In Brief.......

Woollies branch barred from selling wine

WOOLWORTHS in Wonderpark, north of Pretoria, has been stripped of its rights to sell wine until it renews its liquor licence.

Tshwane metro police spokesperson Superintendent Alta Fourie yesterday said the store was fined R40000.

This followed metro police confiscation of more than 600 litres of wine on Monday. — Sapa

ID wins Uitenhage ward

PATRICIA de Lille’s Independent Democrats (ID) won the vacant ward 49 in Rosedale, in the Uitenhage region of Nelson Mandela Bay, ousting the ANC by just more than seven percent.

ID ward candidate Erroll Joseph won with just more than 37 percent of the 2756 votes cast in Wednesday’s by-election, held after the recent death of ANC councillor Derek Ferreira.

According to the Independent Electoral Commission, only 32 percent of registered voters cast their votes. The Democratic Alliance received 28 percent of the vote. — Piet van Niekerk

Petersen: ‘New facts’

THERE were more than 50 new facts that comprise exceptional and substantial circumstances justifying Najwa Petersen’s release on bail, it was contended in the Wynberg Regional Court in Cape Town yesterday.

Petersen’s defence team, Senior Counsel Herbert Raubenheimer and attorney John Riley said the case presented to the court in Petersen’s second bail application outweighed the case presented by prosecutor Shireen Riley.

Petersen is in custody and faces trial for the alleged murder of her famous entertainer husband, Taliep, in December last year.

Raubenheimer said the first application was refused because the court was convinced that Petersen was a high suicide risk, with no one to care for her at home.

Raubenheimer urged the court: “Don’t crucify Petersen because of the fact presented in the first application.”

He told Magistrate Robert Henney that Henney’s judgment in the first application was correct, but was based on what was then placed before the court. — Sapa

We must wait for Julio

THE SA tour of international singer Julio Iglesias has been postponed due to circumstances beyond the organiser’s control.

Kusasa Entertainment said yesterday the tour, in association with Talk Radio 702 and 567 CapeTalk, was due to start in Johannesburg tomorrow and continue through to Friday, December 14.

The new date for the tour is Sunday, January 20 until January 26, 2008. — Sapa

Bucket toilets

GOVERNMENT has come very close to achieving its target date for ridding all formal settlements of bucket toilets by the end of the year.

It will fall short by 16000 buckets, and these will now be replaced with proper toilets by March next year, Water Affairs Minister Lindiwe Hendricks said yesterday. She noted the focus had been on eradicating buckets in established, not informal, settlements. — Sapa