The Zimbabwean government’s clean-up operation, Murambatsvina, has left the informal sector in misery and disarray, the Solidarity Peace Trust said on Wednesday. The informal sector, in which 90% of Zimbabweans eke out a living, has been criminalised by the very government that should protect their rights, trust chairperson Archbishop Pius Ncube said.
A street parking attendant in Brazil’s crime-ridden city of Rio de Janeiro was charged with sawing a woman in two over a parking-space dispute, police said on Wednesday. The 29-year-old male suspect was arrested on Tuesday night and confessed to murdering businesswoman Edna Souza (51) in a house she was trying to rent, a police spokesperson said.
Alarming numbers of young children are dying in Angola four years after the Southern African country’s long-running civil war ended, said a report on Wednesday by Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF). ”The mortality for children under five is almost three times higher than levels expected in developing countries,” said MSF in a statement.
Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) chairperson Zackie Achmat on Wednesday appealed directly to his African National Congress (ANC) ”comrades” to support the TAC’s call for the minister of health to be sacked. Achmat made the call during a special address to the Cape Town city council.
Business against Crime South Africa on Wednesday announced the appointment of Siphiwe Nzimande to replace Kenny Fihla as the organisation’s CEO. Fihla has stepped down as CEO at the conclusion of his three-year contract. Nzimande held the post of commercial director at Murray and Roberts Construction before joining Business against Crime.
Grade 11 pupils will write a nationally set end-of-year examination in 2007 to prepare them for the new National Senior Certificate (matric) exams to be introduced in 2008, the Department of Education said on Tuesday. Schools have already received a national examination for Grade 10 pupils this year, but it will only be used as example for teachers to set exams.
Tropical Storm Ernesto weakened further on Wednesday as it swirled over southern Florida, where residents heaved a sigh of relief it had not regained hurricane strength. Contrary to expectations, Ernesto did not strengthen after leaving the Cuban coast, and remained a weak tropical storm when it hit Florida late on Tuesday.
Only 45% of workers support the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) remaining part of the tripartite alliance, a survey has shown. Most workers surveyed felt that the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party and Cosatu should work harder to overcome their disagreements, Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said on Wednesday.
A newly formed action group is calling on South African businesses and private individuals to donate money to take out a full-page advertisement in a national newspaper protesting against the lack of alternatives in the country’s telecommunications sector. The group says a full-page advert in a national newspaper such as the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> will require approximately R50 000.
The Department of Correctional Services on Wednesday rejected a Durban High Court judge’s assertion that it is responsible for a potentially ”grave constitutional crisis”. ”The department does not agree that the decision to appeal against the orders of the Durban High Court was intended to create a constitutional crisis,” the department said in a statement.