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The African National Congress was left licking its wounds after surrendering control of the city of Cape Town when Democratic Alliance mayoral candidate Helen Zille won a closely fought election on Wednesday. ”We need to sit down and analyse what went wrong,” ANC provincial chairperson James Ngculu said.
An 1890s-era plantation dam has failed in the rugged hills above northern Kauai, sending water and mud surging through two homes and wiping out the only highway. Searchers have found one person dead and are looking for at least seven others, some of them children who have not been seen since the deluge.
Massive abuse has been hurled at the media for coverage around Jacob Zuma. It comes mainly from his supporters. Though there was fair cause when the media robbed Zuma of his privacy in regard to rape charges, there’s no justification for coverage that partly identifies the alleged survivor of a gang rape, writes Guy Berger.
The environment will benefit from a government decision to allow Holcim to use alternative fuels at its cement plant outside Kimberley, the company said on Wednesday. Traditional fossil fuels will be replaced with waste materials such as tyres, rubber, paper sludge, plastics, solvents, industrial tars and sludge.
Two more people have been charged with corruption and fraud along with the former speaker of the Rustenburg municipality, Elizabeth Seduke. Daimy Maulane and Annelia Phefo appeared with Seduke and Godfrey Monaisa at the Rustenburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. They all face charges of theft or corruption.
Bayern Munich admit they are resigned to losing Germany captain Michael Ballack to Chelsea at the end of the season. Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho revealed on Monday that the west Londoners had made Ballack, out of contract at the end of the season, a lucrative offer and Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness conceded defeat.
Zimbabwe faces a shortfall of 1,1-million tonnes of the national staple maize this year, the United States-based food-monitoring Famine Early Warning System Network (Fewsnet) said. Fewsnet said the southern African country is most likely to harvest 700 000 tonnes of maize for the 2005/2006 farming season.
The state of Zimbabwe has withdrawn charges against an opposition MP and two party officials, arrested over an arms cache linked to a plot to overthrow President Robert Mugabe, and freed the three, their lawyer said on Wednesday. ”Giles Mutseyekwa and two other accused had their case withdrawn before plea.”
South African Airways (SAA) is one step closer to officially becoming a member of the global airline network, Star Alliance. One of SAA’s Airbus A340-600s has been branded in Star Alliance promotional livery. The Star Alliance livery, painted across the body of the aircraft, took SAA Technical staff a total of four days to complete.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan is sure a UN human rights council would be able to work with the United States, even if the US were to vote against its being established. Annan was speaking after meeting former president Nelson Mandela at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg on Wednesday.