Violent protests by residents of Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, on Thursday were a result of the community misunderstanding service-delivery plans, the Tshwane municipality said. Protesters blocked the intersection of Soutpan and Hammanskraal roads with objects including burning tyres.
Business confidence in December rose to its highest level for 2005, the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) said on Thursday. The business confidence index (BCI) registered 129,4 in December after measuring 126,5 in November. The BCI increased by 3,6 index points during the course of 2005.
The road death toll for December has risen to 1 215, the Department of Transport said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Collen Msibi said 512 of the fatalities were pedestrians, 414 were passengers and 289 were drivers. The figure is down from 1 234 reported in the same period last year.
Pretoria police have arrested 36 men in Olievenhoutbosch for public violence following clashes between South Africans and foreigners, a spokesperson said on Thursday. Tshwane municipal officials met the Olievenhoutbosch community on Wednesday in an attempt to defuse the clashes.
A police inspector was injured during a stone-throwing incident at Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, on Thursday when residents demonstrated against poor service delivery, police said. ”The protests started at 3am this morning in Orange Farm informal settlement in Soshanguve,” said Superintendent Piletji Sebola.
Distell, South Africa’s largest listed wine producer, has launched the first wines under a new brand from its ground-breaking joint venture in the Gansbaai area of the Western Cape, called Lomond Wines. Started in 2000, the Lomond project was experimental, being situated in the southern-most area in South Africa to be planted with vines.
Tshwane municipal officials met with the Olievenhoutbosch community on Wednesday in an attempt to defuse clashes between South Africans, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans which have claimed two lives and left at least 11 injured so far. Although no arrests have been made, several of the injured were being held for questioning.
The inquest into the cause of death of deceased national cricket captain Hansie Cronje is scheduled to be heard in Cape Town in a couple of months. Cronje died when the Hawker-Siddeley aircraft he was travelling in crashed into a cliff close to George airport nearly four years ago.
An African Union report condemning Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s human rights record has been hailed by South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance. The report of the African Union’s Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights — meeting in Banjul, The Gambia — has urged Mugabe to allow an AU delegation to go on a fact-finding mission to his country.
Police confirmed a total of five people were dead and 11 injured after renewed clashes between South Africans and foreigners on Wednesday at the Olievenhoutbosch informal settlement, south of Pretoria. Three deaths occurred on Wednesday and two people died on Monday, bringing the total to five.
While 2005 brought deregulation and the licensing of the second national operator, South African telecommunications users are set to experience tariff reductions as a result of regulatory changes and increased competition for fixed-line, mobile and data operators in 2006.
Two people died on Monday at the Olievenhoutbosch informal settlement south of Pretoria following clashes between South Africans and foreigners, police said on Wednesday. The exact cause of the deaths was not known, but the two appeared to have died from blows received during the clashes between the groups.
The body of a woman who drowned on Wednesday after her shack was swept away by a river in Diepsloot outside Johannesburg has been found, Gauteng police said. Superintendent Eugene Opperman, of the province’s water wing and diving unit, said the 30-year-old woman was found just after 10am.
Potential voters who still want to register for the municipal elections, and those who want to re-register, do not have many days left to do so. The Independent Electoral Commission said there is still an opportunity for potential voters to register or re-register at their local municipal electoral officers.
A South African model and aspiring actress raped in the Indian city of Mumbai might have been the victim of a blue-movie trick, News24 reported on Wednesday. An Indian newspaper reported that the men who admitted to raping the model might have filmed the whole incident on high-quality cellphones.
Firefighters entered their 10th day on Tuesday evening fighting a blaze in the Franschhoek mountains above Dewdale farm. Danie Wilds, fire chief of Cape Winelands district municipality, said crews were still battling the same hot spots that have been their nemeses for the past couple of days.
Free State farmers celebrating the rain that fell over the New Year are praying the wet weather carries on into the planting season to ease a drought that has crippled the province since November. Free State Agricultural Union director Pieter Moller said the recent rainfall had not broken the drought, but had brought great relief to the farmers.
Benni McCarthy is well and alive — and raring to play for Bafana Bafana in the forthcoming African Nations Cup. This was the emphatic assurance given by coach Ted Dumitru on Tuesday while refuting reports that the dazzling, but enigmatic Porto striker, intended asking the South African Football Association to release him from the tournament in Egypt.
Since the beginning of the festive season, 58 people have been treated for malaria in Limpopo, and 23 are in a critical condition at the Donald Fraser hospital in Thohoyandou said Health Department spokesperson Phuti Seloba. ”We urge people to go to the nearest clinic as soon as they start experiencing symptoms of malaria, such as headaches and fever,” he said.
Heavy rains in parts of Southern Africa have left more than 1Â 000 people homeless, caused structural damage, and played a part in spreading cholera . In Zambia more than 1Â 000 cases of cholera have been reported since August with at least six deaths amid an escalation in the number of infections in recent days.
A ”lacklustre” performance by Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula and the ”disappearance from the radar” of National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi have left the Democratic Alliance wondering who is in charge of fighting crime, the party said in a statement on Tuesday.
The case of the 47-year-old handyman accused of killing a six-year-old Johannesburg boy in Plettenberg Bay was on Tuesday postponed to March 3 in the Knysna Magistrate’s Court. The court ordered that the man, known as Theuns Christian Olivier or Raymond Sinclair, be held at the Knysna correctional centre.
Supersport United player Sibusiso Mahlangu was charged with rape during a brief appearance in the Atteridgeville Magistrate’s Court, west of Pretoria, on Tuesday, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported. Mahlangu was arrested on New Year’s Day. In an affidavit, Mahlangu said the complainant called him in the early hours of that morning and that they had spent some time together.
Road deaths during the Christmas holidays were at 1Â 162 by the end of December, the Department of Transport said on Monday. There was heavy traffic on the country’s main routes on Monday as holidaymakers returned home. Meanwhile, the bodies of five people who drowned after their car plunged into the Vaal River have been recovered.
The Eagles swooped into Cape Town and inflicted yet another defeat on the Cape Cobras as the home side finished their season winless. The Warriors overcame an atrocious start to the new year almost to snatch what would have been a remarkable victory in their final Standard Bank Cup limited-overs cricket match against the Highveld Lions.
Orlando Pirates’ contingent of a record six players in the provisional Bafana Bafana squad is already ”on board” for this month’s African Nations Cup tournament in Egypt. The selection of Benedict Vilakazi, Joseph Makhanya, Siyabonga Nomvete, Tonic Chabalala, Lebohang Mokoena and Gift Leremi has been confirmed by the club’s management.
Western Cape police suspect that the 47-year-old handyman accused of killing a six-year-old Johannesburg boy in Plettenberg Bay might not be South African. The accused, who was on Tuesday expected to appear in the Knysna Magistrate’s Court, goes by the names of Theuns Christian Olivier as well as Raymond Sinclair.
The man sitting opposite me looks avuncular. With wispy greying hair and beard, Andre du Toit could easily play Father Christmas, but instead he is serving a 20-year sentence in a maximum-security prison for a double murder. ”I was terrified. I’ve never ever been to a prison in my whole life, and in a matter of three, four seconds, my whole life changed,” he says.
South Africa, an economic and political leader in Africa, is also the continent’s number-one jailer. If prisons are a reflection of society, what conclusions are to be drawn from this reality, particularly in a nation rightfully proud of its nascent democracy? Wendell Roelf investigates.
An accused man is arrested. At the court’s holding cells he is savagely raped. His assailants shove a ”bullet” filled with contraband dagga up his rectum, to be couriered into prison. His ordeal has only begun. This is the testimony of ”Frank Erasmus”, contained in a letter read out to members of Parliament in October 2004.
Seven yachts competing in the gruelling around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race set sail from Cape Town on Monday in light winds for the second and most dangerous leg of the global dash. A shot from the starter’s cannon at 1pm local time signalled the start of the 6 100-nautical-mile leg.
Two mountain fires, fanned by a strong south-westerly wind, burned out of control in the Boland on Monday night, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. One of the fires was raging in Du Toit’s Kloof at Donkerhoek and the second above Dewdale on the Hottentots Holland flank.