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An estimated half or more of the country’s kilometres of roads, and as much as two-thirds of roads in KwaZulu-Natal, have disappeared, largely due to ineffective administration, said a roads expert on Thursday. While the roads have not physically disappeared, they do not show up on official records.
After having spent 18 years in jail for a murder they never committed, two British men had their compensation payment for wrongful imprisonment cut by a quarter on Thursday on the grounds they did not have to pay for board and lodging during the time they were incarcerated.
The assets of Gauteng deputy director of public prosecutions Cornwell Tshavhungwa were attached by his own colleagues at the Assets Forfeiture Unit on Thursday. Tshavhungwa is currently in custody following his arrest on June 7 on fraud and corruption charges involving an amount of R1-million.
The Israeli Air Force struck at a Palestinian car driving through the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on Thursday afternoon, killing two militants belonging to a militant offshoot of the mainstream Fatah faction. Earlier, Israeli soldiers had shot dead a local Islamic Jihad leader near Tulkarem in the West Bank.
Two of the men arrested for suspected terrorist activities in Pakistan at the weekend are in fact South African, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Thursday. There have been three days of speculation regarding the identity and nationality of the two men after Pakistani newspapers published their names on Monday.
Some members of the World Trade Organisation are outraged at secret debates among five key players on how to salvage global trade talks, with one delegate warning on Thursday that a price will be paid. Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India and the United States wrapped up two days of closed door talks at midnight on Wednesday.
A court in Zimbabwe on Thursday adjourned until next month the trial of 70 men arrested in Harare on charges of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea. Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe granted a request from state prosecutor Stephen Musona to adjourn the trial until August 18 and said that proceedings will wrap up at about that time.
Indigenous oil workers in Nigeria, the world’s sixth-largest oil producer, are angry with multinational oil companies operating in the country’s Niger Delta region over the influx of foreign oil workers, mainly from the United States and Europe. Communal unrest is also taking a toll on the country’s oil production.
The Federation of Unions of SA expressed concern on Thursday at the ”apparent rushing and fast tracking” of the draft Public Investment Bill currently before Parliament, and hinted at possible legal action. Fedusa challenged Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to ”be transparent” and support good governance regarding the Bill.