No image available
/ 17 September 2005

Tight victory for South African XI

The first Jacques Kallis benefit match ended in an exciting finish at Newlands on Friday night. Despite a century from Salman Butt and some big hitting from Lance Klusener, cool heads in the fielding team prevailed and Andrew Hall was particularly composed in a final spell of four overs.

No image available
/ 16 September 2005

Delmas typhoid outbreak claims third life

A third person has died of typhoid in Mpumalanga following an outbreak of the disease, the province’s department of health and social services said on Friday. The provincial health minister said the government is doing its utmost to stabilise the impact and prevent further outbreaks of typhoid and diarrhoea in Delmas.

No image available
/ 15 September 2005

‘Heavy hand’ behind hotel deal

The fraud trial of three former senior executives at the Eastern Cape Development Corporation has renewed widely held perceptions in the province that Premier Nosimo Balindlela’s government is attempting to purge individuals loyal to former premier Makhenkesi Stofile and provincial African National Congress deputy chairperson Enoch Godongwana.

No image available
/ 14 September 2005

United hammer Bush Bucks

Supersport United hammered the Eastern Cape outfit Bush Bucks 3-1 in a closely contested Castle Premier Soccer League match in East London on Tuesday. Bush Bucks opened the score in the 27th minute when former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder-cum-striker Simphiwe Mambo finished a loose ball in a scramble.

No image available
/ 14 September 2005

Court overturns UDM expulsions

The Cape High Court on Wednesday overturned a decision of the United Democratic Movement to expel seven of its members, including deputy leader Malizole Diko. The ruling means that two MPs and five MPLs can cross the floor before the floor-crossing period ends at midnight on Thursday evening.

No image available
/ 13 September 2005

SA declared free from bird flu

South Africa has been declared free of notifiable avian influenza, says Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza. The disease was discovered in ostriches in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape in July last year. ””This extremely serious threat to the whole poultry industry has thus been curbed,” said Didiza.

No image available
/ 9 September 2005

‘Mr Softball’ devoted his life to the game

If anyone in South Africa deserved the sobriquet ”Mr Softball”, it was Phillipus ”Phillip” Petrus Kahts, who died recently in Cape Town at the age of 62. The past 46 years of Kahts’s life were devoted to the game. Among other achievements, he successfully bid for the men’s fast-pitch Softball World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2000.

No image available
/ 9 September 2005

Bribed cops suspended at last

Six police officers implicated in taking bribes from illegal immigrants at Booysens police station, in Johannesburg, in a recent television documentary have finally been suspended — five days after Gauteng police management were alerted to the alleged corruption.

No image available
/ 7 September 2005

Women candidates needed for local elections

Political parties were on Wednesday challenged to field more female candidates as councillors for the upcoming municipal elections by chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula. ”We had about 60% of all voter registrations this weekend being women,” Tlakula said at a briefing on the outcome of the registration drive.

No image available
/ 7 September 2005

Farmers threaten armed struggle

White farmers on Wednesday threatened an armed struggle similar to that waged by the African National Congress unless their property and cultural concerns are addressed. A handful of farmers presented a memorandum to TAU South Africa president Paul van der Walt on the fringes of an agricultural union conference.

No image available
/ 5 September 2005

Scandal claims Namibian MP

Namibia’s latest financial investment scandal has claimed a Cabinet scalp. Paulus Kapia, the Deputy Minister of Works, Transport and Communication, who only a few months ago was the most favoured foot soldier of former state President Sam Nujoma, has resigned over his role in an asset management company linked to the embezzlement of a R30-million investment of the Social Security Commission.

No image available
/ 1 September 2005

Floor-crossing battles rage in court

Cape High Court judges worked overtime on Wednesday to deal with a barrage of legal action ahead of the midnight opening of the political floor-crossing window. The United Democratic Movement on Wednesday expelled six MPs and MPLs from the party, and the Independent Democrats gave the boot to its deputy leader and Gauteng MPL Themba Sono.

No image available
/ 31 August 2005

UDM kicks out six senior members

The United Democratic Movement has expelled six of its senior members, including deputy leader Malizole Diko, with immediate effect. On Tuesday, Cape High Court Judge Basheer Waglay reversed the suspensions of the six, saying the party had not followed its own constitution in suspending them.

No image available
/ 30 August 2005

Court hears floor-crossing challenges

Floor-crossing battles kept two Cape High Court judges busy for the better part of the day on Monday. At stake in two cases involving the United Democratic Movement and the Independent Democrats are two seats in the National Assembly, one in the National Council of Provinces and five in various provincial legislatures.

No image available
/ 29 August 2005

Floor-crossing challenges to keep court busy

The Cape High Court was set to be busy on Monday dealing with a wave of legal action ahead of the floor-crossing window that opens on Thursday. The court will hear argument on a bid by United Democratic Movement deputy president Malizole Diko and five other party officials to have their suspension from the party reversed.

No image available
/ 26 August 2005

Gale-force winds hits Cape Town

A 50-year-old tree tumbled across a road in Newlands, Cape Town, on Friday as gale-force winds, driving rain and bitter cold hit the city in the early hours of the morning. The Elsieskraal River flowing through Pinelands had apparently burst its banks, but there was no major flooding reported so far, said senior traffic officer Lyndon Herbert.

No image available
/ 25 August 2005

Patients bleeding hospitals dry

About R1,2-billion of public hospital fees are still outstanding from the 2004/05 financial year, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday. ”An astonishing 68% of fees billed for the 2004/05 financial year were not paid,” said DA health spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard. The DA found that only R560-million (32%) was paid.

No image available
/ 24 August 2005

Suspended UDM man ‘plans new party’

Suspended United Democratic Movement deputy president Malizole Diko plans to form a new party, according to affidavits filed this week in the Cape High Court. The documents are part of the UDM’s bundle of papers in reply to a bid by Diko and five other party officials for an interdict lifting their suspension from the party.

No image available
/ 23 August 2005

Govt names shortlist for new power generation

South Africa’s Department of Minerals and Energy on Tuesday announced that it has short-listed five parties — out of 11 applicants — for new peaking-power generation. The five applicants short-listed are the AES Consortium, the Inkanyezi Consortium, the International Power Consortium, Tata-J&J Consortium and the YTL Consortium.

No image available
/ 17 August 2005

Govt saves R400m in anti-graft blitz

The Department of Social Development’s anti-corruption campaign prevented R400-million from being stolen this year, Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya said on Wednesday. Skweyiya said to date the department and law enforcement have taken legal action against 109 officials, with more expected to face the same.