The Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has distanced itself from a South African Press Association (Sapa) report on a speech by Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Monday. Sapa’s report was issued under the headline: ”High crime levels driving tourists away: Van Schalkwyk.”
Zimbabwe’s Parliament opens a new session this week to debate radical plans to nationalise foreign firms and a law empowering the house to name President Robert Mugabe’s likely successor without a national vote. Mugabe will on Tuesday officially open the last session of the House of Assembly and the upper Senate ahead of general polls due by next March.
The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) has threatened to call for a boycott of Vodacom unless it extends organisational rights to the Communication Workers’ Union. Satawu would ”seriously consider” withdrawing its contracts for cellphones and airtime, Satawu general secretary Randall Howard said on Monday.
Caxton has been granted leave to participate in the Naspers/EMN/SuperSport merger procedures subject to certain conditions, the Competition Tribunal said on Monday. The tribunal said the merger had been referred to them at the end of May by the Competition Commission.
The Safety and Security Ministry dismissed claims on Monday that a draft Bill governing news coverage of important national buildings and institutions was constitutionally incompatible. Ministry spokesperson Trevor Bloem said state law advisers had ensured the Bill conformed to all constitutional principles.
A man who allegedly claimed over the internet to have had sex with a number of prominent South Africans appeared in the Kroonstad Magistrate’s Court on Monday. District court prosecutor Tanya Buitendag confirmed that Juan Uys appeared in court in connection with a warrant of arrest for theft in the Western Cape.
Cameroon’s opposition on Monday said ”massive fraud” marred the country’s legislative elections and vowed to challenge the results in court even as votes were still being counted. ”These elections were a catastrophe,” said Joseph Lavoisier Tsapy of the main opposition Social Democratic Front. ”On the whole, they were not different from previous elections.”
South Africa’s rampant crime is a major threat to the growth of the country’s tourism industry, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus Van Schalkwyk said on Monday. Speaking at a conference, Van Schalkwyk said crime is one of the main factors preventing potential tourists from visiting the country.
Businessman Billy Rautenbach, best known in South Africa and Botswana for his activities in assembling Hyundai cars, on Monday denied reports that he was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and deported to Zimbabwe. In a statement released on his behalf, Rautenbach confirmed that he was in the DRC last week.
A new alliance of Darfur factions urged rebel leaders on Monday to forego personal interests and unite to make peace with the Sudanese government. In a statement issued in the Eritrean capital of Asmara, the United Front for Liberation and Development demanded ”equal representation” for all rebel movements battling the Khartoum regime in Sudan’s western Darfur.