On a rain-soaked opening to the Masters, Casey Wittenberg made the turn with a two-under 34 and a share of the early lead on Thursday, while David Duval showed signs of snapping out of a mystifying slump. Much of the attention was on Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and defending champion Phil Mickelson.
A now cash-flush South African National Treasury may well decide, as one of the options available to it, to reduce the amount it planned to borrow offshore this year given that it has a much lower Budget deficit to fund after getting an extra R10-billion in the tax coffers than expected.
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Durban High Court Judge Hillary Squires turned down a late application by the state to reopen its case on Thursday, thereby effectively ending the Schabir Shaik trial, which started in October. ”I’m glad it’s come to an end,” Shaik told journalists outside the court, adding that ”much of the burden of the stress of this case is over”.
Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff has asserted her shaky authority by announcing a cabinet reshuffle, which includes the bold move of dropping the provincial African National Congress chairperson, Elias ”Ace” Magashule. A fortnight ago, Marshoff’s unpopular right-hand man, Noby Ngombane, was shot dead in the driveway of his home.
Was it R50-million? Or R90-million? And whatever the public money allocated to it, what happened to the major adult literacy scheme, Ikhwelo? The Department of Educatio’’s attempts to explain Ikhwelo’s fate have sharpened scepticism about its capacity and will to tackle the country’s vast illiteracy problem. It was recently reported that experts say 10 years of democracy have done little to alleviate the crisis inherited in 1994.
Accusations of racism are being levelled against Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk — ironically by white employees disgruntled at the appointment of blacks to senior management positions in his department. But the minister says the racial balance at top levels of his department had to be corrected.
A campaign to oppose the removal of elephants from the wild for commercial purposes was launched this week by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and its partner organisation the Ethical Conservation Network. The organisations oppose the sale of elephants to buyers in the tourism industry.
Just more than 300 Metro police officers gathered at the Metro police offices in Johannesburg on Thursday to continue protesting against working overtime, Metro police spokesperson Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said. He said the protests have not negatively affected operations.
A 37-year-old ”mentally ill” man has been arrested for chopping his three-year-old daughter to pieces using an axe, Limpopo police said on Thursday. Police spokesperson Inspector Ntobeng Phala said neighbours called the police when they witnessed the man, who is married to a mentally ill woman, chopping up the child.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that four countries go on a Marburg alert around Angola, the epicentre of an outbreak of the deadly Ebola-like virus that has now claimed 174 lives, a top health official said on Thursday. The death toll from the virus has more than doubled in the past three weeks.