South Africa

A groundbreaking gender equality training course for local government officials has wrapped up in Johannesburg. ”The course was the first of its kind in South Africa and the region involving gender and local government,” said Colleen Lowe Morna, director of Gender Links, the NGO headquartered in Johannesburg that organised the training.

The African National Congress was dismayed by an incident in Durban on Tuesday in which supporters of axed deputy president Jacob Zuma burned T-shirts bearing the face of President Thabo Mbeki. Zuma was greeted by hundreds of supporters outside the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

The theft of several University of South Africa (Unisa) exam papers from the University of Namibia (Unam) will affect about 13 500 Unisa students worldwide, officials from Unisa said on Wednesday. The Namibian reported that the police in Namibia are probing the theft of several Unisa exam papers from Unam.

Anastasia Aspeling, mother of 10-year-old Liam who was found on Wednesday after his kidnapping in Ennerdale south of Johannesburg on Tuesday, said she is not someone who seeks revenge. ”I just want my son back. The law can deal with the people who took him [if they are arrested] as it sees fit,” she said.

Judgement is to be passed on Thursday on William Nkuna, accused of having murdered missing Constable Frances Rasuge. Judge Ronald Hendricks heard closing arguments on Tuesday from prosecutor Johann Smit and defence attorney Post Moloto in the Mmabatho Circuit Court sitting in Ga-Rankuwa.

The national executive committee (NEC) of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) has become the latest body to express concern over floor-crossing. ”The NEC remains concerned that the floor-crossing periods have become free-for-alls in which the pursuit of personal power and status eclipses concern for the public good,” it said.

Former Border Rugby boss Janice Ingram has to repay the union thousands of rands for expenses incurred during her tenure, the Dispatch Online reported on Wednesday. The expenses included almost R154 000 for a rental car and R13 000 for air tickets and accommodation for her and her boyfriend’s travels.

Dynamos and Thembisa Classic laboured to a 1-1 draw in their Premier Soccer League match played in front of a partisan crowd in the Giyani Stadium on Tuesday night. The sides went into the break scoreless, as the strikers from both sides managed to fluff whatever chances were created.

Not known for an ability to organise its affairs well in advance — if at all — the South African Football Association (Safa) has belatedly woken up to the reality of finding opponents for Bafana Bafana in next month’s pre-African Nations Cup Nelson Mandela Challenge.

The ex-wife of Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Dirk du Toit is traumatised by strange things happening in her Bloemfontein flat, News24 reported on Tuesday. It said she has reported several ”scary” experiences to the police, such as having her eyebrows and hair shaved while she slept at night.

The future of rugby in the Eastern Province hangs in the balance in an uphill battle against inherited administrative problems, the Herald Online reported on Tuesday. Eastern Province Rugby Union deputy president Aldy Meyer said players’ contracts for 2006 have not been renewed because of financial difficulties.