The National House of Traditional Leaders says it is planning public hearings on circumcision in a bid to counter the continuing deaths resulting from the ritual. Chief Dikgale Solomon, head of a four-man task team, said on Friday it was intended to hold the hearings before the December circumcision season.
The former joint chief executives of the now-defunct LeisureNet group, Peter Gardener and Rodney Mitchell, were on Thursday acquitted on the main charge against them, one of fraud involving an alleged R1,9-million kickback. However, acting Judge Dirk Uijs ruled that they had a case to answer on the alternatives to the fraud charge.
Sasol is increasing its investment in community energy centres by R8-million, bringing the total to R23-million, the company said on Thursday. Sasol, in partnership with the Department of Minerals and Energy, has already launched three centres, and two more will now follow in Mafikeng and Qunu.
South Africa’s power parastatal has reported that during the last financial year, ending March 2006, R16-million worth, or 144km, of power line was stolen. The annual report — which was tabled at Parliament on Thursday — notes that these losses were considerably down on the previous financial year when 374km of line was stolen, worth nearly R40-million.
A man who was arrested in the Strand, near Cape Town, on Tuesday on theft and housebreaking charges was found dead in the cell where he was kept two hours after his death, police said. The man was arrested at 1pm and was found dead at 3pm, Captain Elliot Sinyangana said on Wednesday.
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Wednesday that Women’s Day amounts to nothing if the celebrations take place against a backdrop of lack of delivery. "Women’s Day celebrations should be accompanied by the delivery of services … ," Rasool told thousands of women who had gathered at the Gugulethu sports complex to celebrate Women’s Day.
The aircraft that carried former national cricket captain Hansie Cronje to his doom had incomplete maintenance records, an inquest into the crash heard on Tuesday. A Civil Aviation Authority senior accident investigator confirmed that Airquarius Aviation subcontracted its aircraft maintenance work.
Inspectors from South Africa’s Department of Labour carried out "blitzes" in the Free State province this week but the vast majority of workplaces targeted were found to be compliant with the country’s employment equity laws, a spokesperson for Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana said on Tuesday.
A drive to perform 100Â 000 cataract operations worldwide over the next 100 days was launched by an international NGO, the Christian Blind Mission (CBM), in Cape Town on Tuesday. According to CBM president Prof Allen Foster about 17-million people worldwide are totally blind because of cataracts — a condition reversible in a relatively simple 10- to 15-minute operation.
The conflict in the Middle East is a recipe for creating suicide bombers, Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Tuesday. ”I think God is crying that God’s children can do this to one another,” he said in Cape Town. ”Whatever the provocation, there can never be a justification for targeting civilians.”
The new headquarters for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup will be completed and fully operational by the end of October, the South African government news agency, BuaNews, reported on Monday. This comes just 11 months after a sod-turning ceremony at what is to be the South African Football Association’s new home.
Springbok selectors added two uncapped players to their squad and recalled centre Jean de Villiers after an injury lay-off on Monday for their three remaining home Tri-Nations games. The Sharks duo of scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar, who can also play flyhalf, and prop Brendon Botha were named in the 28-man squad.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Pravin Gordhan is to be asked by South Africa’s official opposition whether the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust has been registered as a non-profit organisation and whether Sars would pursue any donors who made donations to the trust for a donations tax.
Pilot error, faulty equipment and inclement weather all contributed to the plane crash that claimed the life of former national cricket captain Hansie Cronje, an inquest heard on Monday. The Hawker Siddeley 748 crashed into the Outeniqua mountain range outside George on June 1 2002.
The National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) on Monday suspended two national MPs and a KwaZulu-Natal MPL from the party. ”We are currently investigating the conduct of certain members of Nadeco, and will, if necessary, institute disciplinary action soon,” Nadeco president Ziba Jiyane said in a statement.
A two-day judicial inquest to determine who, if anybody, could be held responsible for the plane crash which claimed the life of Hansie Cronje starts in the Cape High Court on Monday. Cronje, the former captain of the national cricket team, died on June 1 2002, when the Hawker Siddeley 748 aircraft he was travelling in crashed near to George aerodrome en-route from Bloemfontein.
Thousands of people marched through the streets of Cape Town to Parliament on Saturday to demand diplomatic and trade sanctions against Israel. The march, one of several organised around the country this week, was under the auspices of a broad coalition of trade unions, religious bodies and civil society.
Women’s emancipation must remain the focal point in the new South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. Writing in his weekly newsletter ahead of Women’s Day next Wednesday, Mbeki said South Africa could and should be proud of the progress made towards non-sexism during the first 12 years of liberation.
A 35-year-old man pleaded guilty on Friday to the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in the Cape Town suburb of Ravensmead. Appearing in the Bellville Regional Court, James Barnes, of 11th Avenue, Ravensmead, also pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault.
A high court judgement on Friday clearing the way for the Southern Spears to play in next year’s Super 14 competition is a ”triumph for South African rugby”, the franchise’s MD, Tony McKeever, said. ”The victory for the Spears … is a defeat for SA Rugby, but it’s also a triumph for South African rugby,” McKeever said.
Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats (ID) has come out in support of a march organised by the Coalition for Sanctions against Israel, which is taking place in Cape Town on Saturday. "The ID has always stood on a platform from where human rights abuses must be condemned wherever they occur in the world," said De Lille.
South African President Thabo Mbeki should publicly acknowledge the challenge by former deputy president Jacob Zuma for power and object to it as a Zuma presidency would march South African backwards, official opposition leader Tony Leon said on Friday.
The City of Cape Town on Thursday signed a 20-year contract to buy wind energy from a yet-to-be-built generating farm at Darling on the West Coast. ”Ultimately we would like to see Cape Town become one of the world’s leaders in sustainable energy,” said city mayor Helen Zille in a statement issued at the signing ceremony.
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The South African Presidency said on Thursday that it would not discuss the details of the deliberations about funding the legal costs of former deputy president Jacob Zuma — until an agreement is reached. In a statement the Presidency said it had ”noted media reports to the effect that it is considering funding [the] legal costs of … Jacob Zuma in his forthcoming corruption trial”.
Unless alternative sources of funding are found, the high demands on the National Skills Fund are threatening the future of small, micro and medium enterprises in need of skills and employment-creating mechanisms, said Minister Labour Membathisi Mdladlana.
Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu had a penchant for the "phantom openings" of non-existent projects and for ignoring the fundamental problems facing housing in the Western Cape, said official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon at the Delft settlement on Thursday.
The Democratic Alliance has backed Springbok rugby coach Jake White’s call on the South African Rugby Union to clarify the position regarding his team-selection obligations. At the same time, DA spokesperson Donald Lee urged politicians to stick to ”more pressing issues” rather than meddle in sport.
South Africa’s Parliament said on Wednesday that it would be unwise and "incorrect" to comment on the court processes concerning MPs charged in the Travelgate scam. In a statement Parliament said: "Parliament … notes the Democratic Alliance’s concerns in their recently published media release."
The decision on whether the name of Johannesburg International airport will change to OR Tambo International airport will be announced later this month, the Ministry of Arts and Culture said on Wednesday. ”Minister [of Arts and Culture Pallo] Jordan will make an official statement on the status of the … name change … in mid-August,” it said in a statement.
A South African Law Reform Commission report has proposed that legislation should be adopted to deal with victims of crime. Official opposition Democratic Alliance safety and security spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard said on Wednesday that it appeared that Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla was sitting on the report.
Parliament’s planned discussion on floor-crossing, called for by President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation address earlier this year, will take place from September 19. The chairperson of Parliament’s standing committee on private members’ legislative proposals and special petitions, Vytjie Mentor, said there was no way discussions could take place without public hearings on the matter.
South Africa’s Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) reported on Wednesday that a raid took place last week by four Zimbabwe police officers on the office of its counterpart, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Cosatu said the policemen confiscated over 2 000 flyers which contained information about the ZCTU’s campaign against high taxation.