South Africa

The government could not give in to pressure from ”shrill, shriek and opportunistic” voices claiming the people’s cause had been betrayed, former minister of justice Penuell Maduna said in Johannesburg on Thursday. ”It has not been betrayed,” he told the business community at the launch of a new fund-raising system run under the auspices of The Giving Organisation.

Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola said on Thursday that he could not comment on reports emanating from India that batsman Herschelle Gibbs revealed the names of three former Proteas cricketers involved in a match-fixing scam in 2000.

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has strengthened security measures after a police inspector was stabbed to death while escorting a prisoner to a courtroom earlier this week. Department spokesperson Lazarus Mothupi said on Thursday that four additional guards had been deployed to the Odi Magistrate’s Court in Ga-Rankuwa, Pretoria.

Small, medium and micro enterprises in South Africa’s accommodation sector will receive a R170-million cash injection to prepare for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk told a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday: ”For the first time ever non-hotel accommodation … will also be contracted.

Twenty-six call centre workers — two of whom are pregnant — were hospitalised after insecticide leaked into the air conditioning during ”routine fumigation work”, Discovery Health said on Thursday. The incident occurred on Wednesday at 6pm at the company’s headquarters in Johannesburg. A preliminary investigation indicated that a technical fault was the likely cause of the problem.

No evidence has been found of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) blacklisting some commentators and analysts because of their political views, the public broadcaster reported on Thursday. Mpofu said a commission of inquiry had found there was no blanket ban on certain political commentators and analysts.

National Blood Services Zimbabwe (NBSZ) has stopped blood supplies to hospitals after a generator at its complex went up in flames, Harare’s Herald newspaper reported on Thursday. Its website said the generator in Harare was used to power refrigerators, 14 cold rooms and laboratories. The damage to the generator meant staff at NBSZ were working manually.

The secretariat of the tripartite alliance has appealed to the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party to put aside their differences after a public spat, it said on Wednesday. ”We call upon all those involved to stop, as a continuation of this will hamper the capacity of the alliance to provide effective leadership to society and our members,” the parties said in a statement.

Work on diverting hundreds of utility services is about to start at four Gautrain stations, the Bombela consortium said on Wednesday. Bombela’s Chris Andrew said about 800 utility connections, including telephone lines, water and electricity connections, had to be moved at the four stations.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will not comment on claims that its head of news, Snuki Zikalala, has been found to have blacklisted certain commentators and analysts. Business Day columnist Anton Harber wrote on Wednesday that an inquiry had found Zikalala had broken the broadcaster’s code of conduct.

South African diplomats in London will not be subjected to lie-detector tests to find out who leaked information about the recall of a senior official, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday. ” … We do not believe that any of our diplomatic staff in London would have leaked the information since it was already in the public domain,” said spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.

Cash-in-transit security guards threatened to strike in response to the recent spate of violent heists, the Motor Transport Workers’ Union (MTWU) said on Wednesday. ”The union met with shop stewards from around the country today [Wednesday] on the crisis. It has had enough,” said union general secretary Emily Fourie.