Dina Rodrigues’s advocate, Johan Van der Berg, called on Wednesday for a fair and balanced sentence for her for the premeditated murder of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton. He delivered his closing argument in the Cape High Court concerning an appropriate sentence for his 26-year-old client.
Twelve people were arrested after a second night of vigilantism against suspected drug dealers at Mitchells Plain in Cape Town, police said on Wednesday. Captain Randall Stoffels said about 1Â 000 people marched to three homes of suspected drug dealers. The top floor of a double-storey house was burnt down.
A man has been arrested and is being questioned by police after causing a disturbance in the public gallery of the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon. Shortly after proceedings began, the man began shouting at bemused MPs sitting below. Deputy Speaker Gwen Mahlangu, who was in the chair at the time, repeatedly told the man to stop.
The National Assembly on Wednesday approved the controversial Public Service Amendment Bill, despite the objections of most opposition parties. Essentially, the Bill provides for a single public service at national and provincial levels and allows for secondment of employees.
Biotech crops giant Monsanto has been ordered to withdraw an advertising claim that no negative reactions have ever been reported to genetically modified foods. The Advertising Standards Authority made the ruling this week in response to a consumer complaint lodged against a Monsanto South Africa print ad.
Investment opportunities for South African business abound in the under-developed mountain kingdom of Lesotho, the South African-Lesotho business forum heard on Wednesday. Lesotho Prime Minister Phakalitha Mosisili told the forum the challenge was to see the opportunities available and ”make good use of them while they last”.
Three suspects will appear in court on Thursday in connection with the murder of Cape Town theatre personality Taliep Petersen, police said. Superintendent Billy Jones said a third suspect was arrested on Tuesday afternoon after hours of being held for questioning. The suspect is a 34-year-old man from the Athlone area of Cape Town.
The youngest of the five baby Jordan-Leigh Norton killers was ”more interested in immediate pleasures than his future”, the Cape High Court heard on Tuesday. Probation officer Joel Ntuli told the court Bonginkosi Sigenu (18) came from a poor background and his late father had declined to buy him fancy clothing.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter on Tuesday expressed his full confidence in South Africa’s preparations for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. ”I am a happy Fifa president,” he told journalists after meeting President Thabo Mbeki at Tuynhuys. ”Everything is on track.”
The Lesotho government will relax the restrictions of the curfew it imposed after a spate of attacks on Cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Phakalitha Mosisili said on Tuesday. Briefing the media in Cape Town after meeting South African President Thabo Mbeki at Tuynhuys, Mosisili said the curfew, which was imposed on Saturday, will now be modified.
The multiparty committee that will inquire into whether Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool misled the legislature will hold open hearings next Monday, its chairperson said. Since its April 20 appointment, the committee has held closed meetings to finalise procedure and fine-tune the timetable.
The absence of regulations controlling the manufacture and distribution of medical products was endangering the lives of South Africans, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday. Briefing the media in Cape Town, DA spokesperson on health Gareth Morgan blamed Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang for holding back legislation to protect consumers.
Police forensic-science laboratories have a backlog of 6Â 086 samples, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Monday. Crime investigating officers have to wait an average of 54 days for results of samples sent in. He said the largest backlog was in the Western Cape’s chemistry laboratory.
The youngest of the five killers facing sentence for the murder of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton on Monday asked the Norton family to forgive him. Bonginkosi Sigenu (18) was the only one of the five to testify in the Cape High Court in mitigation of sentence. The others’ lawyers will instead address the court on their behalf.
The murder case of baby Jordan resumed in its usual start-stop fashion on Monday with the court having to adjourn until noon to obtain two missing pre-sentencing reports. The Cape High Court also heard that an unnamed, privately engaged probation officer had shown no interest in interviewing Dina Rodrigues at Pollsmoor Prison.
Replacement back Francois Steyn knocked over two late drop goals to give South Africa a nail-biting 22-19 win over Australia at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday in the Tri-Nations opener of 2007. Trailing 10-19 after 44 minutes, the Springboks rallied to score 12 unanswered points in the second half.
Claims that African National Congress (ANC) Western Cape provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha used his influence to steer a land deal to party cronies were scurrilous and untrue, the party said on Friday. It was reacting to an article in Friday’s Mail and Guardian. Nic Dawes, associate deputy editor of the M&G, said that the newspaper stands by its article.
South African electricity tariffs are likely to keep rising steeply as the country tries to fund a massive spending programme to upgrade its power network, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Friday. Africa’s largest economy has suffered a series of power failures over the past couple of years as it struggles to keep up with faster economic growth.
Business and political leaders attending an annual conference meant to focus entrepreneurial attention on Africa hailed China’s and India’s huge appetite for raw materials as a powerful driving force to move the African economy up a gear. But the discussion at the World Economic Forum’s annual conference on Africa was tinged with anxiety.
The Springboks will draw on inspiration from former president Nelson Mandela when they meet Australia at Newlands on Saturday. The sides meet in a Mandela Challenge Plate match which doubles as the first Tri-Nations game of the 2007 season.
The government’s plans to centralise the public service, purportedly in the interests of improving ”delivery”, set alarm bells ringing, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Friday. ”The real aim must be bluntly stated: it is to centralise the African National Congress’s power, to erode the opposition’s chances of setting up alternative models of ‘delivery’,” she said.
A gala on Friday marks the official opening of a book fair hailed as Africa’s largest by organisers. With the theme of ”More than Black on White”, the fair opens to the public on Saturday, starting four days of authors’ readings, book launches, panel discussions and seminars. Those attending include African, German, Indian, Swiss and Dutch authors and publishers.
Africa’s four biggest economic powers could become an engine for regional growth in the same way that emerging market giants Brazil, Russia, India and China are trendsetters in the rest of the developing world, a senior researcher at the African Development Bank said.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila wooed South African businesses on Friday, portraying his war-ravaged country as a risk-free environment that is ripe for investment. Kabila conceded security remained a concern in the east of the country but sought to assure a business audience in Cape Town that the situation was being dealt with.
President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday dismissed reports he has ”rejected” the recommendations of the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers chaired by Justice Dikgang Moseneke. The Presidency appealed to all South Africans to familiarise themselves with the commission’s processes as laid down in legislation.
South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could become an engine of growth for Africa, visiting DRC President Joseph Kabila said on Thursday. ”The opportunities for growth that present themselves to us are huge,” he told a joint sitting of the South African Parliament.
Key government departments are doing nothing to stop drug addiction, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday. DA spokesperson on social development Mike Waters said a reply to a DA question showed that 10 government departments had not yet submitted reports on drug-addiction strategies.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila arrived at Tuynhuys in Cape Town on Thursday for talks with President Thabo Mbeki. Kabila, who jetted into the city on Wednesday afternoon, is on an official visit to discuss, among other things, political and economic relations between South Africa and his mineral-rich country.
Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan took the helm on Thursday of an alliance of African government and business leaders seeking to reverse a decline in the continent’s agricultural output. Sub-Saharan African food production was declining year-on-year as a third of the continent’s population suffers from hunger, Annan told reporters.
Veteran prop Os du Randt was sidelined by South Africa for this weekend’s Tri-Nations rugby opener against Australia so he’ll be ready next week for the All Blacks. Only four starters from last weekend’s 35-8 win over Samoa were named by coach Jake White on Wednesday for Saturday’s Test at Newlands.
President Thabo Mbeki has rejected the Moseneke commission’s recommendations that government leaders’ salaries be increased by huge percentages, Public Service Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Wednesday. Fraser-Moleketi said the new salaries, as recommended by the commission, would not be implemented.
South African President Thabo Mbeki gave his clearest indication yet on Wednesday of his preferred choice of successor, heaping praise on his official deputy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Mbeki, who has previously said he would like a woman to succeed him, told Parliament Mlambo-Ngcuka was "a true leader of the people".