Rumours that President Thabo Mbeki has asked Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge to resign could not be confirmed by the Presidency on Wednesday. Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga told the Mail & Guardian on Wednesday that it was a ”rumour with no substance” and that he had heard about it from the media.
Tracking down rape suspects has been made a police priority, Deputy Minister of Safety and Security Susan Shabangu said on Wednesday. ”One of the issues we are going to make a priority is to ensure that where we have warrants of arrest for rape suspects, the police go down and hunt those individuals and bring them to book,” she said.
Ramp meters will be installed on four interchanges on the N1 freeway this month, the South African National Roads Agency Limited said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Priya Pillay said the ramp meter would control the flow of traffic onto the freeway.
Six-year-old Steven Siebert’s murderer, Theunis Olivier, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Cape High Court on Wednesday. Handing down sentence, Judge Essa Moosa described Olivier as a cold and callous murderer. ”The victim must have endured excruciating pain,” he said.
Millions of malnourished Indian children are vulnerable to disease after South Asia’s worst floods in years, officials and aid groups said on Wednesday, calling for urgent assistance. Hundreds of United Nations Children’s Fund workers rushed to immunise and supply rehydration fluid sachets to children in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar.
United States forces said they killed 30 people in an air strike in Baghdad’s crowded Shi’ite slum of Sadr City on Wednesday, describing those killed as militants linked to Iran. Hospital officials put the death toll at at least 13. Hundreds of angry mourners later marched chanting through the streets of the slum after the raid on the eve of a major Shi’ite holy day.
McLaren have launched an appeal against the points penalty they were hit with after the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying controversy. McLaren were deducted 15 points due to them in the constructors’ championship and the British team have protested to the FIA via the Motor Sports Association, the governing body for the United Kingdom.
Ethiopia’s Ogaden rebels warned oil companies interested in the volatile but energy-rich region on Wednesday not to be lulled into a ”false sense of security” by the government, saying their forces were well armed. The Ogaden National Liberation Front said the government had lost control of Ogaden. The rebels warned oil companies to stay away.
While most electricity users are being urged to switch off to save energy, Cape Town authorities are keeping street lights switched on day and night in large areas of the city. According to city public lighting manager Charles Kadalie, this is being done in a bid to combat the widespread plundering of copper.
South Africa’s business confidence inched up in July but there was no evidence that the small recovery improved producers’ mood, a survey showed on Wednesday. The South African Chamber of Business’s (Sacob) confidence index crept up to 99,6 in July from June’s 99,1, but the body said domestic economic concerns were still a concern.