Hurricane Dean strengthened into a category-five storm capable of catastrophic damage on Monday night as its first rain and winds began hitting the coasts of Mexico and Belize. Thousands of tourists fled the beaches of the Mayan Riviera as the fast-moving storm roared toward the Yucatan Peninsula.
Two of the three apartheid police officers convicted last week of an attempt on Frank Chikane’s life 18 years ago visited him on Monday to ask him personally for forgiveness. Apartheid-era police head Johan van der Merwe, who with Adriaan Vlok received a suspended sentence of 10 years in jail, confirmed the meeting.
Four national government departments owe the Gauteng health department more than R43-million for patients treated at hospitals, the department said on Monday. Spokesperson Zanele Mngadi said the provincial department is in talks with the affected national departments for payment.
Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha has agreed to meet the South African Communist Party (SACP) to discuss issues around missing donations. This was confirmed by SACP treasurer Phumulo Masualle, who will lead the investigation into the R500 000 donation saga.
The South African National Editors’ Forum on Monday issued a statement on the reporting by the Sunday Times of allegations against Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, saying it believes that the newspaper would have taken sufficient steps to ensure that the information was true and in the public interest.
South African insurer Santam on Tuesday reported a 61% increase in headline earnings per share to 803 cents for the six months ended June from 498 cents a year ago. Diluted headline earnings per share were up 63% to 793 cents from a previous 488 cents. An interim dividend of 166 cents per share was declared.
A Durban cosmologist, Dr Kavilan Moodley, has been awarded the prestigious Silver Jubilee Medal for 2007, by the South African Institute of Physics. The medal, awarded every two years to young researchers under the age of 35 years, was presented to Moodley at the opening event of the South African Institute of Physics’s 52nd annual conference, held last month at Wits University.
Allan Gray has established 10 annual scholarships worth a total of R1,25-million for full-time MBA students at the University of Cape Town graduate school of business (GSB). The company has been providing funding for previously disadvantaged students at the school for a number of years.
Have you ever wondered what the possible reasons are for the slow disappearance of fish from our rivers and if we will ever see their numbers restored? A recent research initiative by the Water Research Commission has assessed the ability of indigenous fish species to negotiate different fishway designs in an attempt to optimise and develop new models.
As South African universities have changed, a sense of malaise has emerged among many academic staff. Yet South African debates on tertiary institutions have tended to sideline and objectify the role of academics. The Council on Higher Education’s (CHE) website, for example, lists some 70 publications, all dealing with crucial tertiary education issues.