Leigh: More arrests possible and other brief reports

* A full Bench of the High Court in Pietermaritzburg has confirmed the convictions of the three killers of a Chatsworth marticulant, Pamela Govender, who was strangled on February 13 2001, apparently because she was pregnant by one of the killers. Judge Pete Combrinck said friends Heera Rakesh Kanayee, Zubair Hoosen and Clive Govender, had appealed only against their convictions and not their sentences. Kanayee and Govender were given life terms by Judge Ron McLaren, while Hoosen was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. – The Mercury * Rico Bernert, former MD of Rotrax Cars SA, is suing Absa for R150m, or alternatively for R187m, for causing him to lose an investment from Dubai. Bernert alleges that Absa reneged on a guarantee of a fixed deposit of $6m in favour of the Emirates Bank International. – Business Report * SA’s Amnesty Unit has received about 43 000 exchange control applications to date applying to offshore assets, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said. He said more than 26 000 applications had been adjudicated by the end of January and fewer than 10 applications had been identified for possible refusal. ‘The total rand value of the assets disclosed in amnesty applications is estimated at R65bn,’ said Manuel. – I-Net Bridge * A man who claims to be a ‘Zulu’ American is claiming R14m in damages from a tabloid newspaper and a KwaZulu-Natal hospital manager for alleged defamation. ShakaZulu Assegai VII (38), of Verulam, has lodged the claim in the Durban High Court against Stanger Hospital’s assistant financial manager, Steve Govender, and the Johannesburg-based Daily Sun. He is suing them for R7m each. He said Govender’s comments, quoted in the report, implied that he was not ‘capable mentally of knowing right from wrong’. – Sunday Times * The Grahamstown High Court has dismissed an appeal by Uitenhage pastor Johannes van der Bank who was sentenced to 1½ years’ jail for illegal possession of almost 6 000 perlemoen. Van der Bank was out on R30 000 bail pending his appeal. – The Herald * The settling of land claims, expected to be completed by 2005, has been set back by two years because of the complexities involved in the process, according to Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza. Only 57 000 of the 79 000 land claims that have been lodged have been settled. – The Herald * Important documents in the trial of Michael Jackson, which the court had kept under seal, were available on Friday on the Internet. Hundreds of pages out of a 1 903-page record of witnesses\' testimonies, containing detailed descriptions of Jackson\'s alleged sexual activities, appeared on www.thesmokinggun.com. – News24