The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on Friday reaffirmed its call for an independent judicial inquiry into the escape last year of Annanias Mathe from Pretoria’s C-Max prison. This follows the African National Congress parliamentary caucus decision on Thursday to express its full confidence in the Department of Correctional Services and agencies that probed Mathe’s escape.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai left hospital in a wheelchair on Friday after being treated for head injuries sustained at the hands of President Robert Mugabe’s security services. The Movement for Democratic Change president made no comment to waiting reporters as he was driven away from the hospital in Harare.
The kidnapping and murder case against Andrew Jordaan, accused of murdering seven-year-old Sheldean Human, was again postponed in the Pretoria Regional Court on Friday. Jordaan, wearing black jeans and a purple jacket, was surrounded by heavily armed police officers while standing in the dock.
The injury-plagued Waikato Chiefs steamrolled the error-ridden Lions 34-7 in Hamilton on Friday to register their first win in this season’s Super 14 rugby series. The Chiefs were spurred by feisty flyhalf Stephen Donald, who scored two tries, the tactical smarts of inside centre Tasesa Lavea and a never-say-die forward pack missing most of its big names.
The low-fare airline operated by Comair, kulula.com, has offered to host a party for rival South African Airways offshoot Mango if it ever makes a profit, kulula said on Friday. It challenged Mango to come clean on its profit performance after Mango claimed this week that it was performing well since its start four months ago.
A 60-year-old man who was stabbed to death and his 56-year-old wife who was tied up and robbed in their Hermanus home are United States citizens, Western Cape police said on Friday. ”They are American … They [had been] here since December, and were due to leave in April,” said Captain Elliot Sinyangana.
You might believe that existentialist thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre have nothing to do with the hazardous task of predicting the fortunes of football matches and football seasons. You would be wrong. For it was the French philosopher and Nobel laureate who observed: ”Things in football are complicated by the presence of the other team.”
Maybe it was because they played in white jerseys and resented the fact that the opposition were allowed to wear blue. Maybe the dinosaur jibes had finally struck home, and maybe the Waratahs are a directionless rabble, unrecognisable from the contenders of the last two seasons. Whatever the reason, last Saturday the Bulls scored four tries and climbed to third position on the log.
Increased trade is beneficial to Africa in that it supports poverty alleviation and is able to create new employment opportunities on the continent, said Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. It promotes regional integration and helps to expand intra-regional trade "while infusing new capital and technology into the continent", he told the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank.
A British human rights worker accused of espionage in Angola can leave the country on condition she return if asked to do so, her lawyers said on Thursday. Wykes, an anti-corruption campaigner with Global Witness who was investigating transparency in Angola’s oil sector, was arrested last month.