Cape Town

President Thabo Mbeki on Friday called for an end to all measures intended to isolate the Palestinian Authority and for the parties involved to renew their peace efforts. Writing in his weekly newsletter, Mbeki congratulated Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khalid Mish’al for concluding last week’s Mecca agreement.

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon has asked why the murder-conviction rate is so low if over 80% of murder victims in South Africa are killed by people they know. In his weekly newsletter published on Friday, Leon questioned what he called ”a dizzying series of statistics” contained in President Thabo Mbeki’s response on Thursday to the State of the Nation debate.

Prominent news reports about Cape Bar Council and Cape Law Society probes into an allegation that an advocate offered a teenager R20 000 not to testify in the baby Jordan murder trial on Thursday brought the marathon hearing in the Cape High Court to an abrupt halt.

Plans to build hundreds of thousands of new low-cost homes could fall victim to shifting budget demands in the run-up to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, South Africa’s housing minister said on Thursday. Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said there was a danger that her ministry’s demands ”could be completely wiped off the radar screen”.

South Africa is overhauling its Aids strategy in a bid to counter the rise of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), which is proving a serious threat to those with HIV/Aids, a senior official said on Thursday. XDR-TB has killed at least 183 people in South Africa.

An advocate accused of trying to bribe one of the alleged murderers of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton not to testify maintained on Thursday that he has ”nothing to hide”. ”At this point in time the only thing I can say is obviously that I need to speak to the bar council first,” said the advocate, Charles Simon.

A brace by Erwin Isaacs gave Santos a 2-1 victory over SuperSport United in a Premier Soccer League game played at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night. This was after trailing 1-0 at the interval. The visitors played with only ten men in the second half after George Mofokeng was sent off for an early shower just before the end of the first half.

The teenager among the accused in the baby Jordan murder trial was offered R20 000 by his own advocate if he did not testify, it was alleged in the Cape High Court on Wednesday. The youth, who may not be named, disclosed this at the end of his testimony, led by his new defence counsel, Caryl Verrier.

Electricity supply in South Africa will remain uncertain for the next five years, with a reserve margin of just over half of what it should be, Parliament heard on Wednesday. Anton Eberhard, a professor at the Graduate School of Business, said one of the main reasons for this was a Cabinet decision not to allow Eskom to build new generating capacity.

South Africa cannot make the meltdown in neighbouring Zimbabwe its ”own property”, South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Wednesday. Asked at a media briefing whether the Zimbabwean economic meltdown and general crisis does not rate at all for South Africa, Lekota argued at some length that a multilateral approach has to be taken on Zimbabwe.

The United States should not get involved in stabilising war-torn Somalia, where Washington’s motives could be questioned, South Africa’s Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Wednesday. ”Given the history of the US in Somalia, it would seem to me that it would have been better … to introduce … countries that do not come with historical baggage,” Lekota said.

The father fights back tears while describing his model son’s metamorphosis into a thieving, violent drug user -– one of a rising number of South African teens falling prey to crystal methamphetamine. ”I am very sad, desperate. We are going through hell,” he says, dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief.

South African government ministers on Tuesday turned on citizens bemoaning rampant crime and fleeing a country where about 50 people are murdered every day. ”What we need is partners in the battle against crime, not these eloquent spectators speaking from exaggerated comfort … elsewhere,” Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told Parliament.

From the doorway, it looked as though Inge Lotz was asleep, lying motionless with her brown hair tumbled over the arm of the couch. It was only from closer that the full and bloody horror of what had happened to the 22-year-old Stellenbosch student became apparent.

The former joint chief executives of LeisureNet were on Tuesday found guilty on charges of fraud involving a total of R12-million. However, Cape High Court acting judge Dirk Uijs found them not guilty on all the other charges they faced, including counts under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act and the Income Tax Act.

Stormers and Springbok loose forward Joe Van Niekerk will have a scope on his left knee on Tuesday to treat injured knee cartilage, an injury that was aggravated in Friday’s Super 14 match against Western Force. Medical opinion suggests that conservative treatment measures will not cure the injury and surgical intervention will provide the shortest recovery time.

A teenager told the Cape High Court on Monday of his reluctance to get involved in the alleged murder of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton. The youth turned 18 in prison last Sunday, but may still not be named until the judge decides on Thursday whether he should be identified along with his other four co-accused.

Sunday’s MTN one-day international between South Africa and Pakistan is of extreme importance to both teams after Friday’s match in Port Elizabeth was abandoned because of rain. With the World Cup just weeks away, South Africa are eager to show that their defeat was just a blip in their run-up to the World Cup.

The Stormers slumped to a humiliating 22-3 defeat to the Western Force in their Super 14 match at Newlands on Saturday night. Kobus van der Merwe and his side had spoken all week about improving on last week’s crushing loss to the Cheetahs, but this was an even worse setback on their home field.

A goal in each half gave Santos three valuble points when they beat Benoni United in a match played at the Athlone Stadium, Cape Town, on Friday. Rain throughout the match resulted in both sides slipping and sliding on the field. Santos were by far the leaders and easily stayed in the visitors’ half.

Former LeisureNet joint chief executives Peter Gardener and Rod Mitchell were not responsible for the collapse of the LeisureNet empire, the Cape High Court ruled on Friday. LeisureNet operated the health and racquet clubs in the country, but was liquidated in 2000 with R1,2-billion in liabilities and assets worth only R302-million.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has been called on by the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) parliamentary caucus to demonstrate in his opening of Parliament speech on Friday ”that he has moved decisively away from a position of denial”. In a statement, the IFP said this denial was ”in respect of a number of serious issues confronting all South Africans”.

Judgement is to be delivered at noon on Friday in the Cape High Court trial of former LeisureNet chief executives Peter Gardener and Rod Mitchell. The two men face charges of fraud, money laundering and contraventions of the Income Tax Act and Companies Act. LeisureNet was liquidated in 2000 with liabilities of R1,2-billion and assets of only R302-million.

South Africa has stopped the import of live poultry and poultry products from the United Kingdom after an outbreak of bird flu in that country. ”An outbreak of highly pathogenic notifiable avian influenza [bird flu], caused by the H5N1 subtype of the virus has killed 1 500 turkeys on a farm in Suffolk, United Kingdom.