No image available
/ 16 January 2007
The restructuring of the country’s police management system has left some officers in the dark on where to report for duty next week, media reports said on Tuesday. Although some officers in the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal had to start working at their new offices by Monday, not all of them had been informed yet.
No image available
/ 15 January 2007
An incident where President Thabo Mbeki was heckled while speaking at the reburial of former African National Congress (ANC) stalwart Moses Mabhida is still being investigated, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said on Monday. ANC provincial secretary Senzo Mchunu said the party had hoped investigations into the incident would be have been completed by now.
No image available
/ 14 January 2007
The Titans took a huge step to retaining their Supersport Series title — which they shared last season with the Dolphins — when they beat the Highveld Lions by seven wickets in their match at Sedgars Park on Saturday. In Durban, the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins were staring down the barrel of an innings defeat against the Diamond Eagles.
No image available
/ 11 January 2007
The murder of a farm manager by a mob of illegal squatters near Melmoth in KwaZulu-Natal and the role of the provincial department of land affairs in the dispute are to be raised in Parliament when it reconvenes next month. The manager was clubbed to death following a meeting with squatters on the farm he managed.
No image available
/ 11 January 2007
During December, when South Africans seem determined to be merry or drown their sorrows with the help of alcohol, more than 1 000 intoxicated drivers were arrested throughout the country. In KwaZulu-Natal, 673 people were caught for drunken driving from December 1 to January 10.
Shebeens near schools are a source of school violence and an access to drugs and alcohol for minors, the Young Communist League of South Africa said on Tuesday. The league was announcing at a Johannesburg press conference the launch of its Joe Slovo ”Right to Learn” campaign, which will run from Thursday until the end of January.
Convicted Durban businessman Schabir Shaik will not be seeking a medical pardon, his brother Yunis Shaik said in a statement on Tuesday. This comes in the wake of a statement by the former KwaZulu-Natal chairperson of the South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights, Derrick Mdluli.
There was no Christmas pudding on the menu for Survivor South Africa presenter Mark Bayly and contestant Sam Allerton, who spent the festive season training hard for a new and gruelling challenge. On January 18 they will be teaming up with Doug Bird in a three-man kayak for the Hansa Powerade Dusi.
It might have been the sight of a disorganised, relegation-threatened Maritzburg United plummeting to a 3-0 defeat against Wits University on Saturday that finally sent Steve Komphela scurrying back to Amaglug-glug with his tail between his legs on Monday — abandoning plans to coach the KwaZulu-Natal Premier League club in the process.
Calls for convicted Durban businessman Schabir Shaik to be released on medical grounds were on Monday labelled as ”baseless, absurd, silly, nonsensical and somehow opportunistic” by the South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights. Shaik was reported to have suffered a mild stroke shortly after he was admitted to St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban.
Businessman Tokyo Sexwale has been approached by senior Cabinet ministers to run for the position of African National Congress president later this year, a move which would pave the way for him to become the president of South Africa when Thabo Mbeki retires in 2009, the Sunday Times reported.
He could not do it for almost a year while with Orlando Pirates, but Phumudzo Menenzhe scored the crucial opening goal that paved the way for Wits University’s 3-0 Premier League win over Maritzburg United only minutes after coming onto the field at Bidvest Stadium as a second-half substitute on Saturday afternoon.
An independent report into the cause of a bus accident near Pietermaritzburg the day before Christmas, which claimed 12 lives, has confirmed that the accident was as a result of a tyre blow-out and that the bus was roadworthy, bus company SA Roadlink said on Friday.
A vehicle-testing station owner has appeared in the King William’s Town Magistrate’s Court for allegedly trying to bribe an Eastern Cape transport official, the provincial transport department said on Thursday. Johannesburg businessman Haron Bhika appeared in court on Tuesday charged with corruption, said Eastern Cape traffic control deputy director Mqondisi Kulati.
A man was arrested in Phoenix on Wednesday morning for holding his own child hostage, KwaZulu-Natal police said. Superintendent Muzi Mngomezulu said police had accompanied the mother to serve a court interdict for the custody of the five-year-old child.
The festive-season death toll on South Africa’s roads has dropped despite an increase in the number of cars and drivers, the Department of Transport said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Ntau Letebele said 1Â 366 people had died in 1Â 168 crashes over the December 2006 period — a drop from 1Â 454 deaths in 2005.
Pupils from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls will be sent for HIV/Aids testing with their parents’ consent, said Oprah Winfrey at the opening of the school at Henley-on-Klip, Meyerton, on Tuesday. The school for girls from disadvantaged backgrounds was officially opened by Winfrey at a star-studded event.
No image available
/ 31 December 2006
South Africans must use the resources and experience accumulated in 2006 to ensure a better life for every South African in 2007, President Thabo Mbeki said in his new year message on Sunday. ”We must be able to show practically that we have succeeded to realise the hopes of even more of our citizens than we have in 2006.”
No image available
/ 30 December 2006
A total of 1 277 people have died in 1 104 traffic accidents since December 1, the Department of Transport said on Friday. Spokesperson Collen Msibi said that while this was a slight decrease compared to 1 372 deaths in the same period last year, the department was concerned about the increase of fatal crashes involving pedestrians.
No image available
/ 25 December 2006
The driver of a bus in which 12 people, including three children, died and 34 were injured in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday was caught driving with his blood alcohol level seven times over the legal limit last year, it has emerged. Police said the driver lost control of the vehicle and it overturned, slamming into pillars under a bridge on the N3.
No image available
/ 23 December 2006
It could not have been better for all involved. That was the general consensus at the Northwood-Crusaders cricket ground on Friday where the touring India cricket side began a two-day friendly practice match against a KwaZulu-Natal Invitation XI. On a hot and humid day, the atmosphere was outstanding.
No image available
/ 23 December 2006
There is an ineluctable rule of politics in developing democratic states: ruling liberation parties tend to grow in influence from election to election and the opposition declines. It holds true for South Africa’s ruling African National Congress — and for the current bleak picture for the opposition.
No image available
/ 23 December 2006
Two police officers were among people arrested for drunken driving in the presence of Transport Minister Jeff Radebe in separate roadblocks on the N3 in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday, the provincial traffic department said. By Friday, the death toll on South Africa’s roads stood at 907, down from last year’s 1 024 for the same period.
No image available
/ 21 December 2006
How does one begin to capture the face of South African football in 2006? While the unfolding story of the 2010 Soccer World Cup has tended to dominate the news, the enduring shortcomings of the domestic game — football authorities’ inability to create viable support structures — continue to blight some of its well-intentioned initiatives.
No image available
/ 18 December 2006
The glue that has kept South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) together ”is fast becoming unstuck”, says Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi in his online letter on Monday. ”This may not be a bad thing for democracy — or for the ruling-party,” said Buthelezi.
No image available
/ 17 December 2006
Two South African families who immigrated to New Zealand lost three of their children in a freak landslide as they played in a river at a popular picnic spot, it was reported on Sunday. The parents watched helplessly on Friday evening as the children were hit by tonnes of rock in the Pohangina River, near Palmerston North.
No image available
/ 12 December 2006
South Africa’s Big Four was reduced to Retief Goosen, Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman after the anticipated withdrawal of two-time champion Tim Clark ahead of the 2007 South African Airways (SAA) Open Championship at Humewood. Clark sustained a minor injury to his neck during the Nelson Mandela Invitational.
No image available
/ 12 December 2006
Three people, including a three-month-old baby, have died and more than 700 have been left homeless after severe flooding in KwaZulu-Natal, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Monday. Two people drowned after the Bhanya River burst its banks at Bhekuzulu township in Vryheid, the SABC said.
No image available
/ 11 December 2006
Leading figures in Durban and KwaZulu-Natal were doing their best on Monday to limit damage to the city’s image following the rape of a French swimming official. As Durban’s mayor Obed Mlaba staged a walkabout on the city’s beach promenade on Monday morning, local newspaper posters told of the French woman’s ordeal.
No image available
/ 7 December 2006
The Department of Education must give teachers detailed salary advice so they know what money is owed to them and what the money is for, the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa said on Thursday. However, the department slammed unions for ”misinformed and inflammatory” remarks.
No image available
/ 7 December 2006
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) was the big winner in the last round of by-elections to take place this year, claiming all but one of the 12 wards contested in results. The municipal by-elections on Wednesday were marked by low voter turnouts, with an 11% turnout at ward three in Mbolela (Nelspruit).
No image available
/ 7 December 2006
The South African Cabinet has condemned the unruly behaviour by a section of the crowd who interrupted President Thabo Mbeki’s speech at the weekend re-burial of struggle veteran Moses Mabhida in Pietermaritzburg. Government communications head Themba Maseko said the meeting took note of the Pietermaritzburg incident.