A former chairperson of South African Schools rugby and the founder of Craven Week, Jan Preuyt, died on Thursday evening at the age of 83 in the Eastern Cape town of Cathcart. Preuyt, a well-known school rugby administrator, was South African Schools chairperson for 19 years, and a friend of the late Danie Craven.
The United Nations threatened on Friday to suspend relief operations in parts of Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region because of continued attacks against aid workers by rebel fighters. The UN blames the Sudan Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Sudan Liberation Movement, for a spate of attacks in north Darfur.
Casting off an end-of-year lethargy, the United States economy bounded ahead in the opening quarter of this year at a 4,8% pace, the fastest pace of growth in two-and-a-half years. The increase in the gross domestic product marks a vast improvement from the feeble 1,7% annual rate registered in the final quarter of 2005.
Revellers in a British town are to have their fingerprints scanned when they enter pubs and clubs in a scheme launched on Friday aimed at weeding out drunken troublemakers, police said. Biometric finger-scanning machines have been installed at six venues in Yeovil, south-west England.
The Department of Correctional Services Department was accused by the South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr) on Friday of diverting R800-million from a prison-building project promised by the government about four years ago.
President Thabo Mbeki has warned against attempts to weaken and subvert South Africa’s hard-won democracy through violence and destruction. Writing in his weekly newsletter on the African National Congress website on Friday, Mbeki said the country will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Constitution next month.
The European Commission has donated €18-million to Southern African countries to modernise their customs systems and improve border posts, officials said. The commission and the 14-member Southern African Development Community regional bloc signed the deal in the Namibian capital late on Thursday.
![]()
The belief that the rape charge against Jacob Zuma is part of a political conspiracy cannot be dismissed, his lawyer Kemp J Kemp told the Johannesburg High Court on Friday. ”It is not something that one can just dismiss out of hand,” said Kemp, summarising why he thinks Zuma is not guilty.
After starting very close to a record high, the JSE was lower at midday on Friday due to the increase in Chinese interest rates, which has sparked fears about the effect that this could have on demand for commodities, equity traders said. By 12.10pm, the all-share index was 1,34% weaker at 21 068,010.
At least 27 people were feared drowned when a cargo boat on which they were traveling capsized during a heavy storm on Lake Victoria, Tanzanian police said on Thursday. The cargo vessel MV Nyamageni was carrying 27 people and 100 crates of soda and beer from the town of Bukoba to the port of Mwanza when it capsized on Saturday.