Zimbabwe has splashed -million (about R24-million) on buying 320 luxury vehicles for middle-ranking police officers, Zim Online reported on Monday. It quoted ”authoritative” sources as saying the government was planning to spend another 10-million (about R60-million) on cars for military and secret-service officers.
Empirical evidence suggests that gun control is a ”total failure” in curbing crime, the organisation Gun Owners of South Africa (Gosa) said on Monday. ”It creates a community where only the government, which is then free to abuse its power … and criminals own firearms,” said Gosa coordinator Charl van Wyk.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was mum on Monday morning about weekend media reports that its president and general secretary were ”at war”. Cosatu president Willie Madisha refused to comment on the reported strife between him and general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
Roland Schoeman was to leave Hamburg on Monday with a brand-new car and 000 in his pocket after his world-record-breaking exploits over the weekend. The 26-year-old star was selected as the swimmer of the meet at the Deutscher Ring Aquatics short-course competition in Hamburg.
If South African Football Association (Safa) CEO Raymond Hack was having sleepless nights over a news report from Rio de Janeiro stating that the imminent signing of Brazil’s Carlos Alberto Parreira as the new Bafana Bafana coach had ”hit trouble”, you could hardly have guessed it from his almost flippant dismissal of the tidings on Sunday.
Hardus Pienaar, winning his third successive gold medal at the 15th African Athletics Championships in a wind-swept Bambous, Mauritius, on Sunday, helped bring South Africa’s tally of gold medals to 10 and the total for the week to 27. Janet Wienand (400m hurdles) and the South Africa’s women’s 4x400m relay team also won their events.
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The state was to file an affidavit in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday in response to submissions by Jacob Zuma in his corruption trial. A National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson said the state would react to calls by defence lawyers for a permanent stay of prosecuting or for the case to be struck off the roll.
Thousands of Shoprite Checkers workers would resume their countrywide strike on Monday, the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union said. ”The strike is continuing today [Monday]. There hasn’t been any negotiations or talks of a meeting, so the strike will continue,” Saccawu negotiator Thoko Mchunu said.
Negligence by Eskom — and not sabotage — led to the widespread power outages in the Western Cape, media reports said on Monday. Because of this and the fact that Eskom had breached its licence conditions, the parastatal could see its licence conditions re-evaluated. These findings are contained in the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s final draft report.
A Cape Town lifesaver whose foot was bitten off by a shark at the weekend was in a serious but ”satisfactory” condition on Monday, the Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic said. ”He is still in the intensive-care unit, but I can say that his condition is satisfactory. It’s as expected,” said nursing manager Frankie Redfern.
Money may be said to be the root of all evil but it only brings joy to the players, management and supporters of reigning Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns. Sundowns made their intentions of retaining the championship and winning some cup silverware along the way very clear when they beat Santos 4-1 in their SAA Supa8 encounter.
The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) has chosen a new top structure at its provincial congress in Limpopo, a spokesperson said. Mudini Maizha said on Sunday that Japie Ligege was chosen as the new chairperson for the party in the province. Morwamotshi Ntwampe is his deputy, while Elvis Molapo is the new secretary.
A 23-year-old lifesaver lost his foot when he was bitten by a shark in False Bay on Sunday morning, said the National Sea Rescue Institute. He was flown to hospital in a rescue helicopter. The incident took place about 11am off Sunrise Beach in Muizenberg. The man, whose name was not released, is a surf lifeguard from Lifesaving SA’s False Bay Lifesaving Club.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) on Sunday welcomed the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs’ decision to do away with the ”willing buyer/willing seller” policy in land reform. ”In particular we welcome her commitment to set deadlines to negotiations over the price of land under claim,” said the SACP in a statement.
Battle for control of South Africa’s newest political party, the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco), is set to enter the public arena this week when its leader, Dr Ziba Jiyane, opposes a court action to set aside the appointment of the party’s federal executive. Last Thursday Vincent Ngema filed papers in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
It was not unlike an ambiguous medical report for Orlando Pirates after their goalless Caf African Champions League draw against Ghana’s Hearts of Oak at Ellis Park last night that ”the operation was a success, but the patient died”. Pirates produced their most fluid and pleasing soccer of what has so far been a mainly melancholy and miserable sea.
Twenty people, including eight Ethiopians, were arrested after Johannesburg police foiled robberies at warehouses in Fordsburg and Sandton, recovering stolen goods valued at about R10-million. Johannesburg police spokesperson Superintendent Chris Wilken said the men were arrested on Friday night and early Saturday morning after a police stake-out at the two warehouses.
The Lions managed to score a famous 19-17 victory over the Blue Bulls in an ill-tempered game at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. But the match will be remembered more for the genius of Bulls flyhalf Derick Hougaard, who engineered an amazing comeback from 19-3 down to leave his side two points shy at the end.
It seemed more like a controlled and clinical sparring session than the blood-and-thunder of a bruising 12-rounder as Kaizer Chiefs beat Lamontville Golden Arrows 2-0 at FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon and negotiated a comfortable landing to the semifinals of the SAA Supa8 competition.
Celebrated African poet Professor Mazizi Kunene has died, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Saturday. Kunene died in Durban after a long illness. He was 76. In 2005 Kunene was awarded the inaugural South African National Poet Laureate Prize.
First lady Zanele Mbeki was inaugurated as the first chancellor of the Cida (Community and Individual Development Association) City Campus in Johannesburg on Saturday. Mbeki, who has been involved with Cida since 2002, accepted the chancellorship saying Cida was an institution responsive to the needs of the underprivileged.
The Polokwane municipality in Limpopo has confirmed the building of an R800-million stadium to be used in the 2010 World Cup, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday. The stadium, which will be named the Peter Mokaba Complex, will be built next to the existing Peter Mokaba stadium.
A five-day conference to call for divine intervention in the HIV/Aids pandemic in South Africa will be held next week, the Institute for Christian Leadership Development said on Friday. ”We are going to pray and extract biblical principles on how to counsel the society when dealing with the HIV/Aids pandemic,” institute spokesperson Timothy Olusegun said.
The Second Network Operator (SNO) has been given access to an inter-city communication network following the singing of an agreement on Friday, it said. The heads of agreement, signed with the Department of Public Enterprises, provides for the SNO to have access to an inter-city, high-capacity, full-services network, the SNO said in a statement.
It is time Africans take responsibility for how their continent is portrayed, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. Writing in his weekly newsletter on the African National Congress website, Mbeki said every day the African and global media publish articles about Africa.
Three men from a Pretoria engineering company were killed and a woman critically wounded when one of the company’s directors opened fire on Friday, police said. The incident happened around 12.15pm at the Silver Unicorn offices in Sunnyside, said Gauteng police spokesperson Mary Martins-Engelbrecht.
Five foreign nationals were sentenced to varying prison terms after they were arrested for attempting to smuggle R8-million worth of perlemoen (abalone), the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Friday. Three Chinese and two Zimbabweans appeared in the Rustenburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday where judgment was handed down, said NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi.
The National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding with its Mozambican counterpart to fight cross-border crime. ”The agreement will facilitate the exchange of techniques and strategies in the field of combating crime, particularly cross-border organised crime,” NDPP spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said.
Passengers in transit to London must ensure that they comply with new security measures on hand luggage, South African Airways (SAA) said on Friday. The airline said in a statement that passengers connecting to further destinations are requested to travel without hand luggage to avoid inconvenience at London’s Heathrow airport.
An Eastern Cape pastor, charged with having raped his adoptive daughter, kept videotapes showing the alleged victim naked in a bath, The Herald Online reported on Friday. His other two daughters told the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday they discovered the tapes in the pastor’s study.
Trade prospects in South Africa remained favourable for the next six months, the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) and banking group Absa said on Friday. Last month, the trade-expectations index — a measure of trade-condition prospects for the next six months — rose marginally by one index point to 68, according to the Trade Activity Index.
The University of Pretoria’s management and the Pan Africanist Movement of Azania refused to budge from their respective positions on Friday. The student body said they would continue with their protest, while management said it would not reopen the campus unless violent protests came to end.