No image available
/ 7 December 2007
Much still needs to be done to clean up the Home Affairs Department, Director General Mavuso Msimang said on Friday. He was reacting to the arrests of five home affairs officials and a former official at the Watloo home affairs office in Pretoria on Friday. The six were arrested following months of investigation.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
The sheer number of crimes being committed in South Africa is still at an unacceptable level, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said on Friday. The decrease in reported crime, however, is encouraging, it said. The rights body said its finding on the unacceptable level of crime is ”exacerbated by the massive under-reporting of crime”.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
Disrespect for the African National Congress’s (ANC) values by its members could destroy the party, President Thabo Mbeki warned on Friday. This would reverse all the gains made since the advent of democracy in 1994, he said in his weekly online newsletter, ANC Today.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
The Cape Town Labour Court has ordered that whistle-blowing prison doctor Paul Theron get his job in Pollsmoor back. He was suspended after telling the Inspecting Judge of Prisons and a parliamentary committee about what he said was an acute healthcare crisis at Pollsmoor, including chronic understaffing and lack of disease control.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
The state will foot Schabir Shaik’s legal costs at the Constitutional Court next year when he fights to retain his assets worth about R33-million, the Star newspaper reported on Friday. In an application to the Durban High Court recently, Shaik indicated that he had no cash and would need about R2,5-million to cover legal costs.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
The South African Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) outgoing chief executive, Zakes Myeza, has no plans following his resignation this week. Myeza said he joined an ”almost dysfunctional” CAA 20 months ago, when it had functioned without a permanent chief executive for almost three years.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
The Pretoria High Court has reversed a temporary ban on the book White Power: The Rise and Fall of the National Party. Judge Willie Seriti on Friday discharged an interim court order granted last month to Eugene de Kock to recall the book and stop its further publication, distribution and sale.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
![]()
HIV/Aids has driven a wedge between the leadership and rank-and-file of the ruling African National Congress, with top officials accused of ignorance and activists aghast at the government’s handling of the pandemic. President Thabo Mbeki and his former deputy, Jacob Zuma have both been burned politically by the HIV/Aids crisis.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
Not only are robbers hitting more houses, they now prefer to strike when residents are at home, the Institute for Security Studies said on Friday. ”It’s fairly obvious that this is what’s happening,” said researcher Johan Burger. ”There seems to be a correlation between the decrease in burglary figures and the increase … in the house-robbery figure,” he said.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
![]()
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on Friday rejected allegations that it was favouring President Thabo Mbeki over his rival, African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma, in the battle for succession in the ruling party. The SABC has come under fire from commentators following its decision to broadcast a two-hour interview with Mbeki.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
Parliament’s transport portfolio committee has tabled a scathing report on the country’s transport preparedness to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The report, circulated in Parliament on Friday, says that at present there is only one senior official, a chief director, who is working full time on 2010 in the Department of Transport.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
South African taxpayers should brace themselves for scant relief when the Budget is announced in February next year as analysts feel Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is likely to be very cautious due to the cyclical risks underpinning the economy. Analysts also feel that the Budget needs to be better harnessed to improve effective expenditure.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
Axed <i>Sowetan</i> sub-editor Llewellyn Kriel will on Monday appeal against the findings of the disciplinary hearing that made him the first South African fired for blogging. Kriel was dismissed when he was found to have brought the company’s name into disrepute through a blog on the <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i>’s <i>Thought Leader</i>.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
Platinum-mining stocks were propping up the JSE in noon trade on Friday, enhancing gains driven by Wall Street in the morning session. By 11.58am, the JSE all-share index lifted 0,7%, supported by a 3,24% advance in the platinum-mining index. Resources collected 0,94% but the gold-mining index dipped 0,87%.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
Serial rapist Mongezi Jinxela was found guilty in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday on 220 charges of rape, kidnapping, robbery and assault, the National Prosecuting Authority said. Spokesperson Tlali Tlali said Justice George Maluleka found Jinxela guilty of raping 57 women — making him one of the country’s worst serial rape offenders.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
The KwaZulu-Natal health department on Thursday evening denied reports that a sixth baby had died from the klebsiella at Durban’s Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital. Department spokesperson Leon Mbangwa said a sixth baby had indeed died, but not from the klebsiella which it had earlier contracted.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
Police are investigating charges of corruption and obstruction of justice against a senior Cape Town policeman involved in Tony Yengeni’s alleged drunk-driving saga. Provincial police spokesperson Novel Potelwa said that Goodwood station commissioner, Senior Superintendent Siphiwe Hewana, had also been suspended without pay, and faced an internal disciplinary hearing.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
![]()
Aides of Jacob Zuma have drawn up contingency plans to try to force his rival President Thabo Mbeki out of office early, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Friday. If Zuma was elected party leader at the African National Congress’s five-yearly conference, he would insist on being privy to big government decisions.
No image available
/ 7 December 2007
Tiger Brands chief executive Nick Dennis has advised the company’s board of directors that he intended to take early retirement. He would also resign as a director of the company with effect from the conclusion of the annual general meeting of shareholders, scheduled for February 19 2008.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
![]()
Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has declined a nomination as African National Congress (ANC) chairperson but has accepted a nomination for deputy president. This emerged on Thursday when the ANC released its long-awaited consolidated list of nominations for its national executive committee.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
![]()
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi will not accept a nomination to the national executive committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC), Cosatu said on Thursday. Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said the congress was seriously concerned about leaders who embraced ”patronage”.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
Government ministers have changed their minds about referring the forensic report on the affairs of the Land Bank to the police. According to Cabinet spokesperson Themba Maseko, they did so after hearing that a number of board members and senior executives of the bank had challenged statements in the report.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
The South African Police Service (SAPS) was not involved in reviewing the arrest warrant for its National Commissioner, Jackie Selebi, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Thursday. However, he confirmed that the warrant was indeed the subject of review.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
![]()
The African National Congress (ANC) group that applied unsuccessfully to the Johannesburg High Court to have the party’s imminent conference postponed would appeal the decision, their lawyer said on Thursday. ”We are definitely going to appeal,” said Votani Majola.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
The so-called ”boot killer”, Daniel van der Walt, was sentenced on Thursday to 17 years’ imprisonment for brutally beating and strangling a frail young prospective employee. Van der Walt, a powerfully built blockman who used to work at a butchery, admitted that he had in February last year murdered petite Marlene Mauer (20).
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
A late start after lunch and an early closure because of fading light left the Dolphins with the upper hand on the first day of their SuperSport Series cricket match against the Highveld Lions at the Sahara Stadium, at Kingsmead in Durban, on Thursday. Heavy rain made play impossible before lunch.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
Opposition parties have lamented the increases in crime detailed in the latest statistics for April to September, which were released on Thursday. It was deplorable and made a mockery of Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula’s assurances that the crime rate was under control, Democratic Alliance spokesperson Diane Kohler-Barnard said.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
The Wynberg Regional Court in Cape Town is to deliver judgement on Monday in the second bail application launched by Najwa Petersen, who goes on trial in the Cape High Court next year for the alleged murder of her famous husband, Taliep. Her senior counsel on Thursday urged the court to ”be bold and release her on bail.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
South Africa will not include maize in the initial stages of the country’s biofuels policy in order to keep a lid on high food prices, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Thursday. The decision followed the South African Cabinet’s approval of a long-awaited biofuels plan, which officials hope will revive the ailing agriculture industry.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
Holding the reigns of the ox-wagon that is pulling his father’s coffin, Nkosinathi Biko sits alone and solemnly among the masses of people. Surrounded by a throng of supporters, angry and tearful, he cuts a figure of solitude. A hero of the struggle is dead — but now lives on through the work of the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
Mobile operator Cell C could be next on the cards for local fixed-line operator Telkom after talks with another mobile operator, MTN, terminated in November. Growth in the telecommunications sector has been skewed towards mobile operators in the past couple of years.
No image available
/ 6 December 2007
South Africa’s IT spend will increase from R52,2-billion to more than R67,2-billion over a forecast period between 2006 and 2011, according to a report by African information and communications technology market analysts BMI-TechKnowledge. The spending is set to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 5,2%.