The ANC’s national executive committee elected its 28-member national working committee (NWC) on Monday. Get the complete list of NWC members here, as well as the names of the eight ANC members who will form part of the ad hoc committee to draw up a report on the arms deal.
Routine maintenance at Koeberg Power station was ”a necessary evil” at a time when reserve supplies were low and the risk of load shedding high, Eskom said on Tuesday. ”For five to seven years the reserve margin is going to be low. It’s an agonising decision sometimes, but we have to take a long-term view,” said Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for the Presidency to break its silence over the ongoing fracas in Kenya. ”An upfront reiteration by the South African Presidency that it will not countenance ballot rigging and improper retention of power would be both appropriate and timeous,” the DA’s Tony Leon said.
A French chef who had made her home on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast and earned accolades for her cooking over the years was found bludgeoned and burnt to death in her Ramsgate home, police said on Tuesday. The partially burnt body of Yvonne Cosson (69) was found covered with soil next to one of the walls of her home.
Floods in Southern Africa have displaced thousands of people, drowned livestock and put large numbers of children at risk from serious disease, officials said on Tuesday. About 1,5-million Zambians may have to flee their homes.
African Union chief John Kufuor was due in Nairobi on Tuesday on a crucial mission to broker talks between Kenya’s rival leaders and end the political turmoil that has claimed hundreds of lives. Ahead of Kufuor’s arrival, President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga jousted with various proposals that would allow the two men to sit down together.
A woman in Germany put an end to her troubled marriage by chopping up her husband and flushing parts of him down the toilet, authorities said on Tuesday. ”’You won’t find him, I’ve flushed him down the toilet,’ is what she told [her children],” said Andre Hartwich, a spokesperson for police in the western city of Düsseldorf.
The estimated consumption of electricity in November 2007 increased by 2,8% compared with November 2006, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. The estimated volume of electricity consumed (available for distribution) for the three months ending November 2007 increased by 3,8% compared with the three months ending November 2006.
Calling for urgent reform of the United Nations, France President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged on Tuesday to help Brazil, Germany, India, Japan and a major African country join the UN Security Council as permanent members. Sarkozy said he had recently told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that "UN reform can’t wait any longer".
Armed groups in Nigeria’s oil-producing south are building up weapons and supplies for a major attack on an oil facility in the world’s eight largest exporter, militant and security sources said on Tuesday. The planned rebel offensive against Africa’s largest oil industry comes after the collapse of a government peace initiative.