Detailing the suffering of a late Durban Westville prisoner, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) chairperson Zackie Achmat on Wednesday called for homicide charges to be instituted against two Cabinet ministers. Achmat, supported by a group of TAC activists, made the call after occupying the offices of the South African Human Rights Commission in central Cape Town.
A sum of  000 deposited in an offshore trust set up by LeisureNet boss Peter Gardener was cash for a joint investment in property, not an extortion payment, the Cape High Court was told on Wednesday. Gardener, former joint chief executive of the now-defunct group, was in the witness stand for the third day in succession.
The case against Cezanne Visser, alias Advocate Barbie, will be reopened in the Pretoria High Court later this month in an attempt to prove that she was abused. Judge Essop Patel on Wednesday postponed Visser’s trial to August 29 to give her new senior advocate, Johan Engelbrecht, time to find out if the fact that Visser was abused by her partner, Dirk Prinsloo, can be used as a defence.
Islamist courts controlling much of southern Somalia seized a key central port on Wednesday and said at least 100 government troops had defected to their side, in new blows to the weak administration. Hundreds of fighters loyal to the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia faced no resistance as they swept into the port of Hobyo.
The African National Congress in the Western Cape on Wednesday condemned overtures allegedly made to disgraced former party members, Truman Prince and Jeffrey Donson, by the Democratic Alliance. ”The ANC removed both Donson and Prince because they were an embarrassment to the ANC and the councils they lead,” Max Ozinsky, the ANC’s provincial deputy secretary said.
The death toll from devastating floods in south-west Ethiopia soared to 364 on Wednesday, police said, bringing to almost 900 the number killed or missing in raging waters nationwide this month. Authorities said they feared for the worst and were preparing for the possibility that several hundred more may have drowned from weekend flooding.
More than 15-million children in sub-Saharan Africa will have lost one or both parents to Aids by 2010.
South Africa have pulled out of the limited-overs tri-series against India and hosts Sri Lanka due to security concerns after a deadly bombing, a Sri Lankan cricket official said on Wednesday. ”South Africa have told us they want to pull out. It is unfortunate but true,” Sri Lanka Cricket media manager Samantha Algama said.
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier National Park, which links three countries, is a unique opportunity for Southern African eco-tourism and cooperation, said President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday at the opening of the park’s border post. ”We, the people, now have another possibility to reach out and join hands in partnership,” said Mbeki in a speech released by his office.
The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit China in half a century has reached 319 and could rise further, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. Much of southern China has been battered by a series of typhoons and tropical storms this year that have now killed about 1 300 people.