He came to tell ”of arms and a man”, and on Tuesday prosecutor Billy Downer and his team resembled warriors. Standing proud in the Constitutional Court after they won their last battle (for now), Downer, his fellow prosecutors and investigators from the Scorpions were all smiles as they shook hands and sent SMSs to spread the news.
South Africa will not be able to distribute 30% of its land to black people by 2014, the director general in the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs has warned. Glen Thomas says the high land prices will make it impossible to reach the 2014 target — set by President Thabo Mbeki — if ”drastic interventions” are not made.
South Africa’s health system is hurtling from crisis to crisis. The country has a minister of health who deftly sidesteps accusations of incompetence, flatly denies drinking at hospitals and fires her competent deputy, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge. But the problems are not just concentrated at the top. They are more basic and affect the lives of children.
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Boeremag accused Mike du Toit on Thursday told the Pretoria High Court he did not trust the state or police because he believed they were controlled by former terrorists. Du Toit, a Herstigte Nasionale Party supporter, said not only did he and many others distrust the police, he also believed the African National Congress government was behind farm attacks and murders.
The outcome of a Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) central executive committee meeting held to discuss the fate of its beleaguered president, Willie Madisha, will be announced on Friday. Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said a statement would be issued but he would not be drawn out on the meeting held at Cosatu House on Thursday.
Two undersea earthquakes over 2 500km apart and measuring up to 6,3 on the Richter scale struck Indonesia on Thursday, but no tsunami warnings were triggered, seismologists said. The first quake in the northern Aceh province was rated by the national meteorological agency at a magnitude of 6,3 on the Richter scale.
Whether it costs the Makana municipality two cents or R100-million to change the name of Grahamstown and the names of other places and landmarks, the names will change, said Grahamstown mayor Phumelelo Kate on Thursday. ”You cannot equate the transformation of our country to costs. Change must happen and nothing is going to stop it,” Kate was reported as saying.
A former boyfriend of murdered teenager Samantha Uys on Thursday told the Pretoria High Court that one of her alleged killers had confessed his role in the gruesome murder to him. Joshua Bebington testified in the trial of his two friends, Kabelo ”KB” Mokwena and Ricky ”Slash” Godfrey.
A Chilean judge on Thursday ordered the arrest of the widow and five children of late dictator Augusto Pinochet as part of an investigation into allegations of corruption, judicial sources said. Judge Carlos Cerda also ordered the arrest of several retired military officers from the Pinochet era.