Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool on Wednesday welcomed the provincial auditor general’s report into a R227 532 car-allowance overpayment to him, saying the findings are a vindication and manifestation of his commitment to transparency. However, the DA said the report raises two important questions.
Bruce Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks and a score of other top musical acts have joined forces for a series of nationwide shows to help oust President George Bush from the White House. The week-long set of concert dates, beginning on October 1, targets key battleground states that are expected to go to the wire on election day, November 2.
A suspected outbreak of avian influenza (bird flu) in the Eastern Cape province has halted all movement of ostriches to the Western Cape until a confirmed diagnosis has been made regarding the cause of serious mortalities at three ostrich farms in the Cradock-Somerset East region of the Eastern Cape.
The Israeli military stepped up its campaign to put an end to rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip by sending reinforcements to the north of the territory and carrying out an air strike in the area on Wednesday. Three Palestinians were wounded in the Israeli helicopter strike near Jabaliya refugee camp, medical and security sources said.
More than 20 000 workers are to get average wage hikes of 7,5% thanks to a deal signed by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the Automobile Manufacturers Employers’ Organisation. The agreement was signed in Pretoria after three months’ negotiations.
The campaign trail for Ghana’s general election in December is taking a detour through South Africa this week, with the visit of opposition leader John Evans Atta Mills. Addressing journalists in Johannesburg on Tuesday, the head of the National Democratic Congress sounded upbeat about his prospects in the poll.
A high level of violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe has made it ”increasingly difficult” for citizens to participate freely and fairly in elections next year, the Media Institute of Southern Africa said Wednesday. The institute released a report compiled after a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe in June.
The chief of police in Gujrat, the Pakistani city where two South Africans have been arrested along with a senior al-Qaeda terrorist, said on Wednesday maps of South African cities were found among items seized after the raid.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=119832">’No comment’ on terror claims</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=119792">’Terror’ pair under lock and key</a>
Tens of thousands of people marched on United Nations offices in Khartoum on Wednesday to protest last week’s Security Council resolution on Darfur, rejecting any foreign intervention in the war-torn province. One contingent of youths was wearing black shirts and red headbands marked ”Martyrs Brigades”.
Former housing minister Sankie Mthemba-Mahanyele is to ask the Constitutional Court for special leave to appeal a court ruling that she may not sue the Mail & Guardian for publishing a defamatory story about her. In a statement on Wednesday, Mthemba-Mahanyele welcomed a decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal that politicians did have standing to sue for defamation.