Three years after the end of a brutal, 27-year civil war, 150 000 Angolan schoolchildren are being fed by the World Food Programme (WFP), which plans to double that figure by 2006. The WFP and the Angolan government this week launched one of many feeding programmes in the village of Sachifunga.
Recently-appointed Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka needs to ”come clean” about her role in the Oilgate scandal, Strategic Fuel Fund tenders and related matters, says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon.
At least 3Â 900 state officials in KwaZulu-Natal face arrest for social grant fraud, the Scorpions said on Friday. Spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said the arrests will be conducted over various phases. People expected to be apprehended include nurses, teachers, police officers and clerks.
Japan is living up to its reputation as a safe country with the World Exposition, where only four of the 12-million visitors have been pickpocketed, the event’s chief said on Thursday. Even some of those may have simply misplaced their belongings, expo secretary general Toshio Nakamura said.
Retailer Pick ‘n Pay has been granted interdicts at some of its stores across the country where striking workers have prevented shoppers from entering or attempted to shut down operations, the company said on Friday. It also said executive pay is unrelated to negotiations over wages with Pick ‘n Pay workers.
South African Airways (SAA) and three striking unions have agreed to mediation, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration said on Friday afternoon. The strike has seen 72 domestic, regional and international flights out of 96 cancelled.
After spending 400 000 Singapore dollars (about R1,6-million) to come up with a suitable new name for the revamped downtown Marina Bay, Singapore has decided to stick to, well, Marina Bay, media reports said on Friday. The 400 000 Singapore dollars financed a massive branding exercise.
Canadian mining group Thistle Mining on Friday confirmed that it has issued a Section 189A notice of restructuring, at its President Steyn operation in the Free State, to the registered unions at the mine. The Section 189A notice also includes a notice to defer wage negotiations.
About 50 Pick ‘n Pay employees at one of the retailer’s flagship stores on the V&A Waterfront were arrested and later released for riotous behaviour and trespassing on Friday, Western Cape police said. At a Johannesburg store, customers complained about being kicked and strikers barricading the store entrance.
The Department of Labour has intervened in Friday’s crippling South African Airways (SAA) strike, the United Association of SA trade union said. General manager Andre Venter said this followed a request to Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana to put pressure on SAA management to resume wage talks.