Johannesburg metro police fired rubber bullets at Soweto hostel dwellers protesting on Saturday against a lack of service delivery. Protesting residents of the Dobsonville and Nancefield hostels took to the streets at 4.30am on Saturday along with Jabavu hostel dwellers, blockading roads with stones.
The Leopards pulled of a surprise 20-17 victory against the Blue Bulls in a compulsory friendly match played at Olënpark in Potchefstroom on Friday night. After trailing 14-0 at the break, the home team fought back to a 17-14 lead halfway through the second half.
South Africa’s brilliant 22-year-old 400m hurdler LJ van Zyl issued a gutsy warning when he defeated a world-class field at the IAAF Golden Gala meet in Rome’s Olympic Stadium on Friday night. His time of 48,24 seconds was a career best in a nail-biting finish against American Kerron Clement, 2007’s fastest runner.
Ben du Toit, a millionaire farmer jailed for 32 years for murdering his wife, wants to be released on parole and the chance to prove his innocence. This emerged in the Pretoria High Court this week when Du Toit sought an order to set aside a decision by the parole board at the Pretoria Central Prison, refusing to release him.
The mystery of the disappearance of millions of rands invested in manufacturing plants to produce biodiesel has deepened, despite a case in the Pretoria High Court this week. Three applicants on Friday sought a winding-up order against De Beers Fuel, the company that promised to produce biodiesel from algae.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) elected new office bearers at its national congress in Port Elizabeth on Friday, media reports said. The party re-elected Blade Nzimande as its general secretary, and Jeremy Cronin remains his deputy. Former National Union of Mineworkers boss Gwede Mantashe was elected national chairperson.
The body of a young girl, suspected to be that of a 13-year-old reported missing in Merweville, was found on Friday, Western Cape police said — the same day that a newly born baby was found dead in a dustbin in Mamelodi East, Pretoria. Spokesperson Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe said police found the girl’s decomposed body in a water tank at a farm outside Leeu-Gamka.
The man shot dead in a hijacking at Sinoville in Pretoria on Friday was identified as Khetang Eric Lerata (42), a manager at the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa. Lerata was shot dead in a hijacking outside his home on Friday morning. He was shot at close range after a scuffle with the hijackers. His driver was assaulted and was admitted to hospital.
The main beneficiaries of economic transformation have been white capitalists who remain the Induna (chief) while the black middle class are given jobs in areas such as human resources, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Friday.
Allegations that German vitamin salesperson Matthias Rath is practising as a doctor in South Africa are a ”lie”, his lawyers said on Friday. A lawyer from the firm representing Rath, Zolile Gajana, said in a statement issued on Friday he wanted to respond to ”defamatory statements” made by the Democratic Alliance (DA) about Rath.
A pedestrian was cut in half when a car, allegedly travelling over 200km/h, hit him on the N8 near Kimberley in the Northern Cape, paramedics said on Friday. ”One half of the body was found inside the car that hit him, and the other half was lying in the bushes some distance away,” said ER24 spokesperson Ben Johnson.
Danny Jordaan, CEO of the 2010 Soccer World Cup local organising committee, on Friday returned to his home town of Port Elizabeth to switch on the First National Bank (FNB) World Cup countdown clock. This demonstrates that things are really ”hotting up” in the friendly city as it prepares to host some of the games in three years’ time.
Police on Friday defended the redeployment of officers dealing with crimes against women and children, saying the new system was proving to be effective. ”Rape cases have decreased significantly in Mpumalanga, while the conviction rate has increased substantially,” said spokesperson Director Selby Bokaba.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has accused the government of again washing its hands of responsibility and abetting Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s ”survival programme”. Writing in her weekly newsletter on the DA website on Friday, Zille also urged increased international pressure on Mugabe.
Proposals have been put on the table to improve nurses’ salaries by between 20% and 23%, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang announced on Friday. ”Part of the proposal we have presented to the discussions with the health unions is that entry level salaries of nurses be increased by between 20% and 23% with effect from July 1 2007,” she said.
The leadership of South Africa’s communist party has signalled it wants to stay allied to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) rather than contest elections independently. A proposal to run a separate slate of candidates in the 2009 elections was put forth at the South African Communist Party national congress this week, but was quickly sidelined.
Affirmative action is dead in many respects, says Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin. Beeld newspaper reported him on Friday as saying the policy was not being applied in South Africa because of skills shortages. Erwin was defending the government’s affirmative action policy on Thursday at the South African Business Club in London.
The Triangle Project said on Friday they were outraged by recent killings of two lesbian women in Soweto. ”We demand justice and immediate police action to incarcerate the monsters who killed these women,” said Vista Kalipa, spokesperson for Triangle Project — a Cape Town-based gay and lesbian advocacy organisation.
Employers must not cut worker salaries but should, instead, review them upwards despite the ongoing reduction of prices of goods and services, said the Zimbabwe chairperson of the Cabinet taskforce on price monitoring and stabilisation, Obert Mpofu. He said the government would assist companies that are facing viability problems.
The leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP) has called for the nationalisation of petrochemical firm Sasol and Mittal Steel South Africa to ensure energy security. The SACP is allied to the more centrist African National Congress but political analysts say it may decide to withdraw from the coalition.
Ah, the gutter. There’s plenty of mud down there — which is what it being used in the unseemly spat between Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride and some of his officers.
Former Golden Arrows striker Alton Meiring has joined Moroka Swallows at their pre-season camp and impressed coach Ian Gorowa so much that he will travel to Germany with the squad to play in the inaugural Volkswagen Cup. Swallows will face Vfl Wolfsburg next Wednesday in a tournament sponsored by the German car manufacturer.
Free State scored a hard-fought 18-3 win over the Pumas virtually to confirm their place in Saturday’s main match at the 44th annual Coca-Cola Craven Week at Paul Roos Gymnasium. Their likely opponents will be hosts Western Province, who won against the Lions on Wednesday.
In a weekend with only one Currie Cup game being played, there will also be two compulsory friendlies around the country. The Sharks will be hosting Griquas at the Absa Stadium in Durban in the only Currie Cup fixture. In East London, it’s the Bulldogs versus the Lions, and in George it’s Western Province versus South Western District.
The South African Communist Party (SACP), whose ultimate goal is achieving socialism, needs to decide on the question of political power, African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said on Thursday. He was addressing the SACP’s 12th national congress.
The North West owner of 10 lions that killed a boy has offered to sell two of the animals to compensate the child’s family, the province said on Thursday. The boy was killed by the lions on a farm near Vryburg. The lions apparently grabbed the boy and pulled him into their enclosure after he put his hand through a gap near the entrance gate.
In the third such accident this week, four people were injured when a train hit a car at a crossing in Welkom in the Free State, emergency services said on Thursday. Three adults and a young child were travelling between Welkom and Odendaalsrus at about 8.15pm on Wednesday when their car was hit by a train carrying mined rock.
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) says it cannot take action against German vitamin salesman Matthias Rath. This follows a complaint by the Democratic Alliance complaint on Thursday that Rath had reopened offices in Cape Town offering products promising the natural control of HIV/Aids.
The outcome of government departments’ annual financial reports paints a bleak picture, Auditor General Terence Nombembe told the Johannesburg Press Club on Thursday. In the 2005/06 report, only 12% of government departments have clean audit opinions. This figure shrinks to 4% at provincial level.
Hundreds of newborns are reportedly dying every year at Frere Hospital’s overburdened maternity section in East London — many because of negligence, a media report said on Thursday. The situation is so bad that a cleaner delivered a baby in front of shocked students, it said.
Najwa Petersen was refused bail by the Cape Town Regional Court on Thursday because her history of suicide attempts showed she was a danger to herself. She is to go on trial in February with Abdoer Emjedi, Waheed Hassen and Jefferson Snyders, charged with the murder of Petersen’s husband, internationally known entertainer Taliep.
South African gold output rose by 1,3% year-on-year in May, the first increase in in nine months, while overall mining production rose by 0,8%, official data showed on Thursday. Gold output in South Africa, the world’s largest producer, showed an increase in volume terms for the first time since August 2006.