Belinda du Toit is close to tears when she describes the letter she received from her alleged mercenary husband Nick a few days ago, sent from inside Equatorial Guinea’s notorious Black Beach prison, where he is held for his role in a coup plot. ”He says he is so thin that he looks like a grain of rice. He says it is only the thought of his family that is keeping him going.”
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was considering taking legal action against two Johannesburg newspapers, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Saturday. The newspapers reported that the Scorpions were investigating alleged kickbacks paid by arms manufacturer Denel.
Kaizer Chiefs kept up the pressure on Orlando Pirates when they beat Ajax Cape Town 2-1 after leading 2-0 at the interval in a Castle Premier Soccer League game played at Newlands on Sunday afternoon. Chiefs are now six points behind the log leaders with a match in hand.
South African rugby has something to shout about again. After weathering a storm of blistering running attacks by New Zealand in the second half with brave defending at Kings Park in Durban on Sunday, the Baby Springboks regained the IRB World Under 19 title they won in Paris two years ago.
South Africa opened their defence of their Singapore Sevens title in style when they beat minnows Thailand 77-0 at the national stadium in Singapore on Saturday. Playing in muggy conditions, the Boks ran in 11 tries to set the highest-winning margin in the IRB Sevens series this year.
Less than three months before the vote, the five cities vying for the 2012 Summer Games are getting a chance to make their pitches to a big Olympic audience. Paris, London, New York, Madrid and Moscow are sending high-level delegations to a conference in Berlin this weekend to present their bids to Olympic sports federations leaders.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota was ordered to hand over certain arms deal documents to Richard Young by the Pretoria High Court on Friday. Young’s company CCII Systems lost out on a contract to supply combat technology for the South African navy’s new corvettes.
Common roots tying them to Africa with an emotional bond make it possible for the ANC and the Afrikanerbond to work together, and for members of the New National Party to join the ANC, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. Mbeki said the decision to dissolve the New National Party and the meeting between the ANC and the Afrikanerbond constituted an important stride forward.
A biography of politician Patricia De Lille had ”devastating consequences” for three women whose identities and HIV positive status were disclosed in the book, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Friday. The women now lived in ”constant fear” of their family and communities finding out their status, advocate Daniel Berger, appearing for the Aids Law Project, told the court.
The Chinese authorities are bracing themselves for further anti-Japanese protests which could become one of the biggest displays of people power there since the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989. Internet activists are calling for demonstrations in more than a dozen cities this weekend, prompting the United States embassy to issue safety warnings to its citizens.