A ”huge contingent” of Johannesburg metro police will direct traffic in the central city on Monday for a march by metal and engineering workers. ”We are preparing for 22 000 demonstrators,” said chief superintendent Wayne Minnaar on Monday morning.
The third round of the Currie Cup played over the weekend has left many teams with more questions than answers. Western Province and the Valke will reflect on their results and wonder what they have to do to resurrect their Currie Cup campaigns.
Western Stormers utility forward Gerrie Britz has been called up to the South Africa squad in place of injured skipper Bob Skinstad. The veteran number eight, who led the Springboks against Australia in a Tri-Nations Test in Sydney on Saturday, has a broken rib and is on his way home facing a fight to be fully fit in time for the World Cup in September..
A plan to rescue Zimbabwe’s flailing economy by pegging the Zimbabwe dollar to the South African rand is being put together by the Southern African Development Community (SADC). SADC’s Zimbabwe rescue package would see the Reserve Banks of South Africa and Botswana pump money into the Reserve Bank in Harare.
The 15-month-old daughter of South African Airways (SAA) chief executive officer Khanya Ngqula drowned in a Durban North swimming pool, the Sunday Times reported. It was not clear who was supposed to be looking after the child.
Thousands of music lovers roared on Saturday in northern Johannesburg as international music stars set fire to the African leg of the round-the-clock Live Earth music concerts to highlight global warming. The event, backed by former United States vice-president Al Gore, rocked nine major cities on all continents.
The Free State Cheetahs moved clear at the top of the Absa Currie Cup standings when they outclassed Griquas 51-10 in Bloemfontein on Saturday. After holding a narrow 14-7 (two tries to one) lead at halftime, the Cheetahs simply moved up a gear after the break and scored another five tries for their third success full-house of log points.
The Independent Democrats (ID) will campaign to take over the provincial Western Cape government in the 2009 elections, party leader Patricia de Lille said on Saturday. ”The signs are there; written in the results of most of the by-elections we have fought this year,” she said at the party’s national conference in Cape Town.
Francois Botha made a winning return to the ring after a five year absence when he outpointed the giant Australian Bob Mirovic in a 12-round bout for the WBF interim heavyweight title at the Carousel Casino on Friday night. The scoring in favour of Botha was 119-109, 120-108, and 120-107.
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) left no doubt on Friday about its opposition to the notion of ”two centres of power”. ”We remained steadfast that there cannot be two centres of power, because that would be disastrous for our country,” president Fikile Mbalula said in a statement.
Two youths were killed in Limpopo on Friday after they were circumcised — bringing the number of circumcision deaths to at least 17 in four provinces in the last five weeks. At least 12 deaths were reported in the Eastern Cape, three in Limpopo and one each in Gauteng and North West since the winter ”circumcision season” started.
South African Airways (SAA) could face a class action lawsuit for flights cancelled during a 2005 strike after a passenger succeeded in a suit for compensation. Michiel Spaapen said on Friday he had launched a campaign to mobilise other passengers who were also affected by flight cancellations.
The Ekurhuleni metro said on Friday it did not understand the basis of the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) call for the suspension of its police chief, Robert McBride, and believed any allegations against him should be tested first. ”We don’t understand the basis of that call and how they came to that conclusion,” said mayoral spokesperson Prince Hamnca.
The Potchefstroom city council expressed sadness on Friday over the destruction by fire of a historical Afrikaans church in the town. Mayor Maphetle Maphetle said the council extended its sympathy to the congregation of the NG (Moedergemeente) Church after the building was gutted by fire on Wednesday night.
The N1 to Beaufort West in the Western Cape has been reopened to traffic after a collision involving two trucks and three buses outside Laingsburg earlier on Friday. Seven people were killed and 17 seriously injured, among them a seven-year-old girl. The accident started when a bus heading toward Cape Town collided with a truck.
About 100 Vodacom employees picketed at the company’s head office in Midrand on Friday, demanding recognition for the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU). ”For the past five or six years, we have been trying organise ourselves a mouthpiece. However, this is not happening because Vodacom has used tactics against us,” said Frith Selelo, a senior accountant at Vodacom.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.