Organisers of Tuesday’s planned Million Man March in Pretoria hope criminals will get the message that the country is united against them, a spokesperson said on Monday.
The Pretoria High Court on Monday sentenced Andrew Jordaan to life imprisonment for the murder of seven-year-old Sheldean Human.
Ten armed robbers tried and failed to break into a van delivering money to a supermarket in Mabopane, Pretoria police said on Saturday.
Members of the South African National Defence Force Union on Friday called for Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota to step down.
Two life sentences are an appropriate punishment for convicted murderer Andrew Jordaan, the Pretoria High Court heard on Friday.
If you followed the media after Bafana Bafana’s loss to Nigeria, you would have thought the result was one of football’s greatest shocks.
Andrew Jordaan, the convicted killer of seven-year-old Sheldean Human, was described on Thursday both as a paedophile and someone too gentle to be a murderer.
A 30-year-old man is in a critical condition after falling down an elevator shaft from the 10th floor of a building in Pretoria on Thursday.
The Pretoria High Court on Tuesday reserved judgement in an application by Judge Nkola John Motata to stop the state from playing five potentially incriminating video and audio recordings made at the scene of his car accident. Motata was charged with drunk driving and defeating the ends of justice after smashing his Jaguar.
Andrew Jordaan took seven-year-old Sheldean Human to isolated bushes 500m from his home in a ”premeditated manner” to sexually assault and murder her, the Pretoria High Court found on Tuesday. Acting Judge Chris Eksteen rejected Jordaan’s version of what happened on February 18 2007 when Sheldean disappeared, calling him ”a blatant liar”.
Threats of retaliation against South Africans in other countries for the recent spate of xenophobic attacks have been overplayed, the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Aziz Pahad, said on Monday. Speaking ahead of the state visit by Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’Adua, he said the attacks on foreigners would be on the agenda.
Nominal and real house-price growth slowed further in the first quarter of 2008, according to the latest Absa housing review. The slowdown in growth was largely as a result of the tightening of monetary policy, stricter requirements for credit extension, and less affordable housing.
Johannesburg businessman Hugh Glenister has instructed his legal team to apply to the Constitutional Court for an order to prevent the government from disbanding the Scorpions. This was after the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday struck his application from the roll, saying it did not have the jurisdiction to decide on the matter.
Murder accused Andrew Jordaan on Wednesday closed his case without calling any further witnesses to support his claims of innocence in the murder of seven-year-old Sheldean Human. This was after the defence counsel earlier indicated that Jordaan wanted to call a further witness, but closed his case without further explanation.
Murder accused Andrew Jordaan told the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday that he wept at the manhole near which the body of seven-year-old Sheldean Human was found because he ”felt sorry” for her. Jordaan again insisted he was innocent and knew nothing about the little blonde girl’s murder at Pretoria Gardens in February last year.
Labour and business agreed on Tuesday that Eskom’s proposed 53% tariff increase would have a severe impact on the economy. ”Pricing is not the only solution; effective leadership and strategic appropriation of management is important,” said Business Unity South Africa.
South Africa’s economic growth rate slowed to 2,1% in the first quarter of 2008 on a seasonally adjusted and annualised basis, official data showed on Tuesday, citing a sharp drop in mining due to a power crisis. Statistics South Africa said Q1 GDP slowed from 5,3% in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Eskom’s proposed 53% tariff increase will have a negative effect on the economy, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said on Tuesday. Speaking at the second day of public hearings of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, Busa’s Roger Baxter said studies had shown the economic impact of the hike would lead to about 55Â 000 job losses.
Xenophobic violence against foreign nationals has been brought under control, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Monday. ”I do believe the situation is under control … the violence has subsided,” he said at a briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria following an inter-governmental task team meeting with President Thabo Mbeki.
Murder accused Andrew Jordaan on Monday admitted in the Pretoria High Court he smoked dagga and had a large porn collection, but denied he had a sexual interest in little girls, or that he had raped and murdered seven-year-old Sheldean Human. Jordaan took the stand after the state closed its case against him on Monday.
Members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) in Ekurhuleni are to down tools over salaries and worker rights. ”Samwu members in Ekurhuleni are embarking on a strike from tomorrow [Tuesday] onwards,” said union spokesperson Koena Ramotlou in a statement issued on Monday.
The question of whether the government or the public should finance Eskom dominated the first day of hearings on Friday on the utility’s proposed 53% tariff increase. Eskom’s non-executive chairperson Valli Moosa opened the debate at the National Energy Regulator of South Africa public hearings, saying fiscal injections from government were needed.
The government and Eskom were criticised for the present energy crisis at Friday’s National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) hearings into the power utility’s request for a proposed 53% tariff increase. Eskom chairperson Valli Moosa and CEO Jacob Maroga said the increase was needed as the system was tight and the reserve margin was very low.
Uncontrollable and unpredictable fuel and capital costs were key principals in the proposed 53% electricity tariff increase, Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga said on Friday. ”The volatility that we see we cannot absorb as a company,” Maroga said at the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s public hearings in Pretoria.
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) on Thursday called for a municipal state of emergency to be declared in Pretoria. ”A municipal state of emergency must be declared in terms of the Disaster Management Act number 57 of 2002 in order to prevent a waste disaster in Pretoria,” said the party’s Conrad Beyers.
The man accused of killing seven-year-old Sheldean Human last year started crying when telling police how he strangled the child and dumped her body. Director Piet Byleveld and investigating officer Michael van Aardt both testified that Andrew Jordaan was emotional when he confessed the murder to them.
The Pretoria High Court has ruled that a statement to police by the man accused of killing seven-year-old Sheldean Human was admissible as evidence. Acting Judge Chris Eksteen said on Thursday he would only give reasons for his ruling at a later stage. This was after Andrew Jordaan of Pretoria West took the stand on Thursday, claiming he was innocent.
Johannesburg businessman Hugh Glenister will likely hear next week whether his court bid to stop the government from disbanding the Scorpions has succeeded. The Pretoria High Court on Wednesday reserved judgement in his case, with Judge Willie van der Merwe indicating it was likely he would deliver judgement sometime next week.
AfriForum on Wednesday laid a charge of hate speech with the South African Human Rights Commission against the Congress of South African Trade Unions’s Solly Phetoe in his personal capacity after his comments following a shooting in the North West.
President Thabo Mbeki abdicated his power in deciding to disband the Scorpions, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday. United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa was in court listening as counsel for his and four other opposition parties argued that Mbeki and the Cabinet took their cue from the African National Congress on a decision to dissolve the Scorpions.
A skills shortage at Eskom could affect its expansion plans, trade union Solidarity said on Tuesday. ”Eskom’s current skills shortages are already causing problems, but if the levels of alienation among Eskom staff are any indication, the company is heading for a crisis,” said the union’s Dirk Hermann.
An alleged kingpin in the Fidentia asset management scandal, Steven Goodwin, launched an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday to secure his freedom. He asked the court to set aside and declare unconstitutional a request by the Director General of Justice to United States authorities for his provisional arrest.