Vitamin salesperson Matthias Rath is patently dishonest, lying whenever it suits him, the Cape High Court was told on Wednesday. ”We say that Dr Rath is, on his own showing, not an honest person,” the Treatment Action Campaign’s advocate, Geoff Budlender, said.
An unresolved contract dispute between appointed Springbok rugby coach Peter de Villiers and the South African Rugby Union has erupted again — and remains unresolved. This time a constitutional matter lies at the heart of the matter, De Villiers’s agent, Rian Oberholzer, said on Wednesday.
At least 20 people who were trapped in cars and homes by rising water levels during a heavy overnight downpour in Durban were rescued by the police’s search-and-rescue team. ”We used a police boat to move many people away from the Island Hotel in Isipingo and we assisted several others,” the unit’s commander, Captain Troy Alison, said on Wednesday.
Banks and financials helped the JSE advance further by midday on Wednesday as they cheered the move by the United States Federal Reserve to raise liquidity in financial markets. At noon, the JSE’s broader all-share index had gained 1,35%. Financials collected 1,94%, while banks were up 1,67%.
Games such as ”hit me, hit me” and ”rape me, rape me”, where schoolchildren chase each other and then pretend to hit or rape each other, are being played at South African schools, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said in a report on school-based violence, which was presented in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
South Africa’s business confidence fell sharply to a seven-year low in the first quarter of 2008, as the sector fretted about an uncertain economic and political outlook, a survey released on Wednesday found. The Business Confidence Index, sponsored by Rand Merchant and the Bureau for Economic Research, fell by 19 index points to 48.
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A state lawyer accused African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma in court on Wednesday of trying to delay justice through his attempt to block the use of seized documents at his upcoming corruption trial. The trial, due to start in August, could ruin Zuma’s hopes of succeeding President Thabo Mbeki in 2009.
A recent spate of taxi violence in Gauteng is ”senseless barbarism” that will not be tolerated, the Department of Transport said on Wednesday. It has forged relations with law-enforcement agencies to ensure those responsible face the full might of the law, spokesperson Collen Msibi said in a statement.
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Warrants issued to allow the Scorpions to conduct search-and-seizure raids on the properties of African National Congress president Jacob Zuma, his attorney and French arms manufacturer Thint were specific, the Constitutional Court heard on Wednesday.
South African prima ballerina Phyllis Spira has died at the age of 64 in Cape Town, news reports said on March 12. She died in Claremont’s Kingsbury Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. Spira had been admitted to hospital earlier in the week for a routine vascular operation and complications set in after the surgery.
A foreign tourist was robbed of his luggage upon his arrival at Johannesburg’s Westcliff Hotel from the OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday, said a hotel spokesperson. Another two tourists, who were in the reception area checking out at the time, were also robbed of their bags, said Gabrielle Palmer.
Nearly half of South African private businesses say a lack of skills is the biggest constraint to business growth in this country, a new survey showed on Wednesday. This the second straight year that workforce issues have been cited as the greatest impediment to growth in the Grant Thornton annual <i>International Business Report</i>.
A pedestrian Bafana Bafana outfit needed an own goal to beat Zimbabwe 2-1 in a friendly international match at the Germiston Stadium on Tuesday evening. Gilbert Mushangazhike struck first for the visitors in the 12th minute. Sthembiso Ngcobo equalised in the 73rd minute and his feeble shot at goal deflected off James Matola late in extra time to give the hosts an unforeseen victory.
”Yo-yo man” Benni McCarthy is back in the Bafana Bafana squad to play Paraguay on March 26 — strengthening the suspicion that the enigmatic striker requested coach Carlos Albero Parreira not to include him in the squad for the recent African Nations Cup tournament in Ghana.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma sat quietly in the front row of the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, listening to his legal team challenge the validity of the warrants used to seize documents that could be used against him in his forthcoming corruption trial.
Total transformation is needed at the University of the Free State (UFS), the African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State said on Tuesday. Provincial party spokesperson Playfair Morule said the recent ”dehumanising video” which surfaced at the university was just the tip of the iceberg of racist tendencies at the university.
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.