The intensive care unit at Durban’s King Edward VIII Hospital, South Africa’s second largest, was shut down on Saturday. This was after striking workers reportedly threatened nurses at the unit with knobkerries and whips. Doctors were awaiting ambulances to transfer critically ill patients to other hospitals.
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A Durban High Court judge on Tuesday queried Jacob Zuma’s defence team over its efforts to stop the retrieval of documents from Mauritius that might relate to arms-deal corruption. He asked Zuma’s advocate Kemp J Kemp: ”If a person professes his innocence, then why go to all these lengths to prevent the evidence being obtained?”
Durban is generally touted as the country’s surf capital. But such is the hype surrounding the upcoming Super 14 clash between the Sharks and the Bulls that even the surfers are talking rugby. The city’s two English-language daily newspapers have devoted pages and pages to the upcoming clash.
Carol Erasmus, the 32-year-old KwaZulu-Natal engineer on the stricken Australian yacht Cowrie Dancer, had never seen such huge waves as those she faced in the southern ocean except ”in the movies”. Erasmus said she and Australian sailor John Blackman had been trying to secure the broken mizzen — the rear mast — when a huge wave hit the yacht on Monday.
Shoppers fled and shop owners hurriedly lowered their shutters as thousands of stick- and knobkerrie-wielding protesters ran through Durban’s city centre on Tuesday to the city hall to object to plans to rename streets after African National Congress (ANC) heroes. Minor damage was reported but no injuries.
KwaZulu-Natal’s transport minister, Bheki Cele, on Friday accused the Witness newspaper of being manipulated by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the ongoing issue of provincial ministers’ vehicles speeding with blue lights. IFP national organiser Albert Mncwango said: ”He’s talking absolute rubbish.”
Opposition parties are set to march through Durban on Workers’ Day on May 1 in protest against the eThekwini municipality’s proposed name changes of streets and buildings. Announcing the march in Durban on Tuesday, the Inkatha Freedom Party’s eThekwini caucus leader, Themba Nzuza, said the party would be marching ”against the blatantly flawed” process.
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Hundreds of people converged on Durban’s International Convention Centre on Friday night for the 65th birthday of African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma. Those attending included South African Communist Party secretary general Blade Nzimande and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
A company that processed manganese for 46 years did not examine workers for manganese poisoning until a television documentary on the disease, an inquiry heard on Thursday. Bryan Broekman, chief executive of Assmang ferro-manganese works, said the company had complied with health and safety regulations.
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Jacob Zuma and French arms manufacturer Thint are to appeal against the Durban High Court’s decision to allow prosecutors to ask authorities in Mauritius to release documents about meetings believed to relate to arms-deal corruption. Speaking on Monday afternoon, Zuma’s attorney said Zuma will lodge an application for leave to appeal against the decision.