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State-owned Alexkor’s land-based diamond-mining operations have ”collapsed”, an expert witness told the Richtersveld hearing in the Land Claims Court on Monday. The community is claiming the return of more than 84 000ha of land confiscated by the state when diamonds were discovered there in the 1920s.
Sixty-four alleged mercenaries — including 61 who returned home on Sunday after being released from Zimbabwe — will be prosecuted, the National Prosecuting Authority said on Monday. The decision followed investigations into whether they had contravened the Regulations of Foreign Military Assistance Act.
Harmony Gold on Monday complied with a Labour Court ruling by withdrawing retrenchment notices issued to about 5 000 Free State mineworkers, the National Union of Mineworkers said. The court found that Harmony Gold had rushed the procedure set down in the Labour Relations Act to retrench workers.
The last surviving member of the infamous 1980s bank robbing ”Stander gang”, Allan Heyl, is to be released on parole from the Krugersdorp prison on Wednesday, the Department of Correctional Services said on Monday. It has been claimed the gang netted more than R500 000 from 20 banks in 1983 and early 1984.
Representatives of civil society on Monday during a public debate said the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is a state apparatus whose job it is to serve the government as a ”mouthpiece”. This is in contrast to how the SABC describes itself — as a public broadcaster.
The impact of climate change on Africa in 30 to 40 years will be as significant as that of malaria and Aids, the chief scientific adviser to the British government said in Johannesburg on Monday. Sir David King is in the country to promote Zero Carbon City, the British Council’s awareness campaign on global warming.
Buoyed by early returns suggesting significant gains in the capital, Ethiopia’s opposition on Monday backed off a threat to reject nationwide results from hotly contested weekend elections. As vote counts trickled in, observers said Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling party appears to have lost parliamentary seats.
A body of African municipal structures was launched in Pretoria on Monday with calls for a renewed focus at the lowest level of government on improving the lives of indigent Africans. African Union chairperson Olusegun Obasanjo said he hopes the congress marks the beginning of strong local governance structures.
Sporadic shooting continued on Monday in an eastern Uzbek city where an uprising sparked a crackdown by security forces that left up to 500 people dead, and a human rights group reported that clashes in another town killed an additional 200. The government has denied opening fire on demonstrators.