The Department of Minerals and Energy Affairs would not intervene in the strike by fuel production workers, but would monitor developments and supply levels, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. ”Although we have a concern, this is basically an employer issue and we do not really have a mandate [to intervene], said Sputnik Ratau.
No price was too high to allow Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down, Mail & Guardian publisher Trevor Ncube said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. ”If that means giving Robert Mugabe immunity from prosecution, let that be done,” he told a public debate on leadership in Zimbabwe.
The Presidency has rejected the notion of a multiparty team to advise the government on post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) matters. Spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said on Wednesday guidelines followed by the National Prosecuting Authority on the post-TRC legal process were approved by the Cabinet and adopted by the National Assembly.
A woman told the Scottburgh High Court on Wednesday she ”didn’t feel like” she was part of her own body as a man raped her on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. The woman, who may not be identified, said: ”I didn’t feel like I was a part of my body. I wasn’t there. When something like that happens, you switch off.” The student was the second victim to testify at the trial.
Rural fires that blazed for weeks in South Africa killed at least 26 people, marking the worst loss of life from such infernos since the 1980s, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday. Ten deaths have been confirmed in Mpumalanga and 16 in KwaZulu-Natal, where veld and forest fires broke out on July 2.
Vigilante farmer patrols do not control the Zimbabwe-South African border, Limpopo police said on Wednesday. The statement came after a Sky News report into vigilantism against border-crossing aired earlier this week. The report apparently showed South African farmers capturing Zimbabweans trying to cross the border.
The United Nations food agency on Wednesday appealed for -million in expanded food aid for Zimbabwe and pledged to assist about 3,3-million starving citizens of that country. Zimbabwe is in the throes of a chronic economic crisis with the world’s highest rate of inflation and four in every five people jobless.
Four prison officials have been dismissed for serious misconduct and another resigned after they were seen taking bribes, prison authorities said on Wednesday. The Correctional Services Department said video footage gathered for the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s Special Assignment showed them accepting bribes.
South African companies are beginning to follow their international counterparts in blocking workers’ access to popular social-networking site Facebook. They cite concerns over productivity, but some experts defend the site, saying it holds huge potential as a business tool.
Reckoning with former leaders who were involved in apartheid crimes should be dealt with politically and not by the National Prosecuting Authority, former transport minister Mac Maharaj said on Wednesday. Speaking at a Cape Town Press Club luncheon, he said such matters could not be ”shunted off to a bureaucracy to handle”.
Two weeks ago, the Mail & Guardian newspaper was interdicted by the head of the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) legal services, Mafika Sihlali, from publishing a story on an explosive draft internal SABC audit report. On Wednesday, the interdict order was dismissed, and we can finally publish the full original report.
Jacob Zuma is still musing over his response to a report accusing him of wanting to overthrow the South African government, his lawyer said on Wednesday. ”[Zuma’s legal team] was still giving the matter consideration and consultation because of the gravity of the report’s contents,” said Zuma’s lawyer, Michael Hulley.
Child murderer Theunis Olivier attempted suicide at the age of five following repeated sexual abuse suffered as a child growing up in Harare, Zimbabwe, the Cape High Court heard on Wednesday. Giving evidence in mitigation of his sentence, Olivier said he was sexually abused by his alcoholic father and others until he decided to commit suicide.
A South African strike over wages entered a third day on Wednesday after shutting down one petrol refinery, partially hobbling another and affecting pharmaceutical and packaging companies. State-owned PetroSA shut its 36 000-barrel-per-day Mossel Bay gas-to-liquid plant on Tuesday, saying it had stock to supply Mossel Bay for the next three weeks.
South Africa’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose for the first time in four months to 57,7 in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, pointing to buoyant business conditions. The index, which tracks trends in the manufacturing sector, rose from 56 in June as local and international demand lifted sales.
Niggling injuries of the kind that needed time to heal kept six Springbok rugby players sidelined on Tuesday evening as the World Cup squad continued its strenuous build-up to the World Cup in France. Sitting it out while their teammates sweated were Bryan Habana, Wikus van Heerden, Ashwin Willemse, Francois Steyn, Danie Rossouw and the latest addition to the side, Bismarck du Plessis.
South African cyclist Ryan Cox (28) died in the Kempton Park Hospital at about 5am on Wednesday. Cox, who rides for Team Barloworld, although he was not part of the team for the Tour de France, underwent a vascular lesion operation in Europe three weeks ago. He returned to South Africa to recuperate, but his condition deteriorated on Monday.
The annual income-tax return filing season begins on Wednesday, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said. Sars spokesperson Adrian Lackay said taxpayers must hand in their returns by October 31. As from midday on Wednesday there will be an electronic version of income-tax return available on the internet.
The Eastern Cape government would implement recommendations arising from a probe into the deaths of babies at Frere Hospital. Some of the suggestions were already being implemented, said provincial health minister Nomsa Jajula, adding that the hospital was to undergo a R150-million revamp.
The South African government plans to build a new -million submarine cable around the west of Africa to boost broadband capacity and cut Internet tariffs in the continent, it said on Tuesday. South Africa’s state-owned telecom infrastructure company Infraco said it would split the cable into two parts with one linking South Africa to Brazil and one to London.
A medical student was raped at the Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, media reports said on Tuesday. The student was apparently working in the gynaecology unit of the hospital and was raped while on her way to fetch blood samples for a doctor on Monday.
Each time a Durban woman objected to being kissed while she was being raped, her attacker pressed a Smith & Wesson revolver to her head, the Scottburgh High Court heard on Tuesday. His HIV-positive accomplice then asked her: ”Was it fun? Are we having a good time?”
The unusual sight of a minibus carrying 23 goats led to the arrest of three suspected stock thieves in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday, police said. Spokesperson Captain Charmaine Streuwig said officers from the Ladysmith stock-theft unit were following up a lead on the theft of goats when they made the arrest.
The high court trial of two men accused of manufacturing and exporting components that may be used in the manufacturing of nuclear weapons has been delayed because of one of the accused’s poor health. Prosecutor Chris Macadam told Judge Joop Labuschagne that the state was ready to proceed with the trial.
Failure to ”saturate” a patient, causing another to suffer ”importance” by not referring him to a urologist, and a fractured ”fumer” are among the reasons given by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang for public hospitals being sued for more than R26-million last year.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called off its planned strike at diamond producer De Beers after reaching an agreement on wages in negotiations on Tuesday afternoon. The union’s 3 350 members at De Beers’ six mines in South Africa were to have downed tools just hours later, from the start of the 9pm night shift.
Afrikanerbond chairperson Pierre Theron has appealed to prominent black businessmen to start an upliftment fund for black South Africans, similar to that launched in the 1930s to benefit poverty-stricken Afrikaners. He said on Tuesday the fund launched by the Afrikanerbond’s predecessor, the Afrikaner Broederbond, raised R30-million over only six years.
Four automated teller machines (ATMs) were blown up in separate incidents around the country in the past week. However, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre is confident there has been a decline in such incidents recently, and that the downward trend will continue.
The Health Department is preparing to introduce dual therapy to improve prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The National Strategic Plan for HIV and Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections allows for introducing dual therapy for reducing mother-to-child transmission, the department said in a statement on Tuesday.
Transnet Freight Rail, formerly Spoornet, will spend R34-billion over the next five years as part of its turnaround strategy, CEO Siyabonga Gama said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Johannesburg, Gama said the overall turnaround strategy entailed refurbishing and building new railway lines linking the country’s economic centres.
Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula appears to be ”deliberately misinterpreting” legislation in order to avoid the government’s legal obligation to set up camps for refugees from Zimbabwe, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. The minister had recently rejected a DA suggestion that refugee camps be put up.
Theunis Olivier was on Tuesday found guilty by the Cape High Court for the murder of six-year-old Steven Siebert. Passing judgement, Judge Essa Moosa said the testimony given by the accused, the psychiatrist’s evaluation report as well as the statement submitted by the accused were enough to convict Olivier on all the charges.