A steaming, bubbling toilet which caused a paraplegic prisoner to suffer burns to his buttocks and private parts will cost the ministers of Public Works and Correctional Services R35 000 in damages. Prisoner Augustino Banze (36) said in papers before the Pretoria High court he went to the toilet at 8.30am on October 16 2004.
A reduction of crime since 2006 was the result of a clamp-down conducted by the Johannesburg metro police and the South African Police Service, metro police said on Wednesday. Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said more than 1 000 illegal firearms had been confiscated and armed robbery in the inner-city had been reduced by 63%.
Relations between Russia and Britain were facing fresh turbulence on Wednesday after a billionaire oligarch wanted by the Kremlin for tax evasion was reported to have escaped to London. Mikhail Gutseriyev — the former head of one of Russia’s largest private oil firms — disappeared from Russia last week.
Over 700 financial misconduct cases were reported to the Public Service Commission over the 2005/2006 financial year, with 81% of implicated employees being found guilty, the National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF) said on Thursday.
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Willie Madisha has made public affadavits telling his side of the story relating to the missing R500Â 000 donation to the South African Communist Party (SACP). Madisha and a witness say they delivered the money to SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande in 2002.
<b>Laying down the law</b>:The HIV-prevalence rate in Madagascar may be lower than that in Southern Africa countries, but the levels of stigma and discrimination are just as high. Activists and government officials are hoping that a recently introduced law will alleviate the problem.
Plans to open up parts of Tsitsikamma — South Africa’s premier marine protected area — to recreational fishing appear to have been shelved for the moment. The proposal drew criticism from environmental groups such as the WWF, which called it a ”parochial and political decision to appease highly vociferous local stakeholders”.
A race for succession is taking shape in the IFP with progressive members of the party’s youth wing calling for it to formulate a succession plan ahead of the anticipated resignation of president Mangosuthu Buthelezi when his term ends in 2009. Buoyed by a belief that the term ending in 2009 might be Buthelezi’s last as party president reformists within the party and its youth wing have begun lobbying for a deputy president.
The findings of the first clinical trial of the traditional African medicinal herb Sutherlandia could bring succour for people living with HIV/Aids, but probably not for beleaguered Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. The trial, which will begin in September, was announced this week with the results expected in August 2009.
Two security guards at Gauteng finance minister Paul Mashatile’s Johannesburg home threatened Mail & Guardian photographer Lisa Skinner when she took pictures of the property. Skinner this month visited the well-protected house in Kelvin, north of Johannesburg, to take pictures for a story the M&G is investigating.