It is up to the courts, not Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan, to decide on the legitimacy of the Tshwane name change, the ministry said on Wednesday. ”The minister is not a dictator … a despot,” said Jordan’s spokesperson Sandile Memela. ”The people have to be consulted,” he added.
Toys R Us and Reggie’s have instructed all their stores to remove certain toys from their shelves following an urgent announcement by the agents of international toy manufacturer Mattel. Affected toys reportedly contain either lead paint or tiny magnets that young children might swallow.
An unemployment lobby group on Wednesday said it is not involved in blowing up automated teller machines, but only encourages those without jobs to do so. ”It is ordinary members of the unemployed who are encouraged by Icemusa to continue with the blastings,” said the leader of the group.
The suspension of hospital superintendent Nokuzola Ntshona has created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation among conscientious public officials, the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) said on Wednesday. ”The PSAM is gravely concerned by the precedent set by the suspension,” it said.
Conditions in Nigerian prisons are appalling with ”forgotten inmates” locked away for years without trial simply because their files have been lost, Amnesty International said on Wednesday. ”The circumstances under which the Nigerian government locks up its inmates are appalling,” the rights group said.
More questions were raised on Wednesday about a shocking internet video that shows Russian neo-Nazis beheading one man and shooting another, as police probed its origin and authenticity. The video appears to show a pair of masked men executing a Tadjik national and an ethnic Dagestani man in a forest with a Nazi flag in the background.
Police have admitted they have no evidence linking two suspects to a mob that assaulted a woman and set her house alight because she was wearing a pair of pants, a packed Umlazi Magistrate’s Court heard on Wednesday. The two men appeared in the court after a second woman, Nomzumo Ngcobo, filed charges of intimidation.
A new Bill proposing an integrated system of coastal management will not lead to expropriation of beachfront properties, MPs were assured on Wednesday. But officials who are sponsoring the Bill through Parliament say that it will make it easier for local authorities to remove holiday chalets illegally built on the beach.
A leading property group has been given the South African mandate to seek out super-rich individuals to buy residences on a yet-to-be-built luxury ocean liner. Prices for the Four Seasons Ocean Residences start at R28-million for 74 square metres. A top-of-the-range, 650-square-metre penthouse suite will set you back R282-million.
Jazz diva Thandi Klaasen has been forced to withdraw from her planned performance at the Joy of Jazz festival in Johannesburg later in August because of ill health, the events organiser said on Wednesday. The singer had a fall recently. She is still in severe pain and will not be able to manage rehearsals.