One man has been shot dead and two injured in Tembisa, where the latest xenophobic attacks have occurred, police said on Saturday as a protest march in central Johannesburg drew attention to the week’s violence that has already gripped Alexandra and Diepsloot in Gauteng.
The Stormers are planning to hit the Lions’ defence hard where it is likely to hurt most in Saturday’s Super 14 clash at Ellis Park. The fragile Lions’ defence have leaked 41 tries this season, and after 12 matches they have conceded a staggering 345 points — almost 29 points per game.
Blue Bulls flyhalf Burton Francis put on a match-winning kicking display as the Blue Bulls edged out the Free State Cheetahs 25-21 to be crowned Vodacom Cup champions at Loftus Versfeld on Friday. It was a relieved Carel Hoffman, Blue Bulls captain, who accepted the trophy and R1-million winners’ cheque.
United States pop group the Backstreet Boys will be performing in Sun City’s Superbowl at the POSI+IVE festival on June 14 and 15, the resort announced on Friday. The band members — Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and AJ McLean — are back together after taking a break from 2002 to 2005.
Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula said on Friday that those responsible for continuous xenophobic attacks in Gauteng townships will be ”severely dealt with”. He was responding to the violence in Alexandra and Diepsloot that erupted in the past week, in which three people were killed and dozens injured.
Three-and-a-half tonnes of dagga worth about R3,4-million were seized by Beaufort West police in one week, Western Cape police said on Friday. Spokesperson Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe said that in all three cases vehicles were stopped while heading for Cape Town.
Any increase in electricity prices should occur gradually over five years, Eskom was told on Friday at a summit in Sandton on the electricity crisis, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported. The government, labour, the African National Congress and community forums were represented at the summit.
Former Goodwood police station commander Siphiwo Given Hewana is to go on trial in the Parow Regional Court in September for allegedly interfering in the drunken-driving case against former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni.
A full bench of judges on Friday reserved a ruling on the bid by the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance (DA) to quash the Erasmus commission. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool to probe the DA-led city’s investigation of renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.
The education minister’s budget was called ”simplistic” by the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) on Friday, following the budget speech in Parliament on Thursday. ”Sadtu wishes to express its concern at the simplistic nature of the education minister’s budget speech to Parliament,” said Thulas Nxesi, general secretary of the union.
The spate of xenophobic violence in Alexandra has to be contained or it will cause problems in the future, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said on Friday after visiting the troubled township. Meanwhile, the Gauteng African National Congress has compared the xenophobia that fuelled this week’s attacks to the racism of apartheid.
The new Bafana Bafana coach, Brazilian Joel Santana, jets in to take charge of the national football side on Sunday morning. This was confirmed on Friday by South African Football Association spokesperson Morio Sanyane, who stressed that there would be no immediate press interviews.
Bedlam erupted in the Kempton Park Regional Court on Thursday when three men accused of possession of illegal firearms staged a dramatic escape. The escape took place when the three suspects were taken to the court’s holding cells, presiding magistrate Eric Mhlari told the Mail & Guardian Online on Friday.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board did not comply with its own rules when it suspended chief executive Dali Mpofu, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Friday. ”The SABC board acted before it complied with its own internal rules … the suspension cannot stand,” said Mpofu’s lawyer, advocate Vincent Maleka SC.
HIV-positive people will be able to join the South African National Defence Force after it admitted in the Pretoria High Court on Friday that its policies preventing HIV-positive people from employment, foreign deployment and promotion in the armed forces were unconstitutional.
The African National Congress and its labour allies called on Friday for electricity prices to rise only gradually, rejecting the state power firm’s appeal for a sharp hike to solve a dire power crisis. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said it would be wrong for Eskom to use price rises to recover from past losses.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>Addressing the students and teachers at a University of Zululand graduation ceremony in Empangeni on Friday, African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma said that nation-building is not only about people’s attitudes. "We must understand that nation-building requires that we tackle the material differences between our people," he said.
Nick Fraser, the editor of the BBC’s international documentary series Storyville, comments on the state of affairs at the SABC.
Eskom has awarded a R2,9-billion contract to a consortium of South African companies for the construction of the main civil works at its Medupi power station in Limpopo, the utility said on Friday. A consortium made up of Murray & Roberts, Grinaker-LTA Civil Engineering and Concor was awarded the contract.
A Johannesburg High Court judge on Friday questioned the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board’s lawyers about the legality of CEO Dali Mpofu’s suspension. Hearing an urgent application from Mpofu challenging his suspension, Judge Moroa Tsoka put it to the respondents that there were discrepancies in their court papers.
Petrochemicals giant Sasol on Friday said its shareholders had approved its planned R25,9-billion black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction. The world’s largest producer of oil from coal announced its intention to conclude a broad-based BEE ownership transaction in respect of 10% of its issued share capital in September last year.
Members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union downed tools in Limpopo on Friday, the union said. Samwu said the protesters were gathering at SABC Park in Polokwane and would march to the offices of the provincial minister of local government later on Friday.
South Africa’s economy cannot afford a sharp electricity price increase, a leader of the African National Congress (ANC) said on Friday, adding that Eskom should not be allowed to use pricing to make up past losses. As part of efforts to tackle power shortages and fund infrastructure expansion, Eskom has requested a 53% increase in electricity tariffs.
South African stocks hit another fresh high on Friday morning, boosted by strong gains for resources. At 11.56am, the all-share index was up 0,82%, boosted by a 1,48% rise in resources and a 2,06% gain for the platinum-mining index. Banks were up 0,37% and financials were 0,61% better. Industrial were flat (-0,03%) and the gold-mining index eased 0,80%.
Dillon Davie speaks to Isak Roux, who is in town for the premiere performance of his <i>Coming Home</i> cantata at the Johannesburg City Hall.
They are still in the Absa Premiership title race by the skin of their teeth, but the 1-1 draw with Santos in a dour, uncompromising Cape derby at Athlone Stadium on Thursday night was not the result Ajax Cape Town were seeking. Now three points behind log leaders SuperSport United going into the final round of fixtures on Sunday, Ajax’s hopes are hanging by a thread.
eThekwini municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe has likened the international Blue Flag scheme to an ”apartheid” system that creates separate beaches, the Mercury newspaper reported on Friday. Blue Flags are part of an international beach-quality accreditation scheme.
Football’s calendar in the coming two months appears to be quite hectic. Next month, Europe’s top countries will play in Euro 2008, which is being co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland, and in July there will be a football world cup — yes, a world cup for ”unrecognised nations”.
The United Nations’s Department of Social and Economic Affairs predicts that world economic growth will fall steeply to 1,8% this year and 2,1% next year, down from 3,8% in 2007, according to a report entitled <i>World Economic Situation and Prospects 2008</i>.
Police engaged ”hooligans” in a tense game of cat and mouse through the informal settlement of Diepsloot on Thursday night. In an attempt to prevent a similar situation to that which emerged in Alexandra this week, police scoured the streets, dispersing any groups that had gathered.
Najwa Petersen appeared in court every day wearing a colour-coordinated suit, matching scarf and hennaed fingernails. She ordered 30 new outfits for the trial, allegedly underwent liposuction and had a breast enlargement operation barely a month after Petersen’s death. ”She’s now a 36DD!” friends and relatives of Petersen said outside court.
Having a judge head the politically loaded Erasmus commission undermined the principle of separation of powers, lawyers for the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance argued on Thursday. The city and the party have asked the court to quash the commission to probe the legality of the city’s spying on renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.