A train derailment in Durban has left 86 people injured, Metrorail said on Thursday. Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said a coach left the tracks near the Duffs Road Railway Station in KwaMashu. It appeared most of the injuries occurred when passengers tried to jump from the coach. There were no major injuries.
The South African trial of nine men charged in an alleged plot to topple the president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea has been delayed until next year, the men’s lawyer said on Thursday. Alwyn Griebenow said the trial, seen as a test of South Africa’s anti-mercenary laws, had been postponed from next week due to scheduling conflicts with lawyers.
South Africa’s hockey women beat India 2-1 in the second Test at the Stellenbosch Hockey Stadium on Wednesday night to go two up in the four-match Spar Challenge series. South Africa won the first Test 2-1 on Tuesday night. The hosts could not have asked for a better start in the wintry Cape weather when they were awarded a penalty corner in the second minute.
SuperSport United coach Pitso Mosimane, lumped with the job of guiding the Bafana Bafana team in the friendly international against Namibia in Windhoek on Wednesday August 16, sees his role as that of a short-term troubleshooter — and he hopes he does not get shot in the process.
The Land Claims Court has ordered mining giant Anglo Platinum to return ancestral land to the Ga Mawela community in Limpopo, community representatives said on Wednesday. The ruling brought to a closure a five-year battle between the community and Anglo Platinum, said community lawyer Durkje Gilfillan.
The Public Protector has nearly finished his investigation into complaints over the incorporation of Matatiele into the Eastern Cape, his office said on Wednesday. The Public Protector, advocate Lawrence Mushwana, met on Wednesday with the Matatiele-Maluti Mass Action Organising Committee to discuss its complaint.
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) decided on Wednesday that the October deadline for the launch of a new ”super federation” was unattainable. Fedusa deputy president Koos Bezuidenhout said a meeting had nevertheless decided to continue talks about uniting Fedusa, the National Council of Trade Unions and the Confederation of South African Workers’ Unions.
The South African Trade and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) will launch another national strike next week after a wage dispute involving the contract cleaning sector, the union said on Wednesday. The union is demanding that workers be given a 12% increment, and 15 % for those working in rural areas, said spokesperson Dolly Mlotshwa.
South African aid organisation Gift of the Givers will probably travel to war-torn Lebanon over the weekend to deliver humanitarian aid, its chairperson said on Wednesday. Imtiaz Sooliman said the organisation has received all clearances from Syria to fly there and take the goods to Lebanon.
The body of a child and a skeleton were discovered together outside Modimolle, Limpopo police said on Wednesday. Superintendent Malesela Ledwaba said the discovery was made about 4pm on Tuesday by passers-by. Ledwaba said the corpse was in an advanced state of decomposition and half naked.
Former deputy president Jacob Zuma, in his capacity as deputy president of the ruling African National Congress, will be one of the guest speakers at this weekend’s celebration of the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) 85th anniversary.
The African National Congress was accused on Wednesday of reintroducing racial categorisation, thereby polarising South African society. The National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) criticised the ruling party for not regarding coloured people as African. ”This … is nothing less than racialism,” the party said in a statement.
Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi should release transcripts of the African Peer Review Mechanism meetings to reveal how the report was edited, said the independent Public Service Accountability Monitor on Wednesday.
A combination of the money to be made in professional sport and the ”winner-takes-all” mentality makes performance-boosting drugs too alluring for some athletes. In South Africa, there has been a rush of athletes, such as Olympic medallist Ezekiel Sepeng, recently falling foul of authorities, despite career-killing censure.
South African police and wildlife officials are hunting for at least two crocodiles south of Johannesburg after several sightings. Wild crocodiles are not found naturally in the region, leading to speculation that the reptiles have escaped from farms or zoos.
The ad hoc committee on the appointment of the auditor general (AG) has recommended that Shauket Fakie’s current deputy, Terrence Mncedisi Nombembe, should replace him when he retires on November 30. The African National Congress-led committee was reported to have made the recommendation in the announcements, tablings and committee reports.
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If the prosecution in Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial does not have a strong enough case against him, then charges should be withdrawn, an alliance of youth groups said on Wednesday. ”It does not take an intelligent person to arrive at the conclusion that their case is not very strong,” said South African Students’ Congress official Mandla Seopela.
Financial mismanagement and alleged corruption within the school transport system led to the non-payment of bus operators, Gauteng education department provincial minister Angie Motshekga said on Wednesday. She said criminal charges against bus operators who allegedly defrauded the system had been lodged with the Johannesburg police.
South Africa needs to adapt its trade and tariff policies following the suspension of the latest Doha round of negotiations, the South African Agricultural Processors Association (Saapa) said on Wednesday. ”The suspension of the negotiations is a huge disappointment,” said Jannie de Villiers, Saapa executive director.
South Africa’s main inflation gauges leapt in June in line with forecasts, sealing the case for another increase in interest rates at the Reserve Bank’s policy meeting next week. The targeted CPIX inflation rate rose by 4,8% in the year to June after an annual increase of 4,1% in May, official data showed on Wednesday. It was the biggest increase since August 2005.
Female boxer Laila Ali has jetted out of South Africa following the cancellation of and controversy surrounding her planned bout with challenger Gwendolyn O’Neill, local television reported on Tuesday night. The 28-year-old light-middleweight champion arrived in the country last week for a much-touted fight against O’Neill, a 36-year-old mother-of-five.
South African Ben Sassman admits his bid to help a lonely friend living with HIV/Aids started out as a ”feel-good project for myself” but is now an online dating service reaching people around the globe. The Positive Connection, in its third year, can even claim success in the matchmaking game, having brought together a few solid partnerships.
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor on Tuesday rejected a report by the Beeld newspaper on the dropout rate in South African schools. The newspaper reported that only 21,9% of pupils who had been in grade one in 1994 wrote matric last year.
Five young men have been gunned down in a massacre on the Cape Flats, Western Cape police said on Tuesday. Two men entered the back yard of a house in Langa’s Zone 4 shortly before midnight on Monday and opened fire on a group of 10 people, all of them teenage youths or young men, in a wooden hut there.
Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa has denied having any interest in becoming president of the African National Congress. ”I have not engaged, nor sought to engage others on my behalf, in any campaign with respect to the presidency of the ANC, and have no interest in being a candidate,” he said on Tuesday.
The Durban High Court on Tuesday granted Westville prison authorities leave to appeal against an order to speed up the provision of antiretrovirals (ARVs) to prisoners. The court simultaneously ordered prison authorities to provide the service pending the appeal.
South Africa will be ready to host the World Cup in 2010, organisers insisted on Tuesday, seeking to dispel worries over transportation, accommodation and stadiums. Danny Jordaan, head of the organising committee, said South Africa was ahead of schedule in its preparations and should relish the opportunities offered by the soccer showcase.
The present common law definition of rape was ”archaic” and resulted in inadequate protection for victims of sodomy and discriminatory sentences, a Pretoria High Court judge has said. Judge Natvarial Ranchod on Tuesday declared the common law definition of rape unconstitutional as it currently stood and extended the definition of rape to include anal penetration.
A commuter train driver was trapped for four hours after his train ploughed into the back of a freight train near the Muldersvlei station in the Boland three years ago, the Paarl Regional Court heard on Tuesday. The driver, Mervyne Matthee (59), is on trial on 10 counts of culpable homicide.
Cape Judge President John Hlophe’s return from long leave despite persisting conflict of interest charges against him bodes ill for public confidence in the judiciary, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. Hlophe has reportedly claimed to have had permission from former minister Dullah Omar to receive money from a private company.
A South African company on Tuesday unveiled plans for the continent’s first billion-dollar factory to make bio-ethanol from maize, as Africa races to find alternative energy sources in the face of soaring oil prices. The Ethanol Africa plant, located in the Free State province, is expected to be in full production next year, making up to half-a-million litres of bio-ethanol a day.
South Africa has the makings of a great nation, the leader of the African Peer Review Mechanism country assessment team said on Tuesday. Wrapping up a two-week visit to the country, Professor Adebayo Adedeji said South Africans are proud of their country and prepared to talk about its weaknesses and strengths.