Two climbers marooned on a tiny ledge on a cliff face above Swellendam in the Western Cape were rescued in a daring airlift on Monday. The men, trapped on the ledge since Sunday, were physically fit when they were brought down, said rescue organiser Kevin Tromp of Wilderness Search and Rescue.
The last few tahrs on Table Mountain could get a reprieve if South African National Parks is presented with a viable plan for their capture and removal. However SANparks spokesperson Wanda Mkutshulwa warned on Friday that the plan would have to be ”watertight” as SANparks did not want to be exposed to further legal action.
When he turns his telescopes towards the sun on Tuesday, Boland skywatcher Willie Koorts will be at least partly fulfilling the wishes of a long-dead astronomer. He will be observing the transit of Venus, an event so rare that no person alive today has witnessed it, and doing so from almost the same spot in his home town Wellington as an American scientific expedition in 1882.
As Venus tracks slowly across the face of the Sun on Tuesday, it may be fitting to remember one of the most unlucky astronomers in the history of the science. The Frenchman Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisiere risked death in the 18th century to travel half way across the world to observe a pair of transits of Venus.
Dozens of pharmacies in Johannesburg and Cape Town closed their doors for three hours on Tuesday as pharmacists took part in a staged protested against new medicine legislation. Meanwhile, the laws were contested in courts in Pretoria and the Mother City.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67187">Manto ‘acted beyond her powers'</a>
New Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk says he has no doubt that the decision to cull Table Mountain’s alien tahrs is the right thing to do. ”I think it’s the right thing to do. We have to protect Table Mountain as one of our heritage sites,” he said in Cape Town on Monday.
The International Wildlife Trust which offered to help pay for the relocation of Table Mountain’s Himalayan tahrs says the decision to shoot them is ”an absolute disgrace”. The Marchig Animal Welfare Trust said some time ago it would help fund the animals’ removal to a private game reserve if a permit for their relocation was obtained.
The thorny issue of the Table Mountain tahrs may be headed for court again following a threat by the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) to seek an urgent interdict. NSPCA executive director Marcelle Meredith labelled South African National Parks’ decision to cull the goat-like creatures "maverick slaughter".
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66496">Tahrs to die a ‘slow death'</a>
The removal of Himalayan tahrs from Table Mountain National Park will go ahead following the end of a legal challenge, park manager Brett Myrdal said on Thursday. ”In order for klipspringers to come back onto Table Mountain we do need to remove tahrs,” he said.
The Supreme Court of Appeal reserved judgement on Thursday in a defamation case lodged by African National Congress deputy secretary-general Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele against the Mail & Guardian newspaper. At issue is whether Cabinet ministers can sue for damages in a defamation claim where it relates to their performance as Cabinet ministers.
Surprise, surprise, M&G wins case