”Beware the wounded animal,” warned Bafana Bafana general manager Stanley ”Screamer” Tshabalala before Wednesday night’s Concacaf Gold Cup game against a down-in-the-dumps Guatemala at Houston’s Reliance Stadium. ”Bafana turned the tables on Mexico in our opening fixtures when no-one gave us a chance of winning,” said Tshabalala.
It is tempting to call it a no-brainer: the idea that attempts to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to children should be matched by initiatives to keep these mothers alive after they give birth. For all this, efforts in South Africa to prioritise the health of HIV-positive mothers have fallen short over past years.
The deliberate destruction of the informal economy in Zimbabwe is unparalleled in modern-day Africa, church leaders said in a report released on Tuesday. The report was compiled by 12 leaders from Christian churches who visited a transit camp south-east of Harare earlier this week.
Lauding President Thabo Mbeki’s drive for gender equality and South Africa’s women for their fight against HIV/Aids, United States First Lady Laura Bush said Africa’s progress is best measured in hope. Bush was speaking at a gathering at the Centre for the Book in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s countrywide municipal workers’ pay protest was wrapped up by mid-afternoon with conflicting claims on the effectiveness of the action. The South African Local Government Association said the strike had minimal impact and it will bill participating unions for damage caused during marches.
Cape Town city centre’s station deck minibus taxi rank, which serves 1Â 200 vehicles, is a disaster waiting to happen, according to a senior transport manager. There are also more than 200 traders sharing the confined space of the deck, the committee of inquiry into violence in the Western Cape taxi industry heard on Tuesday.
Combating organised crime and illegal migration were identified on Tuesday as two areas of potential cooperation between South Africa and Mexico. Organised crime is a challenge both countries face, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said in Pretoria after hosting his Mexican counterpart for political and economic talks.
Discussions on expanding the membership of the United Nations Security Council should not eclipse the need for pursuing more general UN reforms, deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. Pahad was speaking after hosting his Mexican counterpart, Maria de Lourdes Aranda Bezaury, for bilateral political and economic discussions.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) had by Tuesday received an estimated 2,4-million tax returns for the 2004/05 financial year, following the passage of the official tax-return deadline on Friday July 8. The estimate of 2,4-million is a "very conservative" one, Sars spokesperson Adrian Lackay said on Tuesday.
A 25-year-old Hout Bay resident was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the rape of a German tourist near Cape Town’s Sandy Bay, police said. The man was arrested at 1.30am after police followed up on information provided by the public, Superintendent Billy Jones said. He will appear in court on Thursday.
One of the most colourful and legendary Blue Bulls of all time, Fiks van der Merwe, has died in Pretoria at the age of 88, family members confirmed on Monday. He was also the second-oldest living Springbok. Van der Merwe played on the flank in the Springboks’ first post-World War II Test against the All Blacks in 1949.
A man and a woman have been arrested in the Johannesburg area in connection with a murder case in which the victim was set in concrete, East Rand police said on Monday. Superintendent Andy Pieke said a Boksburg man found the corpse encased in concrete in a dustbin in his yard in Boksburg on Sunday.
United States First Lady Laura Bush arrived in Cape Town on Monday where she will spend time with her daughters while visiting HIV/Aids centres, the American embassy said. On the apron at the Cape Town International airport, awaiting her arrival in a US Air Force jet, was a cavalcade of more than 30 vehicles.
Municipal workers were on Tuesday preparing for a nationwide march over a pay dispute, the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said. Spokesperson Roger Ronnie said that an early survey showed that both Samwu and Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union members had turned out for the strike.
Seven of 15 South Africans believed to be missing in London following last week’s bomb blasts have been found, the Dutch Reformed Church said on Monday. The names of the fifteen were read out during a church service in London on Sunday and the figure has been reduced from 50.
Already assured of a place in the Gold Cup quarterfinals against all expectations, Bafana Bafana’s final first round Group C qualifying game against struggling Guatemala in steamy Houston on Wednesday night remains as crucial as anything the Cinderella-like, rags-to-riches success story has provided.
More than 6,2-million South Africans were infected by HIV or Aids by last year, an increase of 700Â 000 from 2003, a new health ministry report said. Though women in their mid- to late-20s were the hardest hit by the pandemic, ”it was observed that there have been increases in prevalence across all age groups between 2003 and 2004”, the report said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) expressed support on Monday for a countrywide strike by more than 200 000 municipal workers to take place on Tuesday. The two unions representing municipal workers were right to reject their employer’s wage offer, Cosatu said in a statement.
South Africa backs Iran’s stance on the right of a country to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Monday in Pretoria on the first day of the second session of the South Africa-Iran Deputy Ministerial Working Group’s meeting.
Minister of Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya has vowed to arrest grant fraudsters, saying on Monday that some mothers are using subsidies meant for their children to have their hair done. Skweyiya said in the past the government lost about R1,5-billion a year to grant fraud.
Sanlam, South Africa’s second-largest life assurer, is planning to undertake a share repurchase totaling about R4-billion as part of its major capital restructuring plans, the company said on Monday. The group will offer shareholders R12 per share in a specific pro-rata offering for 10% of their shares.
People should use condoms and not have sex too young, said former president Nelson Mandela on Monday.
A strike in the glass industry entered its second day on Monday with no wage settlement in sight, unions said. Solidarity and the General Industries Workers’ Union of South Africa said workers walked off the job on Friday after refusing a ”miserable 5%” from July 1 and another 0,5% from January 1 next year.
Between 75% and 80% of South Africans have limited or no access at all to health services, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Monday. This inequity is limiting access to medical treatment, she said at the presentation of the draft Charter of the Public and Private Health Sectors of the Republic of South Africa.
Four men appeared briefly in the Wynberg Magistrate’s court on Monday in connection with the murder of a six-month-old baby last month. The court proceedings were held in camera because one of the accused is 16-years-old, said police spokesperson Captain Elliot Sinyangana.
Last week’s London bombings have again highlighted the vulnerability of public transport systems to disruption and terror, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said on Monday. He told a Southern African transport conference in Pretoria that this presents a serious and continuing challenge to all states.
The rail safety regulator ”is not fulfilling his role”, the United Transport and Allied Trade Union of South Africa told Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe in talks on Sunday about safety and overcrowding on trains. This makes it ”impossible” for unions to guarantee the safety of their members, the union told Radebe.
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor wishes to introduce legislation early next year giving school principals more power and authority, she said on Monday. School governing bodies have become ”very powerful” and principals do not play a big enough role, she told the seventh International Conference of School Principals in Cape Town.
Verimark Holdings (VMK) debuted on the JSE on Monday, opening with an inaugural trade of R3,05 and subsequently trading in a range of R2,99 to R3,01 per share in early dealings. The company develops and retails a range of products including household goods, DIY, beauty and exercise equipment.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has been hijacked by corrupt opportunists driven mainly by personal greed, party member and Member of Parliament Roy Bennett says in an article published on Monday.
The remains of five men who fought the apartheid regime in the 1980s and whose fate remained unknown until this year were returned to their families on Sunday during a moving ceremony that paid tribute to them as ”giants” in South Africa. About 400 people attended the ceremony held at Freedom Park in Pretoria.
The Free State Cheetahs held off a determined Border Bulldogs XV to win their Currie Cup match 18-12 at the Absa Stadium. In other matches, the Mighty Elephants beat the Falcons and the Blue Bulls maintained their stronghold in the Currie Cup competition at home ground Loftus by beating the Boland Kavaliers.