South Africa

A firefighter was injured in a blaze that gutted the head office of Caxton Publishing in Craighall, Johannesburg, on Thursday night. The two-storey building was completely destroyed in the blaze, said Johannesburg Fire and Emergency Management Services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley. ”It’s a major fire in terms of the structural damage,” he said.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee on Friday announced that it will send a strong contingent of approximately 252 athletes to the Commonwealth Games in Australia next year. As a multisports event, the Commonwealth Games rank second only to the Summer Olympics.

The burst pipe that flooded Meredale in southern Johannesburg with 80-million litres of water in July was the result of corrosion and a 41-year-old bad weld, Rand Water said on Friday. Rand Water chief executive Simo Lushaba said the pipe that burst developed a leak along a seam that had been welded in 1964.

Residents in the Hartbeespoort Dam area northwest of Johannesburg this week discovered a pipe dumping raw sewage into the dam, media reports said on Friday. It said the pipe was several hundred metres from the Madibeng local authority’s water-purification plant.

Smuts Ngonyama, who heads the Presidency in the African National Congress, intervened with government regulators to smooth the way for Bato Star, a fishing company in which his family — and allegedly he — holds interests. The company was struggling for permission for its newly purchased trawler, the Sandile, to fish in South African waters, and Ngonyama arranged the meeting between Bato Star and government officials.

The five Democratic Alliance (DA) MPs who defected from the party just before the close of the floor-crossing window on Thursday had lost their seats, said DA Chief Whip Douglas Gibson. ”The opinion of the DA — which has been confirmed by two independent counsel — is that the law requires that for any DA MP to cross the floor, six members must cross simultaneously,” he said.

Vehicle-distribution group McCarthy’s chief executive, Brand Pretorius, says the South African motor industry remains fully committed to the government’s taxi-recapitalisation programme and will do whatever is required to ensure its success. However, there are still some grey areas regarding the vehicle-scrapping policy and procedures.

The South African Rugby Union (Saru) announced on Thursday that the disciplinary inquiry into alleged sexual harassment by managing director Johan Prinsloo has been postponed. Saru’s lawyers had advised the union to proceed with the disciplinary hearing, the Daily Dispatch reported on Thursday.

Tuition at 58 schools in Uitenhage, Rocklands and Despatch has come to a standstill because of a go-slow by teachers, The Herald Online reported on Thursday, and the action could spread to Port Elizabeth schools. The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union’s western region began the go-slow about a week ago.

The South African Rugby Union (Saru) and its publishing partner Highbury Safika Media on Wednesday dismissed media reports of a breakdown in their relationship and of pending legal action over the trade name of SA Rugby magazine. ”We have made no threats,” said Saru CEO Johan Prinsloo.

President Thabo Mbeki has joined several other world leaders in adding his signature to the United Nations International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said on Thursday.