The government’s invitation extended by Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to visit South Africa has evoked mixed emotions from the South African society. The move was strongly condemned on Friday by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, while the Congress of South African Trade Unions backed it.
Teacher unions on Friday rejected the government’s pay-increase offer of 6%. National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa president Dave Balt said that following a meeting with government representatives on Thursday night the union refused the offer. ”We have made our position very clear as to what our demands are, and the employer has not taken us seriously.”
After months of speculation over the next Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, it will all come down to just over two hours of voting by 1 145 delegates on Sunday morning. The new leader is expected take to the stage to address the party’s federal congress in Midrand by 11am on Sunday.
fresh search for the grave of slain Constable Francis Rasuge has yielded nothing, North West police said on Friday. The search was based on the vision of a sangoma (traditional healer), who claimed Rasuge was buried in the garage of a double-roomed private home.
Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride received his BTech degree in policing from the Tshwane University of Technology on Friday. ”I work hard, I study hard. I’m really committed to everything I do, so I gave it a good shot,” said McBride, who was also the best performer during the course.
The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has withdrawn charges of fraud and theft against former Scorpions director Ayanda Dlodlo, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Friday. ”I am very excited, but at the same time I am very angry because I knew from the onset that they did not have a case against me,” she told the broadcaster.
South Africa coach Jake White will partly reveal his World Cup plans when he announces his first national training squad on Saturday. White, together with his selection panel, is expected to name a training squad of about 45 players for the tours to South Africa later this month and in June of England and Samoa.
Outgoing official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon bid farewell in his final internet column, <i>SA Today</i>, which since its launch in February 2003 has focused largely on the state of democracy, including critiques of the ruling African National Congress and its governance.
A third-year Rhodes University student has laughed off a skydiving accident that saw him hospitalised with a spinal injury this week, media reports said. ”I knew I wasn’t going to die because I had two parachutes. I’ll be walking in about two weeks’ time and I’ll be skydiving again,” said Mark Houghton (23).
Thousands of members of the National Union of Mineworkers are on strike at the Northam Platinum mines near Thabazimbi, union leaders said on Thursday. The strike has already cost the company an estimated R24-million. The strikers are demanding the dismissal of the company’s human resource manager and his assistant.
Cricket South Africa confirmed on Thursday the dates for South Africa’s three-match series against India in Belfast and a one-off match against Ireland in June and July. Ireland, surprise package of the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, is to host the three match one-day international series between South Africa and India.
South Africa’s rand currency may be out of kilter given the country’s wide current account deficit and may need rebalancing, said central bank Governor Tito Mboweni on Friday. He said that while forecasts point to inflation remaining within the target range, the bank could not afford to be complacent on monetary policy.
Carol Erasmus, the 32-year-old KwaZulu-Natal engineer on the stricken Australian yacht Cowrie Dancer, had never seen such huge waves as those she faced in the southern ocean except ”in the movies”. Erasmus said she and Australian sailor John Blackman had been trying to secure the broken mizzen — the rear mast — when a huge wave hit the yacht on Monday.
Memories will be rekindled of the first final after Absa took over the sponsorship of South Africa’s premier knockout competition when Santos and Ajax Cape Town meet in what is perenially a fiercely contested derby at Athlone Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Wage talks between the government and public service unions failed on Thursday night, edging the country closer to a strike possibly involving over a million public servants. ”A 12% wage increase would do a lot to make the public service, especially essential services like teaching and nursing, attractive,” said Don Pasquallie, spokesperson for the public service unions.
There could be a lot more white skins on display in the Northern Cape’s Afrikaner-only enclave of Orania if nudist king Beau Brummel has his way, Die Burger reported on Thursday. Brummel apparently plans to open a nudist farm in the town in three weeks.
Ongoing tensions over the proposed changes of street and building names in Durban prompted the national Cabinet on Thursday to dispatch two ministers to the city in a bid to resolve the heated situation. The announcement follows a march that saw 10Â 000 people converge on the Durban City Hall in protest against the proposed changes.
Things looked dark for baby murder accused Dina Rodrigues at the end of the first day of a marathon judgement in the Cape High Court on Thursday. Judge Basheer Waglay told a packed courtroom that he accepted expert evidence that her thumbprints and handwriting were found on a waybill left at the scene of the June 2005 killing of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton.
Robert McBride, head of the Ekurhuleni metro police department, will receive his BTech degree in policing at the Tshwane University of Technology’s (TUT) graduation ceremony on Friday as the best performer during the course. TUT spokesperson Willa de Ruyter said on Thursday that McBride will be among 30 graduates.
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon met South African President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday ahead of bowing out as official opposition leader on Sunday. Leon’s spokesperson, Martin Slabbert, said it was a chance to ”say goodbye”, but it had been a private meeting.
South African platinum miner Northam Platinum has lost R24-million in revenue because of a strike at its mine near Thabazimbi, which started on April 29, it said on Thursday. The National Union of Mineworkers was continuing an unprotected ”no work, no pay” strike at the mine, the company said in a statement.
Science graduate Michael Barend van Zyl was on Thursday convicted in the Cape High Court of the axe murder of his former partner. Van Zyl wept during the two-hour judgement, especially whenever Judge Daniel Dlodlo referred to his gay relationship with his victim, estate agent Andre Weitz.
Transnet is to sell its fleet-management and leasing business Viamax Holdings to the Bidvest Group for about R1-billion. The move signalled further progress in transforming the state-owned enterprise into a freight-transport company, Transnet said in a statement on Thursday.
Spending by South Africa’s provincial governments dramatically improved in the past year as they managed to spend 98,7% of their budgets in the 2006/07 financial year, the National Treasury reported on Thursday. The provinces spent R185,6-billion of their combined adjusted budgets of R188-billion.
The Cape Town High Court heard on Thursday that eight members of the Fancy Boys gang should be given sentences that reflected how seriously society condemns organised crime. The trial that is believed to be the first to see a conviction for membership of a criminal gang under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
South African new-vehicle sales declined by 4,4% year-on-year in April as higher interest rates and rising debt levels curbed spending on passenger cars, but commercial-vehicle sales remained strong. The central bank hiked interest rates by two percentage points between June and December last year to curb rising inflationary pressures and high consumer spending.
A Johannesburg metro police campaign to recruit white, coloured and Indian members could be part of the slow death of affirmative action, the trade union Solidarity said on Thursday. The scrapping of affirmative action — and discrimination against young white people — at entry-level is ”a rapidly growing trend”, said Solidarity.
A Cape High Court judge has accepted evidence that two thumbprints from Dina Rodrigues were found on the back of a courier waybill discovered at the scene of the murder of six-month-old baby Jordan-Leigh Norton. Judge Basheer Waglay made the finding when the court resumed after lunch on Thursday.
The government has asked the public to be patient while the problems with the new electronic National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS) are being worked out. Transport Minister Jeff Radebe briefed the Cabinet about the problems following the introduction of eNaTIS last month, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said at a post-Cabinet meeting media briefing on Thursday.
Johannesburg inner-city dwellers and hawkers on Thursday vowed to resist reported city council plans to evict them. The crowd of about 100, who had gathered at the Beyers Naude Square, were told that the city council planned to evict them as part of clean-up operations in preparations for football’s 2010 World Cup, to be staged in South Africa.
The National Lottery, suspended since the end of March, will not be back up and running before May 31, and how long it will take to get started again after this date remains an unanswered question. Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said on Thursday he would be able to give a more ”definitive indication” on this at the end of May.
Eskom has launched a probe into the power disruption that left Bedfordview without electricity for three days this week. While national spokesperson Fani maintained that installation of closed-circuit television cameras along the R24 was to blame for the disruption, he conceded it was only partly responsible.