The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) expressed dismay on Thursday at allegations by a vagrant about the death of mining magnate Brett Kebble. ”The allegations that the killers are known to the ANCYL and its leadership are at best ridiculous, at worst malicious, and are nothing else but flagrant fabrication,” ANCYL said in a statement.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and Sentech, a wireless broadband internet service provider, have embarked on a joint television subscription venture to provide interactive services to audiences in South Africa, the companies said on Thursday.
Fixed-line telephone operator Telkom surprised on Thursday by announcing that it is preparing to enter the pay television market. The first step in this process has been the creation of Telkom Media, which on Thursday applied to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa for a commercial-satellite and cable-subscription broadcast licence.
Embattled Springbok coach Jake White on Thursday met with the president of SA Rugby Regan Hoskins, rugby experts, selectors and ex-coaches to discuss issues in South African rugby that will ensure the consistent success of the Springboks. The meeting comes in the wake of a five-game losing streak for the Springboks.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) investigators were on Thursday searching 34 premises in the Pietermaritzburg area for alleged fraud in the Msunduzi municipality. The buildings being searched included the offices of the municipality’s officials, business premises of service providers and residential properties of some council workers, NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said.
One of the accused in the Jeppestown killings says he was not in the house during the bloody shoot-out in July, the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court heard on Thursday. One of the defence attorneys, representing accused number six, told the court his client should be granted bail as he had an alibi.
Business and financial news television network CNBC will launch an affiliate channel in Africa, CNBC said on Thursday. In an agreement with Africa Business News, CNBC will launch the first regional business and financial TV news channel for sub-Saharan Africa, a statement from the company read.
Evidence will be presented that Dirk Prinsloo, former lover of Cezanne Visser, followed a consistent pattern of abusive behaviour towards women, the Pretoria High Court heard on Thursday. Prinsloo’s former wife and girlfriend will be called to testify how he behaved towards them.
Traditional medical practitioners need to be recruited to fight Aids in Africa, which accounts for 60% of the world’s cases, a senior United Nations official said on Thursday. ”Countries should embrace traditional health practitioners as partners in the health care system,” Luis Gomes Sambo, the UN World Health Organisation’s (WHO) regional director for Africa, said in a statement.
A planned strike by immigration officers was averted when officials of the Department of Home Affairs and the Public Servants’ Association (PSA) signed an agreement on Thursday, the union said. ”This agreement settles the dispute between the two parties and the impending strike for [Friday] has been called off,” PSA deputy general manager Manie de Clerq said.
Three African National Congress (ANC) councillors may face disciplinary action after trying to force their way into a council meeting, injuring a security official, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille said on Thursday. The meeting’s doors were closed to allow a vote on whether the city supported the Treatment Action Campaign’s (TAC) HIV/Aids plan.
An appeal against a Durban High Court order to expedite antiretroviral treatment at Westville prison does not amount to a ”constitutional crisis” but is an attempt to alert the court to an ”administrative burden”, the government said on Thursday. A statement from the Government Communications and Information Service read: ”There is no constitutional crisis in this country … ”
The Democratic Alliance has threatened to refer the issue of an alleged R22-million presidential retirement house to the Public Protector if the facts reveal any wrongdoing. DA spokesperson Sydney Opperman said on Thursday that according to Noseweek magazine, the public works department is building a presidential retirement house to the value of R22-million.
Johannesburg International airport’s name will change to OR Tambo airport, probably in October, Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan announced in Parliament on Thursday. "I am formally announcing that I am approving the name change," he told the National Assembly. The name change was initially proposed by the local municipality.
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool will ask President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday for the rain-ravaged Eden district to be declared a disaster area, Rasool’s office said. ”The premier will today [Thursday] speak to the president and ask for him to declare it a disaster area. This will immediately free extra funding to do repairs,” said Rasool’s spokesperson, Shado Twala.
Roelf Meyer, former National Party Cabinet minister and key negotiator in South Africa’s transition to democracy, has applied for membership of the African National Congress. Confirming this on Thursday, he was, however, at pains to emphasise that he had no intention of re-entering active politics.
There is mounting evidence that the African continent will become the next al-Qaeda hotbed as the militant group seeks to expand its global operations, a senior expert on terrorism said. ”Al-Qaeda would logically look for Africa,” said Peter Pham, director of the Virginia-based think tank Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs.
A Jozi FM DJ has been shot dead in an attempted robbery in Dube Village, Soweto police said on Thursday. Superintendent Thembi Nkhwashu said Jabulani Mlangeni (27) was walking along Mncube Drive with a friend on Wednesday night when they were approached by two armed, unknown men.
Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana on Thursday blasted a report by the Public Service Commission, saying it was ”misleading the public” by not disclosing that he had demanded performance assessments from his top management. He said that if urgent action is needed he is prepared to do it.
Two women died and one was seriously injured when a fire broke out in a building housing the offices of a security company in Durban on Thursday. ER24 spokesperson Neil Noble said three people were injured in the blaze that swept through the top floor of the one-storey building.
A homeless man claiming to have witnessed the Brett Kebble murder has been arrested on a warrant for housebreaking and theft, police said on Thursday. The 24-year-old Bloemfontein man has been taken into custody relating to crimes in the Free State.
Pitso Mosimane on Wednesday sent midfielder Macbeth Sibaya ”home to Natal” following the death of his father on Monday — and the Bafana Bafana coach may, in the process, have lost his Russian-based midfielder for the African Nations Cup qualifying game against the Congo at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
South Africa’s dams are 92% full, according to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s records. The department reports on its website that the dams were only 65% full this time last year. This week, dam levels in the provinces ranged from overflowing in the Northern Cape to 72% full in Limpopo.
The vice-chancellor of the Tshwane University of Technology, Professor Errol Tyobeka, was attacked with stones after he addressed a mass meeting of students on Wednesday afternoon, the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (Pasma) said. Pasma’s president, Mametlwe Sebei, said Tyobeka did not make a concrete commitment on the issues raised at the open-air meeting.
A homeless man has claimed that he witnessed the murder on mining tycoon Brett Kebble in Johannesburg last year, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday. The man, whose name was withheld, told the broadcaster he was asleep in a park not far from the murder scene when the incident happened.
The Gauteng provincial government has welcomed the ruling of the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday in favour of the Gautrain rapid-rail link. Construction is due to begin in September. The urgent application by the Muckleneuk/Lukasrand Property Owners and Residents Association was dismissed with costs being awarded to the applicant.
Pursuing solutions, rather than calling for more police, prisons and harsher sentences, are needed when addressing the current crime wave, according to a report released on Wednesday. The document — Building the Peace: A Kairos on Violent Crime — was drawn up by religious, political, business, academic and media leaders, and made public at a launch in Cape Town.
Teachers affiliated with the Congress of South African Trade Union on Wednesday discussed keeping the tripartite alliance strong and class issues around access to quality education. Speakers at the national congress of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union in Midrand included union president Willie Madisha and Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota.
The Lion King will come to the South African stage in 2007 as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations. Co-producers Lebo M and Pieter Toerien said on Wednesday the Disney Production will be performed in the Teatro, a 1 900-seat theatre, the largest in South Africa, currently being built at Montecasino in Johannesburg.
The scramble for Africa has taken on new meaning with different terrorist groups wanting to get their hands on Africa’s resources for funding, and on its people for warfare, a conference on terrorism in Johannesburg heard on Wednesday. Somewhere between -million and -million worth of uncut gems are smuggled out of Sierra Leone each year.
Alarming numbers of young children are dying in Angola four years after the Southern African country’s long-running civil war ended, said a report on Wednesday by Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF). ”The mortality for children under five is almost three times higher than levels expected in developing countries,” said MSF in a statement.
The Zimbabwean government’s clean-up operation, Murambatsvina, has left the informal sector in misery and disarray, the Solidarity Peace Trust said on Wednesday. The informal sector, in which 90% of Zimbabweans eke out a living, has been criminalised by the very government that should protect their rights, trust chairperson Archbishop Pius Ncube said.