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.
South Africa’s trade balance shifted further into deficit in June, recording a shortfall of R5,31-billion and keeping pressure on South Africa’s current account, official data showed on Tuesday. The data follows May’s smaller R2,67-billion shortfall and compares with expectations of a R3,5-billion gap.
About 70% of South Africans believe the country will be ready to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, a survey by African Response has found. Jo’burgers were slightly more optimistic, with 76% of them believing that the country would be ready. Only 60% of Capetonians agreed.
The trial of the four travel agents still standing in the parliamentary travel-voucher fraud case will only start next year, it emerged on Tuesday. The four, Soraya Beukes, Mpho Lebelo, Graham Geduldt and Estelle Aggujaro, made a brief appearance in the Cape High Court for yet another postponement.
Lesotho needs ,9-million to help feed more than a third of its population after the country’s crop was destroyed by a prolonged dry spell during the 2006/07 cropping season, the United Nations said on Tuesday. About 550 000 people out of 1,8-million in Lesotho will need food aid between now and the next harvest in May next year, the UN said.
A policy review process, which includes questions on whether provincial government should even exist, was launched by Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi in Pretoria on Tuesday. ”We have to have a re-look at the way powers and functions have been distributed across the three spheres of government,” Mufamadi said.
AngloGold Ashanti posted a worse-than-expected 17% fall in second-quarter adjusted profit, hit by stronger currencies and more exploration costs, and said its chief executive Bobby Godsell would retire. AngloGold, the world’s third biggest gold producer, said on Tuesday Mark Cutifani from Brazil’s CVRD Inco would become new chief executive.
A South African union said it had launched a strike over wages at Chevron’s 100 000-barrel-per-day refinery in Cape Town and PetroSA’s 36 000 bpd Mossel Bay gas-to-liquid plant. Welile Nolingo, secretary general of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union, said the strike would continue until the union’s demands are met.
Growth in demand for credit by South Africa’s private sector quickened to 24,92% year-on-year in June, data showed on Tuesday, hardening the case for another interest rate increase next month. Analysts had expected a new law clamping down on credit lending that came into force in June to have bolstered the central bank’s monetary tightening efforts.
The father of two boys who were killed in the 1993 Mthatha raid ordered by FW de Klerk wants the former president to be prosecuted. The twin boys of Sigqibo Mpendulo were shot in their sleep at their home which De Klerk said had been confirmed a Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) safe house.
A picture of death and destruction emerged on Monday as officials counted the cost of veld fires that ravaged several provinces. By late afternoon, nine fires were still burning in Mpumalanga and Swaziland. More runaway fires were also reported in KwaZulu-Natal.
The South African emerging players cricket squad that participated in the 2007 Emerging Players Tournament in Brisbane, Australia, over the past two weeks landed back home with the trophy in hand after beating strong teams from Australia, New Zealand and India. On Saturday South Africa beat New Zealand in the final of the tournament by 82 runs.
Opposition parties in the Johannesburg city council are furious at the ruling African National Congress (ANC) limiting their speaking time to four seconds per councillor. The parties quoted the ANC’s chief whip in the council as saying: ”If a party cannot say what they want to say in eight seconds, it is not worth saying.”
The possibility of declaring fire-ravaged parts of Mpumalanga disaster zones could not be precluded, Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi said on Monday. Earlier in the day, Mufamadi and Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks conducted a helicopter surveillance of sites destroyed by fires in the province.
Theunis Olivier was of a sober and sane mind when he sodomised and later strangled six-year-old Steven Siebert in Plettenberg Bay, the Cape High Court heard on Monday. In his statement submitted to the court, Olivier said he was normal when he committed the crime.
South Africans are increasingly being targeted by international crime syndicates to be ”money mules”, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre said on Monday. A money mule or e-mule is someone who is tricked into using his or her bank account to launder money.
Former president FW de Klerk is not being investigated for crimes committed during the apartheid era, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi said. ”There is no formal investigation of Mr De Klerk,” Lesufi said. De Klerk last week denied that he had ever condoned apartheid-era murders or other gross violations of human rights.
Another 33 shop managers were arrested in Zimbabwe over the weekend for overcharging or failing to display prices, Harare’s Herald newspaper reported on Monday. Its website said the managers were expected to appear in court on Monday. A price-monitoring team put the shops under surveillance on Friday.