Petrol will go up by 25 cents a litre at midnight on Wednesday, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. That means 95-octane unleaded petrol will now cost R6,73 a litre in Gauteng, 93-octane unleaded petrol and lead-replacement petrol will cost R6,61, and 91-octane unleaded petrol will cost R6,60.
South Africa recorded a deficit of R7,005-billion for its trade with non-Southern African Customs Union trading partners in May after a deficit of R2,418-billion in April, according to Customs and Excise figures released on Friday. An economist said: "I can’t believe it — but the explanation for part of it is the imports of oil."
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Friday left for Gambia to attend an African Union summit and ”might” meet United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan there, a top official said. ”When he [Mugabe] attends these meetings … he might meet him [Annan],” acting Information Minister Paul Mangwana told the media.
The hard-line Muslim leaders who control much of southern Somalia claimed nationwide authority, while the latest message attributed to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden describes the Horn of Africa nation as a battleground in his global war on the United States.
The police ordered into the Jeppestown incident to face 20 armed murderers were used as cannon fodder, the official opposition Democratic Alliance said on Friday. This follows a South African Cabinet statement sending condolences to the families of police personnel killed at Jeppestown. Four members of the South African Police Service lost their lives.
A man suspected of murdering his wife and then trying to disguise the crime as a hijacking has confessed to the murder, police in Durban said on Friday. On Wednesday night, the man was fished out of Durban harbour near the landmark sugar terminals after he drove his bakkie through a security boom.
Now that all the fuss and bother have died down, I find myself feeling a sort of empathy for our genial Minister of Safety and Security, Charles ”Whingers Beware” Nqakula. I have seldom seen such a flurry of outrage and hurt feelings in response to an idle remark tossed off in Parliament by the minister.
Germany’s Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla of Spain have both been withdrawn from the T-Mobile team contesting the Tour de France after they were named in an official inquiry into blood doping in Spain. Italy’s Ivan Basso and Spain’s Francisco Mancebo have also been withdrawn because of being named in the scandal.
Hype has brought us many of pop’s biggest names as well as some of its most notorious disasters, writes Dave Simpson.
"I think most people have a story to tell about bribery on the roads in South Africa. It’s almost offered as an option when you get stopped!" Rock singer Arno Carstens talks about cars and admits that he would prefer being driven around by a chauffeur.