<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/199502/Zim_icon.GIF" align=left>The Independent Democrats has withdrawn from the multiparty South African parliamentary observer mission to monitor the March 31 election in Zimbabwe. In a statement released by MP Vincent Gore, ID member of the team, he said his party believes the "entire observer mission is a farce and a waste of taxpayers’ money".
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Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court has thrown out a plea by a group representing more than three million expatriates demanding the right to vote in the March 31 parliamentary elections, a state-run daily reported on Friday. There are an estimated 3,5-million Zimbabweans living abroad.
Sexuality is about creativity and self-expression, and alternative sexualities should be celebrated, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Thursday. ”You should love who you are,” Tutu said in a film-clip message at the opening of the yearly Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Rosebank, Johannesburg.
Eight people were injured when they jumped from a moving train to flee the current from an electricity cable that fell on to a carriage in Germiston on Friday. Emergency services spokesperson Johan van der Heever said the cable made contact with the body of the train after a malfunction in the overhead system.
Work remained suspended on Friday at DRDGold’s North West Operations’ number-two shaft on Friday, a company spokesperson said. Operations were stopped after an earth tremor earlier this week. Last week, two people died at the company’s Stilfontein mine after an earthquake measuring 5,3 on the Richter scale.
Four air-crew members have survived a South African Air Force helicopter crash outside the Bergview Engen One-Stop in Harrismith on Friday morning, emergency services said. The helicopter crashed about 100m from the complex. ”One blade hit a car on the freeway and spun into the complex where there were about 60 kids in the playground,” a witness said.
Economic statistics surveys released by Statistics South Africa will now include two million more businesses, the organisation said on Friday. ”Our economic surveys will now include two million more businesses which are registered as tax income units,” Stats SA head Pali Lehohla told reporters in Pretoria.
The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was weaker at midday on Friday due to profit-taking after Thursday’s closeout and the stronger rand. Trades stemming from the closeout boosted volumes, but otherwise the market was very quiet, dealers said. By 11.59am, the all-share and all-share industrials shed 0,42% and 0,51% respectively.
When the Constitutional Court returns a verdict in the case pitting Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang against pharmaceutical companies and pharmacists, it will in effect be ruling on the duel between the government’s developmental economics agenda and the conventional market approach.
The Queensland Reds beat the Waikato Chiefs 20-6 in Super 12 rugby on Friday, snapping a three-game losing streak and winning their first match in New Zealand since 1999. Winger Drew Mitchell and prop Greg Holmes scored first-half tries, while Julian Huxley kicked two conversions and two penalties for Queensland.