Kariega in Gqeberha, where the company assembles the VW Polo and Polo Vivo models; 62 are headed to its Gauteng headquarters in Sandton; and two will be absorbed at the company's satellite parts warehouse in the Western Cape. Another 244 trainees will be deployed with external partners in October. This intake brings the total of YES trainees who have benefited from VWGA's involvement in the programme to 3,650. 'We know today's youth will be tomorrow's leaders, but we also believe in playing an active role in developing those leaders and innovators,' said Nonkqubela Maliza, VWGA's corporate and government affairs director. 'Through our participation in the YES programme, we want to offer youth the space to become economically active and gain invaluable skills on which they can build successful and fulfilling careers.' Since its inception, VWGA has supported the initiative by providing employment opportunities and work experience for youth at its sites, in addition to opportunities in the dealer network and SME partners. TimesLIVE
CTV News
a day ago
- Politics
- CTV News
South Africa opens a new inquiry into apartheid-era killings known as Cradock Four
A sign displayed on a beach in the Western Cape Province reads "White Area" during the apartheid in South Africa on June 23, 1976. (AP Photo, File) JOHANNESBURG — When Nombuyiselo Mhlauli was given her husband's body back for burial, he had more than 25 stab wounds in his chest and seven in his back, with a gash across his throat. His right hand was missing. Sicelo Mhlauli was one of four Black men abducted, tortured and killed 40 years ago this month by apartheid-era security forces in South Africa. No one has been held accountable for their deaths. But a new judge-led inquiry into the killings of the anti-apartheid activists who became known as the Cradock Four — and who became a rallying cry for those denied justice — opened this month. It is part of a renewed push for the truth by relatives of some of the thousands of people killed by police and others during the years of white minority rule and enforced racial segregation. Mhlauli described the state of her husband's body during testimony she gave at the start of the inquiry in the city of Gqeberha, near where the Cradock Four were abducted in June 1985. Relatives of some of the three other men also testified. Thumani Calata never got to know her father, Fort Calata, who had been a teacher. She was born two weeks after the funerals of the Cradock Four, which drew huge crowds and galvanized resistance to apartheid. 'I don't know how it feels, and I will never know how it feels, to be hugged by my dad,' Thumani Calata, now 39, told the inquiry as she wept. Two previous inquiries were held during apartheid. A two-year inquest that started in 1987 found the men were killed by unknown people. Another in 1993 said they were killed by unnamed policemen. Desmond Tutu FILE - in this April, 20, 2006 file photo former Truth And Reconciliation Commissioner Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, during a public debate on the legacy of the TRC. in Cape Town, South Africa. Tutu has questioned Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, why it took so long for South African prosecutors to charge former members of the apartheid-era security forces for the 1983 murder of an activist. (AP Photo/Obed Zilwa, File) (Obed Zilwa/The Associated Press) Police officers implicated have since died Relatives of the Cradock Four likely will never see justice. The six former police officers directly implicated in the abductions and killings have died, the last one in 2023. None was prosecuted despite the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission identifying them and denying them amnesty in the late 1990s. That commission, set up by then-President Nelson Mandela, attempted to confront the atrocities of apartheid in the years after the system officially ended in 1994. While some killers were granted amnesty, more than 5,000 applications were refused and recommended for criminal investigation. Hardly any made it to court. Oscar van Heerden, a political analyst at the University of Johannesburg, said the bitter emotion of relatives at the Cradock Four inquiry showed wounds have not healed. 'Where it was felt that truth was not spoken and there wasn't sufficient evidence to warrant forgiveness, those were cases that were supposed to be formally charged, prosecuted and justice should have prevailed,' van Heerden said. 'None of that happened.' South Africa-Apartheid Killings FILE - National Party leader and former South African president F.W. deKlerk, left, talks to his associate, Leon Wessel, after handing over his party's submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to the commission's chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town, Aug. 21 1996. (AP Photo /Sasa Kralj, File) (SASA KRALJ/AP) Taking the government to court The failure by post-apartheid governments for 25 years to pursue cases is now being scrutinized. Frustrated, the families of the Cradock Four finally forced authorities to rule last year that there would be a new inquiry into the killings. They also joined with a group of relatives of other apartheid-era victims to take the South African government to court this year over the failure to investigate so many crimes. As part of the settlement in that case, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered a national inquiry led by a retired judge into why apartheid-era killers were not brought to justice. The inquiry, which has not opened yet, threatens to expose further uncomfortable moments for South Africa. While the majority of victims of political violence during apartheid were Black and other people of color, some were white, and families have come together across racial lines. A group of survivors and relatives from the 1993 Highgate Hotel massacre, where unknown men opened fire in a bar full of white customers, joined with the Cradock Four families and others in the case against the government. They allege that post-apartheid authorities deliberately blocked investigations. Other inquests have been reopened, including one into the 1967 death of Albert Luthuli, who was president of the banned anti-apartheid African National Congress movement when he was hit by a train. Luthuli's death has been viewed with suspicion for more than 50 years. Last chance to know the truth At the Cradock Four inquiry, which is expected to resume in October for more testimony, Howard Varney, a lawyer for the families, said this is their last chance to know the truth. The new inquiry has attempted to retrace the killings, from the moment of the men's abduction at a nighttime police roadblock to the time their bodies were discovered, burned and with signs of torture. The families also want a former military commander and ex-police officers who may have knowledge of the killings to testify. Lukhanyo Calata, the son of Fort Calata, said he accepted it was unlikely anyone would ever be prosecuted over the death of his father and his friends Mhlauli, Matthew Goniwe and Sparrow Mkonto. But he said he wants official records to finally show who killed them. 'Justice now can really only come in the form of truth,' Lukhanyo Calata told The Associated Press. 'They may not have been prosecuted, they may not have been convicted, but according to court records, this is the truth around the murders of the Cradock Four.' Article by Michelle Gumede.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Cradock Four: South Africa opens new inquiry into apartheid-era torture and killings
When Nombuyiselo Mhlauli was given her husband's body back for burial, he had more than 25 stab wounds in his chest and seven in his back, with a gash across his throat. His right hand was missing. Sicelo Mhlauli was one of four Black men abducted, tortured and killed 40 years ago this month by apartheid-era security forces in South Africa. No one has been held accountable for their deaths. But a new judge-led inquiry into the killings of the anti-apartheid activists who became known as the Cradock Four — and who became a rallying cry for those denied justice — opened this month. It is part of a renewed push for the truth by relatives of some of the thousands of people killed by police and others during the years of white minority rule and enforced racial segregation. Mhlauli described the state of her husband's body during testimony she gave at the start of the inquiry in the city of Gqeberha, near where the Cradock Four were abducted in June 1985. Relatives of some of the three other men also testified. Thumani Calata never got to know her father, Fort Calata, who had been a teacher. She was born two weeks after the funerals of the Cradock Four, which drew huge crowds and galvanized resistance to apartheid. 'I don't know how it feels, and I will never know how it feels, to be hugged by my dad,' Thumani Calata, now 39, told the inquiry as she wept. Two previous inquiries were held during apartheid. A two-year inquest that started in 1987 found the men were killed by unknown people. Another in 1993 said they were killed by unnamed policemen. Relatives of the Cradock Four likely will never see justice. The six former police officers directly implicated in the abductions and killings have died, the last one in 2023. None was prosecuted despite the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission identifying them and denying them amnesty in the late 1990s. That commission, set up by then-President Nelson Mandela, attempted to confront the atrocities of apartheid in the years after the system officially ended in 1994. While some killers were granted amnesty, more than 5,000 applications were refused and recommended for criminal investigation. Hardly any made it to court. Oscar van Heerden, a political analyst at the University of Johannesburg, said the bitter emotion of relatives at the Cradock Four inquiry showed wounds have not healed. 'Where it was felt that truth was not spoken and there wasn't sufficient evidence to warrant forgiveness, those were cases that were supposed to be formally charged, prosecuted and justice should have prevailed," van Heerden said. "None of that happened.' The failure by post-apartheid governments for 25 years to pursue cases is now being scrutinized. Frustrated, the families of the Cradock Four finally forced authorities to rule last year that there would be a new inquiry into the killings. They also joined with a group of relatives of other apartheid-era victims to take the South African government to court this year over the failure to investigate so many crimes. As part of the settlement in that case, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered a national inquiry led by a retired judge into why apartheid-era killers were not brought to justice. The inquiry, which has not opened yet, threatens to expose further uncomfortable moments for South Africa. While the majority of victims of political violence during apartheid were Black and other people of color, some were white, and families have come together across racial lines. A group of survivors and relatives from the 1993 Highgate Hotel massacre, where unknown men opened fire in a bar full of white customers, joined with the Cradock Four families and others in the case against the government. They allege that post-apartheid authorities deliberately blocked investigations. Other inquests have been reopened, including one into the 1967 death of Albert Luthuli, who was president of the banned anti-apartheid African National Congress movement when he was hit by a train. Luthuli's death has been viewed with suspicion for more than 50 years. At the Cradock Four inquiry, which is expected to resume in October for more testimony, Howard Varney, a lawyer for the families, said this is their last chance to know the truth. The new inquiry has attempted to retrace the killings, from the moment of the men's abduction at a nighttime police roadblock to the time their bodies were discovered, burned and with signs of torture. The families also want a former military commander and ex-police officers who may have knowledge of the killings to testify. Lukhanyo Calata, the son of Fort Calata, said he accepted it was unlikely anyone would ever be prosecuted over the death of his father and his friends Mhlauli, Matthew Goniwe and Sparrow Mkonto. But he said he wants official records to finally show who killed them. ' Justice now can really only come in the form of truth,' Lukhanyo Calata told The Associated Press. 'They may not have been prosecuted, they may not have been convicted, but according to court records, this is the truth around the murders of the Cradock Four.'
