To some, the introduction of basic income grants (BIG) in South Africa is an unimaginable luxury — and the idea of implementing BIG in other, poorer African states simply laughable. Nonetheless, the South African campaign for BIG, which began four years ago, appears to be resonating elsewhere in the region.
Fraud and corruption convict Schabir Shaik confirmed on Wednesday that police have opened an arson investigation after a fire in his Durban beachfront penthouse in the early hours of Wednesday morning. ”The penthouse has been sealed for a criminal investigation,” said a coughing and spluttering Shaik.
Fraud and corruption convict Schabir Shaik and his wife, Zuleikha, were forced to evacuate their beachfront flat in Durban early on Wednesday due to a fire, emergency services personnel said. The fire started at about 2.10am in the Yarningdale block of flats on the Marine Parade.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday joined the South African Communist Party’s call for a one-off credit-bureau amnesty for all. ”Many people who committed serious crimes were granted amnesty in this country. Why can’t poor people enjoy the same privileges?” asked Cosatu’s provincial secretary.
Civil aviation authorities were on Monday investigating Sunday’s plane crash in Durban in which a light aircraft carrying five Austrian tourists and a pilot nose-dived into the roof of a house. The pilot, Alistair Freeman, suffered a broken leg, lacerations and bruising. He is in a stable condition in the St Augustine’s hospital in Durban.
Jacques Kallis will replace Nicky Boje as vice-captain to Graeme Smith in the Proteas national cricket team and will serve in this capacity for a year, after which he will decide if he wishes to continue in the role. This was announced at a media briefing by Cricket South Africa and the United Cricket Board in Durban on Monday.
The owner of the Durban house into which a light aircraft nose-dived on Sunday escaped injury because he was at a bowling club at the time of the incident, KwaZulu-Natal police said. The aircraft, carrying six occupants, mainly Austrian tourists, crashed into his lounge and dining room.
KwaZulu-Natal’s public prosecutions director Shamila Batohi is working closely with police investigating the recent klebsiella outbreak that killed 22 babies at Mahatma Gandhi hospital in Phoenix. Batohi said: ”Once investigations are complete, I will take a decision on whether to prosecute or not.”
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Monday sought to refute perceptions that IFP MP Dr Gavin Woods was a ”token” appointment because he was disabled. Buthelezi drew sharp criticism for suggesting in a letter in a weekend newspaper that Woods would have been fired long ago were it not for his physical disabilities.
Two KwaZulu-Natal transport department clerks were arrested on charges of issuing fraudulent driving and learner’s licences at Empangeni on the north coast on Friday. On Saturday, provincial transport minister Bheki Cele said his department will arrest everyone linked to the scam.
Former Inkatha Freedom Party chairperson Ziba Jiyane says his new political party, the National Democratic Convention, will be registered with the Independent Electoral Commission on Monday. Jiyane resigned from the IFP on Thursday after being suspended for bringing the party’s name into disrepute.
Suspended Inkatha Freedom Party chairperson Doctor Ziba Jiyane resigned from the party on Thursday. On Friday, his personal assistant, Phumlani Khuzwayo, said Jiyane will make an announcement on his political future in Durban on Saturday. ”Reports that Jiyane is going to start a new political party are all false,” said Khuzwayo.
The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal said it will investigate who incited crowd members to shout pro-Jacob Zuma slogans while Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka tried to address them on Women’s Day. Mlambo-Ngcuka was booed as she tried to deliver her speech at Utrecht.
A meeting between striking municipal workers’ unions and the South African Local Government Association continued on Monday afternoon with no new developments, a union spokesperson said. In KwaZulu-Natal, police arrested 43 striking municipal employees on Monday, as striking Samwu members took to the streets.
Intensive security measures were in place in KwaDukuza on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast on Monday after taxis were forced to stop all operations at midnight on Sunday. This comes after a tribunal was set up to look into the violence between rival taxi associations in which 14 people have died in the past two months.
KwaZulu-Natal health minister Peggy Nkonyeni on Thursday denied media reports that the department’s head, Professor Ronald Green-Thompson, had been fired. Her statement came after provincial newspapers and the South African Broadcasting Corporation quoted Green-Thompson as saying that he had been sacked.
The Inkatha Freedom Party’s support base is ”eroding” in urban areas but still strong in rural KwaZulu-Natal where people believe it represents the interests of the Zulu people, according to a political analyst. ”There are two factions … one loyal to the leadership of Mangosuthu Buthelezi and another pressing for democratisation,” he said.
The police are searching for a man who was seen with a little girl shortly before she was strangled in Sundimbili in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday. Police spokesperson Captain Jay Naicker said according to reports the girl was last seen with a man who was visiting his family in the area.
A Durban North couple alleged to have conned investors out of R20-million to R25-million were arrested by the commercial crime unit on Tuesday afternoon. The unit’s Captain Dean Misra said the investigation began a year-and-a-half ago when the Financial Services Board lodged a complaint against the couple.
The All Blacks imposed a rigid blackout of their morning training session on the third day of their stay in Durban in preparation for the upcoming Tri-Nations rugby Test against the Springboks in Cape Town on Saturday. At the end of the session, the media were granted interviews with lock James Ryan and fullback Leon McDonald.
The Inkatha Freedom Party on Sunday suspended its national chairperson, Ziba Jiyane, at a national council meeting at Umhlanga Rocks, Durban. The IFP said Jiyane last week brought its name into disrepute by saying that the party was operating as ”an internal dictatorship”.
Two gifted first-half tries — both the result of errors that arose from apparent touch-rugby tactics — gave the trampled Eastern Province Mighty Elephants 10 points they badly needed to give them a sense of respectability in their Absa Currie Cup rugby encounter against a rampant Sharks side on Friday night.
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Durban businessman Schabir Shaik was given leave on Friday to go to the Supreme Court of Appeal against one of two corruption convictions and one of fraud. Durban High Court Judge Hillary Squires granted Shaik leave to challenge his convictions on the two charges on limited grounds.
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Durban businessman Schabir Shaik will know on Friday whether he will be granted an opportunity to appeal against his fraud and corruption conviction and 15-year jail sentence. High Court judge Hilary Squires is to hand down judgement at 10am following Shaik’s application for leave to appeal against his convictions, all of which involved financial dealings with former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
Friendship and camaraderie, not self-interest, were behind payments by Durban businessman Schabir Shaik to former deputy president Jacob Zuma, the Durban High Court heard on Tuesday. Shaik is asking the court for leave to appeal against his conviction on two counts of corruption and one of fraud.
A suspected cannibal who allegedly murdered his niece and then roasted and ate her right thigh is expected to appear in the Harding Magistrate’s Court in southern KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday. Police spokesperson Superintendent Zandra Hechter said the man was arrested on Sunday after he allegedly killed his sister’s three-year-old daughter and attempted to kill her other children.
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Durban businessman Schabir Shaik returns to the city’s high court on Tuesday for his application for leave to appeal against his conviction and 15-year jail sentence for fraud and corruption. Last week, Shaik’s attorney Reeves Parsee said argument ”could take 10 minutes or two days”.
It was sweet and emphatic revenge for Orlando Pirates as they beat Kaizer Chiefs 2-1 in the Vodacom Challenge Final at Absa Stadium on Sunday and dominated the team who had edged in front of them at the last hurdle in last season’s Premier League title race.
At least 3Â 900 state officials in KwaZulu-Natal face arrest for social grant fraud, the Scorpions said on Friday. Spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said the arrests will be conducted over various phases. People expected to be apprehended include nurses, teachers, police officers and clerks.
A KwaZulu-Natal man committed suicide inside his home on Friday as police waited for him to open the door to arrest him for allegedly attempting to kill his wife. According to police spokesperson Captain Tienkie van Vuuren, Lucky Mthethwa (50) was wanted for the attempted murder of his wife.
Warders at Westville prison in Durban have until Thursday evening to respond to questions by the Department of Correctional Services following the escape of four armed prisoners last Saturday. The prisoners made a run for it when warders unlocked their cell to give them food on Saturday morning.
Anti-Aids drugs will be more accessible to prisoners in KwaZulu-Natal after threats of a hunger strike and a letter of demand was sent to prison authorities earlier this week. Currently, if doctors recommend that inmates be given anti-retrovirals (ARVs), they are transported to one of the sites where ARVs are administered.