Executives from Rover motor company were promised rugby Test tickets in exchange for a luxury car for rugby boss Brian van Rooyen, the Daily Dispatch website reported on Tuesday. This was done despite an earlier sponsorship by Ford to supply Van Rooyen and Saru with vehicles.
Wage talks between Xstrata Chrome and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa failed on Tuesday, as the strike at two processing plants near Rustenburg entered its third day. ”It is an extremely difficult situation and we feel the people losing the most are the workers,” said a company spokesperson.
Maurice Creswick of Johannesburg has been confirmed as the Guinness World Record blood donor — despite his 350-pint landmark being challenged last week. Creswick broke his own Guinness record for the 14th time when he gave his 350th pint in Johannesburg last week. His record was challenged by Lionel Lewis of Pretoria.
Fifteen companies have cost the Department of Public Works R441,1-million in the past two years by fronting as black economic empowerment (BEE) entities, Minister of Public Works Stella Sigcau said on Tuesday. A further 18 companies refused to have their compliance with the department’s BEE requirements checked, she said in Johannesburg.
Police on Tuesday were still searching for William Nkuna on what was to have been the second day of his trial for the murder of missing police Constable Francis Rasuge. A warrant of arrest was issued for Nkuna on Monday after he failed to arrive at the Mmabatho Circuit Court sitting in Ga-Rankuwa.
When you are the Bafana Bafana coach, you have no option but to be grateful for small mercies. However, even the news on Monday that Stuart Baxter will be able to select players from Kaizer Chiefs, Bloemfontein Celtic, Moroka Swallows and Supersport United for next week’s Cosafa Cup semifinal still had a backlash.
South African mercenaries are said to be involved in Haiti in the run-up to that country’s elections later this year, media reports said on Tuesday. It said an e-mail to members of the SA Special Forces League mentions that league members and former members of the police task force have apparently ”positioned” themselves for ”fireworks in a small, controversial, Caribbean country”.
Long distance swimmer Carina Bruwer on Monday became the 23rd South African to swim across the English Channel, the Cape Long Distance Swimming Association said in a statement. The ”nervous and excited” Bruwer began her attempt at 8.30am from Dover, England.
About 150 shacks burnt down when a fire swept through the George Gogh informal settlement south of Johannesburg on Monday afternoon, emergency services said. Spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said the fire started just after 4pm when a rubbish fire got out of hand.
Dali Mpofu, the new group chief executive officer of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, took up his new job on Monday with a firm stance against corruption, SABC news reported. Mpofu said he hoped to bring values like team-building, integrity and respect to the corporation.
South Africa’s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings were raised one notch each by agency Standard & Poor’s on Monday. The upgrade, which reflects on a country’s ability to repay money borrowed on the international markets, is based on improved macro-economic stability, the agency said in a statement.
The All Blacks imposed a rigid blackout of their morning training session on the third day of their stay in Durban in preparation for the upcoming Tri-Nations rugby Test against the Springboks in Cape Town on Saturday. At the end of the session, the media were granted interviews with lock James Ryan and fullback Leon McDonald.
The United Association of South Africa (Uasa) has declared a dispute with the Chamber of Mines over wage increases and will know on Thursday whether to strike. A Uasa official said the Chamber of Mines has not revised an offer it made last week of 5% for workers in some categories and 4,5% for other workers.
A faction in the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union tried to discredit Willie Madisha, the union’s president, when it leaked information that he was ordered to repay union money used to settle his tax bill, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Monday. In 2002, the faction also sought to discredit Thulas Nxesi, Cosatu said.
South African church leaders expect to meet President Thabo Mbeki soon to discuss the United Nations report on Zimbabwe’s clean-up operations, believed to have affected about 700Â 000 people. Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane and other leaders on Monday blessed consignments of humanitarian aid destined for Zimbabwe.
Opposition parties on Monday stepped up their attack on individuals allegedly involved in the Oilgate scandal. The Freedom Front Plus laid charges against Imvume Management, the company at the centre of the scandal, on Monday and the Democratic Alliance is to meet the National Prosecuting Authority about the matter.
The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) asked the Department of Health on Monday to update its list of products containing the carcinogenic Sudan Red food dye, saying such products had already been removed from shelves and production lines.
At least six striking mine workers were injured when security guards shot tear-gas grenades at protesters outside the Xstrata chrome mine near Rustenburg. Security guards took action after about 250 protesters attacked the vehicle of a non-striking employee, said Etienne du Preez, manager of corporate affairs for the company.
South African pilot Niel Steyl experienced his release from Zimbabwean prison at the weekend as the start of a second innings, media reports said on Monday. ”It feels as if I was clean-bowled out of my first life, but the second innings of my life started on Saturday,” he told reporter Erika Gibson.
They may have proved their worth as Telkom Charity Cup champions for a second successive year by winning Saturday’s final in front of a 70 000 crowd at the FNB Stadium while fielding basically different teams for the games against Black Leopards and Bloemfontein Celtic. Now the intriguing question is: Who are the real Sundowns?
A convoy of trucks carrying aid relief of 4 500 blankets and 37 tonnes of maize, beans and oil is to leave Johannesburg for Zimbabwe on Monday. The office of Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said on Monday the blankets were donated by the Anglican church. Other churches collected the rest of the goods.
The Inkatha Freedom Party on Sunday suspended its national chairperson, Ziba Jiyane, at a national council meeting at Umhlanga Rocks, Durban. The IFP said Jiyane last week brought its name into disrepute by saying that the party was operating as ”an internal dictatorship”.
Thirteen people died in a collision between a bus and a van between Rouxville and Smithfield on Monday morning, Free State police reported. The accident occurred at about 1am, said Sergeant Thandi Mbambo. ”The truck was apparently parked partially on the side of the road after a mechanical problem,” Mbambo said.
Delegates at the land summit in Johannesburg on Saturday rejected the land-reform policy based on the willing-buyer-willing-seller principle, media reports said on Sunday. Director General of Land Affairs Glen Thomas said opposition from commercial farmers means the matter requires further talks.
Springbok coach Jake White admitted that his team played poorly against the Wallabies at Loftus Stadium on Saturday, but was nonetheless delighted with the 22-16 win. It was just the start the defending champions sought to their Vodacom Tri-Nations defence, but far greater obstacles await them in Cape Town next weekend.
The controversy over the leadership of the Inkatha Freedom Party is a storm in a teacup, the party’s president, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, said on Saturday. In a speech prepared for delivery at an IFP rally in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal, he said some people are waiting ”with bated breath” for the ”explosion of our party, and even its burial”.
About 200 residents from various communities on Saturday protested at a Pikitup information day against the company’s proposed landfill site between Dainfern and Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg. Johannesburg’s waste-management company, Pikitup, held the open day in Fourways.
About 2 000 workers at Highveld Steel ended their strike on Saturday after accepting their employer’s 6% wage increase offer, trade union Solidarity said. ”Members of Solidarity decided … to accept the 6% wage increase and 5% increase in housing allowances,” said a Solidarity spokesperson.
South African Airways (SAA) was functioning at 85% capacity on Saturday following the end of a week-long strike, the airline said. ”By Monday, the schedule is expected to run at 100%,” SAA spokesperson Onkgopotse JJ Tabane said in a statement. Three flights were due to return from London on Saturday night.
Two vehicles have been recovered 150m away from the scene of a dramatic cash-in-transit heist that took place on the M1 north highway on Saturday. Johannesburg police spokesperson Sergeant Sanku Tsunke said a Toyota Run-X and a Ford bakkie were found abandoned.
Two South African pilots who flew suspected mercenaries to Harare last year entered South Africa at the Beit Bridge road border post on Saturday evening, their lawyer said. A light aircraft took Yaap Steyl and Hamman Jacobus from Beit Bridge to Pretoria to be reunited with their families before facing prosecution in South Africa.
Star-studded Mamelodi Sundowns retained the Telkom Charity Cup at an emotionally charged FNB Stadium on Saturday night by the skin of their teeth — but only after a goalkeeper named Postnett failed to deliver for Bloemfontein Celtic in the unfamiliar role of penalty-taker.