South Africa does not need the likes of sacked Sunday Times columnist David Bullard, Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan said on Tuesday. ”He is the type of person South Africa does not need within its borders,” he told a media briefing at Parliament.
Con-artists posing as South African Revenue Service (Sars) officials are trying to take tax refunds back from an unsuspecting public, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) warned on Tuesday. ”Sars is currently refunding individuals who are entitled to tax refunds and thus the storyline is quite believable,” said Sabric.
Fraud related to identity theft cost South African businesses R276-million in the first three months of 2008, said Alexander Forbes Insurance on Tuesday. Alexander Forbes Insurance managing director Gari Dombo said this was a ”substantial increase” on the 2007 figures released by the South African Fraud Prevention Services.
South African stocks were little changed at noon on Tuesday in a thin-volume session, as some traders remained on the sidelines ahead of Wall Street opening. At midday the all-share index was neither here nor there (-0,06%) at 31 754,380. Resources were up 0,50% but the gold- and platinum-mining indices were down 0,16% and 1,63% respectively.
All charges against a couple who were forced to dig up their own child’s body were dropped in the Koppies Magistrate’s Court in the northern Free State on Tuesday. Maria Mnisi and Phineas Johnson stood accused with their former employer Fanie Hyman of violating a grave.
The mayor of Bushbuckridge, Milton Morema, should be suspended, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. Morema is currently facing murder charges. DA local government spokesperson Anthony Benadie said the mayor should be suspended immediately, pending the outcome of investigations.
South Africa is honouring her for helping it overcome the legacy of apartheid, but Linda Biehl says she is simply doing what any parent would after the death of a child: trying to find meaning in loss. She was speaking on the eve of a ceremony at which President Thabo Mbeki is to grant her one of the country’s highest honours.
Luis Renteria netted a 55th-minute penalty on Monday evening to give Platinum Stars a 1-0 win against Moroka Swallows and move his team from 10th to fifth place on the Premier Soccer League table. Stars have 37 points and with this result pushed Swallows out of the top eight into ninth place.
Listed food retailer Pick n Pay is ”very aware” of the increase in food prices, it said on Tuesday. ”We are very aware of the inflationary pressure on basic foods and are doing everything we can to minimise its impact on customers,” the company said in its results for the year ended February 29.
Though Carlos Alberto Parreira will quit his post as coach of Bafana Bafana to be with his ill wife, he remain a technical adviser to the team, he announced on Monday. Meanwhile, the sports website GloboEsporte reported late on Monday that Joel Santana, coach of Brazil’s Flamengo club, would succeed Parreira.
British rugby club Northampton Saints boss Jim Mallinder has refused to be drawn on speculation that he is on the verge of luring South Africa’s World Cup-winning lock forward Victor Matfield to Franklin’s Gardens. Matfield was man of the match in last year’s World Cup final that saw South Africa beat England.
A Chinese ship carrying a shipment of arms and ammunition destined for Zimbabwe was not in South African territorial waters, a Defence Ministry spokesperson said on Monday in reaction to a claim that the An Yue Jiang was ”passing through South Africa’s territorial waters” in violation of a court order.
First National Bank’s residential property barometer has dropped to the lowest level recorded for any quarter since its inception in 2003, media reports said on Monday. Up to 83% of people selling their houses had to accept a much lower offer than their asking price.
African National Congress president Jacob Zuma on Monday called for greater cooperation between the Group of Eight (G8) and the five emerging economies of the South — China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. He was speaking in Berlin at a North-South dialogue on relations between the G8 and the five emerging powers.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Monday vowed to take her fight against the Erasmus commission to the Constitutional Court. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool in December 2007 to investigate the City of Cape Town’s probe into controversial councillor Badih Chaaban.
A projectile the size of a child’s fist shot across the lawn and buried itself in a crouching rhododendron bush. It was summer in the early 1980s and we kids were home from school. My brother, his head crammed with potions learned in the science class, had cobbled together a handful of innocuous kitchen ingredients and turned them into something entirely more volatile.
A national energy summit must be convened with immediate effect to address the current electricity crisis, the African National Congress (ANC) said after a national working committee meeting on Monday. The meeting — which was also attended by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka — was held to discuss the crisis and proposals for a tariff increase.
There is no decision yet on the possible closure of the Reitz men’s residence at the University of the Free State (UFS), a university spokesperson said on Monday. Lacea Loader said media reports on Monday created the impression that the UFS had made a decision not to close Reitz, but this was incorrect.
One of Taliep Petersen’s alleged murderers has told the Cape High Court he confessed to a role in the killing in the hope of getting ”help” from the authorities in other criminal cases he faced. Waheed Hassen also told the court that he was assaulted by police and that he witnessed the beating of an armed-robbery suspect.
Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira announced his resignation on Monday as coach of 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa. World Cup-winning coach Parreira, who served 15 months of a three-and-a-half-year contract aimed at transforming the struggling national team, quit because his Brazil-based wife is ill after recent major surgery.
Newly elected African National Congress Youth League (ANC) head Julius Malema used his first letter as president to chastise those who showed ”unbecoming conduct” at the league’s conference in Bloemfontein recently. ”Thugs and hooligans who believe they can hold the organisation to ransom … will be dealt with,” said Malema on Monday.
A campaign to prevent arms currently aboard a Chinese ship from reaching Zimbabwe gained momentum on Monday with trade unions calling on their counterparts not to allow the vessel to dock at any African port. The Congress of South African Trade Unions called for an international boycott of the vessel.
Creating the most expensive dish in the country to help the poor sounds like a contradiction, but it is not. By making 10 exclusive little "Sexy Duck and Jozi Bling" pies and auctioning them online, the organisers of this year’s Jo’burg Wine Show want to raise funds for children from impoverished communities.
Cold and stormy weather that hit the Eastern Cape on the weekend has claimed three lives so far, police said on Monday. Two men apparently died from the cold near Mthatha on Sunday, while a woman was killed in a storm in the province’s Ngcobo area. By Monday afternoon, snow that had been falling over the province overnight was beginning to clear up.
The Witwatersrand director of public prosecutions will be asked to present legal arguments in the drunken-driving case of metro police chief Robert McBride on witness statements related to other cases under investigation. McBride’s case was postponed to Thursday to give his legal team a chance to serve documents on Charin de Beer.
The Cape High Court on Monday watched a police video in which murder accused Waheed Hassen not only admitted to a role in the killing of Taliep Petersen, but expressed remorse. The video came at the start of the second day of a trial within a trial, in which Hassen is contesting the admissibility of statements he made to the police.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa on Monday asked President Thabo Mbeki to meet South Africa’s ”collective leadership” to discuss three critical matters of concern. In a letter to Mbeki, Holomisa said, firstly, that there was the question of South Africa’s involvement in resolving the tribulations of Zimbabwe.
The vote recount in a number of constituencies in Zimbabwe following March 29 elections is futile because ballot boxes have been tampered with, a South African member of the Southern African Development Community observer team said on Monday.
The world’s biggest steel producer, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, will buy a 16% stake in South African coal producer Coal of Africa (CoAL), CoAL said in a statement on Monday. ArcelorMittal will pay £66,7-million for new shares "representing approximately 16% of CoAL’s issued capital", the statement said.
Legal counsel for Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride on Monday asked the Pretoria Regional Court to compel the state to hand over all documents containing statements made against him. This included a statement not related to the drunken-driving case before the court.
African National Congress (ANC) veteran Andrew Masondo died on Sunday, the ANC said on Monday. ”Masondo dedicated his life to the cause of the South African people, having served as a soldier since the early years of Umkhonto weSizwe,” the party said.
South African stocks hung on to earlier gains at noon on Monday, supported by firmer overseas markets, but the stronger rand and faltering gold prices restricted gains, traders said. By midday on Monday, the JSE’s broader all-share index was 0,77% in the black. Resources were up 1,21%, the platinum-mining index advanced 0,34% but the gold-mining index fell 0,70%.