PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela officially declared on Wednesday the tornado-stricken Eastern Cape districts of Umtata, Libode and Ngqeleni as disaster areas, the Welfare Department said on Thursday. Those affected by a tornado which killed 18 people and injured 162 on December 15 can apply for relief, the departmental said. Applications will be considered by the board […]

A MAN who gunned down an elephant in the Kruger National Park and hacked out its 65kg tusks, was sentenced to 20 years in the Skukuza Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. The sentence is the stiffest given in the history of the South African National Parks. The poacher, Shalate Khoza, is currently also serving a 10-year […]

PROSECUTORS meeting in Durban on Wednesday to discuss a 6% pay rise announced on Tuesday called for the resignation of Justice Minister Dullah Omar. Prosecutors say they have an average daily workload of 20 dockets and three court appearances, which does not allow them to perform their jobs adequately, SABC TV reported on Wednesday night. […]

KAPITAN’S, a favourite restaurant of President Nelson Madela and Oliver Tambo when they were young attourneys was saved from being burnt down on Wednesday. The fire started after fireworks were let off on the in Johanesburg city centre eatery’s wooden balcony but the damage was minimal after firemen put it out. Kapitan’s has become something […]

THE road death toll since the start of holiday season on December 1 has reached 587. According to the Arrive Alive campaign, at least 29 people have been killed on South African roads since Christmas Eve. In KwaZulu-Natal, Arrive Alive issued warnings of mudslides, flooding and cave-ins following the recent heavy rainfalls. Kwazulu-Natal traffic authorities […]

ERSTWHILE Bafana Bafana head coach Stanley “Screamer” Tshabalala has been included in the five-man technical team to assist Trott Moloto ahead of the South Africans’ participation in the African Cup of Nations in Ghana from January 22 to February 13. Tshabalala, former Sundowns coach, was in charge of Bafana’s first official match against Cameroon in […]

THE US government on Wednesday lifted a six-year-old ban on direct flights between the United States and Nigeria, imposed after the military annulled elections in 1993. “US Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced his finding that that Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, now maintains and carries out effective security measures,” the US […]

A NEW wine range called “Winds of Change” has been launched in London by a group of Paarl farm workers. The wine, a pinotage cabernet blend, is unique in the sense that it was produced on the Sonop farm in Paarl, near Cape Town, of which nine farm worker households earlier in the year acquired […]

THE Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday that the department’s former chief spokesman has begun legal action against Foreign Minister Nkosazana Zuma. Media relations chief Marco Boni, who quit his post at the end of last month, wants R805000 in severance pay. He says he was sidelined by the minister when she arrived from the […]

PHILLIP Ndou has moved up to the number-five spot in the WBA ratings after successfully defending his WBA Continental featherweight title for the first time. Ndou, nicknamed “Time Bomb”, stopped Laureano Ramirez of the Dominican Republic inside three rounds of their scheduled 12-rounder at Johannesburg’s Wembley Arena last Wednesday. Promoter Branco Milenkovic received a letter […]