The lush vineyards, rare plant species and breathtaking scenery that have turned the Cape peninsula into a tourist magnet are in danger of withering away within decades if the doomsday predictions of a growing number of scientists — including a major new United Nations report released on Friday — come true.
A deaf-and-dumb woman was raped, allegedly by two men, in Butterworth on Saturday morning, Eastern Cape police said. The 20-year-old grade-11 pupil from Gauteng, on holiday in the area, was accompanied to her family’s house following a party in the Bungeni informal settlement, said Captain Jackson Manatha.
The son of Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula was charged with drinking and driving in March after a crash in Cape Town, the Sunday Times has reported. Siyabonga Nqakula, who was on holiday in Cape Town, allegedly hit a car when he drove a Toyota RunX into oncoming traffic in Selwyn Street.
South African Airways (SAA) could stop serving in-flight meals and cut back on cabin crew under a R2,7-billion cost-cutting proposal up for approval by its board next month, according to the Sunday Times. The airline is expected to post a loss of more than R652-million for 2006.
Mamelodi Sundowns came back from a soccer grave to keep their CAF Champions League hopes alive with a never-say-die, nerve-jangling 2-2 draw against defending champions al-Ahly in the first-leg, third-round clash at Loftus on Saturday night. Oscar Ntwagae and Jose Torrealba scored the two goals.
President Thabo Mbeki says he wants to move swiftly to ensure free and fair elections in Zimbabwe next year. Mbeki was appointed last month by regional leaders as mediator between Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change after a government crackdown on opposition leaders.
In a move slammed as an attempt to muzzle critics in a country lauded as a paragon of democracy, Botswana has marked out a group of 17 foreign journalists, human rights activists and academics as now needing a visa to enter the country. Usually visitors to Botswana get a visa stamp in their passport directly on entry to the country.
A Soweto man is due to appear in the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday after his teenage girlfriend was found dead in his fridge, Gauteng police said on Saturday. The body of the 17-year-old, from Ermelo in Mpumalanga, was found crouched in the fridge on Friday morning, said Superintendent Thembi Nkhwashu.
More than 800 people were left homeless in four separate fires that gutted informal settlements around Cape Town since Friday night, Western Cape firefighters said. About 250 dwellings were destroyed in the fires in Khayelitsha, Fish Hoek and two settlements near Milnerton.
Sunny, humid weather greeted beachgoers at the fifth annual Vodacom Easter Adrenaline Extreme-Sports Beach Festival held at North Beach, Bay Lawns, Bay Beach and the Skate Park on Friday. The Vodacom Paddle Challenge was one of the highlights as top men and women battled it out for a total prize pool of R17 000.
On Wednesday, the Gauteng department of economic development hosted a seminar for prospective Johannesburg shareholders — targeted specifically at black, female investors — to promote public participation in inner-city regeneration. One focus of the seminar was a tax incentive for renovators looking to invest in the city.
The middle-aged British man and wife hurt in a fall from an elephant in Hartbeespoort on Thursday have been transferred to the Sunninghill Hospital in Johannesburg. The incident took place while they were getting on to an African elephant after an awareness programme in which they had touched and fed the animals.
Firefighters have contained the blaze that has raged out of control in the Table Mountain National Park since Thursday night. It was contained late on Friday afternoon, said the park’s fire manager, Philip Prins. He said about 100 firefighters were still on the fire line and would remain there throughout the night.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has said the land-reform programme in Zimbabwe had to happen to deal with the legacy of colonialism, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Friday. Mbeki said it was essential that new farmers in Zimbabwe be helped with necessities such as seed and ploughing implements.
Paramedics attended to more than 30 accidents in and around Johannesburg on Thursday night, ER24 said on Friday. Spokesperson Werner Vermaak said most of the accidents occurred between 7pm and 11pm. The last accident happened at 5am on Friday.
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) has received R1,8-million donation for sea rescue services near South Africa’s five coastal airports, it said on Thursday. The R1,8-million sponsorship is from the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa). The NSRI relies on donations to meet annual running costs of R15-million.
Two Nigerians and a South African were arrested on Thursday after drugs were allegedly found in their possession. Inspector Mveli Nhlapho said Benoni residents and the local Community Policing Forum alerted police and metro police to a silver grey Toyota Corolla, with two suspicious occupants.
Nine people were killed when a bus rolled while on its way to Moria outside Polokwane, Limpopo traffic officials said on Friday. Department of Transport spokesperson Obed Langa said the bus had been heading to the Zion Christian Church headquarters, where millions gather for the church’s annual Easter pilgrimage prayers.
The chief executive of South Africa’s fixed-line phone firm Telkom has quit after 18 months in the job and a chorus of criticism from shareholders and the government, boosting the company’s shares. Telkom, which came under fire this week from President Thabo Mbeki for ”profiteering”, said in a statement that Papi Molotsane had quit with immediate effect.
The CEO of South African telecommunications giant Telkom quit on Thursday after only 18 months in the job, the company said without giving a reason for his departure. Papi Molotsane, who has been criticised by analysts for his leadership style and lack of vision, will be replaced by the company’s chief operating officer.
One of the last survivors of the Great Escape team of World War II, Ian Tapson, has died in Port Alfred at the age of 84. An essentially modest man, he rarely divulged he was one of five South Africans who were part of the team that planned and executed the escape from a German prisoner-of-war camp.
One of the last survivors of the Great Escape team of World War II, Ian Tapson, has died in Port Alfred at the age of 84. An essentially modest man, he rarely divulged he was one of five South Africans who were part of the team that planned and executed the escape from a German prisoner-of-war camp.
A Limpopo farmer who shot dead a Zimbabwean worker he claimed to have mistaken for a baboon was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday. South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported Jewell Crossberg was convicted earlier in the day of murdering Jealous Dube.
A British man and wife were critically hurt when they fell off an elephant at a sanctuary in Hartbeespoort on Thursday afternoon, emergency services said. The woman was sitting behind her husband on the elephant when it knelt to let them climb off after a safari, said ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak.
The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) has been fined R500Â 000, suspended for five years, by the Labour Court in Johannesburg after last year’s violent and destructive security-guard strike, the Security Services Employers’ Organisation said on Thursday. Satawu was found to be in contempt of court after the three-month-long strike last year, during which a number of non-striking guards were slain.
Two Winterton men who stalked women and girls before assaulting, gang-raping and robbing them were given two life sentences by a Pietermaritzburg High Court judge on Thursday. Judge Noel Hurt said the conduct of Mfamani Magaqula and Sibeniso Nqubuka, both 23, was inexcusable and savage.
South African media organisations have protested strongly against attempts to restrict media coverage of prominent international sport events this year. The International Rugby Board and the Australian Football League wants to restrict media coverage of Rugby World Cup and Australian Football League games this year.
The fight against corruption is not a losing battle, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Thursday in Sandton at the end of the fifth Global Forum on Fighting Corruption. Delegates from more than 100 countries attended the four-day event.
Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan has paid tribute to renowned academic Professor Archibald Monwabisi Mafeje, who died in Pretoria on March 26. ”The demise of a pioneering intellectual powerhouse will always be a great loss to a nation,” Jordan said in a statement.
A 21-year-old man was rescued in the Drakensberg mountains in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday morning after falling 10m down a cliff, the Mountain Club of South Africa said. A German exchange student at the University of Stellenbosch, the man was among a group of 32 hikers who had gone camping in the mountains on Wednesday.
The use of government-issued condoms as business cards at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn has irked Eastern Cape authorities. The culprit was a T-shirt and clothing company, Gooi Mielies, which was distributing promotional stickers stuck on to free government condoms.
The case of former spy boss Billy Masetlha and two accused was postponed in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday. Masetlha and his co-accused — Muziwendoda Kunene, a software salesperson, and Sunokwakhe Madladla, former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) manager for electronic surveillance — are charged with fraud.