OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday A NEW law that recognises traditional African marriages, including polygamous unions, has come into effect in South Africa, bringing relief to women who have been discriminated against because their unions were not recognised. Justice ministry official Paul Setsetse said millions of people would directly benefit from the Recognition of Customary […]

WATERPUMPS that are turned by children playing on roundabouts will be installed in 120 rural communities in South Africa, the inventor of the system said this week. Roundabout Outdoor director Trevor Field signed an agreement with the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, Ronnie Kasrils, and the US Kaiser Family Foundation this week to install […]

A DURBAN woman has laid an assault charge agaunst public protector Selby Baqwa, KwaZulu-Natal police have confirmed. Dolly Mkhulisi claims Baqwa assaulted her at the Durban City Lodge hotel on October 30, while he was attending the 13th international ombudsman conference, where he was elected vice president of the International Ombudsman Institution. No details concerning […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday NEW regulations paving the way for apartheid chemical warfare expert Dr Wouter Basson to be provisionally suspended from medical practice are nearing completion, the Health Professionals Council of SA said this week. Basson is being tried for of a series of murders and fraudulent transactions apparently committed while he was […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday JOHNNIC e-Ventures (JeV), the Internet division of black empowerment giant Johnnic, has acquired 50% of South African digital publisher comPress in a bid to explore new publishing models and to open up publishing to the masses. The new business will provide tailor-made publishing services to the corporate, academic, and traditional […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Lydenburg | Thursday SOUTH African authorities are to prosecute the 41-year-old bus driver who survived a horrific accident on a treacherous mountain pass in Mpumalanga that claimed the lives of 26 British tourists and their local tour guide last year. Mpumalanga provincial police commissioner Eric Nkabinde said Titus Phillip Dube would be charged […]

TELECOMMUNICATIONS value-added service provider Cointel has surged through all previous m-commerce barriers to register an unprecedented R1m a day in m-commerce transactions, with more room for growth. “While other m-commerce ventures are still in their infancy, Cointel has delivered on the m-commerce promise,” said Paddy Gray, director of ECnet, a division of PQ Africa which […]

A GRADE eight pupil who was allegedly apprehended by security guards in the act of bestiality with a cat is to be transferred to a mental hospital for 30 days’ observation. Magistrate David Mahongo noted that the original order for mental observation had been ignored, following which Elite Ntjana, 18, who was visiting his father […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday FORMER Democratic Party Member of Parliament Helen Suzman says she believes that the People’s Poet Mzwakhe Mbuli has information on the drug activities of highly placed South Africans and that there is a conspiracy to keep him in jail, the Afrikaans daily newspaper Beeld reports. Suzman this week spoke about […]

AT least 20 people died and many others have lost their sight after drinking illegal spirits at a slum in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Police said another 75 people have been hospitalised after consuming the illicit brew, known locally as chang’aa. Police have made some arrests. Nairobi’s slums are packed with so-called shebeens, illegal drinking […]