An appeal against a Durban High Court order to expedite antiretroviral treatment at Westville prison does not amount to a ”constitutional crisis” but is an attempt to alert the court to an ”administrative burden”, the government said on Thursday. A statement from the Government Communications and Information Service read: ”There is no constitutional crisis in this country … ”
Two women died and one was seriously injured when a fire broke out in a building housing the offices of a security company in Durban on Thursday. ER24 spokesperson Neil Noble said three people were injured in the blaze that swept through the top floor of the one-storey building.
The Department of Correctional Services on Wednesday rejected a Durban High Court judge’s assertion that it is responsible for a potentially ”grave constitutional crisis”. ”The department does not agree that the decision to appeal against the orders of the Durban High Court was intended to create a constitutional crisis,” the department said in a statement.
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Pierre Moynot, the executive of the French arms manufacturer charged alongside Jacob Zuma for corruption, may have incriminated himself when he testified in the Schabir Shaik trial. The defence team for French arms dealer Thint said that when Moynot testified in the Shaik trial ”he [was] not warned by the state that the questions he will be asked may incriminate him”.
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Jacob Zuma would have been ”exonerated” had he been charged alongside his financial adviser Schabir Shaik, Zuma’s defence team claimed in its heads of argument filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday. Had they been able to do so, they would have cross-examined Shaik.
South Africa could face ”a grave constitutional crisis” that could leave judges considering whether they should ”continue on the bench”, the Durban High Court said on Monday. Judge Chris Nicholson was referring to a government statement that it would not to comply with a court order to expedite anti-retroviral treatment at Durban’s Westville prison.
It could have been 1995 all over again … a flashback to the soaking France-South Africa World Cup semifinal as the rain pelted down in buckets ahead of the match between the Sharks and Western Province in Durban on Friday evening. By halftime 32 mm of rain had been measured at the ground.
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Former deputy president Jacob Zuma on Tuesday said he had been ”tried and convicted” together with convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik even though he had never appeared in the dock. Zuma on Tuesday filed papers in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in response to the state’s replying affidavits that seek a postponement of his corruption trial.
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The former head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Bulelani Ngcuka, did everything in his power to protect the reputation of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, according to an affidavit filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. In the document, Ngcuka denies allegations of involvement in any political conspiracy against Zuma.
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The South African Congress of Trade Unions (Cosatu) has admitted it cannot ”produce conclusive proof of a conspiracy” within the National Prosecuting Authority against former deputy president Jacob Zuma. On Tuesday Cosatu’s national spokesperson Patrick Craven said: ”The kind of proof that would have names dates, places [of meetings] … that’s what we can’t produce. But the evidence is all there.”
An administrator is set to take control of the troubled Durban University of Technology on Wednesday, the national Department of Education said in a statement. The current dean of the faculty of education of the University of Pretoria, Professor Jonathan Jansen, will be the administrator for the next six months.
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) KwaZulu-Natal leader, Roger Burrows, will step down when the party holds its provincial congress on Saturday. ”I decided to step down to let a new party leader take over as we head towards 2009,” said Burrows on Monday night.
South Africa is sure to break into the top 10 international conference destinations by 2010, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Monday. Speaking at the national conference of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry, he said conferencing and its allied products continue to thrive.
Battle for control of South Africa’s newest political party, the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco), is set to enter the public arena this week when its leader, Dr Ziba Jiyane, opposes a court action to set aside the appointment of the party’s federal executive. Last Thursday Vincent Ngema filed papers in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Friday called on its members to boycott all Shoprite Checkers stores. ”Cosatu is calling on its members not to buy from Shoprite until the strike is resolved,” Cosatu’s regional chairperson Sdumo Dlamini told a 2Â 000-strong crowd of protesters in Durban.
Nearly 1Â 000 striking Shoprite workers marched down Durban’s West Street on Friday morning amid a heavy police presence. The workers were due to hand over a memorandum to the KwaZulu-Natal regional managing director of Shoprite at its flagship store in West Street. The Shoprite store in West Street was closed for business.
National Treasury figures showing that KwaZulu-Natal’s education department had only spent 1% of its capital budget did not take into account work done by the public works department, the province’s education chief said on Thursday. He said the department had spent R75-million of its annual infrastructure budget of R807,2-million.
Lectures were suspended indefinitely at the University of Zululand on Tuesday after protesting students failed to heed an ultimatum to return to class. The university’s management decided to close down the university after a student meeting in the morning failed to resolve the crisis at the troubled institution.
National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) leader Ziba Jiyane has disputed his ”suspension” on Tuesday by the national executive committee (NEC) of his party. He said the members of the NEC seeking to depose him would be expelled. The NEC is ”an old structure” that is not mentioned in the party’s constitution, Jiyane said.
A man was burnt to death when his nephew crashed their car on Saturday night in what an eyewitness described as ”a race with a tow-truck”. ER24 spokesperson Neil Noble said the Ford Sierra hit a traffic sign on the M41, crossed the median and collided with oncoming traffic. The car caught alight on impact.
An African National Congress (ANC) councillor was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his home in Umhlali, KwaZulu-Natal, early on Friday morning, police said. KwaZulu-Natal ANC spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu said Khumalo had been ”receiving death threats for quite some time”.
A memorandum was handed over to the University of Zululand’s rector and vice-chancellor, Rachel Gumbi, on Friday by students protesting against a ”lack of accommodation” and about many of the university’s courses ”not being nationally recognised”. There was no disruption to lectures at the university.
More than 100Â 000 copies of a CD containing a song about Jacob Zuma have been sold legally, and more have been pirated, music-industry insiders said on Thursday. Eric Majola, promoter of the band Izingane Zoma, said the pirating of the popular album, with the catchy Msholozi title track, is ”really bad”.
KwaZulu-Natal Aquatics president Peter Thompson has confirmed that eThekwini Municipality was among the six cities announced by the world governing body of swimming, Fina, bidding to stage the 14th Fina World Aquatic Championships in 2011.
A woman jumped off a Durban beach pier with her three-year-old son strapped to her back in an apparent suicide bid on Wednesday night. Inspector Tray Allison of the police search and rescue unit said fishermen on the Wedge Beach Pier saw the woman climb over the railings and jump into the water.
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Fund-raising efforts to ensure that Zuma’s legal fees are paid will be ”doubled”, as more than the previously estimated R12-million may be needed. In a personal affidavit filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday, Zuma said he was ”effectively unemployed and quite unemployable”.
The ability to intercept passes and create try scoring chances from turnovers enabled the Free State Cheetahs to take four valuable points from their exciting top-of-the-table Absa Currie Cup rugby encounter as they toppled the Sharks 31-19 in Durban on Saturday evening.
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African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma made a surprise guest appearance at the 85th anniversary fund-raising dinner of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in Durban on Saturday night. Zuma said: ”South Africa is an amazing country where communists and capitalists can sit [at] the same table.”
The Young Communist League (YCL) has accused the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of ”hiding crooks who have political interests”. Addressing a crowd of about 1Â 500 people in Durban on Friday, the KwaZulu-Natal deputy general secretary of the YCL, Buthi Manamela, said: ”There are crooks hiding in the NPA under the guise of prosecutors.”
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South African trade unionists and communists rallied on Friday to demand authorities drop corruption charges against former Deputy President Jacob Zuma. Zuma is set to stand trial on Monday in a case that could wreck or resurrect his presidential hopes.
KwaZulu-Natal’s education department on Friday repeated its warning to schools that had not submitted audited financial statements that they will lose their Section 21 status. Departmental spokesperson Christi Naude said: ”Parents need to know that even if a school loses its section 21 status, it does not mean that those schools that are no-fee schools will lose their no-fee status.”
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KwaZulu-Natal’s top leadership of the tripartite alliance will be out in force to support the African National Congress’ deputy president as he goes on trial for corruption next week. From 6pm on Sunday the city centre is expected to be packed with thousands of supporters of Jacob Zuma who will turn out for an all night vigil.