Nelson Mandela and former United States president Bill Clinton teamed up on Thursday to raise funds for African children with heart problems.
Two-thirds of the cargo has been removed from the grounded Safmarine Agulhas and the rest will be steam-cleaned before being taken ashore, the National Port Authority (NPA) said on Thursday. NPA East London spokesperson Terry Taylor said 475 containers have been offloaded.
The name of the man to take the South African senior soccer team to the 2010 World Cup will remain a secret for a few more weeks, as he does not exist. South African Football Association CEO Raymond Hack on Thursday admitted that they are yet to receive recommendations from the technical committee led by Sturu Pasiya.
Peace talks aimed at bringing a final end to Burundi’s 13-year civil war hung in limbo on Thursday with the government and rebels still at odds over basic issues, officials said. The stalled negotiations had been set to resume on Thursday in Tanzania’s commercial capital of Dar es Salaam after a one-week suspension called by South African mediators.
The Zimbabwean student accused of trying to hijack a South African Airways (SAA) domestic flight last month was denied bail in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. Tinashe Rioga (21) had failed to prove the exceptional circumstances necessary for bail to be granted, Magistrate Suzette Marais ruled.
The circumcision death toll in the Eastern Cape has reached 19 with news on Thursday of the death of another would-be initiate, the provincial health department said. An official said the 18-year-old youth died after being circumcised at an illegal initiation school in the Libode area of Transkei.
South Africa’s banking system remained stable during 2005 and banks in general were sound and continued to benefit from South Africa’s economic health, the bank supervision department of the South African Reserve Bank said in its annual report released on Thursday.
Free State police have launched a manhunt for a gang who robbed a chartered aircraft at the Bloemfontein airport of an undisclosed amount of money early on Thursday. Police spokesperson Captain Elsa Gerber said a group of between eight and ten men stopped their Ford bakkie in front of the Baron Beachcraft twin prop plane at around 7.45am, preventing the pilot from taking off.
Declining oil reserves and soaring prices could see desperate nations overturning a ban on drilling in the last untouched frontier — Antarctica, an oil expert told a scientific conference on Thursday. Pressure to exploit the pristine, icy continent could become irresistible, said Ali Bakhtiari, a former senior adviser for the National Iranian Oil Company.
Saddam Hussein and three of his co-defendants have been on hunger strike for five days in protest at court procedures and the killing of their defence lawyers, the United States military said on Wednesday. A spokesperson, who declined to identify the other three, said all four had refused meals since Friday evening but were in good health. Saddam’s lawyer said the protest had lasted for seven days and he was concerned about the former president’s health.