Hundreds of international guests and media converged on KwaZulu-Natal on Friday at the start of the Ladysmith Siege Weekend to commemorate historic events that took place during the Anglo-Boer War. Organised by the Emnambithi/Ladysmith municipality, the event is in its fourth year and is expected to attract a crowd of about 5 000.
A 38-year-old man is in a serious condition in a KwaZulu-Natal hospital after both his ears and genitals were ripped off by dogs in Empangeni, paramedics said on Friday. Yusuf Kruger, spokesperson for the privately-owned Mounties Ambulance Service, said the incident took place on Hancock Avenue at 4pm on Thursday.
The case against five men — aged between 18 and 20 — accused of gang-raping a 21-year-old Durban woman was postponed in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Thursday. The men allegedly raped the woman in a sugar-cane plantation in Hillcrest on March 2 while they took turns at holding her father at gunpoint nearby.
Northern Tigers swim star Kerri-Leigh Shaw has been provisionally suspended from competition effective from Tuesday April 1 following a positive drugs test during the Fina Swimming World Cup in Belo Horizonte in Brazil on November 25 last year.
A 76-year-old man is fighting for his life in a Durban hospital after being stung more than 1 000 times by bees on Wednesday, paramedics said. Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said the man had left his house in KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) Drummond area to go for a walk when he was attacked by the bees.
At least 2 100 volunteers will be recruited and trained in KwaZulu-Natal by police officers from the United Kingdom to build up a front against crime before the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Project coordinator Nhlakanipho Mahlaba said that R35-million had been allocated for the ”volunteer social crime prevention project”.
A scanner costing R43-million — the first of 18 — has been put into operation at Durban harbour’s container terminal, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Tuesday. Leonard Radebe, head of customs at Sars, said the scanner would improve turnaround times at the congested Durban terminal.
The establishment of a media appeals tribunal as proposed by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) threatens the right to press freedom, the press ombudsman said in Durban on Monday. Ombudsman Joe Thloloe warned that ”once media freedom is threatened, it is an individual’s freedom of expression that is threatened”.
South Africa’s judiciary does not need an uncritical media that is over respectful of the courts, Chief Justice Pius Langa said in Durban on Sunday. He said the judiciary should ”jealously protect” the media and its right to free expression, but at the same time the media’s right was ”not totally unfettered and unrestricted”.
The Sharks moved up to second in the Super 14 after a pair of second-half tries secured a 22-10 victory over the Queensland Reds on Saturday. The South Africans touched down in the 63rd and 67th minutes, breaking a determined Reds defence that was put under relentless pressure.
It is ”distasteful” to tell students that toyi-toying does nothing to improve the country, the Young Communist League (YCL) said on Thursday. It rejected as unfortunate recent remarks to this effect by Education Minister Naledi Pandor. ”The YCL views these remarks as nonsensical and distasteful,” the league said in a statement.
An elderly woman was shot by robbers fleeing from a crime scene in Phoenix, Durban police said on Wednesday. Inspector Michael Read said five men, three of them armed, had entered the Smilesons shop in Phoenix on Tuesday evening and held staff members at gunpoint.
At least 21 drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) patients — who ran away from a Port Elizabeth hospital last week — returned on the weekend, Eastern Cape health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said on Monday. On Thursday, 33 drug-resistant TB patients forced their way out of the Jose Pearson Hospital.
Lamontville Golden Arrows and Bidvest Wits drew 2-2 in their Premier Soccer League clash at the King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi on Saturday afternoon. Abafana Besithende, as Arrows are known, dominated the first 20 minutes of the game and were rewarded in the 10th minute with a goal.
South Africa’s tertiary education system is operating at close to capacity with limited infrastructure and academic staffing resources available for expansion, Education Minister Naledi Pandor said in Durban on Thursday. Pandor said that the government hoped to achieve a higher education enrolment of 820 000 students by 2010.
South Africa fast bowler Charl Langeveldt withdrew on Tuesday from next month’s tour to India after his selection had caused controversy. Langeveldt, who is black, was included in the squad earlier this month ahead of the white Andre Nel in accordance with Cricket South Africa’s racial transformation policy.
The Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup 2008 qualifier in Durban next week has a vastly different feel to the previous two qualifying tournaments, as the sport goes into its third year of organised competition in Africa. At the World Cup in Rio, Senegal and Nigeria shocked the world by topping their respective groups.
Sharks rugby coach Dick Muir has resolved the issues he had with timekeeper Gabriel Pappas following last Saturday’s Super 14 clash against the Lions at Ellis Park. Muir was involved in an altercation with Pappas after Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis was not allowed to return to the game following treatment for a cut to his eye.
At least three protesting students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Pietermaritzburg campus were wounded by police firing rubber bullets on Tuesday, the students’ representative council said. Police spokesperson Inspector Joey Jeevan said officers used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd at 10am.
At least 20 houses were burnt down and two people shot in clashes between two northern KwaZulu-Natal communities, police said on Monday. Captain Charmaine Struwig said fighting broke out between groups from the Mhlwazini area and Magangangozi area at midday on Sunday.
Two of the country’s leading oil refineries severely affected by Tuesday night’s heavy downpour in Durban expect to be fully operational this weekend. Due to the rainstorm, at least 40% of the Engen refinery was non-operational over the past 48 hours, while the nearby Sapref plant was completely shut down.
The police should be more cautious when dealing with deportation matters, Mpumalanga’s department of safety and security said on Friday, after a South African teenager was awarded damages for being arrested on suspicion of being in the country illegally.
An armed gang stormed into a Durban bank on Friday, holding staff and customers at gunpoint, KwaZulu-Natal police said. ”Five armed suspects entered, took cash and a customer’s vehicle and fled,” said Superintendent Willie Olivier of Durban’s Organised Crime Unit
Durban’s disaster-management team and city officials are busy calculating the cost of damage caused during a heavy downpour on Tuesday night that continued into the early hours of Wednesday. Two oil refineries, hospitals, courts, homes, shacks, railway lines, buildings and roads were affected by the overnight storm.
Search-and-rescue workers saved 20 people trapped in cars and homes by rising water in a heavy overnight downpour in Durban. ”We used a police boat to move many people away from the Island Hotel in Isipingo and we assisted several others who were stuck in cars due to rising flood water,” said Captain Troy Alison.
At least 20 people who were trapped in cars and homes by rising water levels during a heavy overnight downpour in Durban were rescued by the police’s search-and-rescue team. ”We used a police boat to move many people away from the Island Hotel in Isipingo and we assisted several others,” the unit’s commander, Captain Troy Alison, said on Wednesday.
Scrap cars, fridges and burning tyres were used to barricade several Durban roads on Monday as about 500 residents demanded that a local ward councillor leave the area. The residents are demanding that an African National Congress (ANC) ward councillor leave his office and move out of the area as he had ”not kept his word on service delivery”.
Flanker Keegan Daniel scored a 16-second try to give the Sharks a perfect start en route to a 22-17 triumph over the Auckland Blues in a Super 14 thriller on Saturday. Daniel dotted down again as the home team took a 19-3 half-time advantage and then withstood fierce second-half pressure.
A spate of wide deliveries by the Dolphins — there were 19 extras amongst the first 22 runs — did much for the cause of the Eagles as they came back to snatch victory by three wickets in their MTN domestic championship cricket match at Kingsmead on Friday night.
Durban’s Mangosuthu University of Technology was officially closed down on Friday following a week of student protests. A pamphlet distributed at the institution and signed by vice-chancellor and principal Aaron Ndlovu ordered all students to vacate the institution’s residences and leave the premises by noon.
At least 125 students were arrested during a protest at Durban’s Mangosuthu University of Technology on Thursday, police said. Captain Khephu Ndlovu said the students would face charges of public violence and malicious damage to property.
Mamelodi Sundowns beat Lamontville Golden Arrows 2-1 in their Premier Soccer League clash at King Zwelithini Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. Sundowns led 1-0 at half-time. Trott Moloto’s lads won with goals from Aldave Benitez in the 42nd minute and Fanyana Dhladhla in the 55th minute.