The African Christian Democratic Party has called on Christians to boycott the Comrades Marathon after the announcement that the race is to be run on a Sunday. ”You undermine the importance of family and you undermine the sanctity of the Sunday as a special day to get in touch with the Lord of lords and the King of kings,” the party’s Western Cape leader Hansie Louw said on Friday.
The world-famous Comrades Marathon will no longer be run on Youth Day, Athletics South Africa (ASA) announced on Thursday. The race will be held on Sunday June 17 next year and on Sunday June 15 the following year. In 2009, it will be held on Sunday June 14, ASA president Leonard Chuene said.
The Little Falls Christian Centre, west of Johannesburg, was awash with tears at Thursday’s memorial for the four police officers killed in a shootout with alleged robbers in Jeppestown. Deputy Minister of Safety and Security Susan Shabangu broke down as she took the podium.
Most recent robberies in Gauteng were carried out by foreigners, South African police union president Mpho Kwinika said on Thursday. He was speaking at a memorial service for four slain police offices held at the Littlefalls Christian centre in Roodepoort. ”The first invasions in Gauteng took place in 2003 on a highway in Germiston. A gang of 14 men tried to rob a cash van … eight of them were foreigners.”
Police have clammed up about the Jeppestown attack in which 12 people — including four police officials — died on Sunday. No further details about the case will be communicated until further notice, said Gauteng police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht.
Not all of the eight robbers shot dead with four policemen in a house in Jeppestown on Sunday have been identified yet, Gauteng police said on Wednesday. Police were also still considering whether to make their names public once their identities had been established, Senior-Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said.
South African Airways (SAA) on Wednesday launched a project to fight baggage pilferage and theft at Johannesburg International airport. From July 1, all baggage on SAA flights will be wrapped in plastic by an automatic machine, SAA’s chief risk officer, Vishnu Naicker, said.
The court appearance of the 11 men arrested after a bloody shoot-out with police in Jeppestown on Sunday has been brought forward to Tuesday, Gauteng police said. The men were initially scheduled to appear in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, but the date was changed around 9am on Tuesday, said police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht.
South African media group Naspers on Tuesday reported a 63% increase in its core headline earnings per ordinary N share to 696 cents for the year ended March 2006 from 427 cents for the 12 months to March 2005. Naspers declared an annual dividend per N share of 120 cents, up 71% from 70 cents previously and 24 cents from 14 cents per unlisted A ordinary share.
Alexandra, Gauteng’s "township of rhythm", is ready to jump aboard the tourism train. Efforts are being made to lure visitors into the heart of a place that was once ruled by gangsters and considered strictly off-limits to anybody with a hint of common sense. But times have changed.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has extended its heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the four members of the South African Police Service who died in a confrontation with armed criminals in Jeppestown on Sunday.
The four police officers killed in Sunday’s bloody clash in Jeppestown in Johannesburg have been identified, while Gauteng’s provincial minister for community safety warned that criminals are mounting a guerrilla war. Captain Dennis Adriao said on Monday the police officers died when the West Rand flying squad and dog unit ”heroically” chased down the heavily armed fugitives.
A shootout in Jeppestown, Johannesburg, on Sunday ended in what was described as a bloodbath with four police officers and eight suspects killed. An emotional Gauteng provincial Commissioner Perumal Naidoo told reporters at the scene that ”four policemen had lost their lives in the line of duty”.
Heavy snowfalls are likely over the north-eastern parts of the Eastern Cape on Thursday, the South African Weather Service said. Forecaster Deon van der Mescht said very cold and wet conditions were expected in Aliwal North, Queenstown and Molteno. Snowfalls would then move to the Drakensberg.
A Gauteng man has spent more than R42 000 to propose to his ”angel” Anita in a full-page newspaper advert on Thursday. On bended knee in the Afrikaans daily Beeld, looking imploringly into the camera and clutching more than 25 red roses, the man asks: ”Anita, my angel, will you marry me?”
The justice system is seen as unfair to people laying a charge of rape, a survey has found. This perception was strongest in the coloured community, with black people the least critical, said Research Surveys, which conducted the study as part of ongoing research into social and political issues. It was also a belief held mainly by women, but not markedly so, the survey found.
East Rand police are closing in on a gang of 12 to 15 striking security guards believed to be responsible for the deaths of 25 of their non-striking colleagues in Gauteng since the end of March. Two of the alleged ringleaders have already been arrested, said Detective Inspector Gerry van der Merwe.
South Africa celebrated World Refugee Day on Tuesday by promising to fast-track its backlog of 100Â 000 asylum applications. The Department of Home Affairs launched four refugee-reception offices around the country to process the applications dating from 1994 to July last year.
Gas supply in the Gauteng area is expected to return to normal over the next few days after a series of mishaps that has throttled supply since the onset of an early winter in May. Afrox, the market leader in bottled gas, says it has supplied an additional 50 000 9kg bottles to alleviate the shortage.
The body of another murdered security guard was found hanging from a tree in Springs on Monday, Gauteng police said. ”He was found hanging from a tree, he had a wound possibly caused by a sharp object on his head and his legs had been tied up,” Superintendent Andy Pieke said.
Support for a third term for President Thabo Mbeki has not cost South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) leader Mlungisi Hlongwane his job. National executive committee member Donovan Williams said a Business Day article reporting that Hlongwane and deputy general secretary Master Mahlobogoane had been suspended was wrong.
Support for a third term for President Thabo Mbeki has cost South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) leader Mlungisi Hlongwane his job, media reports said on Monday. Hlongwane was suspended as president after his calls for a third term for Mbeki as head of state.
One day prior to June 16 the pupils of Inkwenkwezi Primary School in Soweto gather in the assembly area. They are asked to think about the day thirty years ago when police opened fire on schoolchildren protesting in the streets of the township. The headmaster of Inkwenkwezi tells how, back in 1976, young people decided they had put up with racism and repression for long enough.
President Thabo Mbeki laid wreaths at the Hector Pieterson memorial site in Soweto on Friday as part of the 30th anniversary of the June 16 1976 student uprisings. Mbeki was accompanied by Minister in the Presidency Dr Essop Pahad, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa and Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo.
Gauteng police on Wednesday nabbed 600 people linked to rape, murder, hijacking and robbery cases. ”At least 43 suspects can be linked to outstanding rape cases and 10 hijackings. The rest were arrested for crimes such as murder, armed robbery, drug dealing and other crimes,” said Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht on Thursday.
Gauteng local governments are owed R17-billion for unpaid services, provincial minister Qedani Mahlangu said on Thursday. Mahlangu said, while delivering her budget speech in Johannesburg, that the debt, which was incurred due to unpaid services, was hampering service delivery in the province.
Former businessman and politician Themba James Maseko is the new head of government communications, Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad announced on Wednesday afternoon. Maseko, a former African National Congress MP, becomes CEO of the Government Communication and Information Systems, which makes him spokesperson for the government.
The Vereeniging laundry murder case will soon be re-enrolled at court, Gauteng minister of community safety Firoz Cachalia said on Friday. ”The police have assured me that the matters of concern raised by the magistrate are being dealt with and that the case will soon be re-enrolled at court,” Cachalia said during his budget speech.
The role of the South African government in the covert "rendition" of Khalid Mehmood Rashid is an affront to the foundational values of our democracy. The Constitution was written with the ghosts of those who had suffered arbitrary detention, torture or disappearance watching over its drafters with the expectation that never again would such abuses be allowed.
Denying reports of a change in its position on the Gautrain, the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) provincial branch on Tuesday maintained its opposition to the high-speed rail link. The Gauteng branch of the tripartite alliance had urged the provincial government to talk to Cosatu about the federation’s concerns, said Cosatu Gauteng chairperson Phutas Tseki.
Gauteng’s budget for HIV and Aids was increased by 47,8% to R515,4-million for the coming financial year, provincial minister of health Brian Hlongwa said on Monday. ”This confirms our unwavering commitment to ensure that we bring this epidemic under control,” he said.
The Council of Education Ministers has approved measures to beef up security at public schools, and the department will identify ”problem schools” needing immediate attention, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor announced on Monday. These are aimed at schools around the country.