The South African government has reported that 90 000 people confessed to welfare grant fraud under an amnesty offer that ended in March. This figure emerges from a report delivered by Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang — chairperson of the social cluster of ministers — on Thursday.
The Gold Fields mining company painted a grim picture on Thursday of the financial state of rival Harmony, whose hostile takeover bid it is seeking to halt. Figures presented at the Competition Tribunal in Pretoria showed that Harmony’s cash burn for the year June 2004 to March 2005 amounted to R1,75-billion compared to Gold Fields’ R748-million.
Television actress Lindiwe Cibi will be replaced in the popular drama series Muvhango until she recovers, a production source said on Thursday. Cibi, who was shot in the head at her Soweto home on Saturday, remains in a critical condition at the Garden City hospital.
A 42-year-old man will appear in the Postmasburg Magistrate’s Court on June 14 for allegedly raping a 104-year-old grandmother, Northern Cape police said. Senior Superintendent Elias Mbanyana said on Wednesday the man had appeared in court on Tuesday. He was denied bail and his case was postponed.
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Four years after the start of fraud and corruption investigations into businessman Schabir Shaik in 2001, his marathon high-profile trial finally reached closure on Wednesday. ”Many people told me the trial would last for years,” said chief investigating officer Johan du Plooy, who has mixed feelings about the end of the trial.
The Southern Sun hotel group has bought the Garden Court brand from the Intercontinental Hotels group, MD Helder Pereira announced in Johannesburg on Thursday. This forms part of the group’s new brand strategy, which will see the development of three main sectors — deluxe, premier and economy.
United States civilian authorities in Iraq cannot properly account for nearly -million that was supposed to have been spent on reconstruction projects in south-central Iraq, government investigators said. There are indications of fraud in the use of the ,6-million, according to a report released on Wednesday.
Cellphones may be the fastest-growing technology seen to date in South Africa, yet more than 10 years after the cellular revolution began, full mobile commerce has not touched the lives of most cellphone users. A new study has found that consumer mobile commerce as a mature industry is still three to five years away.
An explosion shattered windows outside a building that houses the British consulate in New York City in the early hours of Thursday, but there were no injuries or structural damage, CNN said. The blast came as Britain is holding general elections, and police are investigating its origins, CNN said.
Tiger Woods has sufficiently recovered from winning his ninth major and headlines the field at this week’s -million Wachovia Championship. Woods said the Masters win left him emotionally drained and that he recharged his batteries by going spear-fishing. He is well aware that his Masters victory hasn’t silenced all of his critics.