Murder accused Najwa Petersen, now on her fourth advocate, will have to conduct her own defence if she changes her lawyer again, a Cape High Court judge warned on Wednesday. Judge Siraj Desai delivered the warning as he postponed the trial to July 28 to enable her latest advocate, Johann Engelbrecht, to get up to speed.
South Africa’s manufacturing sector remains ”resilient” amid global pressures, but the price of carbon steel is holding back the country’s industrial drive, a senior government official said on Tuesday. The Cabinet approved a multi-pronged industrial action plan last year to help drive Africa’s strongest economy in its quest to achieve a 6% growth rate by 2010.
<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>Addressing an audience in London on Wednesday, Tony Leon — the former leader of the Democratic Alliance — expressed fears that under Jacob Zuma as president, South Africa could revert to a stereotype of "Big Man", African-style kleptocracy replete with redistributive and populist economics with lashings of demagoguery.
A radically transformed revenue-collection system was envisaged by commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday. Explaining the changes that Sars is implementing this year, Gordhan told Parliament’s finance committee that this year employers would be able to use Sars’s own payroll software.
Parliament would undermine its own integrity if it failed to pursue the MPs who owed money in the Travelgate saga, the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) said on Tuesday. PSAM was reacting to an announcement that creditors of one of the travel agencies linked were to be asked to stop all civil action.
A judge has issued a stern warning to murder accused Najwa Petersen after learning on Tuesday she had dismissed her advocate just as she was supposed to start presenting her case for a not-guilty ruling. ”We can’t be held to ransom by the whims of one accused,” Cape High Court judge Siraj Desai said.
Fidentia’s J Arthur Brown was currently receiving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in a private clinic after allegedly being sexually assaulted by prisoners in a prison vehicle, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Monday. Brown was arrested recently on charges of theft, fraud and money laundering.
South Africa’s Parliament approved a new internet gambling law to regulate an industry plagued by crime and vulnerable to money laundering, parliamentary papers showed on Monday. A memorandum attached to the National Gambling Amendment Bill said the interactive gambling industry was currently unregulated and ”generally plagued” by crime.
Private security companies should be given more powers so that they could contribute meaningfully to the fight against crime, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday. DA spokesperson on safety and security Dianne Kohler Barnard said private security companies should be granted the same powers as the police when carrying out arrests and seizures.
Opposition parties on Monday lambasted the government for its handling of xenophobic violence in parts of the country, and even called for the army to be deployed. Mobs roaming through poor townships around Johannesburg have killed and beaten up immigrants over the past week, with Zimbabweans and others reporting purges by armed locals.
The death of two Comrades Marathon runners last year could be a message from God that he was displeased with running the race on a Sunday, a Christian runner has suggested. Hansie Louw said in a statement at the weekend that he was asking all Christians to withdraw from the race.
About a hundred members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and other organisations picketed the gates of Parliament in Cape Town on Saturday morning to protest against rising food prices and call for freedom in Zimbabwe. The event was to have been a march through the city.
The Stormers are planning to hit the Lions’ defence hard where it is likely to hurt most in Saturday’s Super 14 clash at Ellis Park. The fragile Lions’ defence have leaked 41 tries this season, and after 12 matches they have conceded a staggering 345 points — almost 29 points per game.
A full bench of judges on Friday reserved a ruling on the bid by the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance (DA) to quash the Erasmus commission. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool to probe the DA-led city’s investigation of renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.
<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>Addressing the students and teachers at a University of Zululand graduation ceremony in Empangeni on Friday, African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma said that nation-building is not only about people’s attitudes. "We must understand that nation-building requires that we tackle the material differences between our people," he said.
Najwa Petersen appeared in court every day wearing a colour-coordinated suit, matching scarf and hennaed fingernails. She ordered 30 new outfits for the trial, allegedly underwent liposuction and had a breast enlargement operation barely a month after Petersen’s death. ”She’s now a 36DD!” friends and relatives of Petersen said outside court.
Having a judge head the politically loaded Erasmus commission undermined the principle of separation of powers, lawyers for the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance argued on Thursday. The city and the party have asked the court to quash the commission to probe the legality of the city’s spying on renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.
Test cricket needs a radical overhaul to ensure its continued existence in the face of the Twenty20 revolution, India coach Gary Kirsten said. Kirsten suggested in an article on his personal website that there should be a one-year cycle of Test matches with an annual champion.
Arms-deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne on Thursday denied that he was waging a personal vendetta against Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. Addressing the Cape High Court, where he has applied for a contempt-of-court ruling against the minister and former finance director general Maria Ramos, he said: ”The arms deal is not some Trevor/Terry saga.”
A national electricity emergency programme management office (PMO) will be established immediately, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday. The office would be responsible for coordinating all efforts to deal with an emergency, Maseko said at a media briefing following Cabinet’s regular meeting on Wednesday.
A special task team will investigate the cause of the recent xenophobic attacks in Alexandra and elsewhere in the country, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday. The team will make recommendations about steps required to prevent a recurrence of this ”negative tendency”, he told a media briefing.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that the Bill abolishing the Scorpions and amalgamating them into a police directorate will dramatically undermine the fight against crime, and against organised crime in particular. ”As such, the DA will do all in its power to ensure that the Bill does not become law,” the party said on Wednesday.
The blackened fragments spread out on the table look at first glance like no more than a scattering of charcoal, left over from a long-dead fire. But on closer examination one sees that the fragments are grouped, and that each group has its own printed label. In one corner, in a plastic lunchbox-type container, are the smallest fragments of all.
Demands from various quarters that South Africa stop its electricity exports to neighbouring countries amounted to ”economic xenophobia”, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Wednesday. Eskom’s customers outside South Africa would be treated exactly like any other customer with the same rights, and this would remain so.
Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool has proposed community food gardens on state land as one solution to rocketing food prices. ”Government and society cannot close our eyes to the increasing hardship and the struggle of many families to put food on the table,” he told the provincial legislature on Tuesday.
The Democratic Alliance has called on the Speaker of Parliament to explain why a decision has been made to stop further investigations into MPs implicated in the Travelgate scandal. This follows publication of a notice directing liquidators ”not to pursue any action as against the various members of Parliament in relation to the un-invoiced tickets, levies and/or services”.
The Directorate of Special Operations, or the Scorpions, had another nail hammered into its coffin on Tuesday, with the tabling of the General Laws Amendment Bill in the National Assembly. The draft legislation, now headed for the committee stage, provides for the establishment of a new division in the South African Police Service.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula on Tuesday gave the assurance that all cases currently under investigation by the Directorate of Special Operations, or Scorpions, will be finalised. ”There is not a single case that was investigated by the Scorpions, which is under investigation now by the Scorpions, that will not be finalised.
Efforts to determine why crime in South Africa is often accompanied by excessive violence will soon bear fruit, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Tuesday. The justice, crime-prevention and security cluster of ministers will present a progress report to the Cabinet at a July lekgotla (meeting).
The Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday remanded in custody Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown for a week, following his arrest last Friday on charges of fraud, theft and money laundering relating to the company Antheru. The charges involve about R800 000.
”Good golly, it’s Ollie,” exclaimed one excited Stormers supporter on arrival at Monday’s training session in Durbanville. There he was, Ollie le Roux, the 128kg prop who had finally appeared after much speculation in the past week that he would be joining the Stormers. ”He’s been running like a spring chicken,” said Frikkie Erasmus, the Stormers media manager.
The sudden disappearance last month of the wife of Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown had destroyed the good faith between the couple and the Scorpions, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Monday. Scorpions senior counsel Bruce Morrison told the court: ”She’s not coming back.”