No image available
/ 18 February 2008
An Eastern Cape gardener accused of raping an 11-year-old girl was sentenced to 54 months’ imprisonment by a Grahamstown High Court judge on Monday after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of statutory rape. The state initially charged Khulile Ntshabase (24) with raping the girl at a house in Hogsback on August 4 last year.
No image available
/ 15 February 2008
Author Jonny Steinberg’s <i>Three-Letter Plague</i> has attracted serious critical and retail attention in the US, writes Charlotte Bauer.
No image available
/ 14 February 2008
The power situation has eased somewhat over the past few days and there has been no load-shedding since February 4, Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga told reporters on Thursday in Sunninghill, near Johannesburg. Maroga was announcing measures to be taken by Eskom to resolve the country’s electricity crisis.
No image available
/ 12 February 2008
A man trying to outrun police in a stolen tractor was arrested in the Eastern Cape early on Tuesday. East London police spokesperson Superintendent Mtati Tana said police were told the tractor had been stolen from a farm in the Blue Water area outside East London at about 4am.
No image available
/ 12 February 2008
Former mineworkers on Tuesday listened during the resumption of former miner Thembekile Mankayi’s bid to secure R2,6-million from AngloGold Ashanti after he contracted silicosis. One of the group, Willie Fuledi, said he hoped the court would make a ruling for other mineworkers seeking a payout for the disease.
No image available
/ 8 February 2008
Parts of the Eastern Cape are experiencing an outbreak of African horse sickness, which led to the death of 11 horses in the past six weeks, said the province’s department of agriculture on Friday. ”Fifteen cases have been reported to state veterinarians over the past six weeks alone, mainly in the Ndlambe (Port Alfred) and Makana (Grahamstown) areas.
No image available
/ 7 February 2008
While it was designed to cut costs and reduce bureaucracy, a new video-conference facility launched in Parliament on Thursday gave MPs the chance to see what their colleagues in the provinces look like. National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete hoped the project would one day link the government to rural areas.
No image available
/ 5 February 2008
The African National Congress in the Eastern Cape was awaiting details on Tuesday regarding a brawl at a branch meeting which apparently landed some people in hospital. It was reported that a number of ANC members in Alice had sustained injuries after the meeting ended in an exchange of blows on Sunday afternoon.
No image available
/ 5 February 2008
A number of African National Congress (ANC) members at Alice in the Eastern Cape have sustained injuries after a branch meeting ended in an exchange of blows, it was reported on Monday. Reports said a group of party supporters arrived at Khayalethu village during the registration process for an AGM and called for its dissolution.
No image available
/ 4 February 2008
African National Congress (ANC) leaders who supported President Thabo Mbeki in the build-up to the party’s elective conference in Polokwane will not be victimised, the party’s newly elected leadership said on Monday. The ANC said fears that there would be a purge were baseless as the party had no intention to change its traditions.
No image available
/ 4 February 2008
The African National Congress was not aware of any imminent visit to its Johannesburg headquarters by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool, a spokesperson said on Monday. Rasool’s spokesperson Shado Twala also said she did know about the reported visit.
No image available
/ 3 February 2008
Fear now stalks the corridors of African National Congress (ANC) power as the party’s new president, Jacob Zuma, asserts his authority in Parliament, the provinces and the party structures, the Sunday Times reported. ANC MPs made their anxiety known in a closed meeting of the ANC’s parliamentary caucus on Thursday.
No image available
/ 2 February 2008
An Eastern Cape police captain charged with the possession of stolen goods was released on bail by the Qumbu Magistrate’s Court on Saturday. The charges relate to the possession of unlicensed firearms, ammunition, stolen vehicles and stock cards, as well as defeating the ends of justice.
No image available
/ 31 January 2008
An Eastern Cape man accused of three counts of rape and two of attempted rape is to be referred to a doctor specialising in erectile dysfunction. Mcebesi Noji (28) of Nkululeko, Barkly East, has pleaded not guilty to the five charges before judge Elna Revelas.
No image available
/ 27 January 2008
A guard in a surgical mask patrols a wire fence designed to keep dozens of patients with a lethal form of tuberculosis at Cape Town’s Brooklyn Chest hospital isolated from the rest of the world. Sufferers of extreme drug resistant tuberculosis, a near untreatable strain, battle boredom, depression and the side-effects of a daily palmful of pills.
No image available
/ 26 January 2008
Residents of the impoverished Skielik community on Saturday buried three loved ones who were gunned down last week, allegedly by 18-year-old Johan Nel. Enoch Tshepo Motshelanoka (10), three-month-old Keditlhotse Elizabeth Moiphitlhi and her 31-year-old mother, Anna, were buried at the Swartruggens cemetery.
No image available
/ 26 January 2008
Racism was still a key issue in South Africa, political party representatives said as they addressed a gathering at Saturday’s funeral of the murdered Skielik victims. Congress of South African Trade Unions secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said alleged killer, Johan Nel (18) had ”no regard for human life”.
No image available
/ 26 January 2008
Mourners streamed to marquees set up on a patch of land next to the highway past the informal settlement of Skielik on Saturday to bury three people killed there by a lone gunman last Monday. There was a heavy police presence at the marquees, where women stirred pots of food in readiness for the funerals.
No image available
/ 25 January 2008
The Nigerian method of low-budget movie-making is set to take off in South Africa if an upcoming producer has his way, writes Percy Zvomuya.
No image available
/ 23 January 2008
John Gomomo, a former president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions has died, the federation said. Gomomo (62) was — at the time of his death — an African National Congress MP and the chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on public service and administration.
No image available
/ 18 January 2008
The Spier Poetry Exchange with a Dutch writers’ network promises a celebratory discovery of new voices, writes Brent Meersman.
No image available
/ 17 January 2008
If the South African Reserve Bank needs further evidence of the dampening effect of higher rates on real economic activity, recent building data has been just that, according to independent economic analysts. A major challenge facing the government is also the extreme escalation in building costs.
No image available
/ 17 January 2008
Health authorities on Wednesday reported the first known cases of virtually untreatable tuberculosis in Botswana. The Health Ministry said there were two cases of so-called extremely drug resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB, as well as 100 cases of the slightly more manageable multidrug-resistant TB, or MDR-TB.
No image available
/ 11 January 2008
The infrastructure of the Transkei is collapsing, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa has told President Thabo Mbeki in an open letter. ”When Transkeians supported change … they had a legitimate expectation that misery will, for the first time, be a thing of the past,” he said in the letter.
No image available
/ 10 January 2008
Three National Lottery winners in November and December have still not claimed their prizes, new operator Gidani said on Thursday. Since the return of the National Lottery in October last year, 15 millionaires have been made and a total of R222-million has been paid out to charity organisations.
A Port Elizabeth magistrate’s order that a woman with 203 previous convictions of fraud and one of theft be publicly shamed with a placard around her neck proclaiming her guilt and apologising to her victims has been set aside by the Grahamstown High Court as unconstitutional.
The number of fatalities on South African roads over the festive season decreased by 13,26%, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Tuesday. He was releasing the Arrive Alive campaign’s figures for the holiday season from December 1 to January 6. The number of people killed on the roads had declined to 1Â 419.
A 29-year-old man was arrested after two Somalis were found burnt to death in their shop at Duncan Village in East London, Eastern Cape police said on Monday. Spokesperson Captain Stephen Marais said the deceased, Said Khalif (17) and Badal Shiek Mohamed (26), were confronted by four men who took money and household goods before killing them on Sunday.
A determined search by internet-coordinated volunteers on Saturday found the body of pilot Dirk Boosyen 11 days after he went missing in the Bavianskloof region of the Eastern Cape, police said on Sunday. ”They discovered the burnt-out wreck at about 6pm [on Saturday] in the Matjiesfontien farm in the Baviaanskloof area on the peaks of the mountain,” said Captain John Fobian.
The recent spate of light-aircraft accidents was largely a result of human error and negligence, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Friday. ”It’s not the machine that is a problem — it’s the human; the pilot, the maintenance engineer …” said the CAA’s executive manager of air-safety investigations, Gilbert Thwala.
No image available
/ 31 December 2007
Rescue services were on Monday still searching for the missing Cessna 210 light aircraft, six days after it disappeared in the Baviaanskloof area of the Eastern Cape, authorities said. ”There is still no success but we are following up new leads and will continue searching again today [Monday],” said South African Search and Rescue Organisation head Charles Norval.
No image available
/ 30 December 2007
An Eastern Cape woman who burnt her daughter with hot water after disappointing matric results has been arrested, Port Elizabeth police said on Sunday. Captain Verna Brink said the woman was in police custody and due to appear in the Gelvandale Magistrate’s Court on Monday.