Johannesburg residents can anticipate a brighter skyline when repairs to the magnificently illuminated Coca-Cola billboard, which was damaged in a windstorm last year, are complete, said the company on Friday. Khotso Kekana, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola, told the Mail & Guardian Online that certain areas of the billboard are under reconstruction.
The trial of the toppled Liberian president accused of backing a bloody rebellion in his neighbour to the north could take months, according to the chief prosecutor at the special United Nations-backed tribunal that will try Charles Taylor. Prosecutor Desmond de Silva also said security concerns had prompted officials a day before to request that the trial be moved to Europe.
The Supreme Court of Appeal on Friday unanimously overturned a finding of the Pretoria High Court that the Auditor General, Shauket Fakie, was in contempt of court in a matter related to the government’s controversial arms deal. Fakie had been ordered to give CCII Systems certain documents pertaining to the government’s arms deal.
Gay chef Mark Gory was declared the sole heir to his partner’s estate by the Pretoria High Court on Friday after a legal wrangle with the other man’s family. Gory and his partner, Henry Brooks, met in 2003, bought a house in 2004 and lived together as a married couple until Brooks died suddenly, without a will, in April 2005.
A delegation of the South African Rugby Union (Saru) on Friday met representatives of the Southern Spears to gather information on the state of the franchise’s readiness to participate in the Vodacom Super 14 in 2007. The meeting addressed a number of issues including governance of the franchise, sponsorships and understanding of earlier agreements.
Teenager Suresh Raina struck a valiant 81 not out on Friday as India overcame an early collapse to beat England by four wickets in the second limited-overs international. Raina and Mahendra Dhoni (38) combined for a 118-run, sixth-wicket partnership to help India recover from a 92-5 slump.
South Africa recorded a deficit of R3,898-billion for its trade with non-Southern African Customs Union trading partners in February after a record deficit of R7,668-billion in January, according to the latest Customs & Excise figures released on Friday.
As predictable as sensationalist coverage of the ”lesbian murder trial” recently was the reaction from conservative religious groups to the verdict. No sooner had magistrate Rita Willemse found Haneline Botha and her partner, Engeline de Nysschen, guilty than the African Christian Democratic Party released a statement headed ”Lesbian couple murder boy shows moral decay [sic]”.
The African National Congress on Friday lashed out at media reports on its national executive committee’s approach to the hoax e-mail saga, including a <i>Mail & Guardian</i> report claiming there is a rift between ANC president Thabo Mbeki and secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe on this matter.
Ethiopian children are facing a new threat after two years of drought because recent rainfall has increased the risk of lethal disease, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said on Friday. Damien Personnaz, a Unicef spokesperson, said that rain in parts of the Oromia region had raised the spectre of diarrhea and malaria.