Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s deputy, Joyce Mujuru, has thrown her weight behind the veteran ruler’s bid for a sixth term, dispelling speculation linking her to Mugabe’s rival, Simba Makoni. Mujuru was quoted by the state-owned Herald newspaper on Monday as saying: ”Firstly, you should vote for comrade Mugabe”.
To exclude white journalists because they do not share the pain and frustration experienced by their black colleagues seems disingenuous as a raison d’être for the Forum of Black Journalists if those leading the line make a living as soapie makers, event managers, business people or government spokespeople.
A defence request on Monday for a two-month postponement in Najwa Petersen’s trial for the alleged murder of her husband led to acrimonious exchanges between her new senior counsel and Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai. Senior counsel Klaus von Lieres und Wilkau told the court he had only been approached late last Friday by new attorney Joshua Greeff.
No power cuts are foreseen for the rest of this week, Eskom said on Monday. ”The situation is tight at the moment, but we don’t anticipate load shedding to occur for the rest of this week,” said spokesperson Tony Stott. Last week Eskom and City Power-Johannesburg launched a timetable of power cuts to help industry and residents plan ahead.
South Africa’s rating of 63,2% ranks it 52nd globally on the Heritage Foundation 2008 Index of Economic Freedom. In a statement released on Monday, Century 21 South Africa — the local chapter of the world’s largest real-estate brand — said the index, which covers 162 countries, took 10 specific freedoms into account.
Canadian blind rocker Jeff Healey, who uniquely played his guitar flat on his lap, died of cancer on March 2 on the eve of his latest album release, his publicist said in a statement. Healey (41) died in a Toronto hospital of a rare cancer, <i>retinoblastoma</i>, that he had fought since birth and which claimed his eyesight at the age of one.
Standard Bank has received a R16-billion boost to its capital base after completion of a deal in which China’s biggest lender ICBC took a 20% stake, it said on Monday. International and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s biggest lender by assets, said in October last year it would pay ,5-billion for the stake in Standard Bank.
Sixty-one percent of all Gauteng policing precincts recorded a decrease in the total amount of violent crimes between July and December 2007, compared with the same period the previous year. Addressing the, Gauteng minister for community safety Firoz Cachalia said violent contact-crime categories decreased within the target range of between 7% and 10%.
An Iranian court has ordered a man to buy his wife 124 000 roses after she filed a complaint against her "stingy" husband to claim her dowry, a press report said on Monday. "After 10 years of marriage Hengameh had decided to claim her dowry of 124 000 red roses to punish her very stingy husband," the <i>Etemad</i> newspaper said.
Copper cable theft between April last year and the end of January has cost Telkom R863-million, the telecommunications provider said on Monday. In a statement, Telkom said the ”alarming surge” in copper cable theft was the biggest inhibitor in its capability to improve service levels.