In a bizarre twist to the treason trial of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye, the defence on Wednesday accused the government of coaching the lead prosecution witness with a hidden radio set. Defence lawyer Caleb Alaka stunned a packed courtroom by claiming that the testimony of the witness, Jennifer Aryemo, was being directed by unidentified government agents through an earpiece concealed in an elaborate disguise.
Emergency teams spray-painted damaged houses with ”X” signs after checking them for bodies or survivors and crews moved in dump trucks to haul away the wreckage piled up by tornadoes blamed for 12 deaths. Bystanders were warned not to smoke because of leaking gas while police patrolled to ensure there was no looting on Saturday.
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The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) hopes to have posted 90% of the local government election results by sunset, its chairperson Brigalia Bam said on Thursday. A 47% voter turnout had been recorded by 10.45am, Bam said in a briefing at the IEC’s national operations centre in Pretoria.
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/ 28 February 2006
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The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in the Western Cape is planning to conduct Wednesday’s municipal election as if there will be no power available in the province. ”We are planning for no electricity. That is the safest,” provincial electoral officer Courtney Sampson told a media briefing in Bellville on Tuesday afternoon.
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/ 3 February 2006
Austria said on Thursday it would not buy back five masterpieces by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, but instead return them to a descendant of the paintings’ former Jewish owner whose possessions were seized by the Nazis. Austrian Culture Minister Elisabeth Gehrer said the government did not see how it could spend -million (€248 million) to buy back the paintings.
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/ 2 February 2006
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Almost half of the Pan Africanist Congress’ municipal election candidates for the Cape Town metro have been disqualified because of inadequate documentation. PAC leader Motsoko Pheko said on Thursday that 23 of the 76 candidates had been rejected by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
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/ 1 February 2006
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The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) disqualified 932 people from standing as candidates in 129 positions in the March 1 municipal elections, it said on Wednesday. IEC chairperson Brigalia Bam said one of the biggest reasons for the disqualification was that they had not registered as voters for the municipal elections.
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/ 27 January 2006
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The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) urged political parties and the public on Friday to take complaints about the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) election coverage to the SABC itself and to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), and not to the IEC.
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/ 25 January 2006
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Tension between political parties in certain areas of the country is a concern, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Wednesday. Thoko Mpumlwana, deputy chairperson of the IEC, asked parties attending a code-of-conduct signing ceremony in Pretoria to conduct themselves peacefully.
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/ 23 January 2006
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Political parties have until Tuesday to rectify mistakes on their lists of proportional representation candidates for the March 1 election, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said at Monday’s handover to Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa of the 2004 electoral atlas on poll behaviour in South Africa.