The drunken-driving charge against former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni has not been dropped, a prosecutor at the Parow Regional Court in the Western Cape confirmed on Wednesday. The prosecutor said earlier reports indicating that charges against Yengeni had been dropped were incorrect.
South African athletes will not be given specific targets for Beijing, but will aim to better previous records and enjoy the challenging experience of the Olympic Games. The first batch of names of athletes and officials who will form part of Team SA were announced at Olympic House in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The South African Football Association (Safa) has finally confirmed the appointment of Joel Santana as coach of Bafana Bafana, following the resignation of Carlos Alberto Parreira on Monday. The worst-kept secret in local soccer was confirmed in a press release from the body on Wednesday.
Three men have been arrested in connection with an Absa ATM bombing at Phagameng township in Modimolle on Wednesday, Limpopo police said. Spokesperson Superintendent Malesela Ledwaba said the men were caught after a massive search. ”We are still searching for two more men involved in the bombing.”
About 400 marchers under the banner of the Anti-Privatisation Forum handed over a memorandum to City Power and Eskom in Johannesburg on Wednesday in protest against a proposed 53% hike in electricity tariffs. The protesters called for the immediate resignation of Eskom managers, among other demands.
A Grahamstown High Court judge on Wednesday sentenced a 24-year-old man to two terms of life imprisonment for the rape of two young girls. The man was convicted last November of raping a three-year-old girl at his house on February 4 2004. Then, while on bail of R500, he raped a 13-year-old girl.
In the agony of remorse, one of the men arrested for Taliep Petersen’s murder painstakingly wrote out a 15-page confession detailing his role in the murder. But it was Taliep’s wife, Najwa, who actually pulled the trigger after giving her husband a last embrace, Waheed Hassen said.
South Africa’s skills problem remains massive, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Wednesday. ”The scale of the problem has become bigger in the interim. There’s a need for us to up our game,” she told a media briefing on the 2007 report of the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition.
The Education Department is considering reopening teacher training colleges, says Education Minister Naledi Pandor. In a written reply to a question in Parliament by Desiree van der Walt of the Democratic Alliance, Pandor said the department is investigating options for expanding the provision of teacher education.
A disabled man was jailed for 20 years by the Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday for raping his 13-year-old niece. The 55-year-old man — who cannot be named in order to protect the girl’s identity — appeared before Judge Jeremy Pickering after pleading guilty on Tuesday.
Gauteng has allocated more than R640-million for the upgrading and development of roads in terms of the ”Twenty Prioritised Townships Programme” since 2006. The provincial government said on Wednesday the programme seeks to ensure the tarring of all roads in historically disadvantaged areas
Fraud convict Schabir Shaik is still a patient at Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital, KwaZulu-Natal’s health department said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Sibonela Msomi said that media reports stating Shaik was back in prison were incorrect. ”He is still being treated at hospital and we don’t know when he will be discharged,” said Msomi.
Cellphone operator MTN Group said on Wednesday subscribers rose 11% to 68,2-million in the first quarter from the fourth quarter, lifted by its Iran operation. MTN Group, which anticipates adding 16-million subscribers by the end of 2008, said its Iran subscribers soared 50% to 9,02-million customers.
There has been a clear increase in the number of Zimbabweans trying to cross the border illegally into South Africa since the March 29 election, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said on Wednesday. The SANDF has three companies, which total more than 500 soldiers, patrolling the border in support of police border operations.
Trustees of the insolvent estate of slain mining magnate Brett Kebble want more than R25-million back from beneficiaries of Kebble’s largesse, Business Day reported on Wednesday. Alleged beneficiaries ranged from senior African National Congress members to a prominent business journalist.
Power cuts are hitting Transnet’s service, its chief executive, Maria Ramos, announced in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The power cuts are a problem, particularly as far as the company’s expansion projects are concerned, she said. ”We were affected and we are from time to time affected by the power issues — like everybody else.”
Najwa Petersen was the one who fired the shot that killed her husband, Taliep, the Cape High Court heard on Wednesday. The claim was made in a confession by Waheed Hassen, one of the hit men she allegedly hired to carry out the killing. The confession was admitted unopposed as evidence.
There is no conclusive evidence that water problems caused the death of 78 children in the Eastern Cape, the Ukhahlamba district municipality said on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Dispatch Online said nearly 80 children had died in the Eastern Cape district due to unsafe tap water, and authorities had failed to take any action.
South Africa will wait to finalise a contract with their new coach before officially announcing his appointment, the South African Football Association’s CEO said on Wednesday. ”We expect everything to be in place with all contractual and legal obligations sorted out by May 4,” Raymond Hack told local radio.
South Africa’s targeted CPIX (consumer inflation less mortgage costs) rate jumped to a new five-year high of 10,1% in March, beating forecasts and hardening expectations for another interest-rate increase. Statistics South Africa said the targeted measure jumped from 9,4% in February to its highest level since December 2002.
”It’s mind-boggling how much waste 30 000 people can produce in ten hours,” says Justin van Wyk, director of business affairs at BIG Concerts, organiser of the My Coke Fest 2008, the rock music festival that took place in Johannesburg and Cape Town in March.
The JSE remained in the black at midday on Wednesday thanks to firm resources stocks, but banks and financials were under a bit of pressure. By 11.54am the JSE’s broader all-share index was up 0,34%. Resources added 1,01%, but the platinum-mining index, after having being stronger earlier, was now off 0,52% and the gold-mining index was down 1,14%.
The Ginwala inquiry has turned down a request for access to submissions on suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli, the inquiry said on Wednesday. ”I have declined a request from Independent Newspapers that I make all submissions made to the inquiry available to them,” said a statement issued on behalf of inquiry leader Frene Ginwala.
Mike Moriarty is to step down as Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus leader in Johannesburg to make himself available for nomination as a member of the province’s legislature in next year’s parliamentary election, the party said on Wednesday. Moriarty would leave his current post on September 1.
It is starting to come together at last for Mamelodi Sundowns. After failing to defend their Absa Premiership title and sacking one of the country’s top coaches in Gordon Igesund earlier this season, the Brazilians have finally turned the corner under caretaker coach Trott Moloto, who replaced Igesund.
Global resources giant BHP Billiton announced on Wednesday that it has secured a significant long-term gas-supply agreement with a leading Australian energy company, Origin Energy, to supply gas to south-eastern Australia. The supply of gas will commence in late 2009.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille was emerging as a person who would go to extremes to cover up the truth, a former member of the DA said on Tuesday. ”[She is] a person who criticises the judiciary and the media because their duties do not fit her political agenda,” Kobus Brynard, a Western Cape MPL for the African National Congress, said.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ekurhuleni has called for the immediate suspension of the city manager. The DA’s Rika Hunter said on Tuesday that city manager Peter Flusk failed to consult the council when he appointed Dehal Attorneys to act on behalf of Robert McBride, the chief of the Ekurhuleni metro police.
One of the alleged killers of entertainer Taliep Petersen made a written confession that he had committed ”a terrible sin”, the Cape High Court heard on Tuesday. However, the accused, Waheed Hassen, maintains the confession was false, and that he was coached by police on what to say.
The man who held several Pretoria News employees hostage last year on Tuesday pleaded guilty to 11 of the charges against him. However, he pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to kill police Constable David Bapela when he allegedly shot him in the lower leg.
Business Unity South Africa (Busa) has asked the National Energy Regulator of South Africa to delay its public hearings on Eskom’s proposed 53% tariff hike. Briefing the media in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Busa chief executive Jerry Vilakazi said a tariff increase would be ”short-sighted” and was not a sustainable solution to the current electricity crisis.
Laughing excitedly, dozens of children on Tuesday filled a new park in Bramfischerville, Soweto, which was opened by Johannesburg City Parks and the district municipality to mark World Earth Day 2008. Johannesburg City Parks has also planted more than 15 000 trees in Meadowlands and Bramfischerville.