Cape Town sex workers are suing metro police and four police-station commanders for allegedly harassing and intimidating them, the Cape Argus reported on Monday. It said the Sex Workers’ Education and Advocacy Task Force had filed the application in the Cape High Court.
Durban ratepayers and political parties are drawing battle lines over proposals to rename nearly 200 city buildings and roads, the Daily News reported on Monday. Its website said the African National Congress and city leaders had been accused of politicising the process and of disrespecting the Zulu royal house.
Former LeisureNet bosses Peter Gardener and Rod Mitchell were on Monday jailed for an effective eight and seven years respectively. ”You let society down very very badly,” said acting Judge Dirk Uijs as he handed down the sentences in the Cape High Court.
Outgoing Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon on Monday dismissed as ”distorted and inaccurate” media reports alleging a plot against Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille. Leon said he met on Monday morning with Zille and DA Western Cape leader Theuns Botha ”to discuss certain media reports …”.
Too often land for the poor is demarcated far from employment opportunities in apartheid fashion, President Thabo Mbeki told the South African Local Government Association conference in Midrand on Monday. ”Except for a few cases there is still a settlement pattern for poor black people to be on the outskirts of town, far from employment,” he said.
Simon Gungqa and dozens of other hopefuls stand at a busy intersection, their eyes watchful, appealing to motorists to hire them for a few hours’ casual labour in a country scarred by extreme unemployment, coupled with a crippling shortage of skills.
The gates of the Langlaagte testing station in Johannesburg were temporarily closed on Monday as about 1Â 500 people waited to register and license vehicles, metro police said. Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said the gates were temporarily closed at 11am.
Two historical events occurred in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) match between Santos and Kaizer Chiefs that Santos comfortably won 3-1 on Sunday. History was made when for the first time a woman, Deidre Mitchell, refereed a PSL game. The second event, of lesser importance, was the fact that ”the People’s Team” beat Chiefs for the first time since the 1998/99 season.
South African technology firm Allied Technologies (Altech) has teamed up with United States based CityNet Wireless to provide broadband services in Africa. Atech said in a statement it would use unlisted CityNet’s wireless broadband technology to tap pent-up demand for internet access in the poorest continent.
President Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, the African National Congress deputy president, and other top ANC leaders are expected to meet the party’s KwaZulu-Natal leadership on Monday. This followed newspaper reports that some ANC leaders in KwaZulu-Natal were plotting to make the province a no-go area for the president.
The owner of the Krugersdorp Game Reserve who was killed by his own lions may have had an epileptic fit before the fatal attack, Beeld reported on Monday. Dirk Brink (58) died at about 12.45pm on Friday. The family said Brink would never have got out of his 4×4 vehicle, because he was very careful.
Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned South African champions on Sunday without kicking a ball after Orlando Pirates were held to a goalless draw at home by Ajax Cape Town. Pirates still had an outside mathematical chance of catching the defending champions but needed to win all their remaining five matches and hope Sundowns lost their last five.
Gauteng’s Vaal Rand police arrested a man after 55 refuse bags filled with dagga were found in his car on Sunday. The stash was estimated to have a street value of R1-million, Superintendent Maria Mazibuko said. Police began pursuing a man driving a Toyota Corolla at about 9am in Sebokeng.
The killers of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani should never be considered for amnesty, said the Young Communist League (YCL) on the weekend. ”As the YCL we call on our government and President Thabo Mbeki not to even consider this amnesty or pardon,” said YCL national secretary Buti Manamela, speaking in Wallacedean in Cape Town.
Mayors and councillors from municipalities across South Africa are scheduled to produce broad plans to guide local government to achieve its goals at a conference this week. The meeting will pay particular attention to accelerated service delivery.
The most dangerous places in South Africa are not big cities but scantly populated rural or border areas, a new crime-mapping tool showed on Sunday. Although Johannesburg is synonymous with crime in the minds of many overseas visitors, the new computerised map showed that the chances of being murdered or raped were higher in isolated rural areas.
The City of Johannesburg is making progress in its fight against crime in efforts to create a safe environment for residents, said mayor Amos Masondo this weekend. ”Johannesburg is making significant progress in the battle against crime and to create a safe environment for its residents and visitors,” Masondo told a summit in Midrand.
An unruly gang of about 100 youths barricaded roads, looted spaza shops and stoned motorists and police in Khutsong on Sunday morning, reported South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news. The situation had been ”tense” since Friday, when residents resolved to intensify a defiance campaign.
Moroka Swallows and AmaZulu played to a goalless draw in their Premier Soccer League clash at the Germiston Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Both teams had good scoring opportunities but neither could capitalise on the chances created in front of a vociferous crowd on a warm Gauteng afternoon.
The Stormers came back from 0-10 down to comfortably beat the Blues 33-20 in their Super14 match at Newlands on Saturday. Kobus van der Merwe’s men led 20-13 at half-time and the victory over New Zealand’s semifinal contenders did the Sharks and the Bulls a huge favour.
It was more like a relay race on the athletics track than a studied Premier Soccer League football clash as play hurtled from one end of the pitch to the other during a frantic 1-1 draw between Black Leopards and Bloemfontein Celtic at Thohoyandou on Saturday night.
The clock is ticking for Pretoria, whose mediation in Zimbabwe’s political crisis is off to a sluggish start as looming elections leave little time to bring about results, according to analysts. International hopes are pinned on President Thabo Mbeki’s ability to initiate talks between President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party and the opposition.
The Bulls edged closer to a possible third successive Super 14 semifinal berth on Saturday by trouncing the Lions 31-7 at Ellis Park in spectacular style. The Bulls had to win the game with a bonus point and a good points difference to overtake the Chiefs on the log standings for fourth place, and they did just that.
Teachers and principals who fail to increase the matric pass rate in their schools will be dismissed, Gauteng provincial minister of education Angie Motshekga warned on Saturday. Motshekga was addressing teachers, principals, pupils and parents at an education conference at the Sebokeng College of Education.
Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri will comply with a court ruling allowing Post Office boss Khutso Mampeule access to a report into governance problems, her department said on Saturday. The Pretoria High Court ruled on Friday that Mampeule was entitled to receive a copy of the report, a successful first legal round in his battle to keep his job.
The state of the African National Congress (ANC) in Gauteng as well as three key challenges facing the province — education, health and crime — will be discussed at the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) meeting in Germiston on Saturday. PEC spokesperson Ignatius Jacobs said President Thabo Mbeki had already received its report.
The North West department of education said on Saturday it would take serious action against teachers and principals who went on strike at Khutsong, near Carletonville, this week. The move follows their absence from a meeting convened by the North West provincial minister for education Johannes Tselapedi earlier this month.
All-conquering in the Premier Soccer League this season, the journey to the land of the pyramids and the Nile proved a bridge too far for Mamelodi Sundowns as they were comprehensively beaten 2-0 by Al-Ahly in a second-leg African Champions League encounter at Cairo’s National Stadium on Friday night.
President Thabo Mbeki on Friday urged South Africans to reflect on fulfilling their obligation to advance South Africa’s national agenda as outlined in the Constitution. ”Some among our compatriots have as yet not become fully aware of the fact that our country shares an important national agenda … That national agenda is spelt out in our Constitution,” he said.
The man mauled to death by a pride of lions at the Krugersdorp Game Reserve on the West Rand on Friday is the owner of the reserve, police said. Captain Joseph Mogoai identified the victim as Dirk Brink (58). Brink died after the lions attacked him shortly after 12.30pm. Police were baffled by the incident.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will ask prosecuting authorities to investigate arms-deal corruption allegations against Chippy Shaik after the Public Protector refused to investigate. ”The DA agrees with the Public Protector that the best oversight agency to investigate the allegations … is the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA),” said spokesperson Eddie Trent.
A draw to determine the order in which candidates’ names will appear on the ballot for a new Democratic Alliance (DA) leader was held at the party’s parliamentary offices in Cape Town on Friday. Top spot was won by DA federal chairperson Joe Seremane.