South Africa

Power will be restored by Christmas Eve in the district of Piet Retief after a substation was severely damaged by an explosion and fire on Wednesday night, Eskom spokesperson Sithembele Tshwete said on Thursday. Engineers from Eskom and the Piet Retief municipality are investigating the cause of the explosion.

The Department of Health has filed notice with the Constitutional Court to appeal against a judgement by the Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal annulling the government’s new medicine-pricing regulations. The appeal effectively suspends the Supreme Court of Appeal judgement passed on Tuesday.

After three weeks of musing, the Department of Home Affairs has decided to approach the Constitutional Court about legalising gay marriages. ”We are filing our appeal today [Wednesday]. We are a very principled department and believe we cannot pre-empt the process,” said departmental spokesperson Nkosana Sibuyi.

The Department of Health will strengthen efforts to educate consumers and alert them of ”dubious” weight-loss products, the department announced on Wednesday. ”Weight-loss products are of special concern to the department in that to date … there is no existing policy framework for regulation,” a departmental spokesperson said.

Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Tuesday postponed the deportation of about 2 000 illegal immigrants over the festive period. Mapisa-Nqakula made the announcement during a visit to the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp on the West Rand.

Another youth has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 70-year-old Heidelberg farmer, East Rand police said on Wednesday. Superintendent Andy Pieke said the 16-year-old boy was arrested on Tuesday in the Ramaphosa squatter camp near Boksburg. He allegedly was in possession of a stolen television set.

The United South African Pharmacies, an industry body representing more than 1 200 community pharmacies, says Monday’s Supreme Court of Appeal decision to set aside the government’s medicine-pricing regulations provides an opportunity for pharmacies to adopt a pricing model acceptable to all role players.

Media fuss about admission tests for universities is unfounded, as the minister of education and the universities are not in disagreement on the matter, the ministry said on Monday. ”It is highly regrettable that certain political parties have chosen to exploit the matter for petty point-scoring,” said ministry spokesperson Rob Turrell.

Police on Tuesday arrested four suspects who allegedly killed a Heidelberg farmer by dragging him behind his own vehicle with a rope tied round his neck, spokesperson Superintendent Andy Pieke said. The body of Joaquim Homem de Gouveia (70) was found on December 18 on a deserted area of the farm.

The government is trying to blame everyone else for its decision to use nevirapine in its mother-to-child HIV prevention programme, the Treatment Action Campaign said on Saturday. It was responding to biting commentary in the African National Congress’s weekly newsletter regarding nevirapine trials in Uganda.

The inquest into the cause of pop diva Brenda Fassie’s death earlier this year was finalised in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court last week, Afrikaans newspaper Beeld reported on Saturday. The inquest found that she had collapsed into a coma after smoking cocaine, and did not die of an asthma attack, as was earlier reported.

Police have closed down an Edenvale nightclub where they found children under the influence of alcohol on Friday night. North Rand police spokesperson Eugene Opperman said there were six under-age children at the Revolutions club in Isando Road. He expressed concern over the attitude of the parents when their children were returned to them.

Two South African men detained in Pakistan on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organisation were deported to South Africa on Wednesday, the office of the South African national police commissioner said on Friday. Feroz Ganchi and Zubair Ismail were questioned by the South African Police Service upon their arrival in South Africa.

The African National Congress published a stinging attack on Friday on top United States health officials, accusing them of treating Africans like guinea pigs and telling lies to promote the sales of a key Aids drug. The article reinforces the fears of doctors and activists that new questions about the testing of nevirapine could halt use of the drug.