A total of 46 327 people are awaiting trial in prisons across the country, the South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr) said on Friday. Golden Miles Bhudu of Sapohr said the organisation was creating awareness of people languishing in prisons without knowing when their cases would be heard.
The chief suspect in an Israeli murder case skipped house arrest and escaped a scheduled court appearance by transferring his electronic tag to his dog, police said on Thursday. It was only when police turned up on his doorstep on Thursday to inquire why he had failed to attend a court appearance that officers realised he had vanished without trace.
Murders of aid workers, pirate attacks, closed borders and growing violence make the distribution of relief in Somalia almost impossible, aid workers say, as conflict and drought boost needs still further. A Somali nurse for a Western aid group and a driver were shot dead late on Wednesday.
Hundreds of gadget fans, or their paid stand-ins, lined up on Friday to be among the first buyers of Apple’s iPhone, a music- and video-playing phone that seeks to reshape the mobile industry. Just after dawn, nearly 200 people were waiting outside Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in New York City for the device.
The Durban High Court has ruled that the eThekwini municipality can go ahead with controversial plans to rename several of the city’s streets and landmarks. South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Friday that the court rejected an application by the Democratic Alliance to force the municipality to put a hold on street name changes.
The African National Congress (ANC) said on Friday it hoped to reach consensus this week on how to elect its next leader, a decision that could rule out national President Thabo Mbeki. ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe told a news conference delegates were debating a number of non-binding proposals on how to resolve the leadership debate.
Lynley Donnelly reports on what people can expect at the MTN Durban Fashion Week from Indian-born fashion designer, Vikram Phadnis.
One solution to South Africa’s land-reform problem is to make available some of the ”huge tracts” of state-owned land around the country, says Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille. ”This land is currently unproductive, under-utilised and under-resourced,” she said in her weekly newsletter, published on the DA’s SA Today website on Friday.
A blanket ban on political rallies in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, has been lifted although demonstrations will still need prior authorisation, police said on Friday. the temporary banning order was issued on February 21, with authorities claiming that protests could lead to an outbreak of rioting.
The release of Apple’s much-ballyhooed iPhone on Friday is expected to give a boost to the emerging market for multipurpose cellphones and possibly even help rival ”smartphone” devices. The global market for smartphones will this year reach 10% of the one billion cellphones sold worldwide according to analyst firms Canalys and IDC.