Whether suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli had taken "national security interests" into consideration in decisions he made will be one of the main issues in a hearing to determine his fitness to hold office. President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday approved the terms of reference for the inquiry.
President Thabo Mbeki must not be re-elected for a third term as party leader, the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in Gauteng said on Wednesday. "We reject the notion of two centres of power … whoever is elected as the ANC president must be the president of the country," said secretary general Lebogang Maile.
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/ 26 September 2007
The controversial documentary <i>Unauthorised: Thabo Mbeki</i> will be screened on SABC3 next Wednesday, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) said. "We’ve got the tape, the final copy, and it will be shown on October 3 at 9.30pm," said spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.
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/ 26 September 2007
A man staggering and groping like a blind man and swearing like a sailor. That was the picture painted of Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata by the state’s first witness at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. The judge is charged with driving under the influence of liquor or drugs, among other charges.
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/ 26 September 2007
General Motors South Africa is "relieved" that the two-week-old strike in the motor-component industry has ended. Several South African motor manufacturers were badly affected by the strike, which forced them to shut down production facilities due to a lack of parts. The strike ended on Tuesday evening.
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/ 21 September 2007
Empowerment consortium Gidani has been awarded the licence to operate the National Lottery, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa announced at a press conference on Friday afternoon. Mpahlwa had suspended the lottery on March 31, hours before operator Uthingo’s licence to run it expired.
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/ 20 September 2007
A devastating veld fire has destroyed the well known artist’s retreat Rustlers Valley in the eastern Free State, the provincial department for water affairs and forestry said on Thursday. Spokesperson Malcolm Procter said the fire destroyed everything. "There is nothing, nothing." All buildings were destroyed.
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/ 20 September 2007
It was all warm and cosy on Zimbabwe’s usually frosty political front recently, as Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change agreed on a set of changes to the country’s electoral laws. New constitutional amendments that the opposition previously said were meant to entrench President Robert Mugabe’s rule were read in Parliament on Tuesday.
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/ 19 September 2007
"Let’s stop meaningless journalism." That was the cry from new South African press ombudsman Joe Nong Thloloe at a forum, themed Leading Conversations, held on Tuesday. Thloloe, a former South African Broadcasting Corporation and e.tv news editor-in-chief, was appointed to the position at the launch of the new Press Council of South Africa on Friday August 3.
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/ 14 September 2007
Three people have been granted immunity from prosecution for information on drunk-driving charges against Ekurhuleni metro police boss Robert McBride, the National Prosecuting Authority says. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> reported on Friday that McBride’s three main detractors are criminals involved in cash-in-transit heists, according to their lawyer.<br><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/319216/video-icon.gif"> <a href="http://www.mg.co.za/mcbride" target="_blank" class="standardtextsmall"><b>View live video</b></a>
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/ 2 September 2007
Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa has joined the African National Congress (ANC) presidential succession race, according to weekend media reports. The ANC’s powerful OR Tambo district in the Eastern Cape has formally stated that it will nominate Ramaphosa for the presidency. Regional secretary Mlamli Siyakholwa said that "we have been lobbying Ramaphosa, I must admit".
They have fought over Zimbabwe’s best farms, and now senior figures in Zanu-PF are limbering up for a new battle — this time over an array of foreign assets that will be put up for sale with the enactment of a controversial new empowerment law. Zimbabwe’s Empowerment Minister, Paul Mangwana, has tabled the proposed legislation before Parliament and expects to push it through within the next two weeks.
Mystery surrounds the reported discovery of what might be the largest diamond in the world. The stone, found in an unnamed North West mine, is believed to be twice the size of the world’s biggest, the Cullinan. A spokesperson for the mining company that made the discovery said the stone was excavated on Monday.
An internal investigation has been completed into the conduct of South African Police Service officers at an accident scene near King William’s Town earlier this month where a truck carrying 211 pigs had overturned. Onlookers apparently stormed the truck and killed the pigs — of which some were still alive — for meat.
A government assault on the finances of axed deputy minister of health Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge has left her broke, the <i>Sunday Times</i> reported. She has been forced to accept money from her mother after her salary was docked to reclaim the cost of a trip to Spain, and now the government is making more financial demands.
Nomfundo Qangule, financial director of Harmony since July 2004, has resigned amid rumours of a massive hole in Harmony’s accounts, Moneyweb reported on Thursday. The ballpark figure mentioned is about R2-billion. The news of Qangule’s departure follows the resignation of Bernard Swanepoel as Harmony CEO on August 6.
The African National Congress’s national working committee has expressed "deep concern and outrage" at the latest reports in the <i>Sunday Times</i> newspaper on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, calling them "nothing more than character assassination".
The Eastern Cape government has rejected a claim by a suspended hospital official that 200 babies have been dying every month at East London’s two largest hospitals. The former deputy manager of the East London Hospital Complex, Dr Nokuzola Ntshona, made the claim in an interview published in the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>.
Despite Airports Company South Africa’s excellent annual results, airline passengers are still going to be hit with increased fees, the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa said on Friday. Airlines have no choice but to incorporate increased airport tariffs into the price of their tickets.
The Public Protector is at an "advanced stage" in a reinvestigation of the so-called Oilgate scandal, originally uncovered by the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>. Advocate Lawrence Mushwana says his office is finalising its investigations and a report will be tabled in Parliament soon.
The people behind the "special browse" report — about an alleged plot to overthrow the government — must be identified, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Saturday following the announcement of the outcome of a government probe into the origin of the document. "[We] will be very interested to see whether any of them are arrested and convicted," Cosatu said.
The editor of <i>ZimOnline</i>, an independent Zimbabwe news agency based in South Africa, was shot and seriously wounded this week in Johannesburg, its deputy editor said on Thursday. The attack on Abel Mutsakani occurred Monday night as he arrived at his Johannesburg home, Abel Chapatarongo told the media.
When did the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s ankle-length red dress turn into a black mini? That was the question posed by a representative of the public broadcaster at the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s screening of the documentary <i>Unauthorised: Thabo Mbeki</i> in Johannesburg on Wednesday night.
The acting fraternity was "utterly devastated" by the death of Bill Flynn on Wednesday, said producer Bobby Heaney. "Bill was the most loved actor in the whole country." Flynn’s highly successful career included leading roles in more than 140 stage plays, musicals, 42 films and dozens of television shows.
Orania chairperson Carel Boshoff’s wife, Anna, died on July 10 at the age of 75, the family said. "Tannie Anna, as she was known, was a community person par excellence, and will be remembered for the countless initiatives aimed at maintaining and reclaiming the Afrikaner’s freedom," the family said in a statement.
Multi-award-winning, multi-platinum-selling artist Pink will head to South Africa for the first time this September, Big Concerts announced on Wednesday. "Pink is set to put on a powerful, hit-packed show, whipped up with her unique blend of soulful funk and punk-pop rock’n’roll," the organisers said.
President Thabo Mbeki is to deliver the opening address at the African National Congress’s policy conference in a bitterly cold Midrand, Gauteng, where delegates started arriving on Wednesday morning. The conference takes place against intense behind-the-scenes jockeying over the leadership of the party, and coincides with a bitter public-service strike.
Many residents of Gauteng woke up on Wednesday morning to a layer of snow turning lawns, rooftops and cars white, while the South African Weather Service predicted a freezing day with temperatures staying below eight degrees Celsius in Johannesburg. A number of roads in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were closed to motorists due to snow on Wednesday morning.
The government formally tabled a final public-service wage proposal, including a 7,5% increase, at wage talks on Friday — but unions said they were not yet ready to sign the offer. Unions have 21 days to accept or reject the offer. Until then, the wage talks are suspended.
Luthuli Dlamini, who has played the character of Stan Nyati in e.tv’s soap opera <i>Scandal</i>, is feared missing. His agent, who would not divulge his full name, on Monday confirmed that the actor was missing and that he had not heard from him. "I left messages on his phone this morning and at the moment I haven’t heard anything," he said.
African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Jacob Zuma on Saturday warned party members to ensure that the party does not become "power-drunk". Speaking at an ANC branch meeting in Durban, he said: "The ANC is going to rule South Africa for a long time. But, we must not fall into the mistake of being power drunk."
The two academics who helped with Chippy Shaik’s thesis will face charges of serious misconduct within the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s internal judicial system, the <i>Sunday Times</i> reported. This follows reports that "more than two-thirds" of Chippy Shaik’s 2003 PhD had been plagiarised.