The name Louis Trichardt was shoved down the throats of the majority of people living there and they were entitled to change it to one with historical significance to them, the Pretoria High Court heard on Friday. The Louis Trichardt Chairperson’s Association applied to the High Court to set aside a decision to change the town’s name to Makhado.
Former apartheid-era security police colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt died in Port Elizabeth on Friday after a battle with cancer, his lawyer Jan Wagener said. Wagener said Nieuwoudt, who was in his mid-fifties, had cancer of the lungs which had spread to other organs, and there had also been worrying tumours on his brain.
Burundi’s Parliament overwhelming elected a former rebel leader president on Friday, culminating a three-year peace process after almost 12 years of civil war in the central African country. Pierre Nkurunziza’s election had been expected, as his Force for the Defence of Democracy, once Burundi’s largest Hutu-led rebel group and now a political party, controls both houses of Parliament.
About 4 000 people have fled to Chad in the past eight days because of attacks by unidentified armed groups in the Central African Republic, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday. The new arrivals told members of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees that they were fleeing from violence in the northwestern Paoua region.
Injury-plagued Juventus shoots for a record-equalling fifth title on Saturday when it takes on perennial rival Inter Milan in the Italian Super Cup, the country’s top preseason trophy. The match at Turin’s Stadio delle Alpi between the Serie A champion and the Italian Cup winner will also test the form and strength of two of the favourite teams in the league campaign which kicks off on August 27.
The Tshwane Metro Council has been ordered to issue and pay for advertisements admitting that its marketing campaign referring to Tshwane as ”capital” was misleading. This was the effect of a judgement by the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa after a hearing on the matter by its Advertising Standards Committee.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is sending a team to Harare next week for talks ahead of a key meeting that will decide whether to expel Zimbabwe from the lending club, the country’s finance minister said on Friday. ”We are being considered at the IMF board meeting on September 9 and these are routine consultations,” said Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa.
As the BTK serial killer, Dennis Rader thrived on having the last word during a 17-year slaying spree that claimed 10 lives. But as family members of the victims took their turn at the microphone on Thursday to confront the killer during his sentencing hearing, Rader could do nothing but listen as they vented their anger.
The United Cricket Board of South Africa has been bailed out of its financial troubles by an extra R25-million of sponsorship money. The game’s leading sponsors are stumping up an extra R25-million this year to help stabilise the UCB’s rickety finances, which had it on the brink of a financial crisis a few months ago.
Chinese sports fans are hailing the man they call ”Flying Spectacles Man” as their newest star. Hu Kai, nicknamed for his ever-present gold rimmed glasses, has dominated the front pages of Chinese sports newspapers since winning the men’s 100m sprint at the University Games in Izmir, Turkey, on Sunday.