The bones exhumed from a paupers’ grave in Mamelodi West cemetery near Pretoria on Thursday could well be the remains of African National Congress liberation fighter Looksmart Ngudle, who died four decades ago, said the exhumation team.
South Africa’s assumption of the United Nations Security Council’s rotating presidency this week could hardly have come at a more contentious time.
Shinta had always dreamed of becoming a policewoman in South Africa, a public servant who could take on some of the world’s most dangerous criminals. Now, three years after proudly putting on her uniform, she never patrols the streets alone for fear of being carjacked and is looking for another job.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Thursday it would push for a left-wing candidate to succeed President Thabo Mbeki as the ruling African National Congress (ANC) gears up to elect new leaders later this year. ”This time around we are taking a keen interest,” secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi told reporters after a three-day Cosatu national committee meeting.
Technical arguments and a clash of wits played out in the Hatfield Community Court where the case against former National Intelligence Authority (NIA) director general Billy Masetlha resumed on Thursday. He is accused of withholding evidence from NIA inspector general Zolile Ngcakani relating to alleged hoax emails.
Two of the five people accused of stealing jewellery worth R4-million from Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s home were rearrested after being released on bail, police said on Thursday. Superintendent Thembi Nkhwashu said Paul Githuka and his son, Pati Wangwayi, who are both Kenyans, were released on bail on Wednesday and re-arrested later for being in the country illegally.
A 12-year-old pupil brought a loaded gun to Kempton Park Primary School on Thursday, allegedly to settle a score over a cellphone, the Gauteng education department said. ”I remain baffled by the actions of this learner,” said provincial minister of education Angie Motshekga, who dispatched a senior team of officials to investigate the circumstances.
Seventeen Northern Cape farmers locked out Department of Labour inspectors who were on a mission to root out farmers who break the labour laws, said the department on Thursday. The inspectors had made appointments with farmers in Carnavon and Fraserburg during a meeting on February 21.
The National Prosecuting Authority on Thursday started digging up an unmarked grave at Mamelodi West cemetery, near Pretoria, in search of the remains of an African National Congress liberation fighter who died in detention 44 years ago. The family of Looksmart Ngudle was at the site of the digging.
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Sbu Ndebele on Thursday slammed an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) claim that the provincial government had pulled R200Â 000-worth of advertising as a result of negative media reports. Ndebele described a statement by the IFP’s provincial leader, Lionel Mtshali, as an ”outrageous and despicable lie”.
Staff at South Africa’s largest consumer lending banks will practise restraint in the way they sell credit to the public. Announcing a new code of conduct effective from Thursday afternoon, the Banking Association of South Africa said it was responding to complaints about harassment and inconvenience caused by the forceful overselling of credit.
The state will apply to keep the media and public out of the trial of two foreign nationals accused of being part of an international nuclear-smuggling ring. The trial of Swiss citizen Daniel Geiges (67) and German citizen Gerhard Visser (66) was on Thursday postponed in the Pretoria High Court to July 22.
President Thabo Mbeki has not received any papers requesting him to appear before the Constitutional Court to explain his sacking of former spy boss Billy Masetlha, his office said on Thursday. This follows Masetlha lodging leave to appeal a high court decision that rejected his application to be reinstated as director general of the National Intelligence Agency.
A South African company said on Thursday that it was bidding to build a Formula One race circuit near Cape Town’s international airport at an estimated cost of R1-billion. David Gant, chief executive of the South African Grand Prix Corporation, told reporters the project could be scuttled by land problems.
The last AM Live radio show to be hosted by John Perlman will be on Friday, the SABC said. ”Friday is the last day,” said SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago. The popular broadcaster resigned in January after nine years of presenting the morning current-affairs programme.
Two major bus lines were affected on Thursday as the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) embarked on a national strike. Union spokesperson Ronnie Mamba said 104 Translux and City to City bus trips were affected. Fifty-two buses had not left Johannesburg on scheduled daily national and international trips and a further 52 Gauteng-bound buses were also affected.
Cricket’s world governing body says that players at the upcoming World Cup will be target tested for drugs. In addition to the already announced four random tests at each match, the International Cricket Council (ICC) says that 17 of the scheduled 51 games in the Caribbean will be selected for additional testing.
Santos reached the last 16 of the lucrative Absa knockout competition on Wednesday night when they narrowly beat Free State Stars 1-0 in a match played at the Athlone Stadium. The goal was scored by Erwin Isaacs in the 75th minute. The visitors were unlucky to lose as they were the better team on the night. It is clear why Free State Stars are leading the second division.
Mamelodi Sundowns made it 10 victories from their last 10 matches by beating Wits University 2-0 in an absorbing Premier League game at Bidvest Stadium on Wednesday night. But although leading 2-0 at half-time and possessing what at times suggested was a touch of extra class, the defending PSL champions and runaway log leaders did not have matters all their own way.
Illegal migrant workers are frequently assaulted and subject to extortion by South African officials involved in their arrest and deportation, a leading rights group said in a report on Wednesday. The report said that the abuses by officials were in violation of South Africa’s immigration laws.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been slammed by Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad after the broadcaster aired a documentary on crime in South Africa. The documentary was filmed in Hillbrow and concluded that Johannesburg was the crime capital of the world.
South Africa, which takes the chair of the United Nations Security Council in March, said on Wednesday it would urge Iran to show transparency to the UN nuclear watchdog to avert a showdown over its atomic ambitions. The International Atomic Energy Agency says a lack of Iranian cooperation has left it unable to verify that Tehran’s nuclear activities are wholly peaceful.
South Africa is prepared to increase seizures of white-owned land to fulfil a promise to restore property to the black majority, a regional land claims commissioner said on Wednesday. The government’s aim is to return land taken during colonialism or apartheid by 2008.
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/ 28 February 2007
The Free State will spend more than R10,6-billion on social and human development in this financial year, with the education department getting more than half of this, provincial finance minister Tate Makgoe said on Wednesday in delivering the province’s budget for 2007/08 in Bloemfontein. The department of education will get a proposed allocation of R5,6-billion.
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/ 28 February 2007
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will place a full-page advert in the Mail & Guardian on Friday paying tribute to veteran journalist John Perlman. ”We pay tribute to him as an excellent and patriotic journalist,” it said in a statement.
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/ 28 February 2007
The actor and singer Sam Williams has died after a long illness, the Arts and Culture Ministry said on Wednesday. Williams, who died last Wednesday, began his career when he founded a musical group, the Boston Brothers, and was active as a playwright and composer in the 1960s and 1970s.
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/ 28 February 2007
City of Cape Town officials held a long meeting with counterparts from the 2010 local organising committee on Wednesday in a bid for a solution to the financing of the proposed Green Point Stadium. The city this week stalled on approving the R2,7-billion budget for the project after what mayor Helen Zille said were last-minute cost escalations of R180-million.
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/ 28 February 2007
Just hours after being presented with the International Cricket Council ODI Shield for being the world’s top one-day international team, the Proteas set off on Wednesday to take part in the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. Captain Graeme Smith said there will be 100% commitment from every member of the team.
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/ 28 February 2007
Fifa is confident that South Africa will ensure the safety of football fans during the 2010 World Cup, the world soccer body said on Wednesday. Fifa spokesperson Markus Siegler was addressing the 2010 Fifa World Cup media day held in Sandton. He said Fifa is aware of the social problems South Africa faces, and hopes the World Cup will help the country overcome them.
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/ 28 February 2007
There had been no political conspiracy to oust former National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha from his position, the Hatfield Community Court heard in Pretoria on Wednesday. Inspector General Zolile Ngcakani said the intelligence service does not resort to any method to make its staff leave their posts.
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/ 28 February 2007
The largest household-based survey undertaken to date by Statistics South Africa officially wrapped up on Wednesday. Survey workers had interviewed more than 232 673 families across the country — 85% of the total number of households sampled, said spokesperson Solly Kganyago.
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/ 28 February 2007
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is to exhume the remains of Looksmart Ngudle, the first security detainee to die under apartheid detention laws back in 1963. The authority began investigations last year to locate his remains at the request of Ngudle’s son, Siyanda, an NPA spokesperson said on Wednesday.