An investigation into the deaths of 22 babies from klebsiella bacteria at Durban’s Mahatma Gandhi hospital was ”another cover-up”, an organisation representing the parents said on Wednesday. ”How can the killers investigate the deaths of babies they have killed?” asked Alvin Brijlal, spokesperson for the non-profit organisation Voice.
The Durban health department intends taking Engen to court after sulphur dioxide emissions at its Durban oil refinery were found to be ”excessive”. ”We’ve served the necessary notices, we are moving ahead with the legal processes,” said the deputy head of the department, Selva Mudaly.
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Durban businessman Schabir Shaik’s application for leave to appeal against his fraud and corruption conviction and 15-year jail sentence will be argued in the city’s High Court next Tuesday. ”It could take 10 minutes or two days,” Shaik’s attorney, Reeves Parsee, said on Monday.
About 40 babies died at the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Durban during two months in 2003 of ”various neonatal ICU infections,” the director of the non-profit organisation Voice said on Thursday. ”A report on the deaths of the 40 babies in 2003 was given to me by a high ranking official of the health department in KZN yesterday [Wednesday].
South Africa’s application to have the world heritage status of Sterkfontein’s fossil hominid sites extended to include the Taung Skull fossil site in North West province and the Mokopane Valley in Limpopo province was accepted on Friday. The Department of Arts and Culture said the Taung Skull site exhibited the same characteristics as hominid sites such as Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai.
KwaZulu-Natal’s libraries will feel the effects of a R90-million budget cut in the 2005/06 financial year, but officials in the province’s department of arts, culture and tourism say they are seeking ways to minimise the impact. Department head Bonga Ntanzi said the reprioritisation should at most slow down library purchases.
It is tempting to call it a no-brainer: the idea that attempts to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to children should be matched by initiatives to keep these mothers alive after they give birth. For all this, efforts in South Africa to prioritise the health of HIV-positive mothers have fallen short over past years.
The Durban bus driver accused of killing a toddler during a road-rage shooting incident at the weekend is due to appear in court on Wednesday. Three-year-old Luyanda Khanyile was shot in the back during an argument between the driver of the Mynah bus and her father, Cedric Khanyile.
A taxi driver from the Dolphin Coast Taxi Association was shot dead at Shakaskraal on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, South African Broadcasting Corporation news said on Monday. Meanwhile, police are mediating between two rival taxi associations at Umhlali near Stanger.
Public servants should be open and honest and not engage in corruption and ”wheeler-dealing”, Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said on Sunday. ”Tangible hope comes when elected representatives — at national, provincial and local level — and the officials who support them, are there as public servants, not to play with power and pursue self-enrichment,” he said.
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Former deputy president Jacob Zuma hoped for a speedy trial in which he was allowed to properly present his case in court, he said on Wednesday. ”The day the state has decided to prosecute me in a proper forum has finally arrived,” Zuma said. The case has been postponed until October.
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Thousands of supporters of former deputy president Jacob Zuma and protesters from the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Alliance merged outside the Durban City Hall on Wednesday. Shop owners locked their doors as a precaution and there was a large police contingent keeping watch.
The case against former deputy president Jacob Zuma was postponed to October 11 by the Durban Magistrate’s court on Wednesday. He was granted bail of R1Â 000. Zuma will not have to hand in his passport but will have to inform the prosecution every time he leaves the country.
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A night vigil will be held in Durban on Tuesday night for former deputy president Jacob Zuma. It will be supported by members of the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), the African National Congress Youth League, the South African Communist Party and others as a show of solidarity.
Bryce Easton of Kloof Country Club, a 17-year old Westville Boys High matric student, roared his way to a course record of 64 over the testing Durban Country Club Beachwood course on Sunday. Easton won the the men’s section of the second annual 36 holes SwedoCar Natal Invitation golf tournament by eight shots.
Ahead of their opening Absa Currie Cup match against the Cavaliers on Friday, the Sharks team has unearthed some exciting new talent from the ranks of clubs in KwaZulu-Natal. Coach Dick Muir said on Tuesday he was very bullish about the team after some hard preparatory work. ”We have been working very hard on our explosive power,” said Muir.
Reports of intimidation and violence related to the one-day strike by taxi owners and drivers in KwaZulu-Natal have been received from around the province, traffic officials said on Monday. Thousands of commuters were stranded in the morning as taxi drivers embarked on a protest against the government’s taxi recapitalisation programme.
South Africa and France played to a thrilling 30-30 draw in an epic first Test at King’s Park Stadium in Durban on Saturday afternoon that leaves the two-Test series up for grabs. The Boks maintained their unbeaten record against France in Durban, but only just, as the teams drew for the third time in six matches.
Unheralded Harmony Gold athlete Sipho Ngomane won the 80th running of the Comrades marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on Thursday and at 23 years old became one of the youngest champions.
Participants at the second national Aids conference that ended in Durban on Friday have hailed the event as a huge success. Professor Jerry Coovadia, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said the conference was proof that South Africa was really a democracy because of the solidarity between academics, non-governmental organisations as well as the young and old.
Blue tents with sunshine posters are starting to become a familiar sight in townships near South Africa’s major cities, inviting locals to come in for free HIV testing and counselling. A new programme is providing free, anonymous testing in poor areas on the outskirts of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
Two babies are critically ill with the Klebsiella infection that has killed 11 babies in the past two weeks, the KwaZulu-Natal health department said on Wednesday. One is at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial hospital and the other has been transferred to the Mt Edgecombe hospital.
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Durban businessman Schabir Shaik said he would resign as director and chief executive officer of his Nkobi group of companies immediately after he was sentenced to 15 years in jail for fraud and corruption in the Durban High Court on Wednesday.
Describing corruption as a ”pervasive and insidious evil”, Durban High Court Judge Hillary Squires sentenced businessman Schabir Shaik to an effective 15-year jail term for fraud and corruption on Wednesday.
South Africa’s health minister angered Aids activists on Tuesday when she told a national Aids conference that they should focus on other diseases and reiterated her view that drugs are not the only answer to fighting HIV. ”I hope you have come in such big numbers not just to focus on one ailment but to focus on all of them,” she said.
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Schabir Shaik is still waiting to hear his fate after Durban High Court Judge Hillary Squires provisionally set aside Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning for sentencing. On Tuesday, Shaik’s advocate called on the court to show ”mercy and compassion”.
Subsistence agriculture makes for a hard life, particularly in areas that are badly hit by HIV. Put farming and Aids together, add drought or disease, and you have a diabolical mixture of circumstances. This assertion has become an article of faith in many African countries, not least South Africa — said to have the highest number of HIV-positive citizens in the world.
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Deputy President Jacob Zuma must have been aware of bribes sought by Durban businessman Schabir Shaik on his behalf, High Court Judge Hillary Squires said as he convicted Shaik on two charges of corruption and one of fraud on Thursday.
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Judgment in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial in the
Durban High Court is expected to be completed by midday on Thursday. On Wednesday Judge Hillary Squires adjourned the delivery of his verdict for a second consecutive day.
Opting for an outside field on neighbouring Kings Park instead of the main ground at the Kingsmead Soccer Stadium in Durban on Wednesday, Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter was able to get into the task in hand of preparing his side for the Cape Verde World Cup qualifier on Saturday without too much interference.
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Judge Hillary Squires was preparing on Wednesday morning to deliver the last 114 pages of a 165-page judgement in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial in the Durban High Court. Squires’s secretary Margaret Parker said she was hoping the judge’s voice ”holds up”.
Reporters started gathering at the Durban High Court on Tuesday morning as security was being beefed up ahead of the judgement in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial. Judgement is expected to continue until Wednesday afternoon.