Two accused in the Boeremag treason trial, Herman van Rooyen (33) and Rudi Gouws (28), both from Bela Bela in Limpopo, went missing on Wednesday afternoon, police said. ”We have launched a massive search to track down these two,” national police spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will discuss the violence-prone security guards’ strike, including the disruption of May Day activities in Cape Town, at a central executive meeting on Wednesday. ”There is no place for violence,” said Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu’s Western Cape secretary.
The economic vision of the formerly ruling Inkatha Freedom Party in the KwaZulu homeland is being played out even today in KwaZulu-Natal, former premier Lionel Mtshali said on Tuesday. He also said the institutions set up in the former non-independent homeland are still providing key financial and banking services to the poor.
The nine provinces spent on average 98% or R214,8-billion of their adjusted budgets of R219,2-billion in 2005/06, the National Treasury said on Tuesday. This was a significant spending increase year-on-year of 13,5% or R25,5-billion over the audited R189,2-billion spent in 2004/05.
The ”arrogance” displayed by security-industry employers in their stalemate with striking workers is a cause of concern, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the South African Trade and Allied Workers’ Union said it will continue striking until its demands are met.
About 500 striking security guards were arrested in Durban on Friday after they ransacked the Department of Labour’s offices, KwaZulu-Natal police said. ”They invaded the building and caused damage to property, furniture, motor vehicles and computers,” Inspector Michael Read said.
”Is soccer part of African culture? This is a question I often pose to my students, and I found myself thinking about it again upon reading John Matshikiza’s silly piece about David Livingstone (”Shoot the messenger”, April 21)”, writes Steve de Gruchy, professor of theology and development at the school of religion and theology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
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The state pulled out all the stops on Wednesday to prove that Jacob Zuma raped an HIV-positive woman, saying his version of events was ”laughable” and ”fanciful”. Prosecutor Charin de Beer described Zuma’s details of November 2 last year as ”recent fabrication” to enhance his claim of consensual sex.
The trial court of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik had not properly considered the powers and duties of former deputy president Jacob Zuma covering the period Shaik stood trial, his defence contends. This was in relation to the corruption charge involving a ”generally corrupt relationship” with Zuma.
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There was no doubt efforts were made to persuade Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser to drop the charge, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Wednesday. ”There is little doubt [KwaZulu-Natal finance minister Zweli] Mkhize tried to broker a settlement,” state prosecutor Charin de Beer told the court.
The union representing striking security guards and their employers need to resolve their wage dispute without the Minister of Labour’s intervention, he said on Tuesday. Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said that both parties — and not himself — held the key to an amicable solution, he said in a statement sent from Cairo, where he was attending a labour summit.
One in 10 people who take anti-retrovirals will experience difficulties with the medication or their bodies will reject it completely. This was heard in Cape Town on Tuesday at Microbicides 2006, the first international conference held in Africa into research into gels that could prevent HIV transmission in women.
A hiatus in South Africa’s biodiversity legislation, dealing with a proposed national electronic permit system, is inadvertently aiding a run by traffickers on the country’s endangered wildlife. According to Traffic, the world’s largest wildlife trade monitoring organisation, global wildlife trade was huge, with an annual turnover estimated at billions of dollars.
The Falcons would have come away from this weekend’s Vodacom Cup action full of self-belief as they charge towards a place in the final of the competition. With the Blue Bulls beaten by the Lions and the Falcons beating the Leopards, it looks likely that the men from the East Rand will join the Wildebeest in this year’s final on May 20.
About 59 buses were set alight at a bus depot in Umlazi, south of Durban, at about 3.30am on Sunday, KwaZulu-Natal police said. ”The damage is estimated to [be] far over R20-million,” said spokesperson Captain Vincent Ndunge. About 155 buses were on the site.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in KwaZulu-Natal has welcomed back its three members who had defected to the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco). Provincial chairperson Mtomuhle Khawula said the IFP is happy and excited to have its members return ”home”.
For the first time in 10 years it was a different face that topped the podium after the men’s 200m breaststroke at the Telkom South African National Championships in Durban on Friday night. In the absence of Terence Parkin, William Diering took the 200m breaststroke gold.
A total of 179 schools identified two years ago as having pupils who were taught under trees have been given proper classrooms, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said in Pretoria on Friday. Pandor was speaking after a joint ministerial meeting between the departments of public works and education.
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon has castigated the government for refusing to acknowledge the reality of crime and not doing enough to address the issue. President Thabo Mbeki and senior leaders of the African National Congress do not understand because they are almost completely insulated from crime, he said on Friday.
Telkom cables in the Germiston area on the East Rand were cut early on Friday, leading to network congestion, the company said. Three cables were damaged between the Germiston and New Doornfontein. ADSL users were also encountering a slow network, said Telkom spokesperson Lulu Letlape.
South Africa has seen a ”phenomenal increase” in the number of asylum seekers in the past few years, the Department of Home Affairs said on Thursday. Although there are only 29 000 people with refugee status living in the country, there are 103 410 outstanding asylum applications.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) congratulated its members and allies on Thursday for what it called a ”magnificent demonstration” in support of the people of Swaziland. The message came after seven people were injured and 25 arrested for allegedly contravening the Public Gatherings Act at border posts with Swaziland on Wednesday.
Building a paper airplane and thrusting it into the air is probably something everyone has done before. But for three South African aspiring pilots, their featherweight gliders have landed them a position to compete in the first international Red Bull Paper Wings competition in Salzburg, Austria in May this year. South Africa will join 48 countries in the first-ever paper-plane competition.
The South African police’s Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) has opened an attempted murder investigation after protesters were shot at during a pro-democracy picket at Swazi border posts. Seven people were injured and 25 arrested in the protests commemorating Swazi King Sobhuza II’s institution 33 years ago of an ongoing state of emergency.
Protesters were shot at with rubber bullets and arrested at South Africa’s Matsamo border with Swaziland on Wednesday in demonstrations against the kingdom’s leadership, Mpumalanga police said. Initially the marchers were peaceful but then they started to blockade the roads, said Superintendent Mtsholi Bhembe. Police told them their march certificate only entitled them to picket and they cleared the road.
Three of South Africa’s five border posts with Swaziland were completely blocked to traffic in organised protests against the kingdom’s leadership, the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) said on Wednesday. Members of the SSN, the Congress of SA Trade Unions the South African Communist Party and the Young Communist League were gathering at South Africa’s border posts with the kingdom to protest the curtailing of political freedoms.
South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal border with Swaziland was completely blocked on Wednesday in a protest against the kingdom’s leadership, said the Swaziland Solidarity Network. ”The Golela border post, which is the border between South Africa and Swaziland in KwaZulu-Natal, has been blocked to traffic by our protesters since 5am,” said spokesperson Lucky Lukhele.
Two Eastern Cape traditional kings have damaged the brand-new luxury German cars the provincial government gave them last month, Dispatch Online reported on Tuesday. The vehicles belonged to King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo of AbaThembu BakaDalindyebo and King Zwelonke Sigcawu of AmaGcaleka.
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When Jacob Zuma apologised to the mother of the woman who has accused him of rape, it was only for the effect that her laying the charge was having on her mother, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Wednesday. ”I was only apologising for the effect that impacted on her,” said Zuma.
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Jacob Zuma would have had his cows ready if his rape accuser had agreed to marry him, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Wednesday. However, the former deputy president denied having any part in marriage negotiations, saying this was done by the woman’s two ”aunts”.
Inefficiency and negligence at the Commission for Occupational Injuries and Diseases has caused a multimillion-rand backlog in the payment of claims to doctors who treat workers, the Democratic Alliance charged on Wednesday. Claims are being processed by the commission at an ”absurdly slow pace”.
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Former deputy president Jacob Zuma is HIV-negative, he told the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday. ”Negative,” said Zuma when asked by state prosecutor Charin de Beer for his HIV status. Zuma is accused of raping an HIV-positive family friend, and has told the court that the consensual sex he claims they had was without a condom.