Six people, including four foreign nationals, were arrested in Camperdown near Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday morning in what South African Revenue Service (Sars) officials claimed was the country’s second-largest seizure of perlemoen yet. Between five and six tonnes of perlemoen (abalone) were found.
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Jacob Zuma’s ongoing spat with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) was ”resolved” in Durban, the attorney for the African National Congress deputy president said on Wednesday. Media reports in February said Sars had questioned the completeness of Zuma’s disclosure of his income and his failure to submit a tax return.
A keenly contested final of the women’s 400m freestyle is expected on the opening night of the 2007 Telkom South African National Aquatic Championships at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre in Durban on Tuesday following the heats on the first morning of the six-day event.
Police investigating the recent discovery of bones on a beach at the KwaZulu-Natal holiday resort of Umhloti are expecting to receive an ”interim analysis” from the state pathologist this week. The bones were discovered protruding from the sand on March 21 after the KwaZulu-Natal coast had been pounded by heavy surf.
Orlando Pirates were lucky to collect valuable points when they beat Jomo Cosmos in a fast and entertaining game played before a capacity crowd in a Castle Premiership at Durban’s Absa Stadium on Sunday night. Both sides were below-strength, with Pirates missing Benedict ”Tso” Vilakazi, Innocent Mdledle and Jabu Mahlangu.
Sunny, humid weather greeted beachgoers at the fifth annual Vodacom Easter Adrenaline Extreme-Sports Beach Festival held at North Beach, Bay Lawns, Bay Beach and the Skate Park on Friday. The Vodacom Paddle Challenge was one of the highlights as top men and women battled it out for a total prize pool of R17 000.
Human bones found near the resort town of Umdloti following the heavy waves that hit the KwaZulu-Natal coast recently are in Pretoria for forensic testing, police said on Thursday. Some media reports have said the bones may be those of young girls who disappeared about 18 years ago, allegedly kidnapped by Gert van Rooyen and his lover, Joey Haarhoff.
A mineworker at a coal mine near Dundee in northern KwaZulu-Natal died on Wednesday when a roof support apparently collapsed and struck him. Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said the miner was brought to the surface by the mine’s own rescue team. The miner had suffered severe head injuries that probably led to his death.
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Jacob Zuma and French arms manufacturer Thint are to appeal against the Durban High Court’s decision to allow prosecutors to ask authorities in Mauritius to release documents about meetings believed to relate to arms-deal corruption. Speaking on Monday afternoon, Zuma’s attorney said Zuma will lodge an application for leave to appeal against the decision.
Bookings for the Easter holidays have not been seriously affected by storm damage along KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) coastline, the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa) said on Thursday. Fedhasa’s East Coast chairperson, Alan Vels, said: ”There has been no impact in Durban. In fact there seems to be a curiosity factor more than anything else.”
KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) coastal municipalities will get help from the National Treasury in footing the bill to clean up in the wake of the freak surf that battered the province’s coastline, Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi said on Tuesday. However, Mufamadi refused to be drawn on how much aid would be forthcoming.
The renaming of Durban’s Mangosuthu Highway has raised eyebrows and left the Inkatha Freedom Party threatening to march through the city in protest, media reports said on Monday. Also, the decision by the city fathers to rename Point Road after Mahatma Gandhi has generated huge debate within South Africa and India.
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Former deputy president Jacob Zuma made a surprise appearance as the battle over the release of documents from Mauritius got under way in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday. A small group of Zuma supporters was outside the court and a media scramble ensued as Zuma entered the court room.
Africa’s first power plant to run on methane gas extracted from a rubbish dump began generating electricity in Durban on Tuesday. The plant, built with funding from the French Development Bank, was officially opened by eThekwini mayor Obed Mlaba at the city’s Mariannhill landfill site.
Durban’s beaches will remain closed for at least another five days as the city’s authorities clean up in the wake of the heavy surf that battered the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) coastline. eThekwini deputy head of fire and disaster management Mark te Water said on Tuesday evening that he expected the city’s beaches to remain closed for at least five days.
Authorities and residents of seashore properties in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) have begun the process of cleaning up and assessing the damage caused by the massive surf that pounded the province’s coastline on Monday. Swells recorded at between 6m and 8m dissipated on Tuesday morning.
Durban’s beachfront areas were pounded by massive surf in the early hours of Monday morning, leaving the city’s famed Golden Mile littered with debris and emergency services scrambling to rescue numerous people. The South African Weather Service in Durban said winds in excess of 40 knots (80km/h) were reported on Sunday night.
South Africa’s Sharks made it six wins out of six and top the table after a 27-14 victory over New Zealand’s Wellington Hurricanes in Durban on Saturday. It wasn’t pretty, but Dick Muir’s charges did the business to remain the only unbeaten side in this year’s Super 14 southern-hemisphere interprovincial competition.
Sprinter Sherwin Vries pulled off an amazing sprint double at the South African Senior Track and Field Championships at King’s Park Athletics Stadium in Durban on Saturday, showing he is on track to go to the World Championships in Japan later this year. It was a fifth national title for Vries.
A family of four were washed away during a rain storm at the Bhambayi informal settlement in Inanda, north of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), police said on Friday. Superintendent Vincent Mdunge said nobody knew exactly when the incident happened but it was during Thursday night.
Mamelodi Sundowns went through to the quarterfinals of the Absa Cup when they beat Maritzburg United 1-0 at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday. The half-time score was 0-0. The only goal of the match came from substitute Patrick Apataki. The striker came on for Lerato Chabangu in the 88th minute and scored almost immediately.
Kaizer Chiefs went on the rampage and blasted Bloemfontein Celtic 4-0 in a Premier soccer League game played at Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday night. Chiefs led 2-0 at the interval. Chiefs, under the guidance of Kostadin Papic and Johannes Mofokeng for the first time, started attacking from the first whistle.
The family of convicted Durban businessman Schabir Shaik has been ”lobbying” Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour in an attempt to ”negotiate a deal” reducing his imprisonment term, the Daily News reported on Monday. The newspaper reported that the family had made repeated requests to meet with the minister.
The state filed papers in the in the Durban High Court on Monday morning in its attempt to obtain documents from Mauritius relating to accusations of corruption against Jacob Zuma. The papers had already been served on Zuma and French arms manufacturer Thint on Friday.
The Sharks left four probable tries on the park at the Absa Stadium on Saturday and as a consequence nearly paid the penalty by becoming the only South African side to lose their Super 14 rugby match this weekend.
The state is expected to file papers in the Durban High Court on Friday in its attempt to obtain documents from Mauritius relating to accusations of corruption against Jacob Zuma. The documents include the 2000 diary of former French arms manufacturer Thint chief executive Alain Thetard.
The Durban heat was starting to take its toll: A1 Grand Prix crew and drivers were wandering around the pit checking out opponents’ machinery with the sort of barely disguised homoerotic longing last seen in Ben-Hur; where once there would have been the clinging stench of horse shit, petrol fumes filled the air of this charioteering recreation of ancient Rome.
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Sbu Ndebele on Thursday slammed an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) claim that the provincial government had pulled R200Â 000-worth of advertising as a result of negative media reports. Ndebele described a statement by the IFP’s provincial leader, Lionel Mtshali, as an ”outrageous and despicable lie”.
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/ 25 February 2007
Germany (Nico Hulkenberg) scored their sixth consecutive win and their eighth of the season in round eight of the A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsport with back-to-back wins in the sprint and feature races at Durban’s street circuit on Sunday. The 19-year-old German dominated the race weekend.
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/ 24 February 2007
Team France’s Loic Duval set the fastest times in the first two practice sessions at the A1 Grand Prix in Durban as Team South Africa did battle with a drive shaft that broke on Friday. In scorching temperatures, Duval set a lap time of 1:19,36 at the morning practice session, and bettered that with a time of 1:18,62 in the afternoon session.
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/ 24 February 2007
In a somewhat disappointing opening affair, the Wildebeest claimed the points in their first outing in the Vodacom Cup rugby series with a 24-16 victory over the Boland Cavaliers at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Friday night. The home side led 10-6 after the first 40 minutes.
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/ 21 February 2007
One of the men who allegedly killed historian David Rattray is also under investigation for raping two young teenagers at gunpoint and armed robbery, the media reported on Wednesday. This emerged on Tuesday in the Dundee Magistrate’s Court during the bail application of Simphiwe Ndlovu (25).