South Africa

A major computer failure at OR Tambo International airport on Thursday morning led to several delays. Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) spokesperson Solomon Makgale told the Mail & Guardian Online that some flights ”on one or two airlines” had been delayed.

As Parliament gears up for Friday’s official opening, a company has told Johannesburg radio station 702 it had still not been fully paid for work it did at last year’s event. Bar company Liquid Chefs says it is still waiting for about R30 000 from party organisers Proevents.

One of the travel agents involved in the multimillion-rand parliamentary travel-voucher scam was given a suspended sentence and fined R20 000 by the Cape High Court on Wednesday, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported. Nazli Lackay pleaded guilty to defrauding Parliament of close to R3-million.

Metrobus denies that eight high school children were kicked off a bus in Johannesburg by a racist driver, the company’s managing director said on Wednesday. According to a newspaper report, school children, aged between 14 and 17, said a black bus driver swore at them and kicked them off the bus because they were white.

Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana met commercial farmers’ unions on Wednesday afternoon on a stand-off over remarks she made late last year. The meeting got under way at 3.30pm in Pretoria and was expected to continue until late afternoon, AgriSA said.

The young widow of City Press editor Mathatha Tsedu’s murdered son will know on Monday if she will be released on bail. On Wednesday, the Krugersdorp Regional Court heard final arguments in her bail application. Mulalo Sivhidzo and five men were in the dock following the murder of her husband, Avhatakali Netshisaulu, on December 7 last year.

People concerned about crime have sent more than 5 000 letters to President Thabo Mbeki via a website Solidarity set up, the trade union said on Wednesday. According to spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans, more than 5 000 letters were e-mailed to Mbeki’s office within the first 24 hours of the website’s launch on Tuesday.

When Marilyn Ward was a girl, church meant starched shirts, disapproving scowls and endless repetition of prayers she didn’t understand. Now the South African spends Sunday mornings whooping it up with hundreds of ”brothers and sisters” who grind their hips to jovial Zulu songs and punctuate the preacher’s sermon with howls of ”Allelujah”.

Two commercial farmer unions are to meet Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana this week to discuss a stand-off over remarks she made late last year. In a statement, AgriSA and the National African Farmers’ Union of South Africa said ”some misunderstanding” had arisen on the matter.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has informed three security police officers that they are to be prosecuted for apartheid crimes, Beeld reported on Wednesday. The case was related to attempts to poison the Reverend Frank Chikane, who is now Director General in the Presidency.

The local organising committee has cleared its first hurdle in the race to have amenities in place for the Soccer World Cup by balancing a stadium budget R3,4-billion over the original R8,7-billion. This was done by trimming costs and obtaining additional finance from the municipalities where games would be played.