Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

A member of the SA National Defence Force will appear on charges of murder and rape before a Court of a Military Judge in Bujumbura, Burundi on Saturday.

The SANDF said in a statement on Friday that Sergeant Philipus Jacobus Venter was arrested on October 1 2004 for the alleged murder and rape of a woman in Bujumbura in September that year.

He also faces charges of obstructing of justice, assault and absence without leave.

The case is expected to go on until March 9.

All fourth year nursing students at the SA Military Health Service Nursing College have been sent to an Army base in the Northern Cape for two weeks of disciplinary training.

The group includes 31 students, all lieutenants in the Military Health Service, arrested this week for allegedly disobeying orders.

They were taken into custody by military police at the SA Military Health Service Training Formation, in Thaba Tshwane, on Wednesday and appeared in a military court the next day.

They were released after their appearance and will be back in court on March 20.

Spokesman Major Danny Shibambo would not comment on Thursday on the nature of the lawful command the students, from the SA Military Health Service Nursing College, were alleged to have disobeyed.

He would only say they were charged with disobeying a lawful command as contemplated by section 19(2) of the Military Disciplinary Code.

But The Star newspaper reported on Friday the group of officers refused to form a guard of honour for the Gabonese surgeon-general who is in the country visiting his South African counterpart, Lieutenant-General Vijay Ramlakan.

The nurses said that according to the SANDF's drill manual officers cannot form part of the body of a guard of honour, it is their task to command it.

The paper also reported that the arrested officers, who were detained in a detention barracks after their arrest, were all black.

It unusual for officers to be placed in a detention barracks. Traditionally officers are confined to their quarters under an age-old honour system.

Six white colleagues, who also refused to form part of the guard, were reportedly not arrested.

The Star reported that the black fourth year nursing students believed this was racist.

Ramlakan later on Friday rejected this charge and backed the action of Brigadier-General Lulu Siwisa, the general officer commanding of the military health formation, who had ordered the arrest.

He said the officers not charged were not resident at the college and had therefore not formed part of the squad that had disobeyed the lawful command.

"I therefore fully support the course of action taken by (Siwisa) who herself underwent the same military nursing training as the students concerned."

The entire group, including the students not charged, have now been sent to the SA Arm Combat Training Centre at Lohatlha for remedial disciplinary training, Ramlakan added.

"Due to an apparent failure to appreciate the principles of military discipline and the understanding of command and control in the military on the part of the students concerned, the Surgeon General has decided to institute corrective measures by providing remedial military training to all students of the fourth stage learners of the Nursing College in the aspects of soldiering life skills and discipline in the military," a statement containing Ramlakan's comments added.

A concerned parent criticised Ramlakan's move, saying the students ought to b attending to their studies.

Police, army out in force for poll Hopewell Radebe Deputy Political Editor GOVERNMENT has promised a massive deployment of 60000 police officers to ensure the local government elections next week are free and fair.

Safety and security Minister Charles Nqakula said all 18791 polling stations would be protected and in some areas the police would be backed up by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

This entails infantry and paratroopers as well as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters on standby in all nine provinces, Nqakula said in a statement yesterday.

Government has little choice but to prepare a serious response after threats of violence towards voters in Khutsong by people protesting against the transfer of their municipality to North West from Gauteng, as well as the assassination of seven candidates from a range of parties in KwaZulu-Natal. Nqakula said security preparations for the elections involved regular meetings among police, the home affairs department, the SANDF, the intelligence community, provincial and local government departments, and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

There is consensus that no potential disruptions to elections are expected. Even in Khutsong, we are confident that adequate police have been deployed to ensure conditions for safety and security, including IEC staff and their resources, Nqakula said.

With elections around the corner, there have been a number of assassinations of candidates for the African National Congress (ANC), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco). All parties are pointing fingers at each other, citing intimidation against their campaigners and candidates.

The IFP says it has lost six members, while others have been seriously wounded in shootings this month.

Provincial IFP spokesman S'bu Nkwanyana said that while the party was outraged by the situation, its local leaders would work with communities to ensure the electioneering was peaceful.

Local government MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu said candidates had been harassed, attacked and killed. An ANC candidate was killed in Nongoma, Ladysmith's mayor was shot at in Escourt and a house of a Nadeco candidate was razed.

The provincial government has undertaken to help the IEC to once again deliver credible elections, Mabuyakhulu said.

Three hundred South African soldiers are returning from Burundi this week, after completing their protection mission in that country, the defence ministry said on Friday.

Spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members were deployed in Burundi in October 2001 to protect political leaders and were returning home ahead of the inauguration of the transitional government.

They were deployed in Burundi as the SA Protection and Support Detachment.

The Burundi peace mission was subsequently taken over by the African Union, whose mandate for the protection force expired this month.

The VIP protectors started arriving back in South Africa on Thursday.

One hundred and thirty arrived on Thursday at the Waterkloof air base and the second group of 85 members arrived on Friday. The last group of 85 is expected on Saturday.

"The return of the South African soldiers could well be regarded as the first step in the conclusion of the Burundi peace process," said Mkhwanazi.

The process began with the deployment of troops who were later joined by their counterparts from Mozambique and Ethiopia.