The South African Council of Churches (SACC) is still waiting for clearance certificates from the Zimbabwe government for the transport of a consignment of relief food to that country, the SACC said on Monday. ”All the paperwork has been submitted … we are waiting,” said SACC spokesperson Ron Steele.
A boy accused of fatally stabbing a man at the Menlyn shopping centre in Pretoria earlier this month was released on R500 bail on Monday. Investigating officer Captain Thomas Janse van Rensburg told the court he does not believe the accused was the only person involved in the murder, and more arrests might be imminent.
On Monday, thousands of Swazi girls removed tasselled scarves symbolising their chastity, abandoning an ancient rite revived to combat the modern scourge of Aids. King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch, in 2001 reinstated for five years the umchwasho rite, banning sexual relations for girls younger than 18.
Former New Zealand prime minister David Lange, who died on Saturday aged 63, oversaw a tumultuous time in the country’s history when it split with the United States over nuclear weapons and battled France over the sinking of the Greenpeace ship <i>Rainbow Warrior</i>.
Belgian jazz pianist and composer Francy Boland died on Friday in Geneva, aged 75, a statement from the Jazz Labo society of Fribourg said. Born in Namur on November 6 1929, Boland began learning piano at the age of eight and studied at the Music Conservatory in Liege.
United States actor Barbara Bel Geddes, best known as Ewing family matriarch Miss Ellie in the legendary television soap opera <i>Dallas</i>, has died at the age of 82, funeral directors said on Wednesday. Oscar-nominated Bel Geddes became world famous through her role as the mother of Texas oil barons JR and Bobby Ewing.
Tonino Delli Colli, director of photography for the greats of Italian and United States cinema, has died at the age of 81, his family announced on Thursday. He "gave light to the dreams" of numerous directors, including Roman Polanski’s <i>Bitter Moon</i> and Roberto Benigni’s <i>Life Is Beautiful</i>, his last film for the cinema.
Mo Mowlam, who has died at the age of 55, became one of Britain’s best-loved politicians, endearing herself to the public with a no-nonsense, down-to-earth attitude that reaped dividends in the stormy atmosphere of Northern Ireland. In bringing peace to Northern Ireland, she achieved what many thought impossible.
Germany’s seven-time formula-one champion Michael Schumacher refused on Monday to quash speculation that he has met McLaren sporting chief Norbert Haug to discuss a possible move from Ferrari. ”I do not want to discuss the rumours about me leaving Ferrari,” Schumacher said on his website.
They are trends that show little sign of abating: the influx of refugees and economic migrants to South Africa, and the extent to which these persons become the target of xenophobia. ”We are an attractive destination in Africa: we can’t run away from this,” Zonke Majodina, deputy commissioner at the South African Human Rights Commission, said this week.