Up to 132 African would-be immigrants were on Thursday feared to have drowned when their boat capsized off Mauritania en route to Spain’s Canary Islands, Spanish news reports said. Eighty-four bodies were retrieved from the sea and beaches near the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott between Sunday and Wednesday.
Johannesburg International airport’s name will change to OR Tambo airport, probably in October, Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan announced in Parliament on Thursday. "I am formally announcing that I am approving the name change," he told the National Assembly. The name change was initially proposed by the local municipality.
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool will ask President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday for the rain-ravaged Eden district to be declared a disaster area, Rasool’s office said. ”The premier will today [Thursday] speak to the president and ask for him to declare it a disaster area. This will immediately free extra funding to do repairs,” said Rasool’s spokesperson, Shado Twala.
Egyptian international defender Mohammed Abdel Wahab died of a heart attack while training with his club, champions al-Ahly, on Thursday. The 22-year-old collapsed on the pitch and was immediately transferred to a nearby hospital but resuscitation efforts failed.
Roelf Meyer, former National Party Cabinet minister and key negotiator in South Africa’s transition to democracy, has applied for membership of the African National Congress. Confirming this on Thursday, he was, however, at pains to emphasise that he had no intention of re-entering active politics.
There is mounting evidence that the African continent will become the next al-Qaeda hotbed as the militant group seeks to expand its global operations, a senior expert on terrorism said. ”Al-Qaeda would logically look for Africa,” said Peter Pham, director of the Virginia-based think tank Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs.
South Africa recorded a deficit of R7,746-billion for its trade with non-Southern African Customs Union trading partners in July after a deficit of R4,219-billion in June and a shock deficit of R7,005-billion in May, according to customs and excise figures released on Thursday.
Thursday saw the long-awaited launch of South Africa’s second national operator — to be known as Neotel — at a function in Kyalami, north of Johannesburg, that featured violinists, African dance and a mime artist. Neotel MD Pandey outlined the company’s planned roll-out of telecommunication services.
A Jozi FM DJ has been shot dead in an attempted robbery in Dube Village, Soweto police said on Thursday. Superintendent Thembi Nkhwashu said Jabulani Mlangeni (27) was walking along Mncube Drive with a friend on Wednesday night when they were approached by two armed, unknown men.
As a character, he has been rocketing across our screens for half a century, but few remember that the original Superman, George Reeves, died in mysterious circumstances in the bedroom of his Hollywood Hills home at the height of his fame in 1959.