Cash guards set alight

Another day in the "exciting" country that makes you "feel alive" - until your number comes up. Part 2

Nelspruit - Two cash guards sustained serious burn wounds after they were set alight by cash-in-transit robbers in Malelane, Mpumalanga police said on Tuesday.

Captain Leonard Hlathi said the guards were travelling in a G4 security truck on Monday evening when they were cut off by two bakkies and a sedan between Jeppes Reef and Tonga roads.

He said the vehicles overtook the cash truck then one of the bakkies made a U-turn and blockaded the road.

The suspects pointed firearms at the guards and ordered them out of the truck, but when the guards did not move the suspects poured petrol on the truck and set it alight.

The guards apparently jumped out of the truck and tried to run away but they were caught and doused with petrol before being set alight.

The robbers got away with an undisclosed amount of cash and no arrests were made.


Security giant G4S says will avoid soccer World Cup

LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - G4S, the world's biggest security firm, will not operate at next summer's soccer World Cup in South Africa because of concerns over the tournament's organisation, the group's chief executive told Reuters.

"We are not going to be involved because we don't think the security is going to be that good -- they are not that well organised yet," Nick Buckles said in an interview.


Man killed, wife beaten in Bay attack

ONE suspect has been arrested and police are still searching for at least three others believed to be responsible for the murder of a 78-year-old man and the ferocious assault of his wife at their smallholding in Theescombe on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth.

George Venter died in the attack late on Sunday night while his badly injured wife, Jakoba, 67, was found only yesterday morning and rushed to hospital.

The attack has sparked a huge outcry from neighbours in the surrounding smallholdings, who say the area has become the target of a number of housebreakings.

After a massive search of the area with sniffer dogs and a helicopter yesterday, police apprehended one suspect. Police spokesman Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the couple were only discovered early yesterday by their domestic worker.

“At about 8am the domestic worker went to the house and found the woman lying near the front door badly injured and the man murdered in the dining-room. She immediately contacted the police. “At the moment it looks as if there are at least four suspects. It looks as if they entered through the back door. “We cannot give any other information at this stage because forensics are still busy compiling the information,” Janse van Rensburg said.

Neighbour Amanda Moore is still in shock from the violent attack on the people she said were “like family” to her. “At about 8.30pm last night our dogs were barking, so we phoned them (the couple) and they said everything was fine, so I really don‘t know what time this happened.

“The maid came to my house in the morning and said the windows were all broken and she saw something was wrong. I phoned the police and ambulance immediately, but didn‘t go inside the house. “This is just so terrible because I love them like my own family.

They are such friendly, very hardworking and healthy people,” said Moore. She said the couple had three dogs, but she did not know if the other two were also killed because she was only given one to look after. “I‘ve been staying next to them for 13 years.

I‘ve never had problems; we felt safe.” Michael Kerr, who stays two houses away from the Venter home, said they had had a lot of burglaries in the area, but seldom heard of murders. “Most people have guns around here because there is such a problem with housebreakings.


“They (the Venters) do not have a fence around their house or an alarm system, but I think George had two guns,” said Kerr. Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he thought the problem could be the squatter camp behind his home.

Police reservist gunned down

A 57-year-old police reservist was shot and killed in Midrand on Tuesday, allegedly by two men wearing metro police uniforms.

Inspector Mmakgomo Semono said Ivan Monsier, who was also a weapons manufacturer, was gunned down at around 11am.

"Monsier was travelling on the old Olifantsfontein road in Glen Austin, Midrand, when he was stopped by an unmarked white Toyota Corolla which used a police siren.

"When they pulled off the road they stopped in front of him and two men got out of their own car and started shooting at him," said Semono.

Monsier was shot in the head and chest and died on the scene.

Guard wounded by gunmen

Two gunmen shot and critically injured a cash-in-transit guard while he was collecting money at a liquor store in East London on Tuesday, police said.

"The security guard was collecting money from a liquor store in Oriental Plaza, East London.

"Two men approached him as he was taking two boxes, containing an undisclosed amount of money, to a security vehicle," said Superintendent Mtati Tana.

The men shot the guard in the neck and took the money boxes before escaping in a Toyota Venture.

Cop shot dead

A Limpopo policeman was shot dead and another was seriously injured by four men at a petrol station in Mokopane near Mahwelereng, police said on Tuesday.

Superintendent Ronel Otto said Constable Geoffrey Sithomola, 27, was shot in the chest and neck at a petrol station at around 8.45pm on Monday.

His colleague, John Kekana, 29, was shot in the stomach and sustained serious injuries.

Otto said the men had been patrolling the area when they noticed two men in a Toyota Tazz and grew suspicious because a similar car had been reported hijacked on Sunday.

"While they were busy talking to the suspects, it is alleged that another suspect in a Nissan bakkie behind them, fired shots at the police officials," said Otto.