Cape Town

South African President Thabo Mbeki has paid tribute to Ghana, which celebrates 50 years of independence (from Britain) on March 6. In his internet column, ANC Today, Mbeki noted that 50 years ago, as Ghana prepared to accede to independence, the all-white Parliament in South Africa was engaged in an intense and protracted debate of the Flags Amendment Bill.

Fidentia’s collapse had further repercussions in the Cape High Court on Friday when two closely linked companies were also placed under curatorship. The court granted a provisional order placing Ovation Global Investment Services and Ovation Global Investment Nominees under curatorship.

Political connectivity with the African National Congress (ANC) appears to be ruling the roost regarding government deals and contracts, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon argued on Friday. He also said the potential damage that corruption could do was evidenced in a survey by foreign investors, which ”should be sending shock waves through the halls of power”.

Cricket’s world governing body says that players at the upcoming World Cup will be target tested for drugs. In addition to the already announced four random tests at each match, the International Cricket Council (ICC) says that 17 of the scheduled 51 games in the Caribbean will be selected for additional testing.

South Africa, which takes the chair of the United Nations Security Council in March, said on Wednesday it would urge Iran to show transparency to the UN nuclear watchdog to avert a showdown over its atomic ambitions. The International Atomic Energy Agency says a lack of Iranian cooperation has left it unable to verify that Tehran’s nuclear activities are wholly peaceful.

City of Cape Town officials held a long meeting with counterparts from the 2010 local organising committee on Wednesday in a bid for a solution to the financing of the proposed Green Point Stadium. The city this week stalled on approving the R2,7-billion budget for the project after what mayor Helen Zille said were last-minute cost escalations of R180-million.

South Africa fully supports the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s decision to seek summonses for two suspects accused of war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region, a top government official said on Wednesday. But Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad warned it was too early to tell what effect the ICC action would have on long-term peace prospects in Sudan.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday expressed its ire at the ”preferential treatment” extended to Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata on Tuesday. Court officials had bent over backwards to ensure that Motata’s court hearing was shielded from the public, DA spokesperson Sheila Camerer said.

South Africa can meet the United Nations’s Millennium Development Goals for children as long as it prioritises spending, the UN Children’s Fund country representative told Parliament on Wednesday. Macharia Kamau said South Africa had the finances available to reduce its child mortality rates by two-thirds and its maternal mortality by three-quarters.

Cape Town mayor Helen Zille is indulging in political grandstanding over the Green Point Stadium, mayoral committee member Simon Grindrod has suggested. He has also criticised what he says is the city’s ”inability to drive such a high-profile initiative”. In a statement issued on Wednesday, his office said he was extremely concerned at the latest halting of the project.

Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has put her approval of the 2010 stadium budget on hold, following an unexpected hike in cost. A special council meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, which was to have given the green light for a R2,68-billion budget, was called off at the last minute, and postponed to Friday.

Wouter Basson — apartheid South Africa’s alleged germ-warfare expert — faces losing his private medical practice as a panel of peers prepares to judge a complaint of unethical conduct arising from events in his past. The process had been delayed by a 31-month criminal trial and subsequent appeals.

British nutrition guru Patrick Holford, currently touring South Africa, says he has no links to the Dr Rath Health Foundation and does not advise people to stop taking antiretrovirals (ARVs). He has also denied news reports that, he said, implied he had been saying vitamin C was more effective in treating Aids than the ARV AZT.

The scientist backing nutritionist Patrick Holford’s claims on vitamin C and Aids was one of the key speakers at a conference organised by the controversial Dr Matthias Rath in Johannesburg just more than a year ago. Holford, who claims vitamin C is more effective in treating Aids than an antiretroviral drug, is giving a series of workshops in South Africa.

President Thabo Mbeki has called on traditional leaders to tackle corruption in their ranks, and urged them to lead by example. ”I must say that I am aware that some of the provincial houses [of traditional leaders] have been addressing matters relating to the conduct and discipline of their members,” he told members of the National House of Traditional Leaders on Friday.

The City of Cape Town still has a by-law on its books regulating the accommodation of ”natives”. However, it has come to light only because it has been identified by city officials as one of about 800 obsolete pieces of legislation that need to be sent to the scrap-heap.

The Cape High Court declined on Thursday to subpoena the editor of the Daily Voice newspaper, Karl Brophy, and the publication’s attorney, Jacques Louw, to testify at the Baby Jordan murder trial. Judge Basheer Wagley chose not to follow the suggestion by senior counsel Jan Heunis, on behalf of accused Dina Rodrigues.

The Cabinet on Thursday objected to ”highly personalised” comments in the media on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s well-being. She is currently in a stable condition in Johannesburg Hospital. The African National Congress (ANC) parliamentary caucus also lambasted a Democratic Alliance MP for her ”insensitive” remarks about the minister.