The installation of ”intelligent road studs”, along a notorious stretch of road in KwaZulu-Natal, has seen accidents drop so dramatically that the province’s transport department has just had them installed on another stretch of highway. The studs have seen fatalities drop from 27 in the seven months prior to the start of installation in October 2002, to one.
Two NGOs working with the poor and working classes demonstrated on Thursday against their eviction by the Johannesburg Development Agency from a building in Newtown, Johannesburg. Approximately 50 people from Khanya College and the Workers’ Library demonstrated outside the old municipal compound.
Saddam Hussein’s defence team, which has not yet been allowed to enter Iraq, on Thursday again slammed as ”illegal” the Iraqi special tribunal trying the deposed dictator. ”This court is illegal since it was designated by an illegal authority, created by the occupation,” one of the lawyers said.
The debate about the South African government’s empowerment equity requirement in greenfields mining projects remains "fluid" and up for debate, Department of Minerals and Energy Deputy Director General Joacinta Rocha said on Thursday. The mining empowerment charter only covers existing mining operations, Rocha said.
The death toll from Typhoom Mindulle’s rampage through the Philippines rose to 16 with 17 other people still missing and feared dead, civil defence officials said on Thursday. The typhoon has displaced nearly 180 000 people from 48 towns and three cities and destroyed or damaged more than 6 000 houses.
Zimbabwe’s Parliament has passed a tough new Bill that allows police to hold suspects for three weeks before they are brought to court. The Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Bill was passed late on Wednesday despite stiff resistance from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said the party’s shadow justice minister David Coltart.
The Western Cape public works and education departments may sell off some state and school properties to raise money for a school-building initiative that could cost R500-million. The provincial government is looking at alternative means of generating funds to build new schools.
South African gold mining giant Anglogold Ashanti on Thursday took its first steps into Russia, saying it would buy a 29,9% stake in London-listed Trans-Siberian Gold in a multi-million dollar deal. Anglogold Ashanti president Sam Jonah said the projects in Russia opened new horizons for the company.
A boilermaker died in an explosion near a production shaft of Sasol’s Middelbult Colliery in Secunda on Thursday morning, the petroleum giant said. Ryno Olivier (20), who was employed by Ukhozi Mining, died on the scene of the accident when a container used for storage of oxygen and acetylene bottles exploded on the surface.
A defiant Saddam Hussein mocked his accusers in a landmark court appearance in Iraq on Thursday, describing the process as "theatre" and calling United States President George Bush the real criminal. An unrepentant Saddam refused to sign legal papers after seven charges were read against him.