Frankfort in the Free State was calm on Wednesday morning, but police remained on the alert for more service delivery protests. Police spokesperson Superintendent Motarafi Ntepe said a heavy police presence was maintained in Frankfort and Namahadi where demonstrations turned violent this week.
The situation in Frankfort calmed down on Tuesday after more residents were arrested for public violence, eastern Free State police said. Police spokesperson Superintendent Motarafi Ntepe said 64 people have been arrested since violence broke out on Sunday in Namahadi township over alleged poor service delivery.
The leadership ills of South African rugby are a product of the weakness of the sport’s organisation at provincial level, Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile said on Tuesday. ”I have never seen such weak provinces [and] provincial leaders as we have today. I don’t know what’s going on,” he said.
A Capetonian hopes to become the world’s fastest blind driver by setting a land-speed record next month. Accompanied by a navigator, Hein Wagner is to attempt the feat at a Mafikeng airstrip on September 8 — hoping to make his way into the Guinness World Records book.
Two top United Nations officials based in war-ravaged Côte d’Ivoire Tuesday solidly backed South African President Thabo Mbeki’s mediation after talks in Pretoria, and warned that any group trying to disrupt presidential polls set for October could face sanctions.
Fines imposed on teachers who helped Mpumalanga matric pupils to cheat are ”absurdly” low and not a deterrent, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. ”Instead, it will make it clear to all teachers that the consequences of helping children to cheat are negligible,” DA education spokesperson Helen Zille said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will call for Jacob Zuma to be reinstated as deputy president of South Africa, Cosatu said on Tuesday. Its central committee also resolved to ask President Thabo Mbeki to ensure the withdrawal of the corruption charges against Zuma.
About 1 000 pupils — somewhat short of the 100 000 promised by the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) — marched through central Cape Town on Tuesday to protest violence at schools. The march went off without incident, despite an earlier police warning to shopkeepers and vendors.
A torrent of expletives greeted the man accused of being the Station Strangler when he arrived at the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for an inquest into the deaths of three boys. Norman Afzal Simons, then a 27-year-old teacher, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for only one killing.
The Pafuri-Banyini pan in South Africa’s north-eastern Kruger National Park teems with game. Elephant bulls amble among clumps of marula trees and impala leap gracefully across the grassland, where buffalo graze. Located in the triangle between the Limpopo and Luvuvhu rivers where South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique meet, the pan is more than an idyllic corner of the Kruger park.
A total of 36 000 jobs were created during the 2004/5 financial year through the Development Bank of Southern Africa’s investment projects, the bank said on Tuesday. The new number of jobs created through funded projects was a 45% increase against the same reporting period in the last year, DBSA managing director Mandla Gantsho said.
One in every five ambulances will in future be dedicated for people in life threatening emergencies, the Gauteng health department said on Tuesday. This decision was taken on Monday at a meeting of health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa and councillors responsible for health in the province, said spokesperson Simon Zwane.
Metro Cash and Carry (Metcash) is retrenching ”about 600” of its workers for the company to survive and save 9 500 other jobs, the company said on Tuesday. ”In order for the company to survive, we have to go through the process of retrenching,” said Carlos dos Santos, Metcash’s CEO.
Old Mutual Healthcare and Kwacha, the holding company of 100% black-owned Sizwe Medical Services, have announced the proposed merger of their businesses that will result in the health-care subsidiary of Old Mutual being 36% black-owned, after taking into account its black economic empowerment (BEE) deal announced in April this year.
Twenty-one Department of Social Development officials faced fraud charges in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday as part of a nationwide campaign against benefit cheats. The officials are accused of receiving grants to which they are not entitled. More than 160 people had been identified for arrest in the fraud swoop.
Former deputy president Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday he is humbled by the support South Africa has given him since allegations of corruption were first levelled against him. Meanwhile, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal will hold meetings across the province to explain the party’s stance on Zuma.
The police warned the public on Tuesday not to heed a hoax e-mail about the closing of the child-protection unit. ”This e-mail that has been doing the rounds is full of malicious intent and is completely false,” said police spokesperson Captain Percy Morokane.
There must be unity in the tripartite alliance ahead of the local government elections, African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. ”We must fight against ‘clique-alism’ and factionalism that can divide our movement,” he told a Congress of South African Trade Unions central committee meeting.
A common approach involving the Zimbabwean private sector and political parties was needed on the pending loan agreement between South Africa and Zimbabwe, said South African deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad on Tuesday. Pahad was briefing the media in Pretoria on the ministerial meeting and Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit.
The absence of a cohesive, coordinated overall programme at the helm of South African soccer was evident again on Monday when the Premier Soccer League overturned its entire midweek programme, with Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns, Supersport United, Moroka Swallows and Ajax Cape Town now shorn of matches.
A technical blunder has landed North West agriculture MEC Dleleni Duma with an acquittal on a charge of drunken or reckless driving, The Citizen newspaper reported on Tuesday. It said Potchefstroom magistrate Peter Jikkels said on Monday the state had ”blundered” with particulars on the charge sheet.
Five members of the medical profession will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on charges related to trading in human kidneys, media reports said. Prominent professors who specialise in transplant operations are believed to be among the five.
Five brothers who were struggling to keep their dry, dusty sheep farm going became millionaires overnight after uranium was discovered on their land and they were paid R20-million for the mining rights. Just a few months ago the five Ngondo brothers were hard put to meet the mortgage payments after drought claimed 100 of their sheep.
South Africa’s Annelize du Pisani has won a bronze medal in the singles event at the tenpin bowling Women’s World Championships held in Aalborg, Denmark. Players from 40 countries took part in the championships, which ended with a medal ceremony and banquet on Saturday.
The formation of a government of national unity in Zimbabwe is not necessarily the solution to that country’s political problems, a South African government official said on Monday. Neither the ruling Zanu-PF nor the opposition regards a unity government as an imperative, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said.
A 17-year-old boy appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Monday accused of stabbing a 22-year-old man to death at the Menlyn Park shopping centre, east of the city, on Friday night. Police spokesperson Inspector Lucas Sithole said the 17-year-old was charged with the murder of 22-year-old Juan Lee Olivier.
One of South Africa’s leading tennis players of the post-war era, Sheila Summers, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sunday night in Johannesburg. She was 86. In 1947, Summers was the first South Africa woman to reach a Wimbledon semifinal and two years later became the first South African to win a Wimbledon title.
Police have issued a robbery and plunder warning to businesses in Cape Town ahead of what the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) says will be a massive march through the city centre on Tuesday. The march is to call for improved safety measures for violence-plagued schools on the Cape Flats.
After a mediator’s intervention in the municipal workers’ pay dispute, the South African Local Government Association is awaiting labour’s responses. The unions have until Thursday to accept or reject the new offer. The South African Municipal Workers’ Union has already rejected the offer, but is willing to negotiate further.
The United Association of South Africa (Uasa) has accepted a revised wage-increase offer from gold mines, the union said. ”We are quite satisfied,” said Uasa official Tim Kruger. The union accepted the offer after talks with the Chamber of Mines earlier in the day.
The Democratic Alliance accused the government on Monday of poor urban planning and allowing ”soulless slums” to develop. ”The legacy of the ANC government’s housing programme is mile upon mile of tiny, box-like houses, unbroken by trees, churches or parks,” the DA said in a statement.
An extra-large condom has been launched for South Africa’s well-endowed men. Durex brand manager Stuart Roberts said there is a huge demand for larger condoms in South Africa. ”A large number of South African men are bigger and complain about condoms being uncomfortable and too small,” Roberts said.