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/ 1 November 2007
The national office of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in Harrison Street, Johannesburg, was damaged by a fire on Wednesday, CCMA director Nerine Kahn said on Thursday. Kahn told the Mail & Guardian Online that the cause of the fire was not known.
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/ 1 November 2007
The release on bail of Najwa Petersen, accused of the murder of her entertainer husband, Taliep, was essential to save her young daughter from long-term emotional damage, Cape Town psychologist Rosa Bredenkamp told the Wynberg Regional Court on Thursday. Petersen has launched a second bail application after her first was rejected.
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/ 1 November 2007
Hammer murder accused Fred van der Vyver has lost a quarter of his weight since his girlfriend Inge Lotz was killed, the Cape High Court heard on Thursday. The revelation was made by the senior advocate in his defence team, Henri Viljoen, in closing argument. Van der Vyver is charged with killing Lotz in her Stellenbosch flat in March 2005.
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/ 1 November 2007
Corruption-related complaints about the South African Police Service surged dramatically after its Anti-Corruption Unit was shut down in 2002, according to research by the Institute for Security Studies. An average of 43 cases were lodged each year between 1997 and 2002. This shot up to an average of 125 cases each year between 2002 and 2006.
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/ 1 November 2007
Gauteng tourism is one of the best performing sectors in the province — recording an annual growth of more than 10%, economists said on Thursday. Mike Schüssler, economist at T-Sec, said over 9,4-million people walked through the turnstiles at the OR Tambo International Airport from January up to September this year.
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/ 1 November 2007
About 150 students were arrested at a South African university overnight in the latest in a series of violent campus protests, police said on Thursday. About 1 000 students of the University of Limpopo’s Turfloop campus in the north of the country went on the rampage, breaking windows and throwing stones at passing cars late on Wednesday evening.
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/ 1 November 2007
The government is to invest R100-million next year in six marine fish-farming projects, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced on Thursday. ”There are huge opportunities in marine aquaculture, which will not only reduce the pressure on wild stocks, but provide new economic opportunities,” he said.
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/ 1 November 2007
Tackling crime required community involvement and could not merely be solved with more police officers, a seminar on policing in Pretoria heard on Thursday. ”Because crime is a social problem, [there] has to be a social solution, involving more players than just the police,” Temba Mathe of the National Secretariat for Safety and Security said.
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/ 1 November 2007
South Africa’s purchasing managers index (PMI) rebounded sharply to 56,1 in October, as robust demand pushed new sales orders up, sponsor Investec said on Thursday. The index, which measures underlying manufacturing activity, leapt from a near two-year low of 51,6 in September and snapped a two-month decline.
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/ 1 November 2007
A <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i> reader, Simon van Gend from Cape Town, ran into trouble with his geyser last week after he followed national electricity supplier Eskom’s advice to switch his geyser off each day, to help save electricity and prevent load shedding. But is Eskom really at fault?
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/ 1 November 2007
It might not have been the kind of ”Hand of God” goal that Diego Maradona immortalised, but battling Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns secured a much-needed 1-0 victory over Bloemfontein Celtic at the Free State Rugby Stadium on Wednesday night with what could be termed ”a gift from the gods”.
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/ 1 November 2007
After being up about 280 points from its previous close at one stage, the JSE had turned around by midday on Thursday in what traders described as "solid profit-taking." By noon, the all-share index was off 0,31%, led by a 0,57% fall in resources, a 0,98% decline in the gold-mining index and a 1,58% easing in the platinum-mining index.
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/ 1 November 2007
Félicien Kabuga has a reward of several million dollars on his head, and tops the list of fugitives of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Yet, he’s managed to escape justice for years. The ICTR was set up in northern Tanzania by the United Nations in 1995 to bring high-level perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide to justice.
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/ 1 November 2007
Construction on Durban’s 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium is set to come to a halt next Wednesday when workers down tools, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday. Mzi Poswa, NUM’s regional organiser and chief negotiator said the strike would start on November 5.
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/ 1 November 2007
AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s third biggest gold producer, reported flat third-quarter headline earnings per share on Thursday after costs rose, undermining an increase in gold output. AngloGold’s new chief executive officer Mark Cutifani said the firm was reviewing its operations with a view to disposing of assets that did not add value
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/ 1 November 2007
Kaizer Chiefs left behind their inconsistent ways by taking down Free State Stars 3-0 in wet conditions in their Absa Premiership match played at Olympia Park in Rustenburg on Wednesday night. Kinnah Phiri’s charges collapsed when it mattered most — in the second half — as Mabhuti Khanyeza, Onismor Bhasera and Shaun Bartlett scored goals.
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/ 31 October 2007
Closing specialised police units may result in a loss of informer networks, expertise and team spirit, a seminar on policing in South Africa heard on Wednesday. ”To destroy this is a very serious thing that needs to be thought through,” said a senior researcher with the Institute for Security Studies, Johan Burger.
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/ 31 October 2007
Four candidates have been shortlisted to take Springbok coach Jake White’s place, SA Rugby confirmed on Wednesday. They are: Alistair Coetzee (currently one of White’s assistants), Pieter de Villiers (national under-21 coach), Heyneke Meyer (Bulls head coach) and Chester Williams (1995 World Cup winner).
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/ 31 October 2007
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South African President Thabo Mbeki has repeated his willingness to stand for re-election as leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) if the party asks him, state radio reported on Wednesday. ANC branches have started the process of nominating candidates for party president ahead of a party conference in December.
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/ 31 October 2007
The Cape Town City council on Wednesday upheld the metro disciplinary committee’s recommendation that leader of the National People’s Party (NPP) Badih Chaaban be expelled as councillor. Chief whip of the council Anthea Serritslev said a full sitting of council voted in favour of Chaaban’s expulsion.
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/ 31 October 2007
Former spy boss Billy Masetlha was on Wednesday accused of not being consistent in testifying in the Hatfield Community Court. Prosecutor Matric Luphondo said Masetlha gave different versions of when a report requested by Inspector General of Intelligence Zolile Ngcakani was compiled. Masetlha is charged with contravening the Intelligence Services Oversight Act.
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/ 31 October 2007
Murder accused Fred van der Vyver’s alibi had been proved beyond reasonable doubt and he should be found not guilty, his advocate told the Cape High Court on Wednesday. Van der Vyver (25) is accused of killing his student girlfriend Inge Lotz with a hammer at her Stellenbosch flat on the afternoon of March 16 2005.
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/ 31 October 2007
His accomplices ”forced” him to have sex with a dead woman, Ncamile Mantashe (28) told the Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday. Mantashe was testifying against Caswell Nkanunu (26) and Sibongile Ncapayi (36), who stand accused of raping, murdering and robbing a 47-year-old woman in her home in December 2004.
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/ 31 October 2007
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk still faces a court challenge from the abalone industry even though he backed down on Wednesday from a harvesting ban. The ban, prompted by rapidly declining stocks, was to have come into effect on Thursday. It would have halted all commercial harvesting of the threatened shellfish from the wild.
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/ 31 October 2007
A disagreement broke out on Wednesday over whether University of Johannesburg (UJ) students would honour a memorandum of agreement on fee increases. While the independent mediator called in to resolve the dispute claimed an agreement ending the impasse was in place, the Student Representative Council said no accord had yet been reached.
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/ 31 October 2007
South African police are investigating alleged abuses at billionaire United States television magnate Oprah Winfrey’s all-girl leadership academy, a police spokesperson said on Wednesday. Rapport newspaper has reported a matron at the school allegedly fondled one of the pupils, and grabbed a girl by the throat and threw her against a wall.
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/ 31 October 2007
The government’s key Working for Water programme, aimed at eradicating invasive alien plants that cause billions of rands’ damage to the economy each year, appears set to fall further and further behind in its efforts to contain the problem. Alien plants have so far invaded about 8% of the country.
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/ 31 October 2007
The European Union is threatening to ban the import of South African animal products because the government has failed to meet certain requirements agreed on five years ago, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. The ban would cover South African beef, mutton, pork, chicken, ostrich and game products, among others.
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/ 31 October 2007
Botswana police and wildlife guards are torturing Bushmen arrested for hunting, Survival International claimed on Wednesday. They made three Bushmen run through the desert in blistering heat for hours while chasing them in vehicles, Survival said in a statement.
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/ 31 October 2007
According to research, 70% of young children who have a parent in jail develop emotional problems, the Wynberg Regional Court heard from a psychiatrist on Wednesday. Rosa Bredenkamp was testifying before Western Cape Regional Court president Robert Henney in support of Najwa Petersen’s second bail application.
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/ 31 October 2007
A toy gun was used in a six-hour hostage drama in Lenasia on Wednesday, police said. ”The gun that was used looked very real,” said police spokesperson Captain Julia Klaassen. ”Negotiators did their job well. We are just thankful and relieved that the situation is now over.” The hostages’ ordeal occurred when a 20-year-old Durban man held up the family of four at their home.
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/ 31 October 2007
KwaZulu-Natal opposition parties on Wednesday accused the ruling African National Congress of ignoring the wishes of the residents of Matatiele and forging ahead with the district’s incorporation into the Eastern Cape. The Democratic Alliance (DA) accused the ANC of ”totally ignoring the wishes of the people of Matatiele Maluti”.