Siyabonga Nqakula, the son of the Minister of Safety and Security, should be convicted on charges of drunken driving and reckless or negligent driving, the state told the Cape Town magistrate’s court on Tuesday. Titi Mthimunye recounted the testimony of four state witnesses that Nqakula had smelled of liquor and that he had been unsteady on his feet.
Bestselling author Eoin Colfer, whose Artemis Fowl series of action-fantasy novels has sold more than nine million copies worldwide, may well wish to operate under a cloak of secrecy — as his famous teenaged creation does — when he arrives in South Africa this week.
Consumer rights champion Isabel Jones died in the early hours of Mach 11, said her son Adam Jones. Described at one time as all that stood between South Africans and high prices, Jones underwent heart surgery in November and made a full recovery, her son said.
An extinct population of small-bodied humans has been found on the Palau group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, a University of the Witwatersrand researcher said on Tuesday. Palaeoanthropologist professor Lee Berger discovered the fossils while vacationing in Palau in 2006. ”We were on a kayak excursion when a guide asked me if I wanted to see a cave with some old bones.”
There has been substantial progress in basic service delivery in the country, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. It released the municipal data of its 2007 Community Survey, which gives a breakdown of basic service delivery in each of the 283 municipalities in the country.
Civil engineering and construction group Stefanutti and Bressan on Tuesday announced a R1,1-billion merger with international construction group Stocks Limited. The merger would position the new group as a major competitor in the first-tier construction sector with turnover of almost R5-billion, Stefanutti and Bressan said in a statement.
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There is no statute determining exactly what provisions should be in a search warrant, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday as African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thint began a last-ditch bid to prevent key documents from being used against them.
Minibus-taxi commuters should brace themselves for an increase in taxi fares due to the increase in the petrol price, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) said on Tuesday. ”We are pressed and we can no longer afford petrol prices. We are forced to put our hands in the commuters’ pockets,” said Santaco general secretary Philip Taaibosch.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma arrived at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday amid a heavy security presence and the sound of camera shutters as photographers attempted to shoot pictures. A heavy police presence was visible around the court buildings while journalists packed the press gallery trying to get a view of Zuma.
South African stocks were slightly lower at noon on Tuesday, pressured by miners on faltering metal prices, but improved sentiment in overseas markets restricted losses, traders said. At noon, the JSE’s broader all-share index had given up 0,19% at 30 056,80.
Consumer rights champion Isabel Jones has died, one of her agents confirmed on Tuesday. Jones, who underwent open heart surgery in December, was not feeling well on Friday and was admitted to hospital, said Stuart Lee, chief executive of Famous Faces Management, the agent for aspects of Jones’s commercial career. Jones died on Tuesday morning, said Lee.
The African National Congress’s (ANC) national working committee initiated a major review of the country’s education system at its fortnightly meeting on Monday, the organisation said. Education is a central pillar of economic growth and the fight against poverty, the ANC said in a statement.
After the Competition Tribunal on Monday rejected an application to confirm a settlement agreement between the Competition Commission and Netcare Hospital Group, Netcare said in a statement on Tuesday it was disappointed with the decision of the tribunal not to sanction the consent order.
South Africa’s gold production fell by 7,4% in 2007 compared with an average decline of 6,3% per year for the last decade, the Chamber of Mines said on Monday. Production for members of the chamber dropped by 6,7% to 219 223kg, the Chamber said in a statement.
A ”virulent and vicious” smear campaign is being waged against Zimbabwe over the list of observers invited to witness the country’s elections on March 29, the country’s ambassador to South Africa, Simon Moyo, said on Monday. The campaign is being driven by the West and certain sections of the South African media, he said in a statement.
Siyabonga Nqakula, son of Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula, dozed off behind the steering wheel of his mother’s car before landing up on the wrong side of the road and smashing head-on into an oncoming car, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Monday. Nqakula testified in his own defence on charges of drunken driving and reckless driving.
Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana is studying a response from Eskom regarding allegations about a contract awarded by the electricity utility to a company linked to African National Congress investment firm Chancellor House. Mushwana’s office said he had noticed reports stating that Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille intended lodging a complaint.
A 57-year-old German tourist died at St Francis Bay when he apparently choked on his food at a restaurant, Eastern Cape police said. Victor Bhor was at a restaurant on Sunday when the incident occurred, said Inspector Gerda Swart. She said Bhor’s friends, who accompanied him to dinner, tried to assist him but were not successful.
Seven French electricity experts visited South Africa last week to assist Eskom in dealing with the electricity crisis facing South Africa, the French embassy said on Monday. During his state visit to South Africa on February 28 and 29, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that France would be sending engineers to work closely with their South African counterparts.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma on Monday sought to ”clarify” recent statements of his, which he said had been misrepresented in the media, and denied having been ”summoned” by the Congress of South African Trade Unions to explain some of them.
Foreign nationals arriving at OR Tambo International Airport will not be required to furnish customs officials with their addresses, the border control operational coordinating committee said on Monday. Committee chairperson Humbulani Ravele told a press briefing: ”As a precautionary measure, customs officials removed the address fill-ins on the forms.”
South African mobile telecommunications group Vodacom and its shareholders, together with Rand Merchant Bank, a division of FirstRand Bank, are currently in the process of structuring a R7,5-billion black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction, it said on Monday. The Vodacom group said that its BEE transaction was "well on track".
Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats (ID) are calling on the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance to join them in setting up a multiparty committee to debate party political funding. ID chief whip Lance Greyling said on Monday: "South Africans have been exposed to scandal after scandal when it comes to party funding."
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The government has suspended further payments of Jacob Zuma’s legal costs over his impending corruption trial, it was reported on Monday. The Star quoted the head of the state attorney’s office as saying that the government would not pay future legal costs until Zuma provides a detailed account of how he had spent money previously received from the state.
Tony Leon, the former leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), is writing to the chair of the foreign affairs portfolio committee in Parliament, asking him to summon Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to explain what the government is doing to protect South Africa businesses from being nationalised by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Scrap cars, fridges and burning tyres were used to barricade several Durban roads on Monday as about 500 residents demanded that a local ward councillor leave the area. The residents are demanding that an African National Congress (ANC) ward councillor leave his office and move out of the area as he had ”not kept his word on service delivery”.
The Cape High Court on Monday gave the go-ahead for the eviction of several thousand residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement to make way for a housing development. Hundreds of Joe Slovo residents, who had gathered in the street outside the court, chanted angry slogans after the judgment was handed down.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will ”revisit” its mail handling processes after five staffers became ill after handling a letter delivered to the office of acting head Mokotedi Mpshe, spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Monday. Mpshe was not affected, but five people had to be treated for headaches and rashes.
The JSE continued to be haunted by fears of a United States recession, which sent most heavyweight stocks on a selling spree by midday on Monday. Adding to the negative sentiment was a pull back among local resource heavyweight counters, traders said. By noon, the JSE’s broader all-share index had fallen 1,75%.
SuperSport United continued their rampant run in the Absa Premiership with a convincing 2-0 win over Platinum Stars at Olympia Park in Rustenburg on Sunday. SuperSport have won five and drawn two of their seven games since the second round of fixtures got under way in February, and now trail log leaders Ajax Cape Town by a single point.
South Africa is considering bidding for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. South Africa has sent a letter to the International Rugby Board (IRB) tails on the tender process, which is expected to end next year. SA Rugby managing director Jonathan Stones said the IRB was thinking of staging every ”two out of three” World Cups in European time zones.
South Africa’s Sasol, the world’s biggest maker of fuels from coal, posted an 18% rise in headline earnings per share, and said on Monday it expected good earnings growth for 2008. Headline earnings per share, the key profit measure for South African companies, rose to R14,56.