Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

A Lesotho man suspected of dealing in dagga in a Free State village was shot dead by members of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) on Wednesday after he attacked the soldiers with an axe, police said on Thursday.

Captain Motorafi Ntepe said an eight-man SANDF patrol was acting on information that a man was selling dagga from his house in Makhalaneng near Bethlehem.

The patrol approached the house around 8pm and were met by the occupant who came out of his home wielding an axe.

Ntepe said he allegedly attacked the soldiers with the axe wounding one of them in the upper arm.

Warning shots were fired but the attacker persisted and he was shot twice in the chest.

The 51-year-old man could not be named because his next-of-kin in Buthabuthe, Lesotho, had not yet been informed of his death, Ntepe said.

The wounded soldier was taken to the Manabo hospital in the QwaQwa region.

A mealie bag, about a quarter full with dagga, was found in the house.

Ntepe said that, in accordance with official procedure, a murder docket was opened and investigations into the incident were continuing.

On Monday, in a similar incident, a man was shot, wounded and arrested by a two-man SANDF patrol in Ladybrand.

A gang of five alleged dagga dealers fired on the patrol. One of them was injured when a soldier returned fire.

"The men were fleeing after being confronted by a member of the SANDF patrol, and ran into the other member of the patrol when the incident occurred," Netpe said.

Ntepe said the other four suspects managed to escape. However, 16 bags of dagga worth an estimated R320,000 were seized.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has appointed its first black military judge.

Judge Victor Sibeko (50) joined the SANDF in September 2001 from a private legal practice.

He assumed his new duties as a senior Military Judge at the Thaba Tshwane Military Court yesterday.

A military Judge is a senior attorney appointed by the Judge Advocate General to serve in a military court.

The military judge is someone with extensive experience who may, as part of his duties, supervise a staff of junior attorneys including trial counsels.

Part of Judge Sibeko's duties would be to preside in cases involving defence force members accused of breaching the laws of the force.

Before joining the SANDF, he ran a private legal practice called the Legal and Business Consultancy.

He holds a B juris from the University of Zululand, BA Law and LLB from the University of Lesotho.

Judge Sibeko previously worked as an advocate at the Lesotho High Court. He also worked for Mobil Oil as Retail Manager and the Gauteng department of housing where he served in its appeal panel.

The new military judge was upbeat about his appointment: 'I have always wanted to be at the top, and I will continue to work hard and offer assistance were my help is needed,' he said.

The New National Party (NNP) has called for the creation of a national constabulary to replace the controversial commando system scheduled to be phased out within six years.

President Thabo Mbeki shocked some farm communities and organised agriculture in February when he said the commando system would be scrapped. Cabinet ministers have since sought to allay fears that rural safety would be compromised, saying the commandos would be scrapped finally only once an alternative had been developed.

It was said the commandos were being scrapped for the role they played under apartheid.

They were used as the first line of defence against incursions by liberation movement armies.

Yesterday NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said that as a result of the Mbeki announcement, the NNP met with Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota to raise the serious concerns expressed about the scrapping of the commandos.

Van Schalkwyk said the NNP undertook at the meeting to make constructive proposals.

Unveiling proposals for an SA constabulary, he said they were "immediately implementable" and "cost effective".

The idea was for a 120000strong "mobile and lightly-armed patrol force, comprising both full-time and part-time elements and incorporating not only elements of the commandos but also personnel from other sources". The plan was for 20000 full-time and 100000 part-time members.

The major departure in the NNP proposals was to make the constabulary responsible directly to the defence minister rather than the chief of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) as was the case with the commandos.

This was intended to address legitimate concern about longterm military deployment in support of a civilian government.

"Typically, a constabulary focuses in peacetime on protecting and supporting communities in various ways like general crime prevention patrols, roadblocks, antidrug operations, crowd and riot control, border control, traffic and first-phase disaster relief.

"In times of war or grave emergency, part or all of the force would be directly integrated into the SANDF to assist with internal security, key-point protection, road and rail control, border control and securing the rear battle area," Van Schalkwyk said.