Water restrictions have been imposed on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, where there has been little rain and river water levels are low. The north coast — particularly the Tongaat area — was being closely monitored, eThekwini municipality water and sanitation head Neil Macleod said on Tuesday, appealing to residents to use water sparingly.
Firefighters on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast were on Tuesday monitoring the situation in a pine plantation in the Nyalazi area outside Mtubatuba after they managed to extinguish a ”vicious” fire that started on Sunday. ”We are still assessing the situation and the damage,” said a supervisor for protection services in the area.
It’s official. For an initial period of a year, former Springbok and Sharks coach Rudolph Straeuli will rejoin the management team at the headquarters of the KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union in the new post of commercial manager. Originally the post had been advertised as being for a director of rugby.
A burst of four tries that included a hat-trick in 14 minutes to flying Western Province right wing Egon Seconds blew away the 2005 Absa Currie Cup hopes of the Natal Sharks as they succumbed 45-21 to Western Province in a rugby match of great intensity in Durban on Saturday.
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/ 22 September 2005
A private air search for the missing Durban yacht Moquini, which disappeared while taking part in the Mauritius-to-Durban yacht race last week, will start on Thursday. The search by a C130 Hercules air-force aircraft that had been looking for the yacht since last week was suspended on Tuesday.
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/ 21 September 2005
Lamontville Golden Arrows beat Tembisa Classic 2-0 in a KwaZulu-Natal Castle Premiership derby played at King Zwelithini Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, thanks to goals by Alton Meiring and Mabhuti Khanyeza. This was Arrows’ first win of the season and Classic’s first loss under new management.
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/ 21 September 2005
The mother of one of the sailors who was on the Durban yacht Moquini when it went missing in the Indian Ocean last week is positive her son and the rest of the crew are fine. Her son and the crew were participating in the Mauritius-to-Durban yacht race when they lost communication with race organisers last Tuesday.
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/ 20 September 2005
The search for the Durban yacht, Moquini, which went missing during a race last week will end on Tuesday night, the Maritime rescue co-ordination centre said. ”Depending on what the outcome of the search is tonight [Tuesday], we have reached the end of what we want to do,” said Jacques Smit, the Cape Town-based centre’s search mission co-ordinator.
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/ 20 September 2005
There is still no sign of the Durban yacht Moquini that went missing during the Mauritius-to-Durban yacht race, race organiser Dave Claxton said on Monday evening. ”We couldn’t search on Sunday and every day you miss, the search area gets bigger because of currents, wind, drift patterns,” he said.
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/ 19 September 2005
A South African Air Force helicopter on Monday resumed its search for the Durban yacht Moquini and its six crew members reported missing on Friday. The Moquini was participating in the Mauritius-to-Durban yacht race when it lost contact with the race organisers last week.
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/ 17 September 2005
It was mission accomplished for the Natal Sharks at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday when they claimed the maximum five points from Griqualand West in their Absa Currie Cup rugby encounter. The Sharks eventually scored four tries to one in a 29-10 victory after leading 10-3 at the break.
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/ 15 September 2005
Two KwaZulu-Natal ambulance men had a narrow escape on Wednesday night when their ambulance was hijacked by gunmen. Captain Jabulani Mdletshe said driver Senzo Mkhumbuzi and colleague Paul Hlope were called out to Sonto Reserve in Mseleni to pick up a sick man at around 10pm.
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/ 13 September 2005
A survey has revealed that over 20% of KwaZulu-Natal youth have had suicidal thoughts, a suicide prevention congress heard in Durban on Tuesday. KwaZulu-Natal education MEC Ina Cronje said the results from the survey indicated that ”at a national level 24,6% of learners indicated that they felt so sad or had such hopeless feelings that they wanted to stop living”.
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/ 5 September 2005
The National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) gained almost 500 new members in KwaZulu-Natal at the weekend, the party said on Monday. ”We can’t cope with the requests of people asking for Nadeco membership cards,” said Reverend Hawu Mbatha, who last week crossed to Nadeco from the African Christian Democratic Party.
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/ 5 September 2005
The chances of a paddler in the upcoming Hansa Powerade Dusi being attacked by a crocodile are, according to crocodile specialists, remote. The organising committee has been talking to communities, crocodile experts, farmers and the appropriate authorities about crocodiles living in the Valley of a Thousand Hills.
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/ 4 September 2005
The father of a Durban teenager who was caught in the devastating Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in the United States said he was ”absolutely relieved” when she managed to contact him on Saturday. ”I’ve probably aged about 10 years. I’ve got a thousand extra grey hairs. It’s actually been bloody stressful,” said John Dimmick.
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/ 3 September 2005
Two police helicopters from Durban and police divers have been called in to search for a man who went missing after a Portnet helicopter crashed into the sea at the entrance to the Richards Bay harbour on Saturday morning. The two pilots who were in the helicopter were rescued and taken to hospital.
The appeal process Schabir Shaik was on track, his attorney Reeves Parsee said on Monday. Shaik was sentenced in July to 15 years in prison on two corruption counts, and another three years for fraud. The sentences were to run concurrently, but Shaik is currently out on bail of R100 000.
The Inkatha Freedom Party did not breach election regulations by handing out stationery with its logo to schools in the Zululand region, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Friday. ”What is at stake is whether the party was in breach of the Department of Education’s regulations and policies,” said the IEC.
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.