Two sports journalists are still in a serious condition and one is stable following an accident on the R59 outside Alberton on Saturday that claimed the lives of six reporters. Fourteen journalists and a driver were returning after covering the Masakhane games in Vanderbijlpark.
Johannesburg has been named South Africa’s premier city. Mandy Jean Woods, director of tourism and marketing, has announced Jo’burg has been named the most popular town or city in South Africa during the Markinor/Sunday Times Top Brands Survey 2003 awards ceremony this week.
President Thabo Mbeki has warned those ”peddling false stories” about various members of the African National Congress having been apartheid spies that they would face the wrath of the masses. He said during pre-1994 negotiations it had been agreed ”that all of us had the responsibility to let bygones be bygones”.
The United Democratic Movement has called for hearings into spy allegations against National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka not to be conducted in camera. ”The investigation ought to be conducted publicly … so that claims made by those wearing balaclavas could be avoided at all cost.”
The retrenchment of about 3 000 workers at the Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) gold mine in the North West is continuing as planned, company spokesperson Ilja Graulich said. About 155 workers have been offered voluntary retrenchment packages and another 129 have been retired.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela has congratulated South Africa’s latest Nobel Prize winner, author JM Coetzee, Mandela’s office said on Friday. Coetzee’s winning of the prestigeous literature accolade was announced by the Swedish Academy on Thursday.
Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo has unveiled a 2,5m-high bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi Square in the city centre, coincided with the 134th anniversary of Gandhi’s birthday. The statue has alarms, sensors and bleepers, as well as 24-hour security, to protect it from vandalism.
Companies that did not comply with the October 1 deadline to submit reports on employment equity can expect no mercy and face a minimum fine of R500 000, the Department of Labour has announced. A spokesperson said an extension of the deadline is not an option and no late submissions would be accepted.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has had to shut down computers in two of its office buildings in Pretoria in an attempt to contain the MSBlaster worm computer virus. The worm quickly rendered machines unusable, with e-mail and internet access being refused or very slow, and computers crashing.
The African National Congress has heaped praise on author JM Coetzee after it was announced that he had won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the Democratic Alliance has hailed the award as a ”huge honour” for South African literature. ”Mr Coetzee has made us all proud,” the DA said.
A quarter of all older people living in South Africa may be classified as chronically poor, with most living in households earning less than about R700 per month. According to a recent report commissioned by HelpAge International, South Africa has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in Africa.
Constitutional Court Judge Richard Goldstone has mixed feelings about retiring from the court on Thursday. ”I have mixed feelings, but I love a new challenge,” he said after a ceremony at the court to mark his retirement. Goldstone is to spend the next year teaching at two New York universities.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has announced it is throwing its full weight behind the campaign to make sure that every eligible voter is registered to vote in next year’s national and provincial elections. Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal each have more than two million people that still need to register.
Two thousand seven hundred mineworkers will definitely be retrenched at Durban Roodepoort Deep operations in the North West, the gold mine has announced. A spokesperson said the retrenchment would go ahead irrespective of the outcome of talks between the firm and the National Union of Mineworkers.
President Thabo Mbeki has accepted Nigeria’s decision not to invite Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to this year’s Commonwealth summit. Reports that Mbeki had insisted on Mugabe’s presence at the summit in Abuja were unfounded, spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said.
South African banking group Absa chief economist Christo Luus is forecasting that the rand will move to R6,50 to the United States dollar in 2004. The South African rand remained below R7 per dollar in early trade on Wednesday, after breaking this level on Tuesday for the first time in three years.
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/ 30 September 2003
The country’s only independent website providing crime statistics nationally celebrates its one-month birthday on Wednesday — but critics wonder about its validity and accessibility to those most affected by crime. About 80% of the website’s respondents are from the Gauteng region.
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/ 30 September 2003
The Democratic Alliance has taken ”the strongest possible exception” to what it says is a sacrilegious poem in honour of Northern Province premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi. The poem, by a school pupil, was published on the front page of the September edition of the Limpopo government’s newspaper.
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/ 30 September 2003
In an upbeat address to the Interfaith Conference for Peace in Africa, Deputy President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday the successful resolution of conflicts such as Mozambique, Angola and South Africa is an indicator that peace on the African continent is an achievable goal.
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/ 30 September 2003
The mudslinging between Deputy President Jacob Zuma and National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka resembles a soap opera, says the New National Party. The NNP feels both parties should ”keep quiet” and allow the Hefer commission to investigate allegations that Ngcuka had been an apartheid spy.
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/ 30 September 2003
Distell, South Africa’s largest listed wine and spirits producer, has announced it is expanding the reach of its Nederburg wine brand into China and India, two of the world’s fastest-growing markets. Nederburg is the largest brand within Distell’s wine portfolio and the largest premium brand in South Africa.
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/ 29 September 2003
Multinational pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim has given a guarded response following threats by the Treatment Action Campaign and the Generic Anti-Retroviral Procurement Project to import generic nevirapine, which will be sold for about R70, opposed to Boehringer’s R410 for its nevirapine product.
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/ 29 September 2003
The days of fractious children causing mayhem in the back of the car on long, hot journeys may be over. A local company has signed contracts with with manufacturers and distributors to provide in-car DVD systems as optional equipment in Toyota SA’s full range of vehicles.
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/ 29 September 2003
The presidency has moved to limit damage arising from remarks made by President Thabo Mbeki about him not knowing anyone who has died from Aids. "His negative replies do not support any broader interpretation that some media have given them," said presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=21153">Call for ‘dishonest’ Mbeki to apologise</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=21135">Mbeki’s comments ‘highly insensitive'</a>
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/ 26 September 2003
Opposition political parties have lambasted President Thabo Mbeki for his statement in the United States that he personally does not know anyone who has died of Aids, and called for him to apologise immediately. Democratic Alliance spokesperson Mike Waters said Mbeki’s comments were highly insensitive.
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/ 26 September 2003
A report commissioned in the wake of ”vigilante” attacks at the University of Stellenbosch earlier this year has warned that it is a matter of urgency that campus culture be placed on a new footing. The report was compiled by a seven-member panel chaired by Dr Frederik van Zyl Slabbert.
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/ 25 September 2003
Two Correctional Services officials have testified that they had not received any complaints after the cells of three of the Boeremag treason trialists were searched and certain documents seized. The incident took place in October last year when the cells of Mike du Toit, his brother Andre and Koos du Plessis were searched.
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/ 25 September 2003
African National Congress stalwart Onnica Mashohlwane Mashigo was killed by a pack of dogs on Saturday. Mashigo was prominent in the fight against apartheid and her house was a meeting point for top ANC members, including Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu.
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/ 25 September 2003
South Africa has welcomed the acquittal on Thursday of a Nigerian single mother who had faced death by stoning for having a child out of wedlock. The case had evoked wide condemnation from international rights groups, with the Nigerian government and several world leaders calling for Lawal to be spared.
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/ 25 September 2003
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is to present his medium-term Budget policy statement — known as the mini-Budget — on November 11, according to a parliamentary schedule, followed by Manuel’s introduction of his Adjustments Appropriation Bill and the Revenue Laws Amendment Bill.
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/ 24 September 2003
South Africa’s traditional leaders and traditional communities have a critical role to play in the country and should not be allowed to slide into insignificance, says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. The DA believes that traditional leaders’ role in managing communal lands has to be respected.
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/ 24 September 2003
The way the government is implementing black economic empowerment seems like an exclusive club for card-carrying African National Congress members, United Democratic Movement president Bantu Holomisa said on Wednesday. He also called for greater government intervention in South Africa’s economy.