Fugitive businessman Jacob ”Kobi” Alexander, accused in the United States of hatching a scheme to pocket millions of dollars by secretly manipulating stock options, was granted bail by a Namibian court on Tuesday. Alexander was arrested on September 26 in Windhoek at the request of the FBI after at two-month manhunt.
The MTN Group has acquired an extra 6,98% interest in its subsidiary, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, the company said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Pearl Majola said MTN made the purchase from minority shareholders at a cost of ,9-million, or about R2,6-billion.
Former Limpopo premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi has apologised for publicly claiming that President Thabo Mbeki’s ”autocratic behaviour” was dividing the party. The African National Congress National Working Committee had ”received and accepted” his unconditional apology, it said after a meeting in Johannesburg on Monday.
Former president Nelson Mandela has thanked India for its immense influence on South Africa’s struggle for freedom from the oppression of apartheid.
In the early stages of Somalia’s civil war, most people had only two options, says Hadith Oslan, a Somali refugee living in Cape Town: to fight or to run. Oslan chose to run, fleeing his country’s political turmoil. ”I thought I would be safer here,” he says. Oslan (26) left Somalia and his family in 2003, moving to neighbouring Kenya.
The 2005 Gandhi Peace Award has been made to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in Johannesburg on Monday. It was in recognition of his contribution to society and political transformation, said the prime minister. Tutu had shown ”truly Gandhian values”, he told dignitaries at Constitutional Hill.
KwaZulu-Natal provincial minister of transport Bheki Cele on Tuesday applauded the police for the swift arrests of 24 alleged cash-in-transit heist gang members. ”The police had done a tremendous job and I certainly believe that, as the province, we will work tirelessly in decreasing the rate of crime, particularly the accelerating rate of cash-in-transit heists,” said Cele in a statement.
The African National Congress (ANC) has expressed deep sadness over the death of MP James Kati, a spokesperson said on Monday. James Zamiwonga Kati, who became an MP in 1999, died on Friday after a long illness. ”The ANC dips its revolutionary banner in remembrance of his undying spirit,” said ANC Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
A report on the alleged political bias of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has been handed over to the public broadcaster’s chief executive, Dali Mpofu, the commission of inquiry said in a statement on Monday. Earlier this year the SABC came under fire for the alleged blacklisting of political analysts too critical of President Thabo Mbeki.
The new Advance Tax Ruling System — intended to promote clarity, consistency and certainty in the interpretation and application of the tax laws — came into effect on Monday. The system allows the commissioner to issue two new types of rulings — binding private rulings and binding general rulings — the South African Revenue Service said in a statement.
South Africa and India will share intelligence to help prevent international terrorism, President Thabo Mbeki said on Monday. He met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Union Buildings in Pretoria where they signed a declaration "reaffirming the strategic partnership" between the two countries.
The Director General in President Thabo Mbeki’s office, Reverend Frank Chikane, says he now knows the identity of police officers who poisoned him in the late 1980s. In a statement from the Presidency on Monday, it noted that Chikane, a former general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, had revealed on Sunday ”that he now has information about his poisoning”.
The high rate of credit extension in South Africa had become a major concern for the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the bank’s Governor Tito Mboweni said on Monday while addressing trainee chartered accountants in the Western Cape. "Consumer spending through credit-card lending has recorded year-on-year growth of 38,6% to a level of R36,9-billion at the end of July 2006.
A senior advocate with the crime-busting Scorpions unit broke down in the Randburg Regional Court on Monday when she heard she would have to remain in Johannesburg prison. Fearing victimisation, Portia Kgantsi (39) appeared shaken when she heard she would have to wait another seven days for her bail application.
South African house prices grew by their slowest pace in almost four years in the year to September, weighed down by higher interest rates and rising inflation, lender Standard Bank said on Monday. Housing prices in Africa’s biggest economy have tapered off over the past year, possibly signalling the end to an extended property boom.
Voluntary testing among prison inmates and correctional services employees was encouraged at the launch of the Department of Correctional Services’ HIV/syphilis-prevalence survey in Pretoria on Monday. Offenders and officials need to know their status because the current 5% of known HIV cases among inmates is most probably incorrect, considering the country’s HIV rate, the department said.
Parts of the Western Cape can expect heavy rain and snow on Monday, Weather SA warned on Monday. ”Heavy falls of rain are possible in the Overberg, Breede River Valley, Ruens, Garden Route and the Little Karoo,” said Weather SA. ”Very cold, wet and windy conditions are expected on the high-ground areas of the Western Cape province and western parts of the Northern Cape province.”
South Africa have recalled former captain Sibusiso Zuma and winger Delron Buckley for Sunday’s African Nations Cup qualifier against Zambia. Caretaker coach Pitso Mosimane has also called up uncapped striker Moses Spandeel for the group 11 clash in Lusaka, the South African Football Association said on Monday.
The mining, manufacturing, transport and finance industries were hardest hit by HIV/Aids, the South African Business Coalition of HIV/Aids said on Monday. Chief executive Brad Mears said while the mining, manufacturing and transport industries were directly affected, the financial sector suffered losses when people were unable to pay back loans and mortgages due to illness or death.
Kaizer Chiefs belatedly broke their winless Premier League drought with a 2-1 victory over Golden Arrows at the Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday afternoon — but even Amakhosi coach Ernst Middendorp said he felt sorry for his opposite number, Khabo Zondo.
People who make or sell drugs from their homes could lose the properties to the state even if they were not convicted of drug-related crime, media reports said on Monday. In a judgement on Friday, the Constitutional Court ruled that a Cape Town house used for the manufacture of drugs was forfeit to the state even though its owner was acquitted on drugs charges.
Gauteng’s commuters must be encouraged to use public transport, the province’s transport minister Ignatius Jacobs said on Sunday. He acknowledged that Gauteng’s public transport system was underdeveloped, but said it was also underused.
Ducks, wasps and beetles are pioneer viticulturalist Johnathan Grieve’s insect killers of choice in his goal of creating one of South Africa’s first entirely organic wine farms. A flock of about 40 ducks patrol Avondale, Grieve’s farm in the Paarl area of the fertile Cape winelands, daily picking snails off the precious vines.
The target set three years ago to extend the child-support grants to 3,2-million children by March this year has already been exceeded by 300 000, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) reports on its website. A report on the state of social grants appears under the president’s regular column and notes that by June this year over 3,5-million children were registered as beneficiaries.
Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Thabo Mbeki unveiled a plaque at Durban’s Resistance Park on Sunday. Well known anti-apartheid activist Fatima Meer also spoke in Resistance Park, so named because of a ”non-white” gathering held at the park in 1946 in protest against race laws.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Sunday called for action to be taken against government officials responsible for mismanagement of finances. DA defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn said the annual report of the Department of Defence tabled in Parliament showed that the department had received a qualified audit opinion from the auditor general for the fifth year in a row.
South Africa faces a total cost of R8,352-billion (,077-billion) for the construction of five new stadiums and the renovation of a further five for the 2010 World Cup finals, organisers said on Sunday. The cost is over three-and-half times higher than the R2,3-billion estimate made in 2004 when the country won its bid to become the first African host of the World Cup tournament.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla has been charged at the South African Human Rights Commission with human rights violations by Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) chief whip Koos van der Merwe, the IFP said in a statement on Sunday. The complaint stems from the failure of Mabandla to process applications for presidential pardons, Van der Merwe said.
President Thabo Mbeki and India’s Prime Minister Mohandir Singh are to meet on Sunday and jointly attend functions in and around Durban to mark the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha strategy of passive resistance against racism and injustice. Singh will meet with Mbeki and other dignitaries at Resistance Park, in Umbilo, for a plaque unveiling and walkabout.
The Orlando Pirates players were presented with a bucketful of golden opportunities in their goalless first-leg Champions League semifinal against AC Sfaxien at a pulsating Ellis Park on Saturday night — but finished the game spread-eagled on the turf in undisguised disappointment.
Former Hellenic player and Moroka Swallows coach Gavin Hunt returned to his old stadium and collected four points as his team beat Ajax Cape Town 2-1 in their Castle Premiership League match at Green Point on Saturday. Although Ajax had most of the first-half possession, it was Swallows who scored.
Crime is a crisis, not just a problem, and the African National Congress (ANC) should pay attention to it, said the Sunday Times in a front-page editorial. The newspaper said that the ANC leaders, getting together next weekend for their regular national executive committee meeting, needed to put the country’s out-of-control crime situation on their agenda.