Residents of Bothaville’s Kgotsong township ran riot in a protest over service delivery on Tuesday, burning shops, disrupting schools and damaging property. Free State police spokesperson Inspector Stephen Thakeng said the situation in Kgotsong is tense and police are keeping a close watch.
Representatives of Sudan’s government and the two rebel factions fighting in the troubled western Darfur region are meeting in Tanzania to salvage stalled peace talks, officials said on Tuesday. Under the auspices of the African Union special envoy for Darfur the three sides began unofficial talks in Dar es Salaam at the weekend.
PetroSA managers are expected to appear before the parliamentary committee on public accounts to explain the auditor general’s findings on the Oilgate scandal, the Freedom Front Plus said on Tuesday. He said there are a few ”interesting issues” that will be raised on Wednesday.
More than 15 000 pupils from South Africa are being taught through performance how to be their best without the use of alcohol or drugs and while abstaining from sex. This yearly event is called the Be Your Best Rock Challenge and is held in five different cities in South Africa in October.
A woman died and a man survived in a nine-hour hostage drama at George Mukhari hospital in Ga-Rankuwa, north of Pretoria, on Tuesday, police said. The siege began when the two were held by a third man who had arrived at the hospital’s nurses’ residence at 6.30am, said police spokesperson Inspector Anton Breedt.
South Africa is developing a three-pronged approach to fight the scourge of rape, with a national strategy on course to be piloted in at least three provinces by June next year. The interdepartmental strategy will develop a tri-pillar plan, focusing on prevention, responses and support interventions.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma questioned on Tuesday the wisdom of ”smart sanctions” imposed on the Zimbabwean government by Western countries, particularly the European Union. She said South Africa’s much-maligned quiet diplomacy is the correct stance to take.
Egypt said on Tuesday that most of the suspects behind a string of bomb attacks in the Sinai peninsula have been arrested after a series of raids in the area. ”The intensive efforts exerted recently have led to the capture of most suspects and yielded details on the terrorist attacks in the Sinai,” an interior ministry statement said.
An Anglican bishop who is a strong supporter of autocratic President Robert Mugabe has been brought before an ecclesiastical court investigating charges ranging from inciting murder to besmirching the church. On Tuesday, Jeremy Lewis, acting as prosecutor, postponed pursuing the most serious incitement-to-murder charge.
Exchange-rate fluctuations and crime are the two biggest challenges for businesses in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, a survey revealed on Tuesday. The exchange-rate fluctuation is ”quite a serious problem”, a Regional Business Climate Survey spokesperson said.