Author: The Free Stater

A pregnant woman suffered pelvic and head injuries after a Free State government ambulance that was ferrying her to hospital for the delivery of her baby veered off the road and overturned on Wednesday. The emergency services vehicle was on its way from Steynsrus to Kroonstad, with the maternity patient on board, when its driver lost control along the R67 road. Despite sustaining pelvic and head injuries, the woman managed to deliver a baby girl at about 1pm after having been admitted two hours earlier at Boitumelo Hospital in Kroonstad. “The pregnant woman gave birth normally to a baby girl…

The Hawks have raided the offices of the Free State Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation and seized several documents in connection with the awarding of the event management contract for the Macufe festival that was recently held in Bloemfontein. According to a statement released by the priority crime investigation unit on Wednesday evening, no one was arrested when the search-and-seize operation was conducted on Tuesday. The Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase said one of the bidders for the tender to run the 2022 edition of Macufe took the provincial department to court in October where Judge PJ…

Dams in the Free State are now at full capacity due to the heavy rains that are being received across the country, according to the Department of Water and Sanitation. The department says its weekly state of reservoirs report is reflecting a water storage of 107.5 percent in the province, up from last week’s 96.8 percent. According to a statement released by the department on Wednesday, Gariep Dam, which is the biggest dam in the country, recorded 112.1 percent, while Vanderkloof Dam, the second largest, is at 103.2 percent as compared to the previous week’s recording of 93.5 percent. Welbedacht…

The death toll from last week’s crash involving a bus and a truck near Botshabelo has risen to nine after another passenger succumbed to injuries sustained from the accident. The latest victim passed on at Moroka Hospital on Monday. In a statement released on Wednesday, the Free State Department of Health said a post-mortem had confirmed the death was due to the injuries the patient sustained from the accident involving a bus and a truck on the N8 road near Botshabelo last Thursday. The bus, which was ferrying 62 passengers, was on its way to Bloemfontein when the collision occurred.…

A 74-year-old woman is expected to appear before the Phuthaditjhaba Magistrate Court on Tuesday on a charge of dealing in drugs. She was arrested on Sunday after the police raided her home in Qwaqwa where they recovered an unspecified amount of nyaope, a street drug that is ravaging poor communities across South Africa. The drug is a mixture of low-grade heroin, cannabis products, antiretroviral medicines and other materials added as bulking agents. The elderly woman was implicated in the peddling of the drug after the police had earlier on the same day arrested a 24-year-old man found with some nyaope…

The Viljoenskroon Magistrates Court has sentenced a 40-year-old pastor from Rammolotsi township to life imprisonment after he was convicted of raping a 50-year-old woman several times over an eight-month period when he kept her in his house against her will. Magistrate Sbongile Mathambeka sentenced the man, Office Samson Choniswa, to an additional five years for kidnapping, four years for theft and another five years for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said on August 31, 2020, the complainant was at a hiking spot in the town, trying to get transport to…

An eight-year-old boy was attacked and killed by a neighbour’s dog while playing in his family yard in Bloemfontein at the weekend. The shocking incident happened in the Vista Park suburb on Saturday afternoon. According to the police, the dog, a pitbull, allegedly escaped from its enclosure, jumped over the fence and attacked the boy. After paramedics attended to him, he was declared dead at the scene having suffered bite wounds on the neck and chest. “. . . Mangaung Police received a distress call from a witness about an alleged dog that was mauling a child in Vista Park,”…

Premier Sefora Ntombela has appealed for caution on the roads following a bus crash that killed eight and left dozens injured on the N8 near Botshabelo on Thursday morning. The bus, which was ferrying 62 passengers, was on its way to Bloemfontein when it collided with a truck. Seven people were declared dead on the scene of the accident, while one later succumbed to injuries at Pelonomi Hospital. According to the provincial government, 32 passengers sustained minor injuries, 19 were moderately injured while two are in a critical condition. All the injured are currently receiving care at Botshabelo Hospital, Moroka…

The Sasolburg Magistrates Court has sentenced a 29-year-old man to an effective 17 years’ imprisonment after he was convicted of housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances. Themba Khumalo was convicted for breaking into the house of an elderly couple and making off with R70 000 cash and a cellphone. According to the state, the victims, Johannes Loots, 74, and his wife, Catharina, 75, were attacked by Khumalo with a braai fork when they entered their house at around 1800 hours on September 22, 2021. “Loots was busy opening a burglar gate when he was attacked by…