The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Thursday it would push for a left-wing candidate to succeed President Thabo Mbeki as the ruling African National Congress (ANC) gears up to elect new leaders later this year. ”This time around we are taking a keen interest,” secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi told reporters after a three-day Cosatu national committee meeting.
Technical arguments and a clash of wits played out in the Hatfield Community Court where the case against former National Intelligence Authority (NIA) director general Billy Masetlha resumed on Thursday. He is accused of withholding evidence from NIA inspector general Zolile Ngcakani relating to alleged hoax emails.
A 12-year-old pupil brought a loaded gun to Kempton Park Primary School on Thursday, allegedly to settle a score over a cellphone, the Gauteng education department said. ”I remain baffled by the actions of this learner,” said provincial minister of education Angie Motshekga, who dispatched a senior team of officials to investigate the circumstances.
Ugandan government troops on Thursday scouted the volatile north of the country after the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army refused to renew a ceasefire that ran out at midnight local time. ”The situation is calm, we have not heard of any incident,” said army spokesperson Lieutenant Chris Magezi.
The number of Iraqi civilian deaths in February was the lowest for four months as a security plan was launched in Baghdad midway through the month, figures from Iraq’s interior, defence and health ministries showed on Thursday. But at 1 645 civilian deaths, the figures provided by ministry officials are still far above the 545 civilian deaths recorded a year ago.
Two of the five people accused of stealing jewellery worth R4-million from Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s home were rearrested after being released on bail, police said on Thursday. Superintendent Thembi Nkhwashu said Paul Githuka and his son, Pati Wangwayi, who are both Kenyans, were released on bail on Wednesday and re-arrested later for being in the country illegally.
Seventeen Northern Cape farmers locked out Department of Labour inspectors who were on a mission to root out farmers who break the labour laws, said the department on Thursday. The inspectors had made appointments with farmers in Carnavon and Fraserburg during a meeting on February 21.
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Sbu Ndebele on Thursday slammed an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) claim that the provincial government had pulled R200Â 000-worth of advertising as a result of negative media reports. Ndebele described a statement by the IFP’s provincial leader, Lionel Mtshali, as an ”outrageous and despicable lie”.
Staff at South Africa’s largest consumer lending banks will practise restraint in the way they sell credit to the public. Announcing a new code of conduct effective from Thursday afternoon, the Banking Association of South Africa said it was responding to complaints about harassment and inconvenience caused by the forceful overselling of credit.
President Thabo Mbeki has not received any papers requesting him to appear before the Constitutional Court to explain his sacking of former spy boss Billy Masetlha, his office said on Thursday. This follows Masetlha lodging leave to appeal a high court decision that rejected his application to be reinstated as director general of the National Intelligence Agency.