A ship that was carrying weapons and ammunition destined for Zimbabwe lifted anchor and sailed from Durban less than an hour after the Durban High Court ordered that its controversial cargo cannot be transported across South Africa to that country.
The recent shoot-to-kill comments by a deputy minister display disrespect for the country’s Constitution, the Wits Centre for Applied Legal Studies said on Friday. The centre also deplored African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s support for the remarks by Deputy Minister of Safety and Security Susan Shabangu.
Though one of Taliep Petersen’s alleged killers has now formally admitted being at the scene of the murder, another is still fighting hard to keep his confessions out of court. It has emerged that not only did the second man, Waheed Hassen, make a formal statement to police, but he also gave them 15 pages of handwritten notes on the December 2006 killing.
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) will investigate allegations of racist incidents on campus where black students say they are ”living in a climate of fear”. Local South African Students’ Congress chairperson Xolani Mkhwemnte said on Friday there had been an outbreak of ”racially motivated incidents” on the Kingsway campus since Monday this week.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma expressed surprise at the level of poverty among white people during a tour of an informal settlement outside Pretoria on Friday. ”I did not think it was at this level,” he said as he talked with the small, poor white community living at Bethlehem.
Taliep Petersen’s last recorded words, moments before his wife demanded repeatedly that he be shot, were ”God is great”, according to a confession by one of the men charged with his murder. In a surprise move, the confession was admitted unopposed as evidence in the Cape High court on Friday.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Friday urged President Thabo Mbeki and national conventional arms-control committee chairperson Sydney Mufamadi to stop the transfer of arms aboard a ship, the An Yue Jiang, in Durban harbour to Zimbabwe. The ship has been at anchor off the port of Durban since Monday.
A downtown "fash off" will highlight clothing as a unifier of circumstance and culture.
The beautiful game played a vital role in raising morale on Robben Island. Now a new film looks at sport and struggle, writes Niren Tolsi.
”Alcohol abuse among our youth has reached alarming proportions. People who drink are engaged in violence and sexual abuse …We will continue to campaign to deliver a better life to our youth and educate them on the ills of alcohol abuse,” says newly elected African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema.
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The case involving African National Congress president Jacob Zuma in Mauritius has been postponed, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Friday. The case has been postponed to May 7. Zuma’s lawyer told SABC news that the case had been postponed because the defence team wanted to study the affidavit filed by Mauritian Attorney General.
After a contamination scare on Friday morning, residents of northern Johannesburg can now safely drink their tap water again, Johannesburg Water said. During routine water testing, a "possible compromise" of the quality of drinking water in several suburbs had been detected.
Snow is expected to fall on the high ground of the Eastern Cape this weekend, the South African Weather Service said on Friday. A cold, wet weekend is expected throughout most of the province. Heavy rains of 50mm plus in 24 hours are expected along the coastal belt and adjacent interior on Sunday.
The death toll in an accident involving a truck and a taxi in KwaZulu-Natal’s Colenso area has risen to 12, police and transport officials said on Friday. An official of the provincial emergency services said 18 people had been inside the taxi and that six had survived. Three were in a serious condition in hospital.
The JSE remained firm by midday on Friday, with a trader saying that the market was consolidating after hitting record levels earlier this week. Starting from Wednesday, the bourse had two consecutive days of hitting all-time highs, but failed to close at its record peak of 32 130,75 points.
Moroka Swallows coach Ian Gorowa and pivotal central defender Bevan Fransman will pay the penalty for their recent penalty protests in the controversial Premier Soccer League game against Kaizer Chiefs. One-game suspensions will sideline the two men for Monday’s key clash against Platinum Stars.
Ordinarily, this time of the football season would be about which of the traditional top-three teams are best placed to win the Premier Soccer League (PSL) championship. But it increasingly appears that not all, if any, of the three teams that have dominated the PSL honours will make it to the top eight of the log.
Residents in northern Johannesburg areas were on Friday warned not to drink tap water as the quality was not up to standard, Johannesburg Water said. Spokesperson Baldwin Matsimela said during routine sampling on Thursday, it was found that the water supply was not up to standard.
Two men who stabbed an elderly woman and cut off her fingers to remove her rings in her apartment in Malmesbury near Cape Town were sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment on Thursday. Judge Deon van Zyl said the incident, on Christmas Eve in 2004, turned a festive occasion into a grieving one for the woman’s family.
A motorist who allegedly pushed a taxi driver in front of moving cars during a road-rage incident in Menlyn has come forward, Pretoria police said. Spokesperson Phillip Likoantsane said the man went to the Garsfontein police station and opened a case against the injured taxi driver for assault and malicious damage to property.
Controversial former Sunday Times columnist David Bullard has offered his ”sincere and heartfelt apologies” to those who were offended by his now-discontinued satirical Out to Lunch column, saying he is ”sorry to have caused so much offence”.
The draft Expropriation Bill will undermine property rights and could scare off foreign investors, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Thursday. The proposed Bill, tabled on Wednesday, also goes against United Nations guidelines on eliminating racial discrimination, said party leader Pieter Mulder in a statement.
Opposition to a shipment of arms being offloaded in Durban and transported to Zimbabwe increased on Thursday when South Africa’s largest transport workers’ union announced that its members would not unload the ship. A government spokesperson said the country could not stop the shipment from getting to its destination.
President Thabo Mbeki must be relieved of his duties as mediator in the current impasse in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said in Johannesburg on Thursday. ”We want to thank President Mbeki for all of his efforts, but President Mbeki needs to be relieved of his duties,” he told reporters.
The Norwegian government will help South Africa and the City of Johannesburg ensure it has a ”green 2010 Soccer World Cup”. This was announced on Thursday by Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg at Soccer City in Johannesburg, the venue for both the opening ceremony and the final match of the 2010 tournament.
No HIV infections through blood transfusions have been recorded since 2005, the South African National Blood Service said on Thursday. Chief executive Loyiso Mpuntsha said the use of nucleic acid amplification technology has successfully reduced to five days the window period during which infections cannot be detected.
The KwaZulu-Natal health department has lodged a complaint against the Scorpions following search-and-seizure raids and alleged leaks to local media, a departmental spokesperson said on Thursday. Scorpions spokesperson Tlali Tlali said he was not immediately aware of the complaint.
A police officer demanding R5 000 to make a copper-cable theft docket disappear was arrested at a Wimpy restaurant in Lydenburg, Mpumalanga, on Thursday, police said. The 35-year-old constable was assigned to the case last week after a 42-year-old man was arrested for allegedly stealing cables from his employer.
Transport workers in pay negotiations with South African Airways (SAA) said on Wednesday their 4 000 members would not take the decision to strike lightly. ”We are not strike hungry here. We have made the sacrifice in terms of wage freezes,” said the secretary general of the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union.
Awards will be bestowed on a musician, a judge and a former chief of state of protocol, Billy Modise, during next week’s 11th national orders ceremony. Modise, United States musician and singer Harry Belafonte and Chief Justice Pius Langa are just some of those who will be recognised at the ceremony.
Free State Stars coach Kinnah Phiri is hoping that lightning will strike twice in the same place in one season when they host Santos in the quarterfinals of the Nedbank Cup at Goble Park on Sunday at 3pm. Stars are the only side to have beaten high-riding Santos in the Absa Premiership this year.
Thousands of members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) took to the streets of Johannesburg to protest against the rising prices of food, fuel and electricity. The march proceeded to the offices of Eskom and supermarket chain Pick n Pay, where memorandums of understanding were delivered.