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/ 23 January 2006
The imminent fight for the presidency of the South African Rugby Union between incumbent president Brian van Rooyen and the man opposing him, KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins, will not end in a blood bath, Hoskins said on Monday. Hoskins confirmed last week Friday that he would be contesting SA Rugby’s presidency.
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/ 23 January 2006
The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal has expressed shock at an Inkatha Freedom Party ultimatum to its councillors in the Umuziwabantu municipality on the South Coast to reinstate a suspended manager, or face dismissal. The IFP claims the ultimatum to its councillors was intended to ensure they follow procedure.
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/ 23 January 2006
The wife of the man allegedly at the centre of the African National Congress’s spy and hoax e-mail scandal on Sunday appealed to the public for help following his disappearance. Durban-based IT executive Muziwendoda Sikhona Kunene was last seen on Friday when his wife, Belinda, dropped him off at a BP garage to board a taxi to Sandton City.
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/ 21 January 2006
The KwaZulu-Natal government has pulled out of the annual re-enactment of the historic Battle of Isandlwana on Saturday, costing the event a financial injection of R200 000. The treasury said anyone authorising expenditure on the event would have to reimburse the province with his or her own money.
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/ 20 January 2006
A five-hour SA Rugby president’s council meeting on Friday — supposedly regarding the future of SA Rugby president Brian van Rooyen — was much ado about nothing. The council decided to meet after the resignation of Judge Edwin King from heading an inquiry that was to investigate Van Rooyen on 11 counts of corporate mismanagement.
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/ 20 January 2006
The hills of KwaZulu-Natal’s Nquthu will echo with warrior cries of ”Usuthu!” at a re-enactment of the historic Battle of Isandlwana on Saturday. The Dundee Diehards, wearing red British army tunics, will confront amabutho — Zulu regiments — from Nongoma, Mahlabathini and Isandlwana itself.
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/ 19 January 2006
The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has embarked on a plan to build a R90-million multistorey parkade at Durban International airport (DIA) to increase the current capacity to 2 950 bays. The project will be completed in July next year, Acsa said in a statement on Thursday.
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/ 19 January 2006
Titans fast-bowler Brendon Reddy put the skids on the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins with two wickets in his second over in their Standard Bank Pro20 cricket match at Kingsmead on Wednesday night. Requiring nine runs to the over, the Dolphins, batting second after losing the toss, were always up against it.
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/ 18 January 2006
American scientist Stuart Poss has discovered a new species of fish — in a bottle at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity in Grahamstown, IOL reported on Wednesday. The waspfish, a relative of the venomous stonefish and scorpionfish, was found in 1994 off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
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/ 16 January 2006
Fifteen armed men robbed the Monte Visto Casino in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, of an undisclosed amount of cash on Sunday, said police. The gang overpowered a security guard and forced its way into the casino, said Superintendent Buhle Ngidi. ”They jumped over the cash desk and demanded cash. An undisclosed sum of money was taken,” said Ngidi.
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/ 15 January 2006
”The Inkatha Freedom Party is blowing the whistle to stop corruption, the party is prepared to govern and we seek victory in the upcoming local government elections,” IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi said in Durban on Sunday. Speaking at the launch of the party’s local government election campaign, Buthelezi said: ”Democracy empowers us with a right to change who governs.”
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/ 14 January 2006
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has condemned a nursing student orgy that reportedly took place in the children’s ward of a KwaZulu-Natal hospital. ”Under no circumstances can we allow such horrible incidents to occur in our facilities,” the minister said in a statement on Friday. Media reports said that two female and three male trainee nurses were expelled after the incident.
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/ 13 January 2006
The nursing student sex orgy that reportedly took place in a KwaZulu-Natal children’s ward was condemned by the South African Nursing Council on Friday. The Sowetan reported that two female and three male trainee nurses were expelled after a mother comforting her sick child raised the alarm.
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/ 12 January 2006
With more than 500 people relocated because of rain damage to their shacks, Johannesburg’s emergency services has urged people living near water lines and crossing low-lying bridges to exercise caution. Some residents of Klipspruit, Alexandra, Diepsloot, Ennerdale and Kaya Sands had been moved, Gauteng Provincial Services said on Thursday.
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/ 12 January 2006
Shots were fired at Johannesburg’s emergency services and police who had rushed to the rescue of three people reportedly swept away by flood waters in Kya Sands on Thursday. ”We arrived at where they were supposed to be washed away and suddenly shots were fired towards the river,” an emergency services spokesperson said.
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/ 11 January 2006
The Mamelodi Sundowns management has accepted that results speak for themselves and appointed former Bafana Bafana captain Neil Tovey and Argentinian Miguel Gamondi as joint coaches until the end of the current Premier Soccer League season.
The government is strongly committed to implementing the no-fee school policy in 2006, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said on Monday. ”KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng have already proceeded to identify schools that will be declared no-fee schools as agreed by the Council of Education Ministers in 2005,” Pandor said.
The number of shack dwellings in South Africa rose from 1,45-million in 1996 to 2,14-million in 2003, according to Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu. That was 417 new shacks a day on average between 2001 and 2003 and 210 shacks per day on average in the five years between 1996 and 2001.
The road death toll for December has risen to 1 215, the Department of Transport said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Collen Msibi said 512 of the fatalities were pedestrians, 414 were passengers and 289 were drivers. The figure is down from 1 234 reported in the same period last year.
While 2005 brought deregulation and the licensing of the second national operator, South African telecommunications users are set to experience tariff reductions as a result of regulatory changes and increased competition for fixed-line, mobile and data operators in 2006.
A ”lacklustre” performance by Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula and the ”disappearance from the radar” of National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi have left the Democratic Alliance wondering who is in charge of fighting crime, the party said in a statement on Tuesday.
Road deaths during the Christmas holidays were at 1Â 162 by the end of December, the Department of Transport said on Monday. There was heavy traffic on the country’s main routes on Monday as holidaymakers returned home. Meanwhile, the bodies of five people who drowned after their car plunged into the Vaal River have been recovered.
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/ 31 December 2005
A Pretoria teenager caught speeding at 196kph on the N2 southbound near Park Rynie on KwaZulu-Natal’s southcoast was fined R20 000, the province’s traffic department spokesperson said on Saturday. ”When officers caught the teenager he said he was trying out his mother’s new BMW 320d,” said the spokesperson.
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/ 31 December 2005
An 18-year-old matriculant from Eshowe, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, committed suicide after finding out that he had failed his matric examinations for the second time, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Friday. The teenager was found hanging from a tree by family members after collecting his results from Manxele High School.
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/ 28 December 2005
The death toll on South Africa’s roads over the holiday season has reached 965, the Department of Transport said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Collen Msibi said 411 of the casualties were pedestrians and 88 were children under 14. Msibi said that although ”shocking”, the figure was down from the 1 140 deaths over the same period last year.
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/ 28 December 2005
Bus subsidies cost the national Transport Department R2,17-billion in 2003/04, according to the department’s annual report for 2005. The report, tabled in Parliament, noted that Gauteng received the largest cut of the nine provinces — with R788-million — followed by KwaZulu-Natal with R452-million. The Western Cape received R380-million.
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/ 27 December 2005
A thousand cars an hour were heading inland through the Mooi River toll plaza on the N2 in KwaZulu-Natal by early Monday afternoon, the province’s road-traffic inspectorate said. Spokesperson Rajen Chinaboo said it appeared poor weather had ”dampened some spirits” and at least some holidaymakers were returning home early.
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/ 25 December 2005
From the slums of Durban, a new movement is giving voice to millions of South Africans living in shacks and increasingly feeling forgotten by the post-apartheid government. Abahlali Base Mjondolo, the Zulu name for shack dwellers, is the largest group to emerge from South Africa’s informal settlements that have mushroomed near cities.
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/ 24 December 2005
The Matatiele-Maluti mass action group has filed an urgent application with the Constitutional Court asking to be excluded from Friday’s legislation on municipal boundaries, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reports. The legislation will transfer the Matatiele area from KwaZulu-Natal to the Eastern Cape.
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/ 24 December 2005
Police have arrested a 16-year-old youth in the KwaZulu-Natal town of Paddock in connection with the murder of teenager Kalin Jooste in nearby Margate this week, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reports. The young man was arrested following a tip-off from the public, according to the report.
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/ 23 December 2005
According to the South African Naturist Federation, "naturists are not different from other people, they are just more comfortable". If you are one of these, then South Africa has some of the best places on Earth for you. Not to be confused with "naturalists", "naturists" are people who are interested in extending the number of activities that can be conducted in the nude.
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/ 23 December 2005
"Whenever I’m asked what I do for a living, I wait for the ‘ah, that’s so glamorous’ response, and I must agree. I especially love it around deadline time, when 120 pithy words on each of my 110 freshly checked restaurants have to be filed. I do this with all my stomach-calming potions close at hand," writes Gwynne Conlyn.