Sihle Mavuso presents the latest news from KwaZulu-Natal.
Mtubatuba – A 42-year-old man who started a raping spree in July 2012 in Mtubatuba in the north of the province has been sent to jail for life. Bhekithemba Fanozi Nxumalo was sentenced by the Mtubatuba High Court to 12 terms of life imprisonment and given an additional 75 years behind bars. Nxumalo’s raping spree started in the Mdungandlovu area, where he broke into a house and raped an elderly woman and her two granddaughters. From there, he went on to target local women walking alone by dragging them to sugarcane fields and raping them.
Pietermaritzburg – The provincial government says eThekwini was the biggest casualty of the tornado that hit several areas last Monday. After visiting the affected areas in Tongaat, Zululand and Umzinyathi, the provincial government says the damage stands at R1.3-billion and Tongaat in eThekwini alone suffered damage of R480-million. Overall, 7,000 households and 20 schools were damaged, with 12 lives lost.
Durban – A study by University of KwaZulu-Natal scientists, to be published in an upcoming issue of the Women’s Health journal, has found a clear relationship in sub-Saharan Africa between the exposure of women to heat during the month before conception and an eventual miscarriage. The scientists believe that it is likely that climate change leading to increased temperatures will make existing maternal challenges worse in the region, resulting in increased loss of pregnancy. The study investigated the relationship between maternal heat exposure and miscarriage (pregnancy ending before 20 weeks’ gestation) in a rural community in the uMkhanyakude district of KZN between 2012 and 2016.
Pietermaritzburg – The Comrades Marathon Association says out of the 18,884 athletes who started the marathon in Durban on Sunday morning,17,313 were able to reach the finishing point in Pietermaritzburg before the cut-off time. This means that it enjoyed a 91.68% finish rate, one of the highest in the history of the ultramarathon. It added that out of the runners that made it, 555 received medical treatment at the finish venue’s medical facility at the Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg.
Pongola – KZN is set to have a new water catchment agency (WCA) by Friday. The Pongola-Umzimkhulu WCA will be one of the four to be unveiled by Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu at the Water Institute of South Africa conference in Durban. Water catchment agencies are established in line with the provisions of the National Water Act and the National Water Policy for South Africa. The aim is to increase decentralised decision-making in the management of water resources in an integrated manner at a local level. The WCAs will be responsible for the protection, use, development, conservation, management and control of all water resources in a particular water management area.
Pictured above: Mtubatuba city centre.
Source: Flickr
