Iran’s Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, will hold talks with Sasol chief executive Pat Davies and several government officials during a two-day visit to South Africa this week, said the Department of Foreign Affairs on Sunday. South African imports from Iran — chiefly of oil — amounted to R14,3-billion last year.
Minorities of whatever race, creed or culture are best protected when the rights and values of all citizens are defended and actively fought for, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said on Saturday. Leon was speaking at the DA’s provincial congress in KwaZulu-Natal.
The South African government has received no formal request for mediation in the peace process in Uganda, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday. ”We have been inundated with calls about whether South Africa has been asked to mediate in Uganda,” departmental spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said.
More than 70 Taliban guerrillas have been killed in fighting with Nato and Afghan forces in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, a provincial police official said on Sunday. The battle erupted late on Saturday after hundreds of Taliban attacked the district government headquarters.
If public-service unions want meaningful wage increases, they must be ready for a fight and possibly a strike, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told health workers on Saturday. ”Serious battles are never won in the boardrooms,” Vavi said.
Parliament on Saturday said it has taken note of Constitutional Court rulings this week relating to the Abortion Amendment Act and the cross-boundary municipalities law, among others. ”The two judgements are of critical importance to the legislative procedures of Parliament,” Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete said.
United Nations special envoy to Africa Stephen Lewis ”is not Africa’s Messiah” and does not understand South Africa’s HIV/Aids programmes, said the Department of Health on Saturday. ”We reject with contempt the statement made by Stephen Lewis with regard to response of South African government to the challenge of HIV and Aids,” the department said.
A taxi owner was shot dead and four others were wounded by a gang of gunmen that opened fire on them on Friday night at a long-distance taxi rank in Khayelitsha, said Western Cape police. Three passengers — two men and a woman — were also wounded in the shooting, said Superintendent Billy Jones.
The peace agency of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels said on Saturday that at least 141 ethnic Tamil civilians have been killed by government bombs and shelling since August 8, in what it called the deadliest period since a 2002 ceasefire was signed. The agency said the civilians were killed in air-force strikes and shelling in the north and east.
The South African cricket team arrived in Johannesburg on Saturday morning, after withdrawing from a triangular one-day tournament in Sri Lanka earlier this week. Coach Mickey Arthur said the players were relieved to be home, although they were disappointed at having to pull out of the tournament.