Indonesia’s president warned on Monday night it would take months to deal with the basic needs of tens of thousands of earthquake survivors, as rescue teams all but gave up hope of pulling more people alive from the rubble. Relief has started trickling through to towns demolished by Saturday’s 6,3-magnitude quake that killed at least 4 300 people on Java island.
A few years ago the Actuarial Society of South Africa held a seminar on the responsibilities of a pension trustee. At the end of the seminar, when asked who would still be comfortable to take on the role of a pension trustee, not a single hand went up, demonstrating the weighty responsibility that trustees carry, says Magda Wierzycka, CEO of African Harvest Fund Managers.
South Africa’s telecommunication industry is so poorly structured that an industry worth several billion has sprung up in its shadows, offering cut-price calls. The LCR or least-cost routing industry is saving businesses up to 40%, through implementing savings on the cellphone portion of their Telkom bill.
Jacob Zuma emerges from the Johannesburg High Court after being roundly cleared of rape, and makes just two points to the crowd of admirers: he thanks them, and he hits at the media. Echoing comments by Judge Willem van der Merwe, he accuses the media of having found him guilty before all the evidence was in.
South Africa’s Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on Monday told Western newspaper editors to stop generalising about Africa and concentrate more on the continent’s success stories. Issues of real concern, such as Western poaching of Africa’s best and brightest talent, were being overlooked as the world’s media focused on wars and poverty.
Another two of the men arrested in connection with the death of actor Brett Goldin and his friend Richard Bloom were jailed on Monday, according to radio station Cape Talk. It said Zubair Davids and Yazeed Eyssen were sentenced to two years’ jail each by a Wynberg regional magistrate after entering into a plea bargain.
Nuclear-weapons countries have failed to reduce their nuclear arsenals, which threatens world peace, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Monday. She repeated South Africa’s support for international treaties and instruments in the fight against international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Withdrawing the recently formed Southern Spears from the Super 14 and Currie Cup competitions has left South Africa red-faced among its rugby-playing peers, franchise chairperson Aldy Meyer said on Monday. He told Parliament’s sport portfolio committee that two major sponsorships, one of them worth R15-million, were put at risk.
A new round of talks on Monday, hosted by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, which are designed to ease tensions between rival factions, made significant progress. Aziz Dweik, the Hamas speaker of the Ramallah-based Parliament, told reporters that he believed agreement on a common approach was within reach.
More white youth need to be involved in commemorating heroes of the country’s past, the National Youth Commission said on Monday. Chairperson Jabu Mbalula, speaking at the launch of the 30th anniversary of the June 16 uprisings in Soweto, said the organisation ”has not succeeded in mobilising the white youth”.