Politicians, including Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff, have formally acknowledged they owe the defunct Bathong travel agency tens of thousands of rands, a liquidation inquiry heard on Wednesday. Bathong is one of the agencies targeted by the Scorpions in their probe into the alleged abuse of parliamentary travel vouchers, and Bathong director Mpho Lebelo will be in the dock along with more than two dozen current and former MPs on Monday when their criminal trial begins in the Cape High Court.
Nearly 1Â 800 public servants found guilty of receiving social grants they were not entitled to are not being charged interest on repayments, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. They are not required to pay a fine and were given ”extremely lenient” repayment plans, the party said in a statement. ”In some cases, people can take as long as 31 years to repay the amount owed.”
Hezbollah guerrillas killed up to 13 Israeli soldiers in fighting in Lebanon on Wednesday and world diplomats met in Rome but stopped short of calling for an immediate end to the 15-day-old war. Foreign ministers at the crisis conference pledged to work urgently for a ”lasting, permanent and sustainable” ceasefire, but did not call for the fighting to stop immediately.
The South African Trade and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) will launch another national strike next week after a wage dispute involving the contract cleaning sector, the union said on Wednesday. The union is demanding that workers be given a 12% increment, and 15 % for those working in rural areas, said spokesperson Dolly Mlotshwa.
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) decided on Wednesday that the October deadline for the launch of a new ”super federation” was unattainable. Fedusa deputy president Koos Bezuidenhout said a meeting had nevertheless decided to continue talks about uniting Fedusa, the National Council of Trade Unions and the Confederation of South African Workers’ Unions.
The body of a child and a skeleton were discovered together outside Modimolle, Limpopo police said on Wednesday. Superintendent Malesela Ledwaba said the discovery was made about 4pm on Tuesday by passers-by. Ledwaba said the corpse was in an advanced state of decomposition and half naked.
South African aid organisation Gift of the Givers will probably travel to war-torn Lebanon over the weekend to deliver humanitarian aid, its chairperson said on Wednesday. Imtiaz Sooliman said the organisation has received all clearances from Syria to fly there and take the goods to Lebanon.
Former deputy president Jacob Zuma, in his capacity as deputy president of the ruling African National Congress, will be one of the guest speakers at this weekend’s celebration of the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) 85th anniversary.
Britain’s most convicted driver, described by his lawyer as a ”likeable idiot”, was sent to prison on Wednesday for five months for flouting his 48th driving ban. Bouncer Jamie Manderson (33) from Swindon, south-west England, has nearly 200 previous convictions, mostly for motoring misdemeanours.
Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi should release transcripts of the African Peer Review Mechanism meetings to reveal how the report was edited, said the independent Public Service Accountability Monitor on Wednesday.