Durban

A key member of the South African Broadcasting Corporation board personally arranged for the placing of an advertisement for the African National Congress on SABC radio — using his own company to do the booking and earning an agency commission.

South Africa could teach newly democratic countries in Europe a thing or two about the Constitution making progress, although the Europeans are arguably more adept at stimulating economic development, says ambassador Michael Lake, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in South Africa.

Judge President of the Cape, Justice John Hlophe, says the continued use of English and Afrikaans in South African courts is hampering the transformation of justice. The judge said about 90% of cases heard in the lower courts involved indigenous language speakers.

President Thabo Mbeki said on Saturday that the key to fighting poverty and creating jobs was the participation of all South Africans in the process. Launching the election manifesto of the African National Congress (ANC) at Durban City Hall on Saturday night, Mbeki said the document was about attending to the unskilled workers.

Two men believed to be involved in an international human organ trafficking network were arrested in Durban on Wednesday. Spokesperson Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said the men, both of Israeli descent, were in custody following their arrest.

Battles in the African National Congress are typically fought underground. They smoulder along the seams of the party, occasionally showing above the surface in seemingly isolated outbursts from the party’s more incendiary factions, like the ANC Youth League or Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein dismissed on Friday a businessman’s attempt to evade debt repayment through claiming an illegal name change by his bank. The Appeal judge found the argument ‘superficially attractive’, but not surviving ‘the test of the facts or the law’.

The involvement of local communities in the management of protected areas has found expression on Wednesday in the ratification of the Durban Accord at the World Parks Congress — but a conservationist has said it is an example of ”false beliefs and common mistakes rife in conservation”.

The international community needs to provide financial and technical help for Africa’s protected areas, the World Parks Congress has recommended. It says one of the most important environmental challenges facing the continent is the need to reconcile development needs with management of its natural resources.

The failure of some governments to regulate the activities of their fishing fleets in international waters means new ways must be found to manage and protect the biological diversity of the high seas, a coalition of marine participants said on Tuesday at the fifth World Parks Congress in Durban.

An agreement aimed at strengthening the protection of the world’s thousands of migratory species has been signed by the World Conservation Union and the Convention on Migratory Species at the World Parks Congress in Durban. These species include South Africa’s elephant population.

The government is hoping the introduction of a ”tax break” into draft property-rating legislation will increase the area of land under conservation in South Africa, journalists at the fifth World Parks Congress in Durban heard on Tuesday.