South Africa

A Working on Fire team is standing by to demobilise after cooler weather and rain put an end to fires in Limpopo, spokesperson Val Charlton said on Wednesday.
”As soon as the temperature drops, and there is rain, it is easier to get the fires under control,” she said on Wednesday afternoon.

The three men accused of kidnapping 10-year-old Liam Aspeling earlier this month made a low-key appearance in the Vereeniging Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. Aspeling, whose father is a state witness in a truck-hijacking case, was snatched from a car while on his way to school on October 11. The three accused not asked to plead.

The Freedom Front Plus says that even if the Oilgate scandal ruins the party financially, it won’t disclose its sources and will contest empowerment company Imvume Management court bid to force it to do so. The issue stems from disclosures about the scandal that the FF+ made in the National Assembly in June.

There is no breach between the United Nations and the South African government over HIV/Aids, the Department of Health said on Tuesday in reaction to an article in The New York Times. The article quoted a book published by the UN special envoy to Africa on Aids, Stephen Lewis.

A 92-year-old woman smoking in her room caused a fire at a retirement village on Tuesday night, killing one woman and injuring nine others in Highlands North, Johannesburg. ”Apparently she was a very heavy smoker,” emergency services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said on Wednesday.

Athletics South Africa is taking a further step in preparing for the new 2006 season when the National Technical Officials Symposium takes place at the High Performance Centre at the University of Pretoria this weekend. It follows the highly successful National Coaches Symposium recently held in Bloemfontein.

Proteas and Highveld Lions all-rounder Andrew Hall has been released from the Standard Bank Proteas one-day international squad to return to the Lions enclosure for their Supersport Series match against the Eagles, beginning on Thursday. Opening batsman AB de Villiers was released to the Titans last week.

African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma has described the controversy around him as a challenge to South Africa’s Constitution. The test was how these matters were being handled, he told Metro FM in an interview on Tuesday.

Undertakers are not concerned about contracting HIV from corpses, they said on Tuesday. ”It’s a load of hogwash. If they take the right precautions, the chance [of contracting HIV] is a big, round nought,” said Geoffrey Gilfillan, an operations manager for an undertakers firm.

There was no breach between the United Nations and the South African government over HIV/Aids, the health department said on Tuesday in reaction to an article in The New York Times. According to the article about a book published by the UN special envoy to Africa on Aids, Stephen Lewis, there was an ”extraordinary breach” between the government and the UN.

Draft hunting regulations, including a ban on ”canned hunting”, will be published for comment early next year, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in Cape Town on Tuesday. ”The unfortunate reality is that hunting, at present, is not well-regulated,” he said.

Doctors at the Pretoria Academic hospital have obtained an urgent court order enabling them to give a month-old baby a blood transfusion, Independent Online reported on Tuesday. The baby’s family, who live in Sunnyside and are Jehovah’s Witnesses, were deeply distressed by the turn of events.