Western Cape education minister Cameron Dugmore has suspended a Delft school principal after his arrest on charges of indecent assault and possession of child pornography, media reports said on Thursday. Three parents laid indecent assault charges against the 57-year-old man who appeared in court on Wednesday.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Johnny de Lange is hard-working, thorough, clever and dedicated — but has a large ego and a short temper. So say those who have worked with him. De Lange’s early life appears to have been fairly standard for a small-town Afrikaner male.
The Directorate of Special Operations — the ”Scorpions” — will remain within the National Prosecuting Authority, which will continue to report to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development. But political oversight of what the Scorpions’ ”law enforcement responsibilities” will include, moves to the Minister of Safety and Security.
The illegal automatic firearms wielded by criminals in Sunday’s Jeppestown, Johannesburg, shootout have thrown a frightening spotlight on the hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons in circulation in South Africa. Although the South African Police Service has recovered more illegal firearms than those lost or stolen in the past six years, researchers believe 95% of the country’s illegal weapons remain at large.
South African petrochemicals group Sasol on Thursday announced that the R1,45-billion Tshwarisano black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction has been successfully concluded. In terms of the agreement, Tshwarisano acquired a 25% shareholding in Sasol’s South African liquid-fuels business housed in Sasol Oil.
The South African rand was sharply firmer against the dollar in early trade on Friday after a slide in the dollar following the United States federal open market committee’s (FOMC) decision to increase interest rates on Thursday night. At 8.26am, the rand was bid at R7,1153 per dollar.
A belligerent President Robert Mugabe is placing conditions for the lifting of international sanctions first, before any dialogue or planned visit by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. Mugabe is expected to meet Annan on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Gambia this week.
Wits University’s new policy of imposing a 10% levy on the income earned by academics for private work could benefit them, said Aubrey Blecher of the Wits Academic Staff Association this week. Blecher said having a large institution such as Wits at their side, rather than trying to negotiate as individuals with the corporate world, could work to the advantage of academics.
Controversial draft legislation aimed at overhauling the structure of the judiciary has been shelved after the intervention of President Thabo Mbeki. Senior government and parliamentary officials say formal consideration of the proposed laws has been suspended, and will not begin again until they are redrafted.
<i>’Mhla kwahamba abelungu kulelizwe, amakhafula ayothi ‘Basi’ lapha kithi"</i> (when all the whites are gone from this country, kaffirs will say ‘Baas’ to us — the Mkhizes). I was about eight when I first heard one of my uncles make this bold declaration. UBab’ Omdala uMlamuli is now almost 90 years old and over the past 23 years, he has repeatedly assured me that his prophecy will indeed come true.