Heated exchanges marked the South African Human Rights Commission’s announcement on Thursday that boom gates are constitutional. The commission found that the Constitution lets local authorities apply legislation that allows the closures, but it is concerned that there is no adequate monitoring of the closures.
One injured gold miner, his skull fractured in Wednesday’s earthquake at Stilfontein, has been transferred to the intensive-care unit at West Vaal hospital in nearby Orkney. David Griffiths, chief medical officer at Duffscott, a mine facility at Stilfontein, told reporters on Thursday that the other 21 patients had only minor injuries.
Namibia’s High Court on Thursday ordered a recount of ballots from the November parliamentary elections that were overwhelmingly won by the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation party. But the judge refused to grant a request from two opposition parties that the elections should be declared null and void due to irregularities.
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The second witness for the defence in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial, Zandile Mdhladhla, told the Durban High Court on Thursday that the Jacob Zuma Education Trust Fund did not qualify for funding from the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. However, ”we received money from Mr Mandela as a person”, said Mdhladhla.
Got a problem with burglars? Try leaving an apple, a carrot or a piece of pizza out for them. Police say thieves often cannot resist tucking into a snack after breaking into a home, and traces of saliva on the food remains can yield a telltale signature of the criminal’s DNA.
The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo is investigating an operation in which peacekeeping soldiers killed about 60 militiamen who had ambushed and killed Bangladeshi troops. ”The probe at Loga, which began on March 7 is a routine investigation of the kind we carry out after each operation for a military assessment of the results,” said mission spokesperson Kemal Saiki.
EBay said this week that the online auction giant is entering the internet classified niche through a new site aimed at international users. The San Jose, California based company launched Kijiji.com on February 28 as a place for users to buy and sell goods and services that are difficult or impossible to ship.
The new cellphone models unveiled at the CeBIT technology show on Wednesday let users do more than just call a friend to catch up. How about sending a brief film clip of you by the fountain in Rome? Or perhaps a picture snapped of the Eiffel Tower with an image quality so fine it could be blown up and put in a 25cm x 35cm frame.
SA Rugby has the full backing of the government for its 2011 Rugby World Cup bid, Francois Pienaar, bid committee chief executive, said on Wednesday. A sports ministry spokesperson recently said the government will withdraw its backing should SA Rugby fail to transform. However, Pienaar said the government’s backing is not in doubt.
Far more people have died in Sudan’s ravaged Darfur region than the 70 000 reported since last year, and many of those deaths were from preventable causes like pneumonia and diarrhoea, the United Nations humanitarian chief said on Wednesday.