One of Jacob Zuma’s attorneys has rejected an out-of-court settlement offer by the state over search-and-seizure warrants executed by the Scorpions in their investigation of the former deputy president. In papers filed at the Supreme Court of Appeal, the attorneys for Julie Mahomed said they had discussed the state’s offer with her on Monday.
The Commission on Gender Equality is concerned that gender issues will receive inadequate attention under a single ‘umbrella’ human rights and equality commission. In a statement on Thursday, it said it had been created as a stand-alone body out of ”no accident of history”.
The South African Cabinet has strongly criticised the ”distasteful” media coverage around Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Briefing the media on Thursday after the Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting on Wednesday, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said the Cabinet took a dim view of the distasteful coverage of the minister.
Red-faced at explaining the name to visitors, a South African mayor is now pushing for a fresh title for one of country’s main municipalities, which translates as a pair of bull’s testicles. Obed Mlaba, mayor of Durban, wants eThekwini municipality to be included in a review of place names designed to honour heroes of the struggle against apartheid.
South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni said on Wednesday higher energy and food prices were leading to wider inflation, and again urged consumers to live ”within their means”. Monetary authorities had to guard against the second-round effects of rising prices, he said in a speech in the remote northern town of Haenertsburg.
Springbok wing Akona Ndungane has been sent home from his team’s short tour of Ireland and Scotland for medical treatment, the South African Rugby Union announced on Thursday. Ndungane was injured in his team’s 18-3 victory over Connacht in Galway, Ireland, in a World Cup warm-up match on Tuesday.
A Johannesburg man rescued his daughter from the jaws of a hyena after it attacked the girl in Botswana, Beeld reported on Thursday. The animal grabbed eight-year-old Christin Chalwin-Milton on the left side of the head while she was asleep in a chair next to a campfire in the Okavango Delta.
The Sunday Times is trying to turn Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang into a public figure destroyed by scandal like Oscar Wilde, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Wednesday. He called the widely publicised battle between the two a witch-hunt.
A fresh study into the link between nutrition and HIV/Aids does not provide any new information, the Health Department said on Wednesday. ”The outcomes … do not necessarily provide any new information that was unknown to the Department of Health,” the department said in a statement.
The government is to establish recording studios to help launch new music stars, the Department of Arts and Culture announced on Wednesday. ”The greatest single constraint on the launching of a musical career for the new artist is access to recording facilities,” said Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan.
The families of four South African men kidnapped in Iraq last year are making an international plea to their captors, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Wednesday. The four men were kidnapped in December when they were flagged down at a roadblock north of Baghdad.
Three police officers and 12 petrol attendants were arrested for fraud in Namakgale on Wednesday, Limpopo police said. Superintendent Mohale Ramatseba said two constables and a sergeant had allegedly connived with petrol attendants at a filling station in Namakgale to defraud the police of money amounting to R100 000.
South African Communist Party (SACP) chairperson Gwede Mantashe has reacted to a statement made on Wednesday by Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha that he had handed over a R500 000 donation to SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande.
It was a case of beaten but not disgraced for Bafana Bafana as they went down 1-0 to Scotland in an evenly matched and uninspiring friendly soccer international at the half-filled Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen on Wednesday night. It was much better than recent performances by South Africa against teams with any sort of pedigree.
KwaZulu-Natal swimmer Riaan Schoeman was the talk of the South African swimming squad after winning the 400m individual medley final in a new South African record time on Wednesday, the second day of the International Swim Meeting in Tokyo, Japan.
The Constitutional Court reserved judgement on Wednesday on an application by senior editors of Independent Newspapers to access restricted documents relating to former intelligence boss Billy Masetlha. Lawyers for Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils argued that allowing this would compromise the intelligence services.
A Cape Town massage studio that included the word ”cottage” in its advertisement was not advertising casual gay sex in a public toilet, the Advertising Standards Authority has decided. The ruling was in response to a complaint about a newspaper advert for a Cape Town business that describes itself as an upmarket massage studio.
A prosecutor on Wednesday expressed concern in the Cape Town Regional Court over the tendency of gangsters involved in territory warfare to lay criminal charges against their rivals, but then fail to attend proceedings as crucial witnesses. Prosecutor Harold Engelbrecht was speaking during the trial of an alleged gangster.
The decision on whether to toll Gauteng’s main highways will be announced later this year, the Department of Transport said on Wednesday. Beeld newspaper reported that motorists would be charged 50c per kilometre to use the main highways in Gauteng if it was decided to toll the roads.
A man appeared in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday accused of certifying defective condoms in exchange for cash, said Gauteng police. Sphiwe Fikizolo faces charges of fraud and corruption. Police spokesperson Captain Percy Morokane said Fikizolo’s case was postponed to August 23 and he was released on R2 000 bail.
What remains of Pretoria is a ”cadastral area” registered in the deeds registry as a township, the City of Tshwane metropolitan council said on Wednesday in answer to a notice of motion of an urgent application for a ciourt interdict against the pending change of Pretoria’s name on road signs to Tshwane.
If it were up to Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan, the potential of South Africa’s music industry would be felt all over the world. His strong belief in the cultural sector was shared with those present at the opening of the Moshito Music Conference and Exhibition 2007 at MuseuMAfricA in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Solidarity has declared a dispute with Telkom about the company’s interpretation of a 2006 wage agreement, the trade union said on Wednesday. ”Telkom’s interpretation of the wage agreement concluded with Solidarity in 2006 deprives workers of part of their remuneration,” Solidarity said.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday officially wrote to President Thabo Mbeki asking him to fire Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. It cited Tshabalala-Msimang’s obsession with good nutrition as a substitute for proper HIV/Aids treatment as one of the reasons she should be fired.
Efforts by media lawyers to obtain access to documents relating to former National Intelligence Agency boss Billy Masetlha amounted to a ”fishing expedition”, a Constitutional Court judge said on Wednesday. ”With respect, does this not come close to a fishing expedition?” Judge Dikgang Moseneke asked.
India’s National Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi met former South African president Nelson Mandela at the Nelson Mandela Foundation on Wednesday. Gandhi said she was honoured to be meeting Mandela. ”It is a privilege — a visit to South Africa wouldn’t be complete without calling on Madiba,” she said.
The N1 highway southbound near the John Vorster Avenue offramp in Centurion was re-opened to traffic on Wednesday after a toxic spill, Tshwane metro police said. Spokesperson Louise Britz said drivers had listened to radio reports advising the use of alternative routes and so there was no traffic back-up.
A new set of photographs appeared to cast doubt on testimony by a senior police forensics expert in the Inge Lotz murder trial on Wednesday. The photographs were produced by the defence when Superintendent Stef Koekemoer, manager of the national fingerprint laboratory in Pretoria, was recalled to the stand for more questioning.
The South African Medical Association (Sama) said on Wednesday that the ”whistle-blowing” on the part of a doctor at East London’s Frere Hospital was an ethical and responsible intervention. Professor Denise White, acting chairperson of Sama, said investigations were needed to establish whether or not the rights of patients had been further violated.
The moment of truth for South Africa’s Hendrick Ramaala, Norman Dlomo, George Mofokeng, Bethuel Netshifhefhe and Zongamele Dyubeni is about to be realised. On Saturday, the men’s marathon final at the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, takes place at 11pm South African time.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the state attorney have until Thursday to say if they will pay the legal fees of a former Scorpions boss accused of corruption, theft and fraud. The trial of Geophrey Ledwaba did not begin on Wednesday as his counsel asked for yet another postponement.
Rude graffiti on a wall in Orania had the conservative Afrikaner community in the Northern Cape in a rage recently, media reports said on Wednesday. A resident who was apparently squatting on a plot spent the weekend in jail in Hopetown after he fired shots when residents gave him a tin of paint to cover the crude words.