![]()
Jacob Zuma will apply to court on Thursday to stop the national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) from extending an investigation to the United Kingdom. At the end of March, the NDPP brought an ex-parte application for permission to approach banks in Britain with a view to the possible reinstating of fraud and corruption charges against Zuma
Southern African leaders meeting in Lusaka last week should have been more vociferous against human rights violations taking place in Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday. The London-based group accused Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders of wasting a crucial opportunity.
The United Nations human rights office on Tuesday accused forces allied with Sudan’s government of mass abduction and rape of women and girls in Darfur, acts it said could constitute war crimes. Its latest report, based on testimony from victims and witnesses, called on Khartoum to investigate reports that about 50 women were forced into ”sexual slavery”.
Municipal workers will embark on an indefinite strike in Cape Town next week, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said on Tuesday. Samwu said the strike was a protest against the city’s unilateral implementation of new conditions of service. The city had also relocated staff without any agreement with the union. However, the city rejected the union’s allegations.
Hurricane Dean, a monster category-five storm, smashed into Mexico’s Caribbean coast on Tuesday, its roaring winds and heavy rain battering beach resorts where thousands of tourists huddled in shelters. Seas churned as the storm, which killed 11 people earlier on its rampage through the Caribbean, came to shore around the cruise-ship port of Costa Maya.
Organisers of a race in Scotland have taken out a £1-million insurance policy against attack by or sighting of the fabled Loch Ness monster. Transport operator FirstGroup said in a statement that its policy with insurers Royal & Sun Alliance would pay out should "Nessie" emerge from the murky depths of the vast watercourse and/or attack one of the competitors.
Railway safety in South Africa requires urgent and sustained intervention, the Railway Safety Regulator said on Tuesday. The Regulator released its State of Railway Safety in South Africa report, which showed a high number of incidents including collisions, derailments and security-related issues.
South African President Thabo Mbeki led a delegation of more than a dozen ministers to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday to sign deals on defence, transport and health as the former Belgian colony rebuilds after historic elections. The visit was the first such high-level meeting between the two nations since DRC elections last year.
South Africa’s Standard Bank has bought control of IBTC Chartered Bank, it’s adviser said on Tuesday, in the first foreign takeover of a Nigerian bank since a sector reform in 2005. Standard Bank had already secured a 33% stake in an agreed purchase last September and offered -million for a further 17% in a tender offer that closed on Monday night.
South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Tuesday that 26Â 000 of its members at Lonmin Platinum mines were on strike over a pay dispute. Union spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said the strike began on Sunday night over a new pay system that he said cheated workers.