Cabinet on Wednesday confirmed the cut-off date [Wednesday midnight] for minibus taxi-permit conversion applications, but left the door slightly open to latecomers. At a media briefing, government communications head Joel Netshitenzhe said Cabinet had been updated on progress in the implementation of the taxi recapitalisation programme.
South Africa could face a fuel crisis if workers in the petroleum sector went on strike over a wage dispute, the trade union Solidarity warned on Wednesday. ”If these workers go out on strike, the country could face a fuel crisis that will cause widespread disruption, as it did in 2005,” Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said in a statement.
While it is generally agreed the African continent must be developed, the challenge is in the capacity to do so, President Thabo Mbeki told the World Economic Forum’s summit on Africa on Wednesday. ”Basically our challenge is the capacity to implement what we’ve agreed,” Mbeki said.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Wednesday it would do everything possible to ensure South African stars Nicky Boje and Herschelle Gibbs could tour India without fear of arrest in a match-fixing case. Dave Richardson, head of the ICC’s cricket operations, said the body would try to ensure the duo would not be detained by Indian police over the allegations.
World number one Roger Federer shrugged off two rain interruptions before crushing Colombia’s Alejandro Falla 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the French Open third round on Wednesday and keep his Grand Slam dream on track. The Swiss top seed took just 86 minutes to wrap up victory against Falla, who looked every bit his 139 world-ranking.
The United States, in a policy shift, is ready to join direct talks on Iran’s nuclear programme if Tehran suspends all uranium-enrichment activities, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday. These would be the first substantive talks with Iran since diplomatic relations were broken off 26 years ago.
African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma should speak out and address people on HIV/Aids prevention following his acquittal on a rape charge, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said on Wednesday. ”… While welcoming the apology of … Zuma about his behaviour and statements on HIV, TAC believes that a one-off apology is not enough.”
The Labour Court on Wednesday granted bus operators an interdict to prevent their employees joining a threatened sympathy strike with security guards. Earlier, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union confirmed that strikes in solidarity with the guards — who have been on strike since March 23 — will start on Friday.
The Daily Voice news editor’s explanation for linking Onele Mfeketo’s shoplifting case to his high-profile mother, former Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo, has landed the news editor and the newspaper proprietor in a R100 000 defamation action.
Lithuania’s government fell apart on Wednesday after Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas and his whole Cabinet announced their resignation following the defection of the largest party in the coalition. ”The situation today is such that I have to step down,” he told reporters. Under Lithuanian law, if the prime minister quits the entire government has to resign.