Mogale beaten to death allegedly by Blue Bulls prop Bees Roux last week.

His funeral service is being held at the Shakung Village in the North West.

Thousands descended on the dusty village of Shakung as of Mogale got underway. Tshwane Metro police officers have arrived in their numbers with their motorbikes and other duty vehicles lining the gravel road leading to the family home.

Mogale has been hailed as a martyr at his home village with religious leaders saying the alleged attack on him was a racist one.

Tshwane Mayor Gwen Ramokgopa was also at the funeral service. She was calm as she said police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding Mogale’s death.

He will be laid to rest later on Saturday.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

Twenty of the region’s top vineyards will be showcasing the fruit of their labour.

Local wine estate manager Anneke Buis said on Friday they will be pulling out all the stops.

“We’ve got sushi, strawberries, wine, live music and a cigar bar. Thee weather is going to be fantastic so we hope that it’s going to be packed like last year. We’re holding thumbs for a lot of tourists,” she said.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

The Department of Safety and Security has drawn up a policy governing the appointment the crime-fighting volunteers.

They will have the authority to search and arrest offenders.

The initiative may come into effect in September.

The department’s Anton Visser said, “The idea originated from a request from the neighbourhood watchers who indicated that they wished to participate on a more formal basis for the city’s police agencies and this will definitely bolster the patrol numbers out there.”

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

They are been investigated for alleged incitement and collusion.

Inmates took warders hostage in August before setting alight mattresses and destroying telephone booths and flat-screen televisions.

Prisoners are apparently unhappy about a shortage of medical care and materials for skills training.

Spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said a department probe into the matter highlighted several shortcomings.

He said government is working on a turnaround plan for the incident ridden facility.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

"The damages are incredibly frightening. The only thing you can say it’s a miracle that no one lost their life," Prime Minister John Key told Television NZ after the quake struck with a magnitude of 7.1 from a depth of 10 kms (6 miles) at around 4.35 a.m. local time (5:35 p.m. British time Friday).

He said early estimates for the cost of repairs were around NZ$2 billion (906 million pounds).

A curfew was slapped on the central business district of Christchurch between 1900 and 0700 (8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. British time). Earlier, a formal civil defence state of emergency was imposed in the city of around 350,000 to coordinate recovery operations.

The last time authorities declared a local emergency was in late December 2007 when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Gisborne on New Zealand’s North Island. The earthquake caused damage to some buildings but also caused no casualties.

Christchurch city and the neighbouring small towns bore the full force of the quake, which did considerable damage to infrastructure.

"The damage is immense, it’s something that has affected every family, every household...the hit on our infrastructure, the pipes that deliver the water, the waste water, the bridges, the power supplies...has been very significant," Christchurch mayor Bob Parker told reporters.

The city’s hospital said two men had been admitted with serious injuries, one hit by a falling chimney and the other cut by glass.

Police said there were minor instances of looting, which had been quickly contained. In the suburbs many houses had broken windows, toppled chimneys, cracked walls and items thrown off shelves, with some streets and footpaths subsiding.

In late afternoon, power has been restored to 90 percent of the Christchurch urban area and 80 percent of the rural network.

Authorities were preparing to bring in water in large tankers because pumping stations were out of action and pipes broken.

RURAL EPICENTRE

The small farming community of Darfield, around 20 kms (12 miles) west of Christchurch, was near the quake’s epicentre.

The principal of the primary school there said the quake, which threw him out of bed, was terrifying.

"Our china cabinet has crashed, pictures are off the wall, anything high up has come down and the cat has gone. He is probably still heading south," Markham McCullen told the NZ Press Association.

GNS Science, the New Zealand government seismological agency, revised the quake’s magnitude to 7.1 from an original 7.4. The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported it at 7.4 but later revised its figure to 7.0.

Christchurch airport, which was shut earlier, has been reopened and is operational, while the railway network and bridges throughout the region were also being checked for damage.

Canterbury University, which has about 22,000 students, said there has been no material structural damage on its campus, but the university will be closed until Sept 13 for health and safety assessment.

The quake was felt as a long rolling motion lasting up to 40 seconds. The area was continuing to feel aftershocks as strong as magnitude 5.3.

The quake was among the 10 strongest recorded in New Zealand, which sits between the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates, and records around 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which around 20 top magnitude 5.0.

The last fatal quake was in 1968 when an earthquake measuring 7.1 killed three people on the South Island’s West Coast.

No deaths have been reported but two men have been seriously injured.

The quake – which measured around seven on the Richter scale – crushed cars, damaged roads and wrecked buildings.

The country’s Director of Civil Defence John Hamilton said looters have added to the misery.

The tremors were felt from afar.

South African expatriate Clare Baxter lives in Greymont, around 200 kilometres away from Christchurch.

“I woke up from a dead sleep. I actually thought someone was attacking us. I thought someone was shaking my bed to try and wake me up. I started screaming and I just saw my bed moving. I started panicking and my husband had to calm me down and tell me that it was just a tremor,” she said.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

The provincial branch hosted a motorcade protest on the M1 highway on Friday, as well as a gathering outside the Johannesburg Securities Exchange in Sandton.

Union leaders said their members are holding out for an 8.6 percent wage increase and a R1000 housing allowance and would not accept government’s offer of a 7.5 percent increase and an R800 housing subsidy.

The strike is now in its 16^th day but union numbers have dwindled at public protests, leading to speculation the mass action is losing momentum.

But Cosatu Gauteng chairperson Phutas Tseki said this is not the case.

“Currently the number of people that you see on the street may not reflect the vices of those members. It’s about the message that they have to give,” he said.

ILC HOPES TO GIVE GOVERNMENT AN ANSWER ON MONDAY

The Independent Labour Caucus (ILC) said on Friday unions involved in the public service strike are hoping to give government an official answer about a proposed wage hike on Monday morning.

The caucus representing 11 unions said most of its members are leaning towards rejecting government’s offer of a 7.5 percent wage increase and an R800 housing allowance.

Public servants are demanding an 8.6 percent increase and a R1000 housing allowance but government said it cannot afford this.

The strike is now in its third week but the ILC’s Chris Kloppers said the mass action is losing momentum.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

Notice of the cut was issued on Friday night.

The city said this was to facilitate work on the areas 132 kilovolt electricity lines.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)