No image available
/ 7 December 2006
A South African couple who emigrated to New Zealand 10 years ago were robbed within 18 hours of arriving back for their first holiday here since leaving, News24 reported on Thursday. Ruti and Naomi van der Merwe were asleep at the Cape Town home of friends when thieves made off with their travel documents, a new laptop, a camera and more than R1 000 in cash.
No image available
/ 7 December 2006
A candidate attorney, who allegedly illegally represented clients in the regional court, made his third appearance in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on three charges of fraud. Candidate attorneys, previously known as articled clerks, may not represent clients in the regional court without authority from the Law Society.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Western Cape has asked the Competition Commission to block the sale of Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront to a foreign-dominated consortium. ”We’re pretty sure that we’re going to get them to stop it,” Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
The government’s accelerated effort to contain the impact of HIV and Aids will move South Africa from a confrontational platform of reactive crisis management to a win-win platform of comprehensive response, the United Nations Children Fund said on Wednesday. Its comment comes after Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka launched a new HIV/Aids plan last week.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
What a strange business the Nationwide fracas has been. What is spin and what is the truth?
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
The National Prosecuting Authority is to ask the Durban High Court to request that Mauritian authorities hand over documentation which may show that a meeting took place between Jacob Zuma, Schabir Shaik and the former chief executive of French arms manufacturer Thint.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
South Africa and Australia signed a letter of intent on Wednesday to cooperate on climate-change issues, the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said. ”South Africa and Australia are at comparable latitude in the southern hemisphere and consequently have similar climatic conditions,” Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in a statement.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel and Minister of Science and Technology Mosibudi Mangena are the government’s top 2006 performers, while Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang continues to languish at the bottom of the class, according to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) end-of-year Cabinet report card.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
The nine provincial police commissioners on Wednesday expressed anger and disgust at ongoing media allegations that police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi is linked to criminal activity. Speaking on behalf of the provincial commissioners, Western Cape Commissioner Mzwandile Petros said the commissioners met on Tuesday with the National Prosecuting Authority.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
Many South Africans can expect a bumper Christmas season — and probably a record season for retailers — in spite of the recent interest rate hikes. This is the forecast of the latest First National Bank and Bureau of Economic Research Consumer Confidence Index, released on Wednesday by the bank’s chief economist Cees Bruggemans.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
Scorpions advocate Portia Refiloe Kgantsi is to go to trial in the Johannesburg High Court on April 16 on 12 counts including fraud, corruption and extortion. She was served with the indictment against her in the Randburg Regional Court on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
Britain’s new nuclear submarine plans were ”disappointing in not using an opportunity to eliminate nuclear weapons”, South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. The United Kingdom’s current submarines were reaching the end of their life, said spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
Durban’s policing authorities announced on Tuesday that they would be going all out to prevent a repeat of last year’s festive season when three women were raped in the paddling pools in broad daylight. There would also be a ”zero tolerance” towards those consuming too much alcohol.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
Amid claims of backstabbing from the African National Congress (ANC), a Democratic Alliance candidate was on Tuesday elected as the new executive mayor of Knysna. Doris Brown takes the place of the ANC’s Joy Cole, who unexpectedly quit last week.
No image available
/ 6 December 2006
It once cost several head of cattle for a South African man to set himself up with a new wife, but these days many pay in cash, and inflation — or abuse — can be a problem. December is wedding season in South Africa, with flashy German cars blitzing through dusty township streets and families gearing up for traditional economic negotiations that often precede the ceremony.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
A total of 2Â 296 cases of alleged corruption have been reported to the national anti-corruption hotline since its inception in September 2004, the National Anti-Corruption Forum said on Tuesday. These figures were presented in a statement at a meeting between business, civil society and government sectors at the South African Reserve Bank in Pretoria.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
In an effort to curb internet banking fraud, users have been urged to adopt measures to safeguard transactions. Absa on Tuesday said that while there are many ways internet banking users can prevent fraud, many users are often unaware of them.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
No further information can be released on the Brett Kebble murder case ”at this point”, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula says. He was replying on Tuesday to a written question from Democratic Alliance MP James Masango, who asked why the forensic division did not see Kebble’s vehicle before it was released.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
Mozambican national Annanias Mathe will be moved to a revamped cell at Pretoria’s C-Max prison once he has been released from hospital, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday. Mathe escaped from the country’s most secure prison over two weeks ago.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
South Africa signed a five-year international agreement on peaceful nuclear-technology use on Tuesday, the Department of Science and Technology said. The agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency makes South Africa the only African country to finalise its second Country Programme Framework.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
India will have the benefit of playing on one of the best batting pitches in South Africa as they warm up for a Test series against the host nation — but they will also have to deal with another battery of fast-bowlers. The Rest of South Africa team who face the Indians in a four-day match from Thursday include Mornantau Hayward.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
A retired Metrorail passenger-train driver was on Tuesday found not guilty on 10 counts of culpable homicide in the Muldersvlei train-smash case. Paarl Regional Court magistrate Anna-Marie Immelman, with assessor David Klatzow, ruled that the state had not proved negligence on the part of Mervyn Matthee. Matthee’s acquittal followed an application launched on Tuesday by his lawyers.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has scored an average of 30% in the past year — down from 38% last year — in the eyes of the average Freedom Front Plus (FF+) supporter, says its leader, Dr Pieter Mulder. On Tuesday, he released the results of his party’s annual ”report card” of the ANC’s performance.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
The former chief executive of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, Dr Ali Bacher, is recovering well after repeat heart bypass surgery, the Morningside Medi-Clinic said on Tuesday. Bacher underwent heart surgery on Monday and according to the clinic was ”amazed” at how techniques had changed since his last heart bypass operation 25 years ago.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
Zambia’s graft-tainted former president Frederick Chiluba is in intensive care at a Johannesburg hospital for a heart ailment and is in no position to face trial, his spokesperson said on Tuesday. Chiluba arrived in South Africa on Friday and after undergoing ”comprehensive medical tests on Friday and Monday” was admitted into Johannesburg’s Garden City Clinic, Emmanuel Mwamba said.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
South African banks have drawn nearly two million poor people into the banking net in the past two years but most of them remain financially illiterate and still prefer informal saving vehicles, a new study shows. The survey, released on Tuesday by research group FinMark Trust, found that since October 2004, 1,9-million people opened a low-cost bank account.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday used the state visit of Canadian Governor General Michaëlle Jean as an opportunity to raise concerns about Europe’s treatment of migrants from Africa. Mbeki held talks with Jean at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and at a press conference afterwards said she was an example of how migrants could succeed in their new countries if given a chance.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
At least 24 bids have been received for a multimillion-rand HIV/Aids communication tender, the Health Department said on Tuesday. The tender for the government HIV/Aids communication programme, i>Khomanani, closed on Friday, said spokesperson Sibani Mngadi.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Youth Brigade has come out in support of President Thabo Mbeki over what it said are attempts by Jacob Zuma supporters to create no-go areas for the African National Congress (ANC) leader. ” … the ANC continues to create ‘no-go’ areas for the country’s president in KwaZulu-Natal,” the organisation said in a statement on Tuesday.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
The Springbok team management have condemned the number of old South African flags that were on view during their tour of Ireland and England and upon their return home on Tuesday. A couple of flags greeted the team’s first black captain, Chiliboy Ralepelle, at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
Diabetes is striking growing numbers of children around the world as parents and doctors fail to diagnose a disease that until recently was associated mostly with middle-aged and elderly people, experts said on Tuesday. ”Diabetes has become a chronic and common disease among children,” Francine Kaufman, a professor of paediatrics, told a news conference.
No image available
/ 5 December 2006
President Thabo Mbeki will join United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and other leaders at the inauguration in Kinshasa on Wednesday of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila. In his weekly newsletter on the ANC website last Friday, Mbeki paid tribute to the various formations and leaders who guided the DRC through its transition.