South Africa and the United Kingdom have agreed to a joint prison-official training programme, the Ministry of Correctional Services said on Wednesday. Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour is in London on a four-day visit to prisons, said the minister’s spokesperson Luphumzo Kebeni in a statement.
Hot on the heels of the decision to change the name of Johannesburg International airport to OR Tambo International airport comes another major name adjustment: the city council of Potchefstroom in the North West voted on Tuesday night to change the town’s name to Tlokwe.
They belch hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year, but South Africa’s coal-fired power stations will remain the major suppliers of the country’s energy needs for years to come, Eskom said on Wednesday. ”We need to be very clear: coal will remain a major, major part of our [energy] supply,” Eskom said.
The Department of Education is not responding to children orphaned by HIV/Aids as well as it could, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. ”My own anecdotal evidence is that we are not responding to orphans as well as we could,” she said.
Springbok selectors on Wednesday shot down claims by a South African newspaper quoting coach Jake White that flanker Solly Tyibilika was in the squad only because he was black. South African rugby issued a strongly worded statement after remarks by White on Monday were quoted in the Cape Town-based daily the Cape Argus.
The end of the marathon Roodefontein corruption trial came into sight on Wednesday as former Western Cape premier Peter Marais decided to exercise his right to silence. As the state and his co-accused, former Western Cape provincial minister of environment David Malatsi, closed their cases, Marais’s advocate Craig Webster asked for half an hour to consult his client.
Cape Town councillor Sheval Arendse distanced himself from his wife Pamela’s behaviour on Wednesday, after she pleaded guilty and paid a fine in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court for fraud. Mother-of-two Pamela paid a R5 000 fine for illegally receiving a child grant — money she was not entitled to.
A meeting between Sasol and two unions that may join Solidarity’s strike was underway on Wednesday at the chemical industry’s national bargaining council. Bosole Chidi, the acting general secretary of the South African Chemical Workers’ Union, and Welile Nolingo, the general secretary of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union, were at the meeting.
South Africa’s education system has been blamed for school violence that in the past week left one pupil dead and another with multiple skull fractures. A sense of spirituality and humanity is lacking, a Durban-based anti-drug forum said on Wednesday. Teachers lack empathy and the South African educational system needs to stop churning out workers, said forum chairperson Sam Pillay.
Gauteng has to plan now for population growth of five million to an estimated 14,5-million people by 2015, Premier Mbhazima Shilowa warned on Wednesday. He stressed that immediate intervention is needed to avert future crises. ”If we have this congestion with 9,5-million people, how will it be if there are 14,5-million?”
Hundreds of ostriches are being culled following an outbreak of avian influenza near Mossel Bay, the Western Cape’s veterinary chief said on Wednesday. ”At least a couple of thousand will be culled,” said Dr James Kitching. He said the number is small — about the same number a single abattoir handles in a week.
About 700 protesters gathered outside the Oberholzer Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday as four people appeared for the murder of National Union of Mineworkers branch chairperson Elias Mulaudzi. The four appeared in the court after their arrest last week, to make a formal bail application.
Tightening South Africa’s porous borders to prevent the influx of illegal immigrants is futile if economic problems in neighbouring countries are not dealt with, Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Tuesday. The minister also admitted to ongoing corruption in her department, despite efforts to curb it.
The Underberg community is divided by the R160-million tarring of the Sani Pass — touted by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe as the southern Drakensberg’s gateway to tourism. ”They [tourists] enjoy the horror of the trip. That’s why they come,” a local tour operator said on condition of anonymity.
A member of the public shot dead one robber and residents nabbed another two in separate incidents in Pretoria on Tuesday, police said. In the first incident in Pretoria North, a man shot at two alleged robbers as they were trying to hijack a vehicle at the Kolonnade Shopping Centre, said spokesperson Constable Brenda Kgafela.
Five people accused of the Johannesburg International airport heist were granted bail of between R20 000 and R50 000 by a Kempton Park Regional Court magistrate on Tuesday. Shaheed Rudolf (43) of Eersterus, Rushdee Rudolf (42) of Cape Town and Christopher Billings were granted bail of R50 000 each.
Clive Derby-Lewis, imprisoned for life for the murder of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani in 1993, complained to the press ombudsman on Tuesday about an article describing former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s visit to him in prison. The Sunday Independent reported on July 16 that Zuma visited ”Hani’s killers” in a move said to have annoyed President Thabo Mbeki.
It begs belief that Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula has had ”the unmitigated gall” to accept a position as the leader of the over 200-strong election observer delegation to the Democratic Republic of Congo elections ”when he is failing so abjectly at his job back home in South Africa”, the Democratic Alliance’s Dianne Kohler Barnard said on Tuesday.
South Africa is not doing enough to address the Aids pandemic, the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) said on Tuesday. ”It is very disturbing that other countries in sub-Saharan Africa have managed to reduce their Aids statistics while South Africa continues to have the highest HIV infection rate,” SAIRR researcher Marco MacFarlane said in a statement.
A document has been drawn up to help facilitate the signing of a final ceasefire agreement in Burundi, South African Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. The document was drawn up by South African Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula and Burundi’s regional leaders after talks at the weekend.
Former Western Cape provincial minister of environment David Malatsi lied to a Scorpions investigator in order to save his own skin, the Bellville Regional Court was told on Tuesday. Malatsi — in the witness box for the fifth day in succession — was being questioned by prosecutor Bruce Morrison on a 234-page statement he gave to the Scorpions in 2003.
Officials of the trade union Solidarity and Sasol managers were holding talks on Tuesday intended to end a strike that began earlier in the day, the union said. The meeting was to take place in Secunda, Mpumalanga, after the union’s general secretary, Flip Buys, had spoken to striking members, said Dirk Hermann, Buys’s deputy.
Two elephants from the Kruger National Park ”had to be killed” after a group of 15 wandered out of the park through a section of broken fence, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. The group of 15 adolescent bulls got out recently through a section of fence believed to have been damaged by people stealing parts of it, and wandered onto land adjoining the park.
Avian influenza detected in poultry north-west of Mossel Bay is under control, the Department of Land Affairs and Agriculture said on Tuesday. ”The virus has been classified as type H5N2 which is not known to infect humans, unlike the H5N1 virus that has caused disease in humans in Asia, Europe and North Africa”, said spokesperson Nare Mabuela.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela said on Monday he ”never imagined” reaching the age of 88.
Two people have been charged for the assault of Cape Town mayor Helen Zille at a meeting in Crossroads in April and more arrests may follow, the Cape Times reported on Tuesday. Zille said on Monday: ”I did not know that anyone had been charged, but I am pleased that there has been progress.”
Striking medical interns in Zimbabwe have defied a directive to return to work while their grievances are being examined, Harare’s Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday. Junior doctors had vowed to return only if authorities met their demands that included a 700% pay increase.
Idols winner Karin Kortje’s lover Cheslyn Williams made a brief appearance in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Monday charged with murdering Durbanville guest-house owner Renate Kellerman. The magistrate postponed the case to July 24 to allow investigators to establish whether Williams has a criminal record.
A new campaign against farm attacks is to get under way with a protest march in North West on Friday, the trade union Solidarity said. ”We want to make people more emotional over this issue,” Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans told the media. He said vigils and other forms of protest are being planned in the longer term.
Marine salvors were attempting to remove the remaining 20 tons of heavy fuel oil from the stranded Safmarine Agulhas after a crack on the portside of the vessel started leaking diesel oil on Monday afternoon. Environmental affairs representative Nazeera Hargey said officials were unsure about the quantity of oil leaking from the crack but were dealing with the matter.
Several dozen submissions on Johannesburg International airport’s name change to OR Tambo International airport have been received, the ministry of arts and culture said on Monday. A ministry spokesperson said the submissions have been a "mixed bag", with some for and some against the name change.
A total of 218 people were arrested over the weekend for crimes such as attempted rape, illegal possession of firearms, house breaking and possession of stolen goods, North Rand police said on Monday. Superintendent Sophie Mayisela said the suspects were arrested during Operation Iron Fist in several parts of Johannesburg.