With just more than a month to go to the beginning of the World Cup, the superstitious among the 30-man squad chosen by the South African selectors will be avoiding black cats, ladders, people whose eyebrows meet in the middle and the other bad omens too numerous to mention.
A train crash in a remote part of Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 100 people and injured more than 200, the Central African country’s minister of information said on Thursday. Injured survivors initially walked or were transported by bicycle from the scene of the wreck 12km to the nearest hospital.
Federal transport investigators began work on Thursday to establish the cause of the catastrophic collapse of the Mississippi bridge that had been classified as ”structurally deficient” two years ago . The police put the official death toll at four but predicted that would rise, confirming that rescuers had seen other bodies trapped in submerged cars.
In the first salvo of what promises to be an intense battle for the control of the powerful ANC national executive committee (NEC), Cosatu in KwaZulu-Natal has proposed the exclusion of President Thabo Mbeki and government ministers presumed to be loyal to him when a new NEC is elected in December.
Two trucks with cages crammed with Burmese migrant workers halt abruptly beside the Thai-Burmese frontier’s river landing stage. Detainees, standing and sitting, are pressed hard against one another and the wire mesh that is their temporary prison. The deportees appear resigned to their fate. When the doors fly open, 140 men and a lone woman file out and down steep steps on the Thai side of the border to a waiting barge.
What was it all for? After twice blocking the publication of allegations against him based on an internal SABC audit report — and causing enormous inconvenience to the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> — SABC legal chief Mafika Sihlali failed to file papers or even make an appearance at the final interdict hearing on Wednesday this week.
New Anglo American chief Cynthia Carroll has vowed to ramp up mining safety, and the departure of two top Anglo executives this week thrust the thorny issue into the spotlight. Local mining companies have a parlous safety record, in part because of the depth of the mines, and Carroll may find that mining safety, or the lack thereof, is the one challenge that becomes her nemesis.
I had intended to go up to the north of Côte d’Ivoire. I still have fond memories of the two years I spent teaching English in a secondary school in Korhogo, the regional capital. I was enchanted by the contrast between my experience as an Abidjanaise and life in the northern region, writes Véronique Tadjo.
MTN could face a multimillion-rand fine if the Competition Tribunal agrees with Cell C and the Competition Commission that it has been involved in anti-competitive conduct. This follows the Competition Commission’s decision to refer Cell C’s complaint to the Competition Tribunal for adjudication after it found that MTN was engaging in "price discrimination".
Two major fuel refineries producing 380 000 barrels a day have been shut down as the chemical industry strike entered its fifth day on Friday. Meanwhile, the mining industry is bracing itself for a massive strike after unions this week declared a dispute with the Chamber of Mines.