South Africa

The African National Congress’ national executive committee (NEC) is meeting for a third day at Esselen Park, east of Johannesburg, a party spokesperson said on Sunday morning. It had been scheduled to meet only on Friday and Saturday. The NEC was due to receive and discuss a report on ways to heal rifts in the party.

African National Congress (ANC) leaders spent Saturday afternoon discussing, among other things, ways to heal rifts in the party. The ANC national executive committee was due to receive and discuss a report over the next two days on ways to heal the rifts. The party’s national working committee on Monday approved the report, authored by President Thabo Mbeki and his party deputy, Jacob Zuma.

A third South African has died of his injuries following a suicide bombing in Baghdad this week. Two other South Africans died at the scene of the bombing on Monday. A fourth is injured in hospital. About 18 South Africans have been killed in Iraq since the United States-led invasion more than two years ago.

South Africa’s Directorate of Special Operations — the Scorpions — on Friday arrested three directors of medical-supplies company Macmed Health Care in one of South Africa’s largest fraud and corruption cases. Macmed was listed on the JSE and subsequently liquidated in October 1999.

A fifth mass grave has been found in northern Namibia, media reports said on Friday. It is near the town of Ondangwa, once a major base of the former South African Defence Force. The grave is only a kilometre away from where a forensic team confirmed the discovery of a fourth mass grave earlier on Friday.

Forty shacks were gutted in a fire at an informal settlement on Thursday night, Johannesburg emergency services said. Spokesperson Chief Superintendent Malcolm Midgley said the fire broke out at about 7pm and spread through the settlement completely, destroying 40 out of 1 000 shacks at Riverlea.

Donovan Moodley asked for a retrial in the Johannesburg High Court on Friday, saying he did not kill student Leigh Matthews. He was framed, he contended, adding that he would plead not guilty to all three of the charges against him — murder, kidnapping and extortion — if granted a new trial. He also asked for protection for his family and his partner, Yashika Singh.

Donovan Moodley, who was sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of student Leigh Matthews will launch the appeal of his sentence in the Johannesburg High Court on Friday. Moodley is already serving his sentence, which is running concurrently with a 15 year sentence for the kidnapping and 10 years for extorting ransom money from Matthews’ father.

Former Bafana Bafana coach Clive Barker has offered to help the South African Football Association committee to find a new coach after head coach Stuart Baxter quit on Tuesday. ”Bafana Bafana is not a toy that everybody should demand,” he said. ”This is an important position.”

Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota has been discharged from hospital after his heart attack and will take some time off to rest, his spokesperson said on Thursday. ”Due to tremendous improvement, the surgeon general made a determination that he go home,” Sam Mkhwanazi said.