The Cape High Court on Monday gave the go-ahead for the eviction of several thousand residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement to make way for a housing development. Hundreds of Joe Slovo residents, who had gathered in the street outside the court, chanted angry slogans after the judgment was handed down.
World 60m hurdles champion Liu Xiang went through two medal ceremonies at the world indoor championships on Sunday when organisers mistakenly played the Chilean national anthem instead of China’s. Chinese star Liu, the Olympic and world 110m hurdles champion, had clinched the gold medal on Saturday.
Security forces armed with loud hailers were deployed in eastern Sri Lanka on Monday to drive away wild elephants blocking access to polling booths, police said. Villagers in Wellaveli told the authorities that they were unable to vote at the first local elections in 14 years because a herd of elephants had blocked their polling booth.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will ”revisit” its mail handling processes after five staffers became ill after handling a letter delivered to the office of acting head Mokotedi Mpshe, spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Monday. Mpshe was not affected, but five people had to be treated for headaches and rashes.
Tropical cyclone Jokwe battered parts of Mozambique for a third day on Monday, killing at least eight people and destroying thousands of homes in the northern Nampula province, Radio Mozambique reported. Four districts were being lashed by heavy downpours and strong winds of up to 200km/h, said the broadcaster.
The JSE continued to be haunted by fears of a United States recession, which sent most heavyweight stocks on a selling spree by midday on Monday. Adding to the negative sentiment was a pull back among local resource heavyweight counters, traders said. By noon, the JSE’s broader all-share index had fallen 1,75%.
SuperSport United continued their rampant run in the Absa Premiership with a convincing 2-0 win over Platinum Stars at Olympia Park in Rustenburg on Sunday. SuperSport have won five and drawn two of their seven games since the second round of fixtures got under way in February, and now trail log leaders Ajax Cape Town by a single point.
Lebanon’s political crisis has turned into an economic nightmare for the vital tourist industry, hard hit by a slump in tourists from oil-rich Gulf states who have been told to avoid the troubled country. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have advised their citizens not to travel to a country in the grip of its worst political crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990.
Dr Ihron Rensburg, the University of Johannesburg’s vice- chancellor, is in the news again. A new house worth R5-million is being built for him because he doesn’t like the one his predecessors occupied. I have sympathy for the argument that such excesses have no place in this country, but there is cause to reconsider.
South Africa is considering bidding for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. South Africa has sent a letter to the International Rugby Board (IRB) tails on the tender process, which is expected to end next year. SA Rugby managing director Jonathan Stones said the IRB was thinking of staging every ”two out of three” World Cups in European time zones.