South Africa

Civil society and journalists must unite to reverse the trend of declining media freedom before it becomes difficult to reverse, the Freedom of Expression Institute said on Wednesday. In a National Press Freedom Day statement, the institute said it hoped that trends such as the deteriorating state of media freedom at the South African Broadcasting Corporation would not continue next year.

Former South African rugby stars from the national team on Wednesday offered President Thabo Mbeki a hand to tackle the country’s notoriously high crime rate. An eight-member team of former Springbok players, led by ex-captain Wynand Claasens and wing Jacques Olivier, handed over a letter signed by more than 200 of their colleagues at the president’s office.

The Auditor General (AG) on Wednesday tabled a report identifying irregularities amounting to millions of rands in procurement processes at the state-owned Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro). The purpose of the report is to make known the findings of an independent investigation conducted by the AG at the request of Cipro.

South Africa has the ability to safeguard every person coming to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the chief executive of the Local Organising Committee, Danny Jordaan, said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. ”There is no question that this country has the capability to safeguard every person that comes here for the World Cup,” Jordaan told a press conference.

South Africa’s ailing Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang could be discharged from the Johannesburg Hospital soon, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. The Department of Health’s Bhungani Mzolo said they were told the minister’s stay in the Folateng Private Wing at the hospital could end soon.

He took on the apartheid government and was South Africa’s first black bishop. He lambasts presidents and likes to party with the stars. And at 75, Desmond Tutu still can’t keep quiet. A new biography, Rabble-rouser for peace, paints a picture of a man who revels in the limelight and adores the trappings of celebrity, but spends up to seven hours a day in silent prayer.

Walking through the haphazard alleyways of near-downtown Johannesburg, the scents and sounds linger in the air, while the words of American writer Thomas Wolfe resound in my head. ”All things on Earth point home in old October,” Wolfe wrote in 1935. And when Ramadan (the Muslim fasting month) falls in October, Fordsburg, still ”home” for much of the city’s Muslim community, reflects his words in bounds.

Rival taxi operators in Boksburg turned violent over taxi routes on Tuesday, Ekurhuleni metro police said. Six taxis were burnt and 40 impounded in the incident, which happened in the Holomisa informal settlement, Inspector Johnny Nhlapo said. Three people were arrested.

Leaders from 24 churches are to approach President Thabo Mbeki to discuss how they could help to fight crime in South Africa, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. ”Leaders of some of the country’s major Christian denominations met last week for a special consultation aimed at getting involved in lessening violence and crime in the nation,” said spokesperson Dr Coenie Burger.

Two Boland rugby players appeared in the Rawsonville Circuit Court on Tuesday charged with killing a Rawsonville player earlier in the year. A court official said the matter was transferred to Worcester where the pair would appear again on November 21. Ben Zimri, eighth man of the Delicious Club, and centre Wayne Matthee, were again released on a warning.