Cape Town

The Department of Health has finished revising its proposed tougher anti-smoking legislation — and has not backed down on the massive fines lawbreakers will face. Departmental spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said the Bill has been cleared by the department’s legal unit and will be submitted to Cabinet for approval early next year.

The South African Cabinet this week considered a detailed presentation of the Gautrain Rapid Rail link project and gave a green light to it going ahead, government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe reported on Thursday. The project, which is expected to cost at least R20-billion rand, got the thumbs down recently from the National Assembly transport portfolio committee.

Table Mountain’s beloved, squat silhouette dominates every aspect of South Africa’s Mother City. But its reputation for sunset spectaculars and blooming biodiversity has been tarnished by a spate of muggings that has sent jitters through visitors and tourism authorities ahead of the busy Christmas season.

<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 Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has called its top decision-making body, the national working committee, to a meeting on Tuesday evening "to consider matters pertaining" to the charge brought against former Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

The Democratic Alliance hung up thousands of pairs of children’s underwear in the Cape Town suburb of Nooitgedacht on Monday to draw attention to the rape of 22 486 children in South Africa last year. He said that 60% of all contact crimes in South Africa were committed against women, and on average one woman or child was raped every 10 minutes.

Four men appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court in Cape Town on Friday for allegedly robbing a trio of German tour operators. The men, aged between 17 and 20, were arrested on Thursday, a day after the robbery. Police spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said the case was postponed for a bail application, and the men would remain in custody.

One of three men convicted of murdering retired Durbanville NGK dominee Pietie Victor was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Cape High Court on Thursday. Rashied Naidoo, who moved to Cape Town from Durban a few years ago, received an additional 16 years — including one year for the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Controversial Christian evangelist Peter Hammond confirmed on Wednesday that he has been charged with assault following what he said was a Halloween ”accident” with a paintball gun. ”It was meant to be a joke: nobody was meant to get hurt,” he said. ”I laid down a few ground rules: we were just going for teenagers, no kids.”

HIV/Aids has become the leading cause of deaths in South Africa of children under the age of five years, according to the University of Cape Town’s Children’s Institute. The pandemic is first among a number of factors standing in the way of realising child rights in South Africa, the institute’s director said on Tuesday.

If the government bought up just more than half of the farms that came on the market each year, it would easily achieve its target of redistributing 30% of agricultural land to the previously disadvantaged by 2014, says the Democratic Alliance. ”Government must become a far more active participant in the land market,” the DA says.

Cape Town International airport was reopened to incoming flights on Sunday evening after the repair of a damaged runway. The runway was closed shortly before noon for emergency repairs, following the discovery of a ”pavement surface defect”. A spokesperson said the runway was opened at 5pm.

Ajax Cape Town had to wait until the 89th minute to claim victory in their Castle Premier Soccer League match played at the Athlone Stadium on Friday night. The home team were all over Black Leopards in the second half, but could not get the ball in the net. Finally, one minute from the end, Ajax were awarded a free kick from 30m out.