An Ekurhuleni business that illegally pumped toxic manganese fumes into the atmosphere has been ordered by court to plant 80 indigenous trees in a municipal park. Blue Sphere Investments Trading and its director, Nico Kruger, were also fined R100 000, or 10 years’ imprisonment. A third of the sentence was suspended for five years on condition that the business cleans up its act and the trees do not die.
One of Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s promises the day she took the oath of office in January was to urgently restore the electricity supply to the capital where power was cut off 16 years ago during the war. Among the ”key objectives and deliverables in the first 150 days of our administration” is the restoration of electricity to Monrovia”, she said on January 16.
Service delivery in one of the Eastern Cape’s largest municipalities has been paralysed by a scramble for power among councillors, prompting the intervention of the African National Congress’s provincial structures. If disciplinary procedures instituted by the provincial ANC fail to arrest the growing crisis in the municipality, Luthuli House will be asked to step in.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday the international incentive offer to curtail his nation’s nuclear programme was a ”step forward” that would be carefully considered. ”We will give a response in due time in line with the international interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Ahmadinejad told a press conference.
The controversial eviction of 300 workers’ families from estates in the Jonkershoek valley near Stellenbosch — including Christo Wiese’s wine estate, Lourensford — has been temporarily halted following a trade union protest campaign. Farmers are planning to convert workers’ tied housing into tourist and student accommodation to generate extra income.
”Robert who?” asks the woman behind the security counter at the entrance to the City of Cape Town’s offices. ”Macdonald. Mayor Zille’s spokesman.” The same happens outside the lifts on the sixth floor. Only the magic word ”Zille” finally elicits a nod and a wave towards her office.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is suffering a haemorrhage of key staff officials, in part because of the federation’s stand on African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma. Among the spate of senior leaders who have resigned from the federaÂtion, or are planning to do so soon, is senior economist Neva Makgetla and organising secretary Mncedisi Nontsele.
Twenty one people have died from tetanus in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake in Indonesia’s central Java island, the health ministry said on Friday. They were among 60 people infected with tetanus after they were injured by rubble when the quake destroyed their homes, the ministry said in a statement. Thirty seven of those are still in hospital, it said.
Bird flu may have become more virulent, increasing the risk to humans, Hong Kong’s health chief warned on Friday following the latest infection in a neighbouring Chinese city. China on Thursday confirmed its 19th human case of bird flu, a 31-year-old man from the southern economic boom town of Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong, who is critically ill in hospital.
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Angola’s coach called for African nations to cooperate to improve their football after a winless opening week for the continent at the World Cup. Four of the five African teams lost their first games with only Tunisia registering a draw against lowly Saudi Arabia.