Task team looks to save poultry jobs

THE GOVERNMENT has promised to stave off job losses in the poultry industry with a number of short- and mediumterm measures. These include competitiveness in the sector, industrialisation and anti-dumping duties.

The Department of Trade and Industry has been under pressure from various sectors to come up with a radical plan to prevent thousands of job losses as a result of cheap chicken imports from Brazil and some countries in the EU.

The department’s spokesperson, Sidwell Medupe, said yesterday that the task team set up two weeks ago would yield positive results soon.

The department was also discussing access to their markets with the EU and other partners.

“We are in the process of considering the designation of domestic poultry product for the purpose of public procurement,” he said.

Medupe said the sector could then get a slice of government procurement. – Staff Reporter TWO MEN had been arrested for allegedly “terrorising” Limpopo university students, provincial police said yesterday.

The provincial crime intelligence coordination team and Mankweng detectives conducted a crime intelligence-led operation over the weekend that led to the arrest of two suspects, both aged 37, in Mankweng Unit D, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said.

“The two were allegedly terrorising University of Limpopo students staying outside the campus by raping and robbing them of their belongings. These crimes agitated the Mankweng community and the students, who on two occasions marched to the local police station to hand in the memorandums demanding the arrest of the culprits,” he said.

“Some of the crimes were allegedly committed with impunity. During October last year a suspect allegedly went to an apartment, knocked at the door, and demanded the student to open, threatening to break it in case she didn’t. The victim screamed for help but the suspect shot the neighbour who came to the rescue.”

On Thursday, February 2, a 20-year-old student was attacked in her room, raped, and robbed of a laptop and cellphone.

In another incident that took place in September last year, a suspect allegedly forced entry into a room and found a student with her boyfriend.

He robbed them of a laptop and cellphone at gunpoint.

“He thereafter dragged the female student out, shot and injured the boyfriend, and thereafter raped her.”

Police received information and subsequently arrested two suspects. Various items were found during the arrests, including a 9mm pistol and ammunition, five laptops, and six cellphones, Mojapelo said.

Limpopo police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nneke Ledwaba commended the officers for their dedication in pursuing the culprits. He also thanked community members for providing police with valuable information.

The arrested men are believed to be linked to a number of cases in the area, including rape, attempted murder and house robbery.

They will appear in the Mankweng Magistrate’s Court today, Mojapelo said. – ANA