Oil prices were steady on Thursday after retreating from levels just cents below the record trading high established in the previous session on an unexpected drop in United States crude inventories. By afternoon in Europe, the contract was up 25 cents, fetching ,12 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Deputy Safety and Security Minister Susan Shabangu must be fired for her comments that police should shoot and kill criminals, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday. ”Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula has no choice but to fire her with immediate effect,” DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard said.
President Robert Mugabe and his chief rival will attend an emergency summit of Southern African leaders to present their conflicting views of the crisis paralysing the country in the wake of hotly contested elections, spokespersons for the men said on Thursday. The opposition has said it will not take part in an election run-off.
In its investigation of complaints laid against the Forum of Black Journalists, the South African Human Rights Commission twice wrote to FBJ chief Abbey Makoe.
South Africa will work with other countries in the region to ensure the will of the Zimbabwean people is reflected, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Thursday. The country has joined the chorus of international calls for Zimbabwe to release the results of its March 29 presidential election as soon as possible.
The British and Irish Lions are to play 10 matches on their tour of South Africa next year, including three Tests against the world champions, the Springboks, organisers said on Thursday. The Tests against the Boks will take place on June 20 in Durban, June 27 in Pretoria and July 4 in Johannesburg.
"We want to show that South Africa’s textile is definitely capable to stand on its own and that we don’t need to import cloth … We make people aware that South Africa has talent," says Eran Eyal, one of the designers behind Springleap, an innovative South African online retail outlet launched this month.
Efforts to push legislation through Parliament to disband the Scorpions are falling behind schedule, the deputy president’s office said on Thursday. ”It’s mainly because of consultation … which has taken much longer than was thought,” said Thabang Chiloane, spokesperson for Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni has raised the repo rate, at which the South African Reserve Bank lends money to banks, by 50 basis points to 11,5% following a two-day meeting of the bank’s monetary policy committee. The prime overdraft rate therefore increases to 15%.
Slain revolutionary leader Chris Hani would not have believed that 14 years into democracy, South Africa is still an unequal society, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Thursday at a memorial service marking 15 years since the assassination of Hani, the then-head of the South African Communist Party.