No image available
/ 9 November 2007
A United States trade embargo against Cuba is discouraging South African companies from doing business in that country, delegates attending the South Africa-Cuba joint bilateral commission heard on Friday. Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said trade between the two countries is almost non-existent.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
A 21-year-old gangster was jailed for life by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday for murder and sentenced to nine terms of 25 years for nine aggravated robberies. Mzamiseni Mazibuko had previously been sentenced to 30 years’ jail in March this year for nine other aggravated robberies.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
Mona Miller’s life will change this weekend. For the first time, she will have a real roof, solid walls and glass windows. Lights will come on at the flick of a switch, water will flow from the tap and she will enjoy the dignity of a toilet. Miller will move into her first proper home thanks to a building blitz by nearly 1Â 400 Irish volunteers.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
A botched charge sheet on Friday led to the acquittal of a journalist who in May allegedly threatened to blow up the Cape Town premises of Radio Heart if his grievances were not aired. David Robert Lewis (39) appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court before magistrate Phindi Norman.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
The global burden of tobacco is going to get much worse before it gets better, an expert from the World Lung Foundation said in Cape Town on Friday. Developing countries will bear the brunt of this burden and its ”huge” economic implications, said Dr Judith Mackay, coordinator of tobacco control at the foundation.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
A journalist, furious because his stories had been rejected, stormed into a radio station’s premises and threatened to ”blow this place up” unless his grievances were aired. Radio Heart’s news anchor Zulpha Khan on Friday told the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court she bore the brunt of the incident in May.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has named a replacement advocate to conduct an official probe into the city’s spy affair. The first person she chose for the job, advocate Geoff Budlender, withdrew over a possible conflict of interest. Zille has now asked advocate Josie Jordaan of the Cape Bar to lead the inquiry.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
Consumers are waking up to some startling facts about buying water in bottles, the National Consumer Forum says. In the United States, public pressure has been growing to force powerful corporations to disclose where their bottled water comes from, after research indicated that up to 40% of bottled water used tap water as its source.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
Hundreds of construction workers striking at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium began dispersing on Friday, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said. Msi Poswa, the NUM’s regional organiser and chief negotiator, said tired protesters were told by the union they could return home. ”They will regroup on Monday,” he said.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
South African Express was on Friday battling to explain the circumstances surrounding a double booking that led to a passenger being led off a plane to make way for a prominent African National Congress official. Beeld reported that a passenger was seated when she was told to leave the plane. It has emerged that ANC head of the presidency Smuts Ngonyama held the same ticket.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
Politicians are likely to get an inflation-related increase this year as an interim measure, it emerged on Friday. President Thabo Mbeki is still considering the recommendations made by Judge Dikgang Moseneke, who heads the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office-Bearers, the Presidency said in a statement.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
New Zealand lost five wickets for the addition of 56 runs before lunch on the second day of the first Castle Lager Test against South Africa at the Wanderers on Friday, and were reeling on 97 for seven at the break. They trailed South Africa by 129 runs.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
A voluntary recall of Chinese-made Bindeez toy beads has been extended to South Africa, a media report said on Friday. Certain batches of the beads, which stick together when exposed to water, are coated with a chemical which, when ingested, metabolises into the date-rape drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
A total of 532 cases of diarrhoea have been recorded in Delmas, Mpumalanga, and there was still no clarity on the cause, the Water Affairs and Forestry Department said on Friday. On Thursday, 63 cases were reported, said spokesperson Linda Page.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
South Africans who want to learn more about the New Zealand way of cricket should take a long look at the face of Scott Styris during the first Test at the Wanderers. The unkind among us might say that Banquo’s ghost has nothing on Styris, whose pale credentials are brought into startling relief when he slaps on the sunblock.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
High interest rates in South Africa may continue supporting the rand in the coming months as investors continue to be attracted by the growing yield differential between United States treasuries and their rand-denominated equivalents, says global analyst firm Moody’s Economy.com.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
The JSE continued to advance by noon on Friday as BHP Billiton’s announcement from Thursday flowed through the market. On Thursday, BHP Billiton admitted to having made a play for rival Rio Tinto, which put to rest days of market speculation over whether BHP Billiton was in fact courting Rio Tinto over a potential tie-up.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
Hundreds of strikers converged on Durban’s Moses Mabhida Soccer World Cup stadium on Friday as the third day of the construction workers’ strike began. Armed with sticks, umbrellas and knobkerries, the crowd began toyi-toying outside the stadium.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
Designing a code of conduct for a liberation struggle in exile was the most significant work of his career, Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs said on Thursday. ”To my mind that was the beginning of the constitutionality at the heart, at the core of the freedom struggle,” Sachs said in delivering the second annual Abdullah Omar Memorial Lecture.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
Shane Bond celebrated his first Test against South Africa by taking four wickets on the opening day of the first Castle Lager Test between South Africa and New Zealand, as South Africa were bundled out for 226, an hour-and-a-quarter after tea. New Zealand had 41 for two when stumps were drawn.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
Sharks coach Dick Muir, who made a belated attempt to be considered as Springbok coach after incumbent Jake White’s term expires, will not be in line for the position. This follows a resolution by the South African Rugby Union’s president’s council, which met in Johannesburg on Thursday.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
South African Airways (SAA) posted a net profit before tax and restructuring charges of R136-million for the six months ended September 2007, after a period of massive losses, acting chief financial officer Clive Else said on Thursday. Revenue rose to R11-billion from R9,6-billion, reflecting a 1,2% profit margin.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
The 37-year-old mayor of a KwaZulu-Natal South Coast municipality was killed in a car crash, police said on Thursday. Police spokesperson Zandra Hechter said Mfundo Lushaba, the mayor of Umzumbe, was found dead in his Toyota Hilux double-cab about 10m from the Ifafa offramp on the N2 near the resort town of Hibberdene.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
A merger of the Federation of Unions of South Africa with the National Council of Trade Unions is a significant achievement that will unite workers in the country, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Thursday ahead of the launch on Friday of the new South African Confederation of Trade Unions.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
With just more than a month to the African National Congress presidential election, Jacob Zuma will be waiting to see whether the National Prosecuting Authority will recharge him for corruption. Court rulings on Thursday clarified the status of searches and documents related to the investigation against him concerning alleged corruption in the arms deal.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
The Group Five-WBHO Consortium on Thursday obtained a Labour Court interdict preventing construction workers from entering the site where Durban’s Moses Mabhida 2010 Soccer World Cup Stadium is being built. The interdict followed an incident in the morning when two security guards were chased off the building site by striking workers.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
Mamelodi Sundowns are without a doubt the favourites in Saturday’s Telkom Knockout semifinal clash against Free State Stars at the Absa Stadium in Kimberley. The defending league champs knocked out Golden Arrows and Thanda Royal Zulu 3-0 and 3-1 respectively en route to the Telkom semis.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
Some of the stands at the curious, if aesthetically shaped, Mmabatho Stadium are facing away from the pitch. It would, therefore, seem an appropriate venue for Kaizer Chiefs to tackle Bloemfontein Celtic in a critical Telkom Knockout semifinal on Saturday, with the direction in which the troubled Amakhosi are heading equally blurred.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
South Africa’s tuberculosis (TB) cure rate will reach 85% over the next five years, the Department of Health vowed on Thursday. Releasing the final version of its latest TB strategic plan, Director General of Health Thami Mseleku said the plan’s goals were guided by international targets.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
Transformation in sport has to happen in the shortest period of time, but not at the expense of any South African athletes, President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday. With true transformation, as a country, South Africa could become an even greater force in world sport, he said.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
The engine that dropped off Nationwide flight CE723 had sucked in ”an object” as the plane was taking off, the airline said on Thursday. It was commenting on the drama on Wednesday in which a Johannesburg-bound Boeing 737 lost one of its two engines during take-off from Cape Town airport, yet managed to land safely half-an-hour later.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
Ekhurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride has had his drunk-driving trial postponed to March 17 next year, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Thursday. NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said the reason for the postponement was apparently because the defence wanted to get another legal representative on its team.