The Social Development Department on Friday defended provisions in the Children’s Act giving access to contraceptives to children as young as 12. The department said it was concerned about ”misinterpretation” of the Act, certain sections of which came into effect last Sunday.
Eleven people have been hospitalised after they came into contact with a parcel containing a white powder — possibly anthrax — at a post office in Alberton, south of Johannesburg, police said on Friday. Inspector Juanita Kilian said police had received a complaint from the post office at Jacqueline Mall in Randhart at about 10am about a ”suspicious” parcel.
A former law student who murdered his ”friend” by bludgeoning him with a dumbbell and cutting off his genitals received an 18-year jail sentence on Friday. Pretoria High Court Judge Tholi Vilakazi sentenced Lebogang Frank Mahlakoana (24) for murdering 54-year-old William Henry Thomas.
Mitigation, mitigation, mitigation — the need for action to halt climate change will be hammered home at eight Live Earth concerts on seven continents on Saturday. In Johannesburg, that message has dictated the choice of materials in what is being billed as a carbon-neutral concert.
Two ”countdown clocks” to the 2010 Soccer World Cup were switched on at Durban International Airport on Friday, a sponsor said. ”The clocks are counting us down to our deadline and bringing us together to unveil our beautiful city to the rest of the world,” said First National Bank’s KwaZulu-Natal chief, Gareth Davies.
Team South Africa leave on Saturday to compete in the All Africa Games in Algiers from July 11 to 23. The All Africa Games contribute to the promotion of the Olympic spirit and stand as a major rendezvous for African athletes. These Games are a milestone in the preparation of the Olympic Games as they are an opportunity for the continent’s athletes to express their potential.
South Africans have every reason to be concerned about the latest crime-trends report, says Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille. ”There can be no doubt, however much government’s office-bearers try to play them down, that the statistics portray a society in which crime is endemic, violent and unrelenting,” she said on Friday on the DA’s website.
Power utility Eskom declared a dispute early on Friday with the three unions negotiating for increased wages. The company and Solidarity, the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa had hoped to conclude negotiations in the meeting that went past midnight on Thursday night.
Striking Vodacom employees were outraged that the company had blocked their cellphones, the Communication Workers Union said on Friday. The company said it was employing a ”no work, no pay, and no benefits” policy. Vodacom spokesperson Dot Field said the cellphones were not blocked and the workers were free to insert their own SIM cards into the handsets.
A child was born with four legs at the Lebowakgomo hospital outside Polokwane on Thursday night, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reports. Provincial health department spokesperson Phuthi Seloba said: ”This is a very strange case. In the past 10 years in this province we’ve never seen such a case.”
In his National Arts Festival Winter School lecture this year, 30 Years On: The Legacy of Steve Biko, Barney Pityana — a friend and intellectual confrère of Biko — dexterously balanced the personal and the political, and eloquently demonstrated why the former so often constitutes the latter.
Every time a crime-trends statistics report is released, there follows a round of indignant finger-pointing.
Talks in a bid to settle a pay dispute between Eskom and three unions continued into Thursday evening. ”Negotiations may go on until very late in the night,” said Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans. ”We are positive about reaching a settlement.”
African miner Randgold Resources expects to upgrade planned production at its new mine in Côte d’Ivoire, helping the firm to boost output by over 50% by 2011. The firm, currently operating two mines in Mali, plans to ramp up production to around 650 000 ounces a year by 2011 from 400 000 ounces currently,
The eNatis vehicle registration system website had not been hacked, the Department of Transport said on Thursday. ”The Department of Transport has condemned in the strongest terms the recent news reports purporting that the eNatis website has been hacked,” spokesperson Collen Msibi said in a statement.
The majority of unions have signed government’s multi-term salary agreement and this is binding on all parties who have not yet signed the agreement, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Thursday. She said the possibility of charges being brought forward against workers who intimidated other workers still existed.
Two suspended Ekurhuleni metro police officers arrested for assault and allegedly interfering with a colleague’s duties would be freed on Thursday to allow further investigation, prosecutors said. The two are part of a trio who are suing Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride for harassment, discrimination and constructive dismissal.
Thirteen years after the African National Congress came to power promising to right the wrongs of colonialism and apartheid by returning lands seized by white settlers, the snail’s pace of delivery is prompting poor black communities to fend for themselves through land grabs.
Boeremag accused Jurie Vermeulen poses a danger to society and it is not in the interests of justice to release him on bail, a Pretoria High Court judge ruled on Thursday. Vermeulen (39) submitted that his five-year-old son needs him and is likely to suffer a permanent personality disorder if he does not get to know his father.
An alleged burglar who abandoned a bail application, then changed his mind and reapplied, only to abandon it again, on Thursday decided he wanted bail after all when he appeared in a Cape Town court. Moegamat Lucas (21) had officials exasperated when he made his ninth appearance in the magistrate’s court.
Three groups of hikers, including foreign tourists, have been mugged while walking above Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, the Table Mountain National Park confirmed on Thursday. Two Dutch hikers, three Australians and two South Africans were robbed in separate incidents of cash, cellphones and jewellery.
Four people were remanded in custody by the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday following a shootout in the city in which a baby was shot dead on its mother’s back. The magistrate ruled that it would not be in the interests of justice to release Fana Makhanya, Menzi Hlongwa and Phikani Ngidi on bail.
Western Cape police declined to comment on Thursday on contradictory news reports that the suspected killers of two-year-old Sonja Brown were about to be arrested, and that an autopsy showed she was not murdered. The reports were carried earlier in the day by a Cape Town newspaper and a local radio station.
South Africa’s refugee system is being abused by those seeking to legalise their stay in the country even though they fall outside the definition of a refugee, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Johnny de Lange said in Cape Town on Thursday at a meeting regarding the status and treatment of refugees.
Workers in the metal and engineering industry would strike on Monday, a trade union said. ”The metal and engineering industry must brace itself for a crippling strike from Monday, with a possible far-reaching effect on the country’s economy,” said Tim Kruger, spokesman for the United Association of South Africa.
South Africa and other African nations will insist that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe be allowed to attend a long-delayed summit between the European Union (EU) and Africa later this year. Mugabe and more than 100 other Zimbabwean officials are banned from travelling to EU nations under sanctions imposed in 2002.
Despite the massive growth in broadband connectivity, the number of South Africans with access to the internet will grow by little more than 3% in 2007. A report shows that 3,85-million people in South Africa — a mere 8% of the population — will have access to the internet by the end of 2007.
An investigation is under way to establish how a section of the Department of Transport’s controversial eNatis vehicle registration system was hacked into, a spokesperson said on Thursday. ”We are going to find out who did it and be more vigilant,” said Collen Msibi.
Hours after being sworn in as a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, Amos ”Toenka” Matila found himself behind bars, charged with drunken driving. Matila, who is acting chairperson of the South African National Civic Organisation’s Gauteng branch, apparently drove into the back of a truck on Tuesday night.
There are no major safety concerns about nuclear waste management in South Africa, the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) said in Cape Town on Wednesday. NNR Nuclear Technology and waste programme manager Thiagan Pather was speaking at a public participation forum.
The only people who said crime was out of control in the Western Cape were the Democratic Alliance, Western Cape provincial community safety minister Leonard Ramatlakane said on Wednesday. He said calls for him to step down were ”frivolous” and something to which he would not respond.
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday called for a deepening of corporate governance and accountability, saying it was necessary to understand that sound corporate governance was not enough. Manuel was addressing a conference of the International Corporate Governance Network in Cape Town.