Former LeisureNet joint chief executives Peter Gardener and Rod Mitchell have registered no objection to a Cape High Court order that a forfeiture inquiry be instituted in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, and that the inquiry take place in September. It relates to R6-million they each received in an underhanded gym deal.
The British high commission has doubled visa fees for young South Africans wishing to work and travel in the United Kingdom, media reports said on Wednesday. The fee jumped from R1 483 to R3 030 on April 1, and with other, related expenses, a visa application could now cost about R4 000.
The Botswana Defence Force’s only helicopter, assisted by one from South Africa, was on Wednesday scouring the arid Kalahari Desert in search of missing Johannesburg pilot Charles Wooler, whose aircraft went missing between Keetmanshoop in Namibia and Upington, where he had been scheduled to arrive on Sunday.
An assault case against the kwaito star known to his fans as Mandoza was postponed for the third time in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. He was arrested on March 12 after Glen Nonkonyane laid a charge against him at the Kliptown police station. Nonkonyane claimed Mandoza had assaulted him at a flat in Randburg.
Local government has ”an extremely limited role” in addressing key needs in Cape Town such as jobs, housing and security, mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday at the launch of the city’s draft integrated development plan at the civic centre. She said the public needs to better understand the limits of local government’s mandate.
Six people, including four foreign nationals, were arrested in Camperdown near Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday morning in what South African Revenue Service (Sars) officials claimed was the country’s second-largest seizure of perlemoen yet. Between five and six tonnes of perlemoen (abalone) were found.
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Hush-hush preparations are under way for a lavish birthday banquet this week for Jacob Zuma, media reports said on Wednesday. More than 1Â 000 people have been invited to celebrate the 65th birthday of the African National Congress deputy president at Durban’s International Convention Centre on Friday.
The Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention on Wednesday launched an online tool that provides accessible data on crime trends in the country. The crime and victimisation monitoring tool will combine victim data and police statistics on crime to paint a better picture of crime trends in South Africa, the centre’s research director said.
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Jacob Zuma’s ongoing spat with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) was ”resolved” in Durban, the attorney for the African National Congress deputy president said on Wednesday. Media reports in February said Sars had questioned the completeness of Zuma’s disclosure of his income and his failure to submit a tax return.
An admission by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel that black economic empowerment (BEE) needs an overhaul has added fuel to the fire of critics who say the flagship policy has only benefited an elite. In an interview this week with the Financial Times, Manuel said that ”there will have to be a review” of BEE.
The chief executive of South Africa’s Gold Fields said on Wednesday he was aware of a bid rumour that sent its shares surging, but that the firm has not been approached about a takeover. Bloomberg News reported that United States financier Edward Pastorini may lead a bid for Gold Fields, the world’s fourth biggest gold producer.
South Africans are most concerned about the effects of climate change, a global opinion survey has found. ”Eighty two percent of [South African] respondents state that they are very concerned or somewhat concerned about the effect of climate change,” market research firm Synovate said in a statement on Wednesday.
Damp ceilings, cracked walls, bad plumbing and shoddy bricklaying are among the structural defects plaguing the owners of about 2Â 500 low-cost houses across the Cape Peninsula. Poor workmanship has been blamed for the defects, the Local Government Research Centre reports, and it will cost about R35-million to repair the damage.
A memorial service for slain South African swimmer Kenneth Smith will be held at the Parktown Boys’ High School hall in Johannesburg at 1pm on Wednesday, said his family. Smith’s body was found in a plastic bag on the outskirts of Peshawar on Sunday. Pakistani police said he had arrived at the Peshawar Airport on January 22.
South Africa’s second-biggest media company Johnnic Communications (Johncom) will spin off and separately list its media and entertainment assets, the group said on Wednesday. Johncom said in a statement the new firm, named OpCo, will be unbundled to shareholders and listed on the JSE.
Mittal Steel SA on Wednesday said it would appeal against a ruling by the Competition Tribunal that it charged ”excessive prices”. The tribunal ruled last month that Mittal SA contravened a section of the Competition Act by ”charging an excessive price for its flat steel products to the detriment of consumers”.
A candidate for a post on the bench of the Cape High Court faced tough questioning at the Judicial Service Commission on Tuesday over her claim that judicial appointments were often steeped in racial and gender prejudice. Advocate Nona Goso was also quizzed over incidents in which she appeared to have signed off review cases without reading them.
Africa needs to rely less on donors and pump more money into its public health systems, Botswana’s Health Minister said in Johannesburg on Tuesday while briefing journalists following the opening of the third ordinary session of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Health.
All South Africa’s vehicle testing stations, vehicle-registering authorities and driver’s-licence testing centres are closed until Friday, the Department of Transport said on Tuesday. The closure is due to the upgrading of the old National Transport Information System to the new eNaTIS system, a transport spokesperson said.
A stork that flew from Germany to die on a Free State farm in December last year is now making headlines on the internet, the Volksblad newspaper reported on Tuesday. Prinzesschen (Princess), a white stork (Ciconia ciconia), died on December 23 last year on the farm Uitzicht between Wesselsbron and Hoopstad.
The South African newspaper market needs no spies to keep a nervous eye on a newcomer armed with 127Â 000 instant readers. As the Sunday Times‘s daily version, simply titled the Times, gears up for a June launch, its editor, Ray Hartley, is blogging about the birthing pangs.
A suspect in the axe murder of estate agent Andre Weitz was found on the roof of the Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital trying to escape, the Cape High Court heard on Tuesday. Professor Sean Kaliski, specialist of forensic psychiatric services in the Western Cape, testified at the trial of Michael Bernard van Zyl, who is charged with Weitz’s murder.
Action in the Vodacom Cup resumes this weekend after the Easter break with quarterfinal contenders looking to secure home-ground advantage for the knockout stages of the competition. This weekend sees the final round of league fixtures with four semifinal places still up for grabs.
A damages claim of more than R500 000 against the police and prisons services will cost rightwinger Piet ”Skiet” Rudolph and two others dearly. A Pretoria High Court judge on Tuesday dismissed with costs a damages claim instituted by Rudolph and fellow Orde Boerevolk members Wentzel Laubscher and Andre van der Walt.
Two Chinese nationals accused of murdering a Chinese businessman and his family applied for their discharge in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, saying there is no evidence against them. Counsel for Siyuan Liu (48) and Jiansen Bai (54) handed in written argument in the trial, asking for their discharge.
A South African National Defence Force corporal and his accomplice — hired by a Pietermaritzburg taxi boss to kill a rival taxi operator — received life sentences in the city’s high court on Tuesday. The late Jika Joe Dlamini, a taxi boss, paid the two men R3 000 each to kill a rival, Simphiwe Kansas Mkhize.
The African National Congress ”hijacked” the funeral of Adelaide Tambo, wife of former ANC president Oliver Tambo, and therefore should pay the funeral costs, an Ekurhuleni opposition councillor said on Tuesday. The Ekurhuleni metropolitan council is expected to pay more than R2,2-million in funeral costs.
The curtain comes down on the South African athletics season this weekend when about 1 500 junior and youth athletes converge in Pretoria for the South African Junior and Youth Championships. Much is at stake. For some it provides an opportunity to qualify for the IAAF World Youth Championships.
A keenly contested final of the women’s 400m freestyle is expected on the opening night of the 2007 Telkom South African National Aquatic Championships at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre in Durban on Tuesday following the heats on the first morning of the six-day event.
There is plenty of hope for the future of the fishing industry under certain conditions, despite suggestions to the contrary, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Tuesday. He was speaking at the opening of the I&J Fin-Fish Hatchery at Gansbaai.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has appealed against the Department of Correctional Services’ refusal to allow the party access to Tony Yengeni’s parole or correctional supervision conditions. Under access-to-information laws, the department now has 10 working days to reply, either by granting the request or refusing it for a second time.
Trade union Solidarity on Tuesday called on the Communications Department to investigate the circumstances surrounding the sudden resignation of Telkom’s CEO, Papi Molotsane. The organisation believes that government interference in the management of Telkom could have prompted Molotsane to quit.