Jean-Jacques Cornish

No arrests three days after Verulam mosque attack

Police haven’t made any arrests  after the attack on a mosques outside the South African city of Durban three days ago when three men had their throats slit, one of whom died of his wounds.

Mosques in the area have increased their security and the ruling African National Congress has condemned the attack in which parts of the mosque were torched.

Family members, residents and some sections within the Islamic community maintain the attack on the Imam Husain Mosque was an act of terror and have called on the South African government to ensure this does not happen again.

The Verulam community is reeling after the knife attack on three worshippers who were stabbed on Thursday.

Abbas Essop succumbed to his wounds after having his throat slit while Muhammad Ali remains in hospital.

Imam Ali Nchinyane survived the ordeal and describes Essop as a martyr who died trying to save others.

He says the attackers prayed with other members of the Shia mosque before turning their knives on their victims.

He says he  survived was because he has martial arts training and he used his nunchucku sticks to fend off the attackers.

He eventually jumped out of a window to escape them.

The Imam says the attackers definitely has a religious motive.

The ANC  has condemned the attack, calling it ghastly and vicious.

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Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.

Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.

Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.

Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.

He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.

He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.

He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.

In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.

He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.

Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.