NO CERTIFICATES GAUTENG’s 1996 matriculants are still without certificates because issuing of the certificates was scheduled for after the supplementary examinations. Only 62 000 of the 79 000 matriculants have certificates. Gauteng education MEC Mary Metcalfe said because some candidates have been involved in irregularities, certificates are being re-checked.
HEADLINE HERE THE Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tim Fischer, arrives in Durban on Tuesday on a one-day visit. Fischer will be here to promote trade, investment and cultural links between Australia and KwaZulu-Natal. About 80% of Australian trade with SA passes through Durban. Fischer will meet KwaZulu-Natal economic affairs and tourism MEC Jacob Zuma.
FRENCH CONNECTION FRENCH Foreign Trade Minister Jacques Dondoux arrives in South Africa on Tuesday on a two-day visit. Dondoux, Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin, and Southern African Development Corporation executive secretary Kaire Nbuende, will open the France Technologies Exhibition at Gallagher Estate in Midrand on Tuesday afternoon. Dondoux will hold talks with Erwin, his deputy Gill Marcus, Telecommunications Minister Jay Naidoo and Water Affairs Minister Kader Asmal.
MILLIONAIRE REFUSED BAIL MILLIONAIRE farmer Ben du Toit, 44, charged with the alleged contract murder of his wife, was on Monday denied bail by the Johannesburg Regional Court on charges of conspiring to kill the investigating officer in the case. Du Toit, who was arrested on June 22 while on R75000 bail in connection with his wife’s death, will remain in custody until his next appearance on the conspiracy charges on September 8. He is also to appear in the Johannesburg High Court on July 28 for the alleged contract murder of his wife, Joyce, who was killed during a “burglary” at their Bryanston mansion on June 11, 1992. Du Toit received millions in insurance payouts for his wife’s death.
UGANDA KILLING FIELD The decomposed bodies of 50 people, apparently the victims of Allied Democratic Forces rebels, were found in fields in western Uganda close to the Congo-Kinshasa border. Another 100 people have been killed by the rebels in the area over the last month.
PIGEONS BURN TO DEATH A THOUSAND racing pigeons burnt to death at the weekend when the trailer transporting them from Johannesburg caught fire while driving through the Free State. A passing farmer alerted the driver to the fire at the end of the trailer, which had already killed a thousand out of seven thousand birds. The cause of the fire is unknown.
HIGH PROFILE TRC HEARINGS THE TRUTH commission will hear amnesty applications this week on some of the most notorious South African human rights cases, including the St James Church massacre, the “Guguletu Seven” massacre and the killing of US exchange student Amy Biehl.
SABC RETRENCHMENTS THE SABC begins retrenchments on Monday of 650 staff, who will be given between one and three months notice after receiving letters of notification today. Retrenched staff will have seven days to appeal. The number of enforced retrenchments is lower than expected because almost a thousand SABC staff have either quit or asked for voluntary retrenchment in the past month.