For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines: Murder on the increase in South Africa, 3 056 new Covid infections, as death toll approaches 98 000 and, Niger accepts foreign special forces to secure Mali border area

Murder on the increase in South Africa

More than 900 women were murdered from October to December 2021 in South Africa.

This emerged when police presented crime statistics for the third quarter of the current financial year to the Portfolio Committee on Police.

Police Minister Bheki Cele said while there was an increase in murders, overall contact crimes decreased by 4%, compared to the same period the year before.

Major General Thulare Sekhukhune said the 6 859 murders in the third quarter were 562 more than in the same period the year before.

Attempted murders also increased by 3.5%.

3 056 new Covid infections, as death toll approaches 98 000

South Africa recorded 3 056 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, representing an 8.8% positivity rate.

Seventeen new Covid-19-related deaths have been recorded, bringing the confirmed death toll to 97 955.

Gauteng recorded 1 129 new cases while the Western Cape recorded 536 and KwaZulu-Natal 414.

There were 92 hospital admissions in the last 24-hour reporting cycle.

As of Thursday, 3 700 people were in public and private hospitals for Covid-19.

Niger accepts foreign special forces to secure Mali border area

Niger has accepted that French and European special forces will be deployed into its territory from neighbouring Mali, in order to secure the border area with the West African state.

In his first comments since France said yesterday that it would leave Mali, along with its military allies, President Mohamed Bazoum said the forces would be able to respond to threats from jihadist militants groups in the area.

Some 2 400 French troops that were part of the forces deployed for in Mali to combat groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, and around 900 special forces in the French-led Takuba task force, are expected to leave Mali in the coming months.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter [@PolityZA]