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Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula was on Wednesday given two weeks to comply with a court order that the shacks of a group of Pretoria squatters be rebuilt — or face arrest. Pretoria High Court Judge Bill Prinsloo condemned the failure of Nqakula’s department to comply with an urgent court order, granted more than a week ago.
The Supreme Court of Appeal on Wednesday reserved judgement in the dispute between Thint and the national director of public prosecutions over the seizure of documents from the French arms company. State counsel Wim Trengove argued before the Bloemfontein court for the necessity of the search warrants.
Still struggling to rebuild, New Orleans on Wednesday mourned the loss of about 1 500 lives when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the coast two years ago, as United States President George Bush vowed better days lay ahead. Scores of tiny hand bells tinkled as the city’s prominent mayor, Ray Nagin, led a poignant memorial service to the dead.
The African National Congress (ANC) said on Wednesday it knew about Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s dismissal on theft charges from a Botswana hospital in 1976, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) radio news reported. The Sunday Times reported two weeks ago that Tshabalala-Msimang had been convicted of theft.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela on Wednesday announced a giant benefit concert in London next June to promote his 46664 campaign against HIV/Aids. The gig will take place in Hyde Park on June 27 to mark his 90th birthday the following month, Mandela said at the unveiling of a statue of him in London’s Parliament Square.
A draft post-forensic review has cleared the current acting chief executive of the South African Post Office and its financial director of any wrongdoing, the board of the parastatal said on Wednesday. Acting chief executive officer Motshoanetsi Lefoka and chief financial director Nick Buick were implicated in an initial investigation.
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) on Wednesday submitted a formal complaint about alleged fraud, theft and corruption at Parliament to the Public Protector and the National Prosecuting Authority. The complaint deals with contracts awarded to African Strategic Asset Protection for revamping and maintaining Parliament’s access and security system.
Opposition political parties on Wednesday expressed shocked at the reaction of local African National Congress (ANC) leaders on the ruling of the Pretoria High Court preventing the name Pretoria being replaced with Tshwane on road signs. On Tuesday the court granted an urgent interim interdict to the Freedom Front Plus and AfriForum.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Transport Ministry has grounded two private airlines after a weekend plane crash killed 13 people in the second disaster since June, officials said on Wednesday. The licence of the Great Lakes Business Company, owner of the cargo plane that crashed on Sunday at Kongolo in Katanga Province, was suspended.