The African continent has the world’s highest rate of child labour, with two in five children in sub-Saharan Africa engaged in some form of work, the United Nations Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Thursday. Almost 50-million children in sub-Saharan Africa between the ages of five and 14 work, according to <i>The End of Child Labour: Within Reach</i>, an ILO report released on Thursday.
The Wellington Hurricanes fanned their weak hopes of a home semifinal in the Super 14 when they beat the Queensland Reds 26-22 on Friday in the opening match of the 13th round. The Reds scored three tries to two and were the better team, but lost for the ninth time this season.
Constitution Day, May 8, must be a day of celebration — a red-letter day — for South Africa because what it represents took 53 years to achieve, says South African President Thabo Mbeki. This was the entrenchment of the concept of self-determination.
As expected, South Africa’s third largest gold producer Harmony Gold reported its eleventh consecutive quarterly headline loss due to the Christmas break, a reduction in grades and an increase in costs. For the March quarter, Harmony reported a headline loss of 50 cents per share from a loss of 75 cents in the December quarter.
Zimbabwe players and officials are demanding that the chief executive of the International Cricket Council resigns because he failed to address the sporting crisis in the country. The chairperson of all seven provinces, players’ representatives and former Zimbabwe Cricket directors accuse Malcolm Speed of failing in his duty by refusing to intervene.
The drive for peace in the devastated Sudanese region of Darfur took a tentative step nearer success on Friday with one rebel faction agreeing to sign a peace deal, although another still refused. The African Union’s year-old drive to bring peace to Darfur with a comprehensive package had begun the day in crisis with continued refusal by the rebels to sign a deal to end the three-year-old civil war.
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If there was anything to celebrate about the rape trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, it was that the proceedings in Johannesburg have revealed a small but significant sign that South Africa was slowly moving into a non-racial future, says official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon.
Controversial football strongman Irvin Khoza, sidelined from direct involvement in the 2010 World Cup, is attempting to muscle his way into the action via the commercial company that will look after Bafana Bafana. The 2010 local organising committee is headed by Danny Jordaan, at the behest of world football’s governing body, Fifa.
Police investigations into ”environmental thugs” trafficking in endangered wild animals for hunting received a shot in the arm with the unveiling of a proposed government crackdown. In particular, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism’s tough new draft regulations on hunting coincided with new information on the activities of controversial Northern Cape hunting operator Alexander Steyn.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has welcomed, as a turning point, Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana’s about-face on the security guard strike, in which he lambasted the ”arrogance” of security employers and said their agreement with 14 minority unions was ”not worth the paper it was written on”.