Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Monday voiced concern about the ethics of current clinical trials on microbicides. The recruitment and compensation of candidates who suffer complications from clinical trials in developing countries needed further discussion, the minister said at the start of a three-day international microbicides conference in Cape Town.
A hiatus in South Africa’s biodiversity legislation, dealing with a proposed national electronic permit system, is inadvertently aiding a run by traffickers on the country’s endangered wildlife. According to Traffic, the world’s largest wildlife trade monitoring organisation, global wildlife trade was huge, with an annual turnover estimated at billions of dollars.
Free State Stars beat Black Leopards 2-1 in their entertaining Premier Soccer League game played at Goble Park Stadium in Bethlehem on Saturday. In other matches, Golden Arrows drew with Ajax Cape Town, Thembisa Classic beat Santos, Bloemfontein Celtic beat Bush Bucks, and Moroka Swallows beat Jomo Cosmos.
Wreckage believed to be of a helicopter that went missing seven years ago was found in a forest near Knysna in the Southern Cape, the Civil Aviation Authority said on Saturday. A spokesperson said the wreckage was found with human remains still strapped into two seats. Another body was found outside the helicopter.
African National Congress cadres should guard against the selfless legacy of anti-apartheid activists like the late Ellen Khuzwayo being overrun by self-interest, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. Khuzwayo’s legacy should inspire ANC members to work selflessly towards the organisation’s strengthening
The City of Cape Town is not considering an urgent court interdict barring city manager Wallace Mgoqi from going to work, but is keeping its options open, a lawyer for the city said on Friday. ”Nothing is considered at the moment, but the mayor will review the matter on a day-to-day basis,” said Carl Lindenberg.
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon has castigated the government for refusing to acknowledge the reality of crime and not doing enough to address the issue. President Thabo Mbeki and senior leaders of the African National Congress do not understand because they are almost completely insulated from crime, he said on Friday.
Desmond Tutu, the former chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, says he has doubts over the prospects of success in prosecutions of apartheid-era perpetrators of gross human rights. ”I worry that we could … have cases that go on for a long time, that evoke all kinds of emotion, then the people are acquitted,” he said.
Plettenberg Bay’s Bitou council has asked for advice from lawyers on how it should deal with the allegations against its municipal manager and its former mayor, speaker Lawrence Luiters said on Thursday. A report by the special investigating unit recommends criminal and disciplinary action against the two men.
It is time for politicians and security-force officers to face the music for their role in apartheid-era human rights violations, a Cape Town conference heard on Thursday. Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission member Yasmin Sooka said she would like to see ”those who created this milieu” brought to book.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has turned down an invitation to be part of the South African delegation at next month’s special United Nations session on HIV/Aids. TAC general secretary Sipho Mthathi said the process of selecting and announcing the delegation had been unsatisfactory.
Most new taxis did not fully comply with safety requirements published last year, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said on Thursday. However, most ”can be said to substantially meet the basic requirements”, he told an Eastern Cape transport conference in East London.
Fewer South Africans are gambling, according to a new study on the socio-economic impact of the practice in South Africa conducted by the Bureau of Market Research at the University of South Africa. The gambling industry now contributed just under 1% of South Africa’s gross domestic product, while only 1,7% of household budgets was spent on gambling.
The Department of Health has rejected a demand for the inclusion of the Aids Law Project in South Africa’s delegation to next month’s special United Nations session on HIV/Aids. The demand was made by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) as a precondition for its acceptance of its own inclusion on the list.
The Southern Spears are still in the dark about their participation in next year’s Super 14. SA Rugby’s board of directors met in Cape Town on Tuesday to discuss the franchise’s state of readiness and delayed a decision until Friday. ”The meeting discussed the Southern Spears issue at length,” SA Rugby said in a statement.
Police found the car of murdered fashion designer Richard Bloom abandoned in the parking lot of a Cape Town shopping mall shortly before 2am on Wednesday. Bloom and his friend, actor Brett Goldin — who starred in the comedy Crazy Monkey Presents Straight Outta Benoni — were found dead beside a highway on Monday morning having been shot in the back of their heads.
SA Rugby board of directors has decided to halt the participation of the Southern Spears in the Vodacom Super 14 next year, and instead put measures in place to help the franchise and the region reach acceptable levels of readiness. The board said it was aware that the decision might not go down well with some members of the affected communities.
Cape Town’s city manager Wallace Mgoqi has been accused by his mayor Helen Zille as being ”instrumental” in an attempt to bring down the DA-led multi-party municipality. ”Dr Wallace Mgoqi was instrumental in assisting this attempt to bring down the elected council,” Zille claimed on Tuesday.
A black economic empowerment company led by Mutle Mogase, chairperson of Vantage Capital, has bought a 28% stake in the Goedemoed, Vredendal, grape and tomato farming business run by Abrie Botha, a leading figure in Western Cape agriculture.
Five people were arrested on Monday in connection with the murders of Crazy Monkey — Straight Outta Benoni actor Brett Goldin and a friend Richard Bloom. Their bodies were found in a field next to the off-ramp from the M5 freeway to Klipfontein road in Mowbray, Cape Town, early on Monday, Superintendent Billy Jones said.
Celebrities Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who have catapulted sleepy Namibia to overnight international fame, plan to have their baby in the Southern African nation and even give it a local name, according to a South African newspaper. The couple are reportedly staying at the luxury Burning Shores resort hotel between the scenic old colonial German town of Swakopmond.
The probe into the ”bolt in the generator” incident at the Koeberg nuclear power station is continuing, and the process of bringing the damaged unit back on line is on track, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Thursday. The investigation by the ”appropriate agency” was continuing and it would announce any arrests.
The turmoil in the city of Cape Town administration could endanger major investments planned ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool warned on Wednesday. He was speaking after the African National Congress appealed for provincial intervention to end what it called the ”chaos” in the city.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will oppose a high court bid to overturn her decision on alleged sex-pest ambassador Norman Mashabane, her spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said. He was responding to the Public Servants’ Association (PSA), which said it had received notice from the state attorney that both the minister and Mashabane were withdrawing their opposition.
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) has issued a spring tide warning ahead of the full moon on Thursday, advising people to take care everywhere along the South African coast. Swells would be stronger than usual, and deep-sea fishermen and seafarers, sailers, paddlers, surfers, bathers, anglers and recreational boaters should take special precautions, said an institute spokesperson.
The state of health care in the Eastern Cape under the stewardship of sacked provincial minister Bevan Goqwana had been ”deplorable”, the watchdog Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) said on Tuesday. ”The PSAM calls on the premier to urgently appoint a suitably qualified replacement,” the Grahamstown-based organisation said in a media statement.
It is an ”objectively determinable factual reality” that beans make you fart, according to the Advertising Standards Authority. It made the ruling in rejecting a complaint by the Dry Bean Producers Organisation against a television commercial for Wildeklawer Sweet Onions.
Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela on Monday fired her provincial ministers for health and economic affairs, Dr Bevan Goqwana and Andre de Wet, both of whom she has clashed with in recent weeks. She named Mbulelo Sogoni to take over from De Wet, while social development minister Thokozile Xasa will temporarily take on Goqwana’s portfolio.
Cape Town city manager Wallace Mgoqi on Monday evening brushed aside a council decision to terminate his contract, saying he will be in the office as usual on Tuesday. A full council meeting on Monday morning resolved to revoke former mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo’s decision to extend Mgoqi’s contract for a year.
Lies, and lies within lies, were the topic of the day as the LeisureNet trial entered its second week in the Cape High Court on Monday. The liquidated group’s former in-house architect Dawid Rabie was being cross-examined on his evidence that joint chief executives Peter Gardener and Rodney Mitchell pressured him into handing over  000 in kickbacks.
The City of Cape Town’s municipal council has revoked former Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo’s decision to extend city manager Wallace Mgoqi’s contract for a year, meaning that Mgoqi is no longer the city manager for Cape Town, new Mayor Helen Zille said in a statement on Monday.
The opposition Democratic Alliance will on Tuesday submit a private member’s Bill in Parliament that seeks to amend the Constitution so as to disallow public representatives from becoming a member of another party while retaining their seats — so-called ”floor-crossing”, according to DA head Tony Leon.