No image available
/ 25 November 2006

Wits salvage point against Santos

Bidvest Wits salvaged a point when they played to a goalless draw in their Premier Soccer League encounter against Santos at the Greenpoint Stadium on Friday night. Wits toiled hard all evening but found the Santos defence in form, especially Musa Ongao who was outstanding as he broke up many of the Wits waves of attack.

No image available
/ 25 November 2006

Lance Klusener saves Dolphins

The Highveld Lions can consider themselves to be in the driving seat after two days of their Supersport Series match against the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins at the Maritzburg Oval, but they will be hoping for better weather over the next two days if they are to press for victory.

No image available
/ 25 November 2006

SA wheelchair basketball team score huge victory

South Africa scored a convincing 104-29 victory over Angola in the two countries’ first-ever international in the International Wheelchair Basketball Challenge at the Mandeville Indoor Centre on Friday. It was the second heavy defeat for Angola in the competition, following their 72-40 defeat at the hands of the Pumas on Thursday.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

Aids body expresses concern over misinformation

Listing Aids as the cause of death on public death certificates will not in any way improve the collection of statistics on HIV-related deaths, the Aids Law Project (ALP) said on Friday. ”It is also a violation of the deceased’s right to confidentiality, which can have serious repercussions for surviving family members,” the ALP said in a statement.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

AgriSA welcomes probe into land delivery

The investigation into service delivery by the Department of Land Affairs was a welcome development, said AgriSA on Friday. ”AgriSA has been concerned for some time about processes that were delayed in the department and the commission on restitution of land rights,” said Dr Theo de Jager, chairperson of the AgriSA land-affairs committee.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

Govt ‘puts Selebi above national interests’

The longer police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi stays in office, the stronger will be the impression that ”with the right friends, one could get away with murder”, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Friday. ”It is in the interests of combating crime in South Africa that Selebi vacates his position,” a party spokesperson said.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

‘Apathetic attitude’ of pension industry slammed

A ”generally apathetic attitude” characterised the administration of South Africa’s pension funds, according to the Pension Funds Adjudicator. ”That things are no better in other countries, like England, is no reason for the generally apathetic attitude that appears to have taken root here,” the 2005 annual report of the Office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator, released on Friday, said.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

Tourists flock to SA for ‘scalpel safaris’

South Africa’s medical-tourism industry has skyrocketed with the number of overseas patients drawn by ”scalpel safari” packages more than doubling in three years, an expert said on Friday. The booming sector now earns about R260-million annually, Martin Kelly, president of the Association for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, told the media.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

Cosatu condemns media leak

Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Friday condemned the leak of internal reports to the media. The Star reported on Friday that a confidential report had described Cosatu president Willie Madisha as power hungry, dishonest and misled by President Thabo Mbeki.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

Hoax e-mail trial postponed

The trial of the two men implicated in the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) hoax e-mail saga was postponed in the Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria on Friday so a third accused could be added. Software salesperson Muziwendoda Kunene and NIA manager for electronic surveillance Funokwakhe Madladla are accused of fraud relating to hoax e-mails.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

Crime protesters call for tax deductions

Protesters against crime called on the government to offer tax deductions for money spent on security in a memorandum handed to a Gauteng safety and security representative in Johannesburg on Friday. Lorraine Maisel, founder of the organisation Angry About Crime, handed the memorandum to Ian Robertson.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

Kebble’s car kept under plastic

Brett Kebble’s car was placed under a plastic cover and bore the message ”Do Not Touch. Investigation” when it was stored at the premises of Danmar Autobody for nearly a week after the murder of the mining magnate. This is according to the panel-beating company, which denied a report that the vehicle was cleaned on the company’s property within hours of the murder.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

Mbeki lauds Holcim-AfriSam deal

President Thabo Mbeki on Friday lauded the Holcim-AfriSam deal and lambasted those questioning the Swiss cement company’s motive in selling most of its South African subsidiary to a black consortium. Mbeki said Holcim had decided it made good commercial sense for Holcim South Africa to be black-owned and controlled.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

Leon: Presidency applies double standards to Selebi

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon on Friday accused the Presidency of ”a glaring double standard” in its treatment of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi. Writing in his weekly newsletter, Leon referred to the September 7 2003 allegation that then-National Prosecuting Authority director Bulelani Ngcuka had been a police spy during the apartheid era.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

C-Max escapee has luck of the devil, say cops

Police on Friday said that the man who escaped from the high-security C-Max prison in Pretoria on the weekend has ”the luck of the devil”. ”He must be the devil’s child himself because we get new leads every day but he has not yet been arrested,” said investigating officer Arnold Boonstra. ”He seems to have the luck of the devil.”

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

DA: Expect poor matric results in Mpumalanga

Mpumalanga will continue to have poor matric results unless the government implemented a comprehensive education rescue plan, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday. ”Information obtained by the DA indicate that the results for June exams are extremely poor and improvement in the 2006 matric results may be minimal, if any,” DA spokesperson on education Anthony Benadie said.

No image available
/ 24 November 2006

Ramphele: Don’t be surprised at violence in SA

South Africans should not be surprised at the anger and brutality that was sweeping the streets when they continued to refuse to acknowledge the socio-economic inequalities in the country, Dr Mamphela Ramphele said on Thursday. Ramphele was speaking in Cape Town at a conference reflecting on the work of the former Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

No image available
/ 23 November 2006

Confusion over African Parliament computers

Computers stolen from the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) have all been replaced, said a PAP official on Thursday. ”The computers have been replaced,” said PAP media liaison officer Matome Sebelebele. Earlier in the day, PAP finance committee chairperson Wycliffe Oparanya accused South Africa of not living up to its responsibility as the host country, by failing to replace the computers.

No image available
/ 23 November 2006

Pahad: No sinister Chinese motives in Africa

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad on Thursday rejected any notion that China has ”sinister motives” in Africa. Briefing journalists in Pretoria and Cape Town, he said China’s involvement in Africa was relatively new. ”I want to believe that the Chinese government realises that the relationship cannot just consist of receiving our raw materials,” he said.

No image available
/ 23 November 2006

More than 300 cases of drug-resistant TB confirmed

A total of 303 cases of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) have been confirmed across the country, the Department of Health said on Thursday. ”They are in the hospitals, they are on treatment. Some of them have died,” said the department’s head of TB, Dr Lindiwe Mvusi. Mvusi did not have details at hand of how many had died.

No image available
/ 23 November 2006

Employment still growing in South Africa

While employment is still growing in South Africa, it is not as strong as the 30 000 jobs being created per month last year. ”No matter which data set you look at, the fact that is that employment is still growing in South Africa … but we are off target for government’s goal of halving unemployment by 2014,” said economist Mike Schussler.