They should have got Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa to play Idi Amin in <i>The Last King of Scotland</i>. Shilowa at least has the seductive/menacing looks of the fleshy African power-man that Amin became. Forest Whitaker, looking slightly slimmer than he was when I last saw him on screen, unfortunately still just looks like a fat black man from the Louisiana plantations.
Disgruntled residents of Khutsong township in Carletonville, west of Johannesburg, were locked in a meeting with government officials in a bid to resolve their problems on Monday afternoon, the Merafong municipality said. The meeting follows last week’s violent protest by residents, during which some houses belonging to ward councillors were petrol-bombed.
A new initiative to tackle crimes such as house robberies and hijackings was unveiled by police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi on Monday. He told an Interpol conference in Johannesburg the move included the deployment of hundreds more police officers in areas where these crimes were common.
Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa will study a judgement handed down by the Pretoria High Court setting aside his decision to award the national lottery licence to Gidani. Earlier in the day, Pretoria High Court Judge Willie Seriti ruled that the process followed by the National Lotteries Board had been flawed.
The African Union’s top diplomat took aim at the continent’s long-time rulers on Monday by saying that the time had passed when leaders could expect to cling on to power for decades. ”Everybody knows that the era of ‘presidents for life’ is over,” Alpha Oumar Konare told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on democracy in Africa.
The family of convicted Durban businessman Schabir Shaik has been ”lobbying” Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour in an attempt to ”negotiate a deal” reducing his imprisonment term, the Daily News reported on Monday. The newspaper reported that the family had made repeated requests to meet with the minister.
Ernst Middendorp, the amiable, German-born coach of Kaizer Chiefs, was dismissed from his post on Monday. He was clearly stunned and disappointed at the turn of events that emerged after a fateful meeting convened by club chairperson Kaizer Motaung at noon.
Three teenagers may face a hefty fine if a court decides their festive firecrackers outside an eastern German farm scared the libido right out of an ostrich named Gustav. Rico Gabel, a farmer in Lohsa, north-east of Dresden, is claiming â,¬4Â 900 in damages for the alleged antics by the three youths.
A rapist who intimidated his 14-year-old victim into submission with a punch to the face and then raped her three times the same night was jailed for 17 years by the Cape High Court on Monday. Lungile Deya, now 23 but 19 at the time of the offence, was seemingly shocked at the sentence and covered his face with his hands.
A Limpopo man has fought off a crocodile with a flick knife after the reptile grabbed his leg, media reports said on Monday. Michael Sithole (37) of Sasekani village near Tzaneen was fishing from a rock when the crocodile attacked. ”It wanted to turn me into mincemeat,” he said. The attack came last Tuesday afternoon.