Cape Town

South Africa’s official opposition says it will challenge the education quality assurance body, Umalusi, to state publicly how much the marks in the nationally set matriculation subjects have been adjusted upwards. The results — which are being released to pupils around the country on Thursday — will be officially released by national Education Minister Naledi Pandor in Cape Town later.

Cape Town residents were asked on Monday to use water sparingly after the city’s main pipeline burst. The pipe — 1,6m in diameter — feeds water to the city’s reservoirs from the Voëlsvlei dam, said City of Cape Town spokesperson Charles Cooper. More than 30 years old, there are bursts on the pipeline every now and then, he said.

Firefighters appear to be getting control of the brush fire that has been raging in the Melkbosstrand area north of Cape Town since Saturday, city fire chief Piet Smith said on Sunday evening. The four helicopters that had been water-bombing the blaze were called off at 8pm, but ground crews would stay on the job.

Fires raging on Table Mountain in Cape Town since Saturday were brought under control on Sunday morning, the city’s disaster-management services spokesperson John Brown said. Two houses had been totally gutted by late on Saturday night, three had been totally destroyed and at least six had suffered damage.

Firefighters were starting to get control by Saturday evening of the blaze that gutted one house and damaged nine others on the slopes of Table Mountain, Cape Town fire chief Piet Smith said. ”We haven’t got it fully contained yet, but we’re slowly getting it under control now,” he said.

The Cape Cobras slithered to an all-time low as they suffered a humiliating 39-run defeat in their Standard Bank Cup match against the Lions at Newlands on Friday. On a pitch where bowlers were always in command, the home team could not even salvage the bonus point in chasing a low target.

Former Cabinet minister Chris Heunis was in a stable but ”still critical” condition in the Vergelegen medi-clinic in Somerset West on Friday, his daughter said. She said her father has had long-term kidney problems, and was admitted on Tuesday suffering from dehydration.

After a series of about-turns, the justice ministry on Thursday afternoon abandoned its attempt to embargo the news that former security police officer Gideon Nieuwoudt has been refused amnesty. Nieuwoudt, who died of cancer in August, applied for amnesty for his role in the 1989 Motherwell car-bomb killing.

The Castle Premier Soccer League derby between Ajax Cape Town and Santos at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town on Wednesday ended in 1-1 draw. Both goals were scored in the second half. Ajax supporters were surprised to see Moeneeb Josephs in goals, as he had been suspended for six months for an alleged drug offence.

Even though they may not understand God’s master plan, South Africans must trust him, Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder said in a Christmas message released on Monday. He suggested South Africans, or at least some of them, might be ”captives” in the same way that God willed that the Israelites be held captive in Babylon when they strayed from his ways.

The Democratic Alliance on Monday accused President Thabo Mbeki of being ”obfuscatory” about his involvement in the arms deal. Mbeki had given a ”completely unsatisfactory” answer to a DA question on whether he met representatives of French arms company Thomson-CSF in 1998, said DA public accounts spokesperson Eddie Trent.

Former deputy president Jacob Zuma has written a letter to the chief executive of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) demanding why an interview with him on Sunday was cancelled. Zuma was invited to speak to the state broadcaster after he was judged Newsmaker of the Year.

South Africa’s Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk acknowledged on Monday that current legislation did not prescribe ambient air quality standards relating to emissions from bulk fuel storage facilities. Recognising the limits of the existing legislation, his department was "in the process of promulgating standards for benzene and other hydrocarbons".

A fire destroyed more than 100 shacks and displaced hundreds of people in the Kosovo informal settlement in Phillippi outside of Cape Town on Saturday afternoon, Cape Town emergency services said. A control room operator said that fire fighters had controlled the blaze and were in the process of putting out the flames.