No image available
/ 17 September 2007
Negotiations in a bid to resolve a crippling motor-industry strike will resume on Monday night, the Retail Motor Industry said on Monday. The four-day strike has seen several motoring-manufacturing plants temporarily closing their doors as parts became unavailable.
No image available
/ 17 September 2007
President Thabo Mbeki last year approved 477 foreign visits by government ministers, gave 515 pardons and concluded 195 international agreements, according to the Presidency’s Annual Report released on Monday. The report highlights the work of the Presidency and its three political heads.
No image available
/ 17 September 2007
Defence counsel in the Boeremag treason trial on Monday complained bitterly that someone seemed to be listening in on their conversations during private consultations inside the courtroom. One of the defence advocates, Bernard Bantjes, said he had recently found out that private consultations, when the court was not sitting, were allegedly being recorded.
No image available
/ 16 September 2007
SuperSport United held Kaizer Chiefs to a 0-0 draw in an entertaining Premier Soccer League game at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Sunday. Chiefs had the better chances and played with a swagger that had the hosts on the back foot for most of the game, but could not beat the superb Dennis Onyango in goal.
No image available
/ 16 September 2007
The Blue Bulls turned the corner and all but cemented their place in the semifinals of the Currie Cup with a comfortable 35-10 victory over Western Province at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. The hosts’ victory was made that much sweeter by the fact that they were able to also gain the bonus point as they breached the Western Province tryline four times.
No image available
/ 15 September 2007
The South African Presidency on Friday rejected as untrue reports that the government had been secretly working to remove Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe from power. The Presidency said in a statement it wished to ”caution the media from falling victim of those who … peddle untruths which may impact negatively on the ongoing process of dialogue”.
No image available
/ 14 September 2007
The last day of testimony in the case of former spy boss Billy Masetlha in Pretoria on Friday ended with the defence applying to recall some of the witnesses who have already testified. Masetlha is charged with withholding information from Inspector General of Intelligence Zolile Ngcakani.
No image available
/ 14 September 2007
Nurses in the public health sector would receive increases of between 20% and 88% on their starting salaries, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Friday. The increases come as part of the occupational-specific dispensation which would see substantial improvements in the salaries of professionals in the Health Department.
No image available
/ 14 September 2007
The government welcomes open debate on the issue of foreign land ownership, Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana said on Friday. She said this particularly applied to the question of whether or not proposed new regulations on land ownership should be put into effect retrospectively.
No image available
/ 14 September 2007
![]()
African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Jacob Zuma may not intervene in the state’s plan to extend an investigation into him to the United Kingdom. Judge Willie van der Merwe ruled against an application brought by Zuma to intervene in the state’s request to obtain information from banks and lawyers.
No image available
/ 13 September 2007
Former intelligence director general Billy Masetlha, charged with withholding information from Inspector General of Intelligence Zolile Ngcakani, went out of his way to provide such information, the Hatfield Community Court heard on Thursday during testimony by Masetlha.
No image available
/ 13 September 2007
Since the beginning of the year not a single illegal farm eviction has been reported to farming union AgriSA, it said in a statement on Thursday. The union was responding to remarks by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Dirk du Toit that farmers who illegally evicted tenant workers would have their land expropriated.
No image available
/ 13 September 2007
President Thabo Mbeki will lead the South African delegation to the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, which starts in New York next week, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday Speaking in Pretoria, ambassador George Nene, head of the multilateral section in the department, said several issues would be discussed.
No image available
/ 13 September 2007
South Africa’s current-account deficit decreased to 6,5% of the gross domestic product in the second quarter of the year, down from 6,9% in the first, the South African Reserve Bank said on Thursday. This was mainly due to the raised demand for South African exports in the second quarter.
No image available
/ 13 September 2007
Former director general of the National Intelligence Agency Billy Masetlha has implicated Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils in a ”counter-revolution” meant to destroy the African National Congress (ANC). ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe had said that certain things happening in the party bordered on ”counter-revolution”, Masetlha testified on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 12 September 2007
South Africa will not immediately share information with other countries on a worldwide nuclear-technology smuggling ring, its ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Wednesday. His statement comes a day after he urged other countries affected by the network to enhance their efforts to prosecute other role players involved in it.
No image available
/ 11 September 2007
Magistrate Dreyer van der Merwe on Tuesday denied an application from former spy boss Billy Masetlha’s defence team for his recusal from the case at the Hatfield Community Court in Pretoria. ”The facts presented by the defence are not substantiated to merit a recusal,” the magistrate said after deliberating over the application for about two hours.
No image available
/ 11 September 2007
Demand for skilled South Africans is soaring in the United Kingdom, which is experiencing a major skills shortage, a UK recruitment agency said on Tuesday. "Demand for South African professionals is soaring in the UK because London’s top financial-services industry experiences a massive skills shortage," said Nabila Sadiq of the Joslin Rowe Temporaries agency.
No image available
/ 11 September 2007
The Social Assistance Act unfairly discriminates against a group of men who are among the poorest of the poor in South Africa, the Pretoria High Court heard on Tuesday. The Act entitled men to apply for state old-age pensions, based on a needs test, when they reached the age of 65, but entitled women to start receiving the pension at the of 60.
No image available
/ 10 September 2007
The South African National Aids Council is on track with its National Strategic Plan on HIV and Aids, which would see the halving of new infections by 2011, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Monday. She chaired the first meeting of the newly constituted council in Pretoria, which officially brings together the government and civil society in the fight against HIV/Aids.
No image available
/ 10 September 2007
As Africa’s economies grow, the production of alcohol, along with consumption of the substance, will increase, it was said at a seminar on alcohol in Pretoria on Monday. ”Africa will be experiencing a growth market and a lot of activity is still going to happen,” said Isidore Obot from the Centre of Research and Information on Substance Abuse.
No image available
/ 7 September 2007
Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad is not yet pursuing his opinion that the government should pull advertising from the Sunday Times, presidential spokesperson Mukhoni Ratshitanga said on Friday. He said that Pahad was only expressing a personal view and that it was not government policy.
No image available
/ 6 September 2007
About five million condoms supplied by Zalatex have been collected since a recall and an additional 7,5-million condoms quarantined at the company’s warehouse, the Health Department said on Thursday. This follows charges that Zalatex bribed an official at the South African Bureau of Standards to approve inferior condoms.
No image available
/ 6 September 2007
After years of waiting, thousands of people who lodged a claim to have their land at Wallmansthal, north of Pretoria, returned to them will on Saturday receive the deeds of their stands. The land set to be restored measures 4 186ha. Approximately 4 270 people will benefit from the settlement, the Land Claims Commission said on Thursday.
No image available
/ 6 September 2007
Standerton residents, AfriForum and the mayor of the Lekwa municipality, Queen Radebe-Khumalo, will face off in the Pretoria High Court in November over a damaged Great Trek memorial. The Standerton Action Committee and AfriForum have asked the Pretoria High Court that Radebe-Khumalo be ordered to rebuild a Great Trek memorial that she ordered to be destroyed.
No image available
/ 6 September 2007
Efforts to rejuvenate the South African Army will see 3 000 new recruits being taken in next year, with the figure shooting up to 7 000 in 2009, it was announced on Thursday. ”We need a young and fit group of soldiers,” army chief General Solly Shoke told reporters in Pretoria.
No image available
/ 5 September 2007
The judge in the Boeremag treason trial on Wednesday ruled that enough evidence had been presented by the state on which a reasonable person might convict the 21 accused on charges of high treason, terrorism and sabotage. Judge Eben Jordaan dismissed applications by nine of the accused for their discharge on all of the 42 charges against them.
No image available
/ 4 September 2007
The SAS Manthatisi has become the first naval submarine in the world to be brought into a new class by the International Classification Society, Germanischer Lloyd, the South African Navy said on Tuesday. ”Through the certification of SAS Manthatisi, the SA Navy adds another ”world first” to its long list of achievements,” Captain Digby Thomson said.
No image available
/ 4 September 2007
A South African court sentenced a German man to 18 years in prison on Tuesday but suspended the jail term after he pleaded guilty in a case involving a global black market in atomic weapons technology. Gerhard Wisser, an engineer living in South Africa, was accused of having ties to a network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan.
No image available
/ 4 September 2007
Former National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha and his two co-accused, software specialist Muziwendoda Kunene and IT specialist Funokwakhe Madlala, had their fraud case postponed in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday. The case was postponed to October 1 for trial and plea.
No image available
/ 3 September 2007
United Nations agencies urged governments in Southern Africa on Monday to draw up legislation to combat frightening levels of human trafficking, saying action was vital ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Specific legislation to tackle the issue was needed to help law enforcement agencies get to grips with the situation.
No image available
/ 1 September 2007
A movement similar to that of the anti-apartheid movement was needed to make a success of South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday night. Mbeki said it was time for the country’s leaders to come together to think of ways to address the common challenges in the country.