The South African government will look more closely at crimes against women, President Thabo Mbeki told a national Women’s Day event in the Northern Cape on Thursday. Mbeki said the government and the Presidential Women’s Working Group had agreed to look at the issue in a ”more detailed and specific fashion”.
The Young Communist League (YCL) on Thursday called for charges to be brought against Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha and a Pretoria businessman over a missing R500 000 donation. There has been an acceptance from Madisha that he received the money, ”so we think the police should open a case”, said YCL spokesperson Castro Ngobese.
President Thabo Mbeki does not have to give reasons for why he dismissed deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, the Presidency said on Thursday. A decision by Mbeki had been taken and it had been implemented, said presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga. ”The president doesn’t have to provide reasons.”
A total of 28 people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed by a series of forest fires that have swept through parts of South Africa and Swaziland since the end of last month, officials said on Thursday. ”Twenty-six deaths have been reported thus far” in South Africa alone, said a statement issued after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Thousands of women gathered in Kimberley on Thursday for national Women’s Day celebrations, some bussed in from as far as Pampierstad. Groups of singing women had been arriving at Galeshewe Stadium throughout the morning. Many were dressed in the green and black colours of the African National Congress Women’s League.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Gordon Igesund says he is not surprised to hear the baying of wolves at his door after the Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions’ 4-0 defeat against SC Sfaxien in Caf’s Confederation Cup encounter in Tunisia last weekend. ”It’s all part of the game,” said the coach with the Midas touch, who holds the record of guiding four different clubs to the PSL title.
A light aircraft nosedived into a Johannesburg house on Wednesday evening, seriously injuring its pilot and co-pilot, said rescue workers. The Piper Seneca took the roof off the patio of the house in Greenacres Street, Birdhaven, near the Wanderers, at 5.50pm, said Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley.
President Thabo Mbeki’s decision to let Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge go was a ”dreadful error of judgement”, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said on Thursday. The TAC was reacting to Mbeki’s dismissal of Madlala-Routledge, which took immediate effect on Wednesday.
The South African Cabinet has rejected as ”baseless” suggestions the state is waging a witch-hunt against former members of the apartheid-era regime. Government spokesperson Themba Maseko on Wednesday said a Cabinet meeting had noted the process by the National Prosecuting Authority to prosecute members of the apartheid government.
South Africa would not set up camps to deal with Zimbabwean refugees crossing the border into the country, the South African Cabinet decided on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference following the Cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said South Africa’s hopes rested on the mediation of President Thabo Mbeki.
An indaba to discuss inflation and lack of transparency in the private healthcare industry will be convened next month, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Wednesday. The planned indaba will come after the Department of Health held a meeting with about 50 private healthcare industry stakeholders in Pretoria on Wednesday.
The South African Cabinet on Wednesday approved the settlement reached with the Richtersveld community on their land claim against Alexkor and the state for land situated in Alexander Bay. The Deed of Settlement, which concludes a protracted court case in which billions of rands were claimed from the state, was signed in April, said government spokesperson Themba Maseko.
The South African Cabinet has effectively vetoed the Soweto monorail project announced by the Gauteng government in May this year. There were major shortcomings in the process leading to the announcement of the project, government spokesperson Themba Maseko told journalists in Pretoria and Cape Town on Wednesday.
Charges of stock theft may be brought against those who slaughtered pigs — or stole them — at an accident scene, the King William’s Town Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said on Wednesday. SPCA spokesperson Annette Rademeyer said the police and the Independent Complaints Directorate had taken statements from SPCA staff.
One of the Boeremag accused applied on Wednesday for his discharge on 33 of the charges against him, saying there was no evidence linking him to crimes committed while he was in jail. Mike du Toit (47) and 20 co-accused denied guilt four years ago on 42 charges.
The African National Congress (ANC) on Wednesday acknowledged the government for its efforts to emancipate women. The party would continue to advocate for the empowerment of women, particularly those who remained vulnerable to poverty, disease and violence, it said in a statement ahead of Thursday’s 51st anniversary of the 1956 Women’s March.
The decomposing body of the 20-year-old daughter of a prominent South African academic was found in a New York University housing complex this week, the Times of London reported on Wednesday. The victim, identified as Boitumelo ”Tumi” McCallum, was found wrapped in a sheet, the newspaper said.
South Africa’s manufacturing output growth slowed to an unadjusted 2% year on year in volume in June from an upwardly revised 7,7% in May, suggesting higher interest rates may be taking effect, data showed on Wednesday. Compared with May, production fell a seasonally adjusted 3%, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday.
Rumours that President Thabo Mbeki has asked Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge to resign could not be confirmed by the Presidency on Wednesday. Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga told the Mail & Guardian on Wednesday that it was a ”rumour with no substance” and that he had heard about it from the media.
Tracking down rape suspects has been made a police priority, Deputy Minister of Safety and Security Susan Shabangu said on Wednesday. ”One of the issues we are going to make a priority is to ensure that where we have warrants of arrest for rape suspects, the police go down and hunt those individuals and bring them to book,” she said.
Ramp meters will be installed on four interchanges on the N1 freeway this month, the South African National Roads Agency Limited said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Priya Pillay said the ramp meter would control the flow of traffic onto the freeway.
Six-year-old Steven Siebert’s murderer, Theunis Olivier, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Cape High Court on Wednesday. Handing down sentence, Judge Essa Moosa described Olivier as a cold and callous murderer. ”The victim must have endured excruciating pain,” he said.
While most electricity users are being urged to switch off to save energy, Cape Town authorities are keeping street lights switched on day and night in large areas of the city. According to city public lighting manager Charles Kadalie, this is being done in a bid to combat the widespread plundering of copper.
South Africa’s business confidence inched up in July but there was no evidence that the small recovery improved producers’ mood, a survey showed on Wednesday. The South African Chamber of Business’s (Sacob) confidence index crept up to 99,6 in July from June’s 99,1, but the body said domestic economic concerns were still a concern.
Some MPs protested on Wednesday at the Bill to regulate internet gambling. The National Gambling Amendment Bill was introduced to the trade and industry portfolio committee by Fungai Sibanda, the acting director general of the Department of Trade and Industry.
Eleven South African officials were suspended from office on Wednesday for allegedly helping 10 ”dangerous” inmates escape jail, officials said. ”The 11 officials of the Department of Correctional Services were suspended on Wednesday morning. They have been handed their letters of suspension,” department spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said.
Tickets for South Africa’s 2010 Soccer World Cup will bear both the apartheid-era names of cities and the new ones, reflecting the nation’s evolution while avoiding confusing visitors. South Africa’s government has been changing the names of some cities since the end of apartheid in 1994 but the new names are often not known abroad.
South African insurer Liberty Group increased interim headline earnings per share, adjusted for the effects of a black economic empowerment (BEE) deal, by 51,5%, the company said on Wednesday. Liberty, 30% owned by Standard Bank, said BEE normalised headline EPS in the six months to end-June was 583,1 cents.
The next object of liberation in South Africa must be the national economy, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Tuesday. ”Our people have been given political rights, but they still lack the freedom to participate fully in the market economy,” he said in an online letter.
The PSL’s once-feared Kaizer Chiefs on Tuesday listed six frontline squad members for transfer in a bid to halt a losing streak that got under way last season. Players placed on the transfer list include erstwhile club heroes Emmanuel ”Scara” Ngobese, Patrick Mayo, Gert Schalkwyk, David Radebe, Siphiwe Mkhonza and Serge Djiehoua.
South African musician Hugh Masekela believes he is no longer welcome as a performer in South Africa, the Times Online reported on Wednesday. The trumpeter said that many talented musicians whose voices became symbols of protest against white domination found it hard to get bookings in South Africa.
Thomas Siebert shifts uncomfortably on the wooden court bench and flinches occasionally at the testimony of the man who sodomised and then strangled his six-year-old son to death 18 months ago. He tries to avoid staring at the 48-year-old killer, Theunis Olivier, instead peering around the courtroom and making occasional notes.