The government should declare a ”state of emergency” in the Stilfontein area as thousands of miners and their families are going hungry, the trade union Solidarity said on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, thousands of unhappy miners from two liquidated mines in Stilfontein in the North West and their families blocked the N12 near the town.
The expected decision by Group of Eight (G8) leaders to erase some of the debt Africans owe world lenders will free money to build schools and hospitals — but its impact may not be as dramatic as it first appears. Few African countries — even those paying interest — are expected to make good on the principal.
The Malagasy tourism industry is patiently awaiting an expected boom in visitors to the Indian Ocean island nation driven by the animated box-office hit Madagascar. Though tourist arrivals have yet to register any significant jump from the film that was released in May, officials said prospects are bright.
The head of the commission into Western Cape taxi violence clashed on Wednesday with a senior legal adviser to the City of Cape Town on the issue of witness safety. The confrontation took place in the wake of the slaying at the weekend of a prominent figure in the taxi industry, who only days earlier had testified to the commission.
Thousands of workers in the metal and engineering industries will start protests on Thursday, building up to a full-scale strike on July 12, trade union Solidarity said on Wednesday. The protests are over a wage dispute with employees, who are offering 1% less than the amount demanded by the union.
The rape case against Orlando Pirates player Benedict ”Tso” Vilakazi was postponed on Wednesday for a day by the Johannesburg Regional Court. This was after his lawyers asked for time to bring an urgent application at the high court to review the regional court’s decision to go ahead with the trial.
Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have arrested the manager of a local radio station in the central Kasai Oriental province, the head of a private radio association said on Wednesday. ”Fortunat Kasongo, manager of the ‘Mon sillon de Boya’ station in Boya was arrested by a dozen soldiers on Tuesday afternoon and neither his family nor the radio have heard anything since,” Freddy Mulongo said.
By mixing sunlight with imagination the students from the Ningizimu School for children with mental handicaps have created magic, finding treasure in the rubbish and debris of daily life, writes Dianne Tipping-Woods.
London was declared the winner of the contest to stage the 2012 Olympics by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge on Wednesday. London defeated Paris in the fourth and final round of voting after Moscow, New York and Madrid had been eliminated in the three previous rounds.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party have resolved their differences with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) over news coverage of labour issues at a meeting in Johannesburg on Wednesday.