Media freedom in Africa will come under the microscope as global newspaper publishers and editors converge in Cape Town from Sunday to analyse challenges and opportunities facing the fourth estate. About 1 600 participants from 105 countries are set to attend the gathering, which kicks off with a discussion on Sunday on press freedom in Africa.
A Cape High Court judge on Friday reserved his ruling on an application by the state, which, if successful, could see two LeisureNet bosses face a retrial on some charges. Former joint chief executives Peter Gardener and Rod Mitchell were sentenced in April to an effective eight and seven years in jail respectively on R12-million fraud charges.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair ensured that Africa was firmly on the agenda of the international community during his time in office, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. The two leaders met at the Union Buildings in Pretoria as part of Blair’s farewell tour to Africa.
The national public-service strike was largely peaceful on Friday, but got off to a violent start in Cape Town, police said. Police used stun grenades to disperse protesters outside Tygerberg Hospital after about 500 people had blocked both the entrance and the road outside the facility, said Inspector Bernadine Steyn.
Former South Africa captain Bobby Skinstad will return to international rugby on Saturday after four years out, including a spell in the lower leagues of the English game. Skinstad was called into the Springbok squad on Friday for the second Test against England in Pretoria because number eight Danie Rossouw has flu.
The political crisis in Zimbabwe needs to be resolved by fellow African governments, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Friday after talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki. He said that Britain supported Mbeki’s role to mediate between veteran Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
An Ekurhuleni metro police officer was robbed at gunpoint by three teenaged boys in Germiston on Friday. South African Police Service spokesperson Captain Steady Nawa said the 38-year-old officer was robbed at daybreak on Friday while walking to work. ”One of the boys was armed with a pistol and another with a knife,” he said.
Free State provincial minister for safety and security Playfair Morule faces a culpable-homicide charge in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court, the Volksblad newspaper reported on Friday. The case was postponed to August 24 for a possible trial, after Morule (47) appeared in court on Thursday.
South African civil servants launched a national strike on Friday, causing turmoil in some hospitals and emptying classrooms as unions demanded a hefty wage hike from the government. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, which had called on 700Â 000 public workers to strike, said the early turnout was a success.
South Africa should be compensating public servants for the quality of the work they do rather than granting an across-the-board increase — as demanded by striking trade unionists — official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille argued on Friday.
The retail price of all grades of petrol will rise by 23 cents per litre from Wednesday June 6, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. The latest changes bring the retail price for a litre of 95 octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng to R7,24 a litre and to R7 a litre at the coast — the highest to date.
United Kingdom power provider Ipsa is making good progress in expanding its portfolio of power generation projects in the Eastern Cape. Two important additions to capacity are now planned at the Elitheni Clean Coal Project and at the combined heat and power project for Da Gama Textiles.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was to hold talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki on Friday on the last day of his farewell African tour, with Zimbabwe likely to figure on the agenda. Blair was due to receive an state welcome at the Union Buildings in Pretoria before heading for discussions with the president.
A police officer and two alleged car thieves were wounded in a shoot-out on the M1 highway in Newtown in Johannesburg on Thursday night, said paramedics. The southbound M1 was closed from the Smit street off-ramp after the 9pm shooting, said ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak.
Motorists were asked to avoid the Johannesburg inner city on Friday, as a protest march by striking public servants was expected to block the streets. The march was expected to start at about 11am from the Educon building in De Korte Street, and proceed to the premier’s office at the corner of Simmonds and Fox Streets.
A massive stayaway by public servants will hit the country on Friday even if last-gasp efforts to settle their pay dispute with the state succeed. ”Friday’s strike is going to go ahead because all the unions have committed themselves to the action,” Congress of South African Trade Unions Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said on Thursday.
The Auditor General’s investigation into the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s procurement processes revealed a number of flaws in the way the department is operating, the Auditor General (AG) said on Thursday. Tabling his report, AG Terrence Nombembe said the department has failed to follow proper tender procedures.
Lambs to the slaughter. That’s about the situation facing Chad when they square off against South Africa in an Africa Cup of Nation’s qualifier at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday afternoon. Chad lost 3-0 to group 11 leaders South Africa in their first-ever meeting in March earlier this year.
Sixty-three percent of child deaths in South African hospitals could be avoided, the South African Human Rights Commission heard on Thursday. ”Thirty-one percent of those children died during their first 24 hours in hospital,” Dr Mphele Mulaudzi told a commission hearing in Johannesburg.
Fifty-four percent of South African drivers claim to have been on the receiving end of aggressive or threatening driving behaviour in the past 12 months, a recent study has found. A total number 1 986 respondents from Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town were asked about various acts of road rage experienced, ranging from persistent honking of horns to actual physical violence.
A fashion designer was shot dead by hijackers while visiting the Gauteng provincial legislature, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday. ”This is truly shocking and sad. It shows that we have a far way to go in ensuring safety in the inner city despite the CCTV cameras and the extra policing,” said the DA’s Jack Bloom.
The Education Department must do something about school security, a school principal pleaded on Thursday after the ”horrific” stabbing of one of his pupils with a pair of scissors. Another three school pupils have died in violence throughout the country this week, including an eight-year-old hacked to death by two classmates.
Former president Nelson Mandela has told outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair he looks forward to welcoming ”a young man like you” to the club of retired presidents when Blair leaves office on June 27. However, Mandela warned Blair that some of its members — himself chief among them — ”only became active after stepping down from public office”.
The Labour Court in Cape Town on Thursday granted an order interdicting unions from calling on immigration officers to join Friday’s national strike. Judge Deon Nel also ruled that the statutory essential-services committee should hold a hearing not later than June 15 to decide whether the officers are essential-services workers.
The media on Thursday scored a major victory following a ruling by the portfolio committee on home affairs exempting print and broadcast media from provisions of the controversial Film and Publications Bill. The Bill is aimed primarily at cracking down on child pornography.
The kidnapping, rape and murder of six-year-old Michaela Garoenisha Ganchi was not a serious enough case for a life sentence to apply, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Thursday. Ronald Ambrose Jones (27) was found guilty of kidnapping, two counts of indecent assault, rape and murder for the 2005 killing.
The government has made no decision to reduce the number of provinces or to ”rationalise” them, President Thabo Mbeki told Parliament on Thursday. Replying to questions in the National Assembly, Mbeki said Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi is to give more details of a provincial- and local-government system review next week.
While all is calm in the Springbok camp, England have endured another fraught week of preparation for the second Test against South Africa in Pretoria on Saturday. The mysterious stomach virus that struck the tourists shortly after their arrival two weeks ago continues to dog the squad and two more players have been flown in.
A 33-year-old nurse charged with murdering her husband was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment by the Rustenburg High Court on Thursday. Judge Ronnie Hendricks found Kealeboga Shuping guilty of murder and arson. Her husband, Ernest Shuping, died in hospital of burns inflicted at their home in Geelhout Park, Rustenburg, in May 2004.
A 38-year-old businessman was arrested in Durban on Thursday for allegedly failing to pay R43-million in value-added tax (VAT) to the South African Revenue Service (Sars). Properties, cash in bank accounts and vehicles in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng — valued at R90 million — were seized in dawn raids.
Unions on Thursday rejected the minister of public service and administration’s announcement of a breakthrough in negotiations and that a 6,5% salary increase was on the table. Representatives of 16 unions that plan to strike on Friday told a press conference that there was no such offer.
South Africa could have at least ten more nuclear power stations within two decades if Eskom has its way, according to the utility’s chief executive, Jacob Maroga. He told journalists at a briefing in Cape Town on Thursday that in the face of global warming, nuclear power was the ”next big viable alternative” to coal.