Bidvest Wits University goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs believes the two-day mini-camp for aspiring Bafana Bafana players is an excellent opportunity for those who want to represent their country at the 2010 Soccer World Cup. ”We have so many players who can play for Bafana and too little time to see who is best in the 11 positions,” said Josephs.
New-generation antiretroviral (ARV) drugs could cost 500% more than those now being dispensed by the Health Department, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Tuesday. Speaking at the opening of the Women in Partnership against Aids, Tshabalala-Msimang said: ”The reduction of prices of medicines is a critical concern.”
South Africa’s central bank Governor Tito Mboweni said on Tuesday that above-target inflation meant that interest rates were more likely to rise than fall. South Africa’s inflation has stayed above the Reserve Bank’s target band for three months since breaching it in April, when it rose to 6,3% year-on-year.
Sasol welcomed on Tuesday the National Treasury’s decision not to impose a windfall tax on synthetic fuel producers. ”Our government’s growth vision for the synthetic fuel sector is encouraging,” said Sasol chief executive Pat Davies. Davies said Sasol had started the first phase of ”significantly expanding” existing synthetic fuels capacity in Secunda.
A break-in at a Durban beachfront flat rented by African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma ”does not appear to be a random act of crime”, a media report said on Tuesday. The report said it appeared the intruder rifled through the ANC deputy president’s documents.
All the fuel industry workers who were on strike over the last week would return to work on Tuesday after accepting an 8,5% wage increase. ”We hope that at least by the afternoon shift everybody would have gone back to work,” said Keith Jacobs, spokesperson for the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers’ Union.
Convicted child killer Theunis Olivier should spend the rest of his life in jail, the Cape High Court heard on Monday. Testifying in court, Eileen Siebert, mother of murdered six-year old boy Steven Siebert said Olivier deserved to die in prison. ”Steven posed no threat to him [Olivier], and yet he choose to kill him for his own pleasure,” she said.
The body of an American tourist who died on a solo rock-climbing excursion on Table Mountain was found on Monday afternoon, rescuers said. David Andretta (31) had planned to scale the mountain on Sunday while his wife took a walking route up Plattekloof Gorge, spokesperson for Wilderness Search and Rescue Anwaaz Bent said.
The launch of an online tax-filing facility was delayed after pilot tests revealed system flaws, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Monday. ”We are … not prepared to offer any service where we are not happy with the quality and cannot guarantee a pleasant experience for all taxpayers. We expect the eFiling facility to be functional next week,” said Sars.
The suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority, Piet Bothma, has become the third person to be arrested in connection with the Fidentia affair. He appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Monday where he was released on R200 000 bail. Bothma has been charged with fraud, theft and with corruption.
South Africa indefinitely suspended meat imports from the United Kingdom after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the south of England, officials said on Monday. ”[We] confirm that no veterinary import permits will be issued for cloven-hoofed animals and products derived thereof originating from the UK,” the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs said.
South Africa urgently needs to know that its energy supply is secure, experts said on Monday. Norman Ndaba of auditing firm Ernst & Young’s energy department said valid questions were being asked about the consequences of fossil-fuel and nuclear-power sources. Demand for electricity was unlikely to subside, and additional capacity was required as a priority.
Child murderer Theunis Olivier had threatened to throw Steven Siebert into the sea if he resisted being sodomised, the Cape High Court heard on Monday. Giving evidence in mitigation of his sentence, Olivier said he told the six-year old to cooperate or face death. ”I told him that I was going to throw him into the sea if he protested,” he said.
South Africa’s workers in the petroleum sector said they were hopeful that talks with their employers later on Monday could end their strike over pay, which has severely affected fuel delivery. "We have a meeting tonight [Monday] beginning at 8pm with the employers of the workers and we are hopeful," a union spokesperson said.
Students and medical staff at the Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital say they feel unsafe — and that administrators need to do more to improve safety at the world’s biggest hospital. On July 30, a student was raped at the hospital. She had been on her way to the blood bank at about 7pm when two men approached her and one of them raped her.
Two of the accused in the Boeremag treason trial said on Monday they had no plans to testify against a couple accused of harbouring them while they were on the run. Herman van Rooyen and Jan Rudolf Gouws said in statement, faxed from their attorney’s office, that it was reported in an ”untruthful way” that they would testify against Jaco Bogaards and his wife, Beth.
Gestetner Diamond Eagles opening batsman Boeta Dippenaar will captain a 14-man SA A squad to play two four-day matches against Zimbabwe in Harare and Bulawayo from August 9 to 18. The first four-day game will be played from Thursday to Sunday and the second from Wednesday to Saturday next week.
South Africa’s National Treasury said on Monday the country will not impose a windfall tax on synthetic fuel producers such as Sasol and PetroSA. ”[The] government has also decided not to proceed with a tax on the windfall profits earned by existing synthetic fuel producers,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Allegations of embezzlement against South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande were unfounded, the Young Communist League said on Monday. YCL chairperson David Masondo said: ”We as the youth wing have engaged with Nzimande, and he said the allegations were untrue.”
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has accused South African Rugby Union deputy president Mike Stofile of placing the interests of South African rugby secondary to ”pleasing his African National Congress bosses”. ”New calls for increased racial quotas are once again tainting the Springbok squad,” DA spokesperson Donald Lee said on Monday.
South Africa’s Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Monday that the overall International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment report on South Africa was optimistic about robust growth, rising employment and further improvement of the fiscal position. "There is agreement between South African authorities and the IMF about these economic prospects," stated Manuel.
Striking fuel industry workers would decide on Monday whether to accept a pay offer which might end a week of industrial action and fuel shortages. ”We are meeting our constituencies today to get a fresh mandate,” said Keith Jacobs, spokesperson for the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers’ Union.
A trip to Spain by the Deputy Minister of Health without the president’s approval was a ”mistake” and partly due to ”miscommunication”, a media report said on Monday. Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge and her party were already in Spain when her office informed her of President Thabo Mbeki’s decision to disallow the trip.
A perceived ”witch-hunt” against specific people involved in apartheid atrocities could revive ”problems”, African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma warned on Sunday. The challenge to the country, its leadership and the National Prosecuting Authority was to get to the truth, but at the same time ensure there was reconciliation, he said.
Prison officials must have colluded with the ten prisoners who escaped from the Qalakabusha Correctional Centre in Empangeni, Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said on Sunday. The prisoners, aged between 28 and 35, were serving life sentences for murder, armed robbery and other crimes.
The South African Rugby Union and the South African Rugby Players’ Association will meet early this week to discuss the decision last week by the President’s Council to ban overseas-based players from playing for the Springboks. The meeting could result in the President’s Council decision being ”rescinded”.
Asec Abidjan’s 1-0 win over Al-Hilal of Sudan in the African Champions League on Sunday has thrown the chase for semifinal places in Group B wide open. The Côte d’Ivoire champions won their first game of the group phase with an individual goal from Antoine Ngossan, moving to within one point of Al-Hilal.
Fraud and theft claims against South African Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Blade Nzimande were an attempt to discredit the organisation. The campaign was being conducted by ”elements, including agent provocateurs” who were ”hell-bent” on destroying the party because they were opposed to the direction it was taking.
President Thabo Mbeki has denied there is a witch-hunt against former president FW de Klerk, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Saturday. Mbeki was commenting on reports that De Klerk might have been fingered by former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok in pre-democracy atrocities.
It took two days of trekking through the bush, before navigating a crocodile-infested river and then scrambling underneath a barbed wire fence for Peter Nkomo and his family to make good their great escape from the meltdown of Zimbabwe to South Africa.
Fuel shortages will continue on Sunday as talks to resolve a pay strike deadlocked on Saturday night. The Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers’ Union (Ceppwawu) and the National Petroleum Employers’ Association resumed talks with the bargaining council at the Chamber of Mines in Johannesburg at 10am on Sunday.
Two Sunday newspapers have reported that South African Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Blade Nzimande is being investigated for alleged theft and fraud. The Sunday Times and City Press wrote that a businessman claimed in an affidavit that he donated R500 000 to the SACP in 2002, but the money never reached the party coffers.