Former African National Congress chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe could face jail for failing to appear in court for a maintenance hearing, media reports said on Sunday. Justice Ministry spokesperson Lazarus Mothupi said neither Goniwe nor his lawyer had informed the court of his absence. A warrant of arrest was issued.
Six people were stabbed to death during initiation ceremonies over the weekend, Eastern Cape police said on Monday. Captain Jackson Manatha said the initiates were stabbed by people while attending three different ceremonies. Five people were arrested in connection with the incidents.
Three Cabinet ministers and two deputies were nominated for the central committee of the South African Communist Party (SACP) at the party’s 12th national congress on Saturday. Meanwhile, ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma told the congress that the ”revolution is going through a test”.
The main beneficiaries of economic transformation are white capitalists who remain the ”induna [chief]” while the black middle class holds jobs in human resources, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told the national congress of the South African Communist Party on Saturday.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) elected new office bearers at its national congress in Port Elizabeth on Friday, media reports said. The party re-elected Blade Nzimande as its general secretary, and Jeremy Cronin remains his deputy. Former National Union of Mineworkers boss Gwede Mantashe was elected national chairperson.
Danny Jordaan, CEO of the 2010 Soccer World Cup local organising committee, on Friday returned to his home town of Port Elizabeth to switch on the First National Bank (FNB) World Cup countdown clock. This demonstrates that things are really ”hotting up” in the friendly city as it prepares to host some of the games in three years’ time.
Hundreds of newborns are reportedly dying every year at Frere Hospital’s overburdened maternity section in East London — many because of negligence, a media report said on Thursday. The situation is so bad that a cleaner delivered a baby in front of shocked students, it said.
<i>Mail & Guardian</i> writers look at the best of the real-life dramas on show at this year’s Encounters South African Documentary Festival.
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) left no doubt on Friday about its opposition to the notion of ”two centres of power”. ”We remained steadfast that there cannot be two centres of power, because that would be disastrous for our country,” president Fikile Mbalula said in a statement.
Two youths were killed in Limpopo on Friday after they were circumcised — bringing the number of circumcision deaths to at least 17 in four provinces in the last five weeks. At least 12 deaths were reported in the Eastern Cape, three in Limpopo and one each in Gauteng and North West since the winter ”circumcision season” started.
The ANC government’s sound economic policies have put South Africa on a good footing to address the backlogs of the past. For the past decade the government has implemented tight monetary and fiscal policies. It has been very painful but, in the long term, all South Africans will realise that it was the right thing to do.
A two-year-old who got lost on a farm near Jansenville in the Eastern Cape survived a night alone in the snow and rain, police said on Wednesday. Ronaldo Spogter toddled along behind his deaf grandfather, who was unaware of him, climbed over two barbed-wire fences and spent a mid-winter night outside.
Education Minister Naledi Pandor and leaders of teachers’ unions will meet on Tuesday to discuss an education recovery plan designed to help pupils catch up on the 10 days of schooling missed during the recent public-sector strike. Also expected to be discussed is a review of the results of the interrupted June examinations.
Six more youths have lost their penises as a result of bungled circumcisions in the Eastern Cape, the provincial health department said on Monday. Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said 18 would-be initiates were admitted to hospital in Port St Johns last week, of whom four had to have their septic penises amputated.
Seven prisoners regarded as ”dangerous” escaped from a holding cell at an Eastern Cape police station on Saturday. A police spokesperson said the seven, arrested for crimes including murder and armed robbery, overpowered a police officer, grabbed the keys to the holding cell and locked him inside at the central police station in Mthatha.
There had been no ”bitter conflict” at the African National Congress’s (ANC) policy conference this week, party president Thabo Mbeki said in his closing address on Saturday. He told the 1Â 500 delegates at Gallagher Estate in Midrand that the meeting had been highly successful.
Grahamstown’s arts festival is the most varied in the country, but still lacks diversity, writes Brent Meersman.
”Very cold” conditions were expected to persist over some parts of the country, the South African Weather Service warned on Thursday. The Eastern Cape, eastern Free State, Lesotho, western KwaZulu-Natal and Highveld areas of Gauteng and Mpumalanga would be affected, according to the service’s website.
Freezing weather and snowfalls in parts of South Africa have seen the death of a homeless man in Johannesburg, the delay of airline flights and the closure of mountain passes. Snowfalls left more than 300 bus passengers and 20 truck drivers trapped between Harding and Kokstad in KwaZulu-Natal.
Johannesburg’s first real snowfall in more than 20 years and the freezing temperatures that accompanied it claimed at least one life on Wednesday morning. Motorists were warned to avoid all passes in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday due to snowfalls, the South African Weather Service said.
President Thabo Mbeki is to deliver the opening address at the African National Congress’s policy conference in a bitterly cold Midrand, Gauteng, where delegates started arriving on Wednesday morning. The conference takes place against intense behind-the-scenes jockeying over the leadership of the party, and coincides with a bitter public-service strike.
Many residents of Gauteng woke up on Wednesday morning to a layer of snow turning lawns, rooftops and cars white, while the South African Weather Service predicted a freezing day with temperatures staying below eight degrees Celsius in Johannesburg. A number of roads in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were closed to motorists due to snow on Wednesday morning.
The African National Congress’s (ANC) policy conference, which will play a key role in deciding whether President Thabo Mbeki leads the party for a third term, gets under way in Midrand on Wednesday. About 1 500 delegates are expected at the four-day meeting at Gallagher Estate.
Severe cold and more snow is to hit large parts of the country later on Tuesday and Wednesday, the South African Weather Service has warned. It said temperatures will drop as low as minus nine degrees Celsius in places such as Sutherland in the Northern Cape. The town was blanketed in snow on Monday.
A fire that destroyed hundreds of hectares of forest in and around the Tsitsikamma National Park in the Eastern Cape has finally been brought under control, South African National Parks (SANParks) said on Tuesday. A SANParks spokesperson said he was not sure about the extent of the damage caused by the raging fire.
Severe cold is to hit large parts of the country later on Tuesday and Wednesday, the South African Weather Service has warned. It said temperatures would drop as low as minus nine degrees Celsius in places such as Sutherland in the Northern Cape. The town was blanketed in snow on Monday.
A national warning was issued by the South African Weather Service on Monday morning with regards to a strong cold front affecting the country this week. Already prevalent in the south-western Cape, the cold, windy conditions are expected to sweep across the central interior of the country on Tuesday.
The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has decided to downgrade the city’s Soccer World Cup stadium because the Eastern Cape government has not paid the R212-million it previously committed to the project, a media report said on Monday. However, the provincial government said it remains committed to the development.
An initiation-school surgeon was arrested following the death of two initiates in Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape, the health department said on Sunday. Meanwhile, in Gauteng, a 15-year-old boy was found dead by fellow circumcision initiates at a mountain between De Deur and Orange Farm on Sunday morning.
Gauteng residents should brace themselves for a strong cold front and isolated showers accompanied by wind in the coming week, the National Forecast Centre said on Sunday. Forecasters said the chilly weather should be expected in the middle of the week, with chances of light isolated showers on Tuesday.
Three under-aged boys have died after their penises were severely mutilated during separate initiation ceremonies in Port St Johns and Potchefstroom on Saturday, the Health Department said. In the Port St Johns incident, the illegal initiation school was run by a 17-year-old boy.
Two boys have been rescued from a Transkei initiation school after a so-called traditional surgeon cut off the ends of their penises, the Eastern Cape health department said on Friday. Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the boys, plus a third youth, were found at the village of Swazini near Port St Johns.