Calls went out on May 1 — Workers’ Day — around South Africa, for better conditions of employment, more jobs, transformation and the eradication of poverty. However, foremost in people’s minds was the memory of 51 Northern Cape municipal workers who died on this day a year ago, outside Bethlehem in the eastern Free State, when their bus plunged into the Saulspoort Dam.
An animal rights group on Tuesday accused South Africa of breaching international conventions by sheltering four young gorillas in a Pretoria zoo. It would seem the gorillas first came to light in 2001 when they were ”illegally” exported to the Taiping Zoo in Malaysia. They were then confiscated by the authorities.
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Sunday handed out certificates to party members in KwaZulu-Natal who remained loyal to him during the floor-crossing window earlier this year.
BAE Systems plc did not give former South African defence minister Joe Modise two motor vehicles, and funding of the Umkhonto we Sizwe Veterans’ Association was all above board, a representative for the company said on Wednesday night.
Arms ‘agent’ denies graft charge
The strike at Iscor plants is likely to spread as workers in related industries get set to strike in sympathy, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa said on Wednesday.
”This is how I survive — selling rosary beads,” volunteered Cornelius Monaheng as he traipsed up and down the steps of the Johannesburg Stadium in the midst of the multi-cultural Africa Day celebrations.