South Africa News Archives

In a further effort to develop and strengthen economic and industrial trade, South Africa and Hungary have signed an Agreement on Economic Cooperation in Pretoria.

A medical waste company that was found to be illegally dumping highly infectious raw waste is being investigated for corruption and fraud, the Environmental Affairs Department said on Sunday.

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe has commended the appointment of Menzi Simelane as national director of public prosecutions, saying that he is fit to occupy the position.

South African President Jacob Zuma has vowed to strengthen the fight against AIDS in the world's worst affected country, a marked departure from the policies of his predecessor Thabo Mbeki who led a much-criticised policy of denial of the AIDS and HIV epidemic.

The recent storm in KwaZulu-Natal had affected 1 256 people, the provincial department of local government said on Saturday afternoon.

Google says South African Street View should be ready for World Cup, but some officials fear it could be a 'gift to thieves' Google's Street View headaches around the world A Google mapping car in of Bedminster, UK.

South Africa's economic recovery will not be a fast process, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Two armed men robbed the MAN truck and bus company in Middelburg of truck wheels valued at R30 400, Mpumalanga police said on Tuesday.

U.S. and South African officials recently discussed a broad array of nonproliferation-related issues, including nonproliferation challenges, nuclear security and smuggling, export controls, biosafety and biosecurity, and cooperation on nuclear energy, during meetings November 9-12 in Pretoria, South Africa.

Officials from two government departments are holding regular meetings aimed at devising ways to establish South Africa's first environmental court.

Three people, including a policeman were arrested on Saturday for the murder of a former KwaZulu-Natal government top official, Antony Dorning, police said.

In more than 34 years as a judge, he has not been as deeply concerned by anything as he was by the recent comment of a South African deputy minister of police that police officers should shoot and "kill the bastards". "We need to be concerned when people in responsible positions say irresponsible things," said Judge Deon van Zyl, inspecting judge ...

Israeli spies have been found to be posing as airport security guards at international terminals, subjecting unsuspecting travellers to illegal interrogations and strip searches.

Three people, including a taxi driver were injured when a sedan and a taxi collided in the Durban North Coast on Saturday, KwaZulu-Natal paramedics said.

Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale have a great working relationship and continued to consult each other on matters of governance, their departments said today.

Cape Town - Next year's Soccer World Cup is safe in the hands of South Africa's law enforcement agencies, national police commissioner Bheki Cele said on Friday.

Mpumalanga police said on Friday that a taxi boss had been killed and three people injured in a shooting outside a car repair shop in Standerton.

South African Government accepts Zim land reform exercise is unlawful and undertakes to honour SADC Tribunal judgments The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria made an order in terms of which the Government of South Africa undertakes to respect and honour the judgments by the Southern African Development Community Tribunal in favour of commercial ...

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe has defended the appointment of Advocate Menzi Simelane as the new National Director of Public Prosecutions.

Breathtaking CCTV footage of a meteor lighting up the night sky over South Africa has been posted online.

Former president Thabo Mbeki's role as the facilitator of the Zimbabwean power-sharing deal is over.

A total of 923 government officials have been brought to book by the human settlement department's crackdown on corruption, Minister Tokyo Sexwale said on Thursday.

A baboon called Fred, sits inside a car as he eats a piece of fruit at Cape Point on the outskirts of Cape Town Visitors to South Africa's premier holiday destination - and a World Cup 2010 venue - who are worried about becoming victims of the country's high crime rate could find themselves instead robbed by a more furry kind of felon: baboons.

The risk of credit card fraud could increase during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre warned on Thursday.

South Africa's central bank should target employment when deciding on interest rates, and worry less about inflation when the economy is struggling, a top Cosatu official says.

About 400 residents of Atlantis, near Cape Town, burnt tyres and barred police from evicting people from an orphanage in the area on Thursday, said a community member.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday appointed a new team to monitor Zimbabwe's troubled unity government accord, ending former president Thabo Mbeki's mediation role, his office said.

President Jacob Zuma has written a letter to the World Bank to support a US3.75 billion loan application by Eskom, Sake24 reported on Tuesday.

Loren Coleman on November 24th, 2009 A new species of chameleon has been discovered in Tanzania by a team of scientists.

The office of the ANC Chief Whip said it was saddened on Tuesday at the death of Democratic Alliance MP Cobus Schmidt.

By Louise Flanagan and Sapa Hospitals and clinics that fail to put patient treatment first and don't meet set standards face closure as part of a major crackdown.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has approved the South African Broadcasting Corporation's application for a government guaranteed bailout of R1.4 billion.

It's the talk show talked about around the world. Oprah Winfrey's announcement last week that she will end her daytime TV program after its 25th season in 2011 made headlines from London to Johannesburg.

Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini and animal rights activists will meet in Durban on Tuesday to try and resolve a dispute over a bull-killing ritual.

Visitors to South Africa's premier holiday destination who are worried about becoming victims of the country's high crime rate could find themselves instead robbed by a more furry kind of felon: baboons.

Fifteen police officers of the Durban dog unit were injured when their state-marked Quantum taxi collided with a bakkie in Newlands East, Durban on Tuesday, KwaZulu-Natal paramedics said.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has called an extraordinary meeting of the world governing body's executive committee following the incidents which occurred during the World Cup play-offs. At the top of the list of topics to be discussed is likely to be Thierry Henry's handball in the France versus Republic of Ireland game.

There is a strong possibility some areas in Johannesburg may experience floods following the rainy week, warn the city's emergency services.

It was a meteor which lit up the skies over Johannesburg and Pretoria on Saturday night, an astronomer has confirmed.

Two people were killed in different incidents related to heavy rains in Port Shepstone on Thursday, SABC news reported.

The United States is "deeply concerned" by reports that South African "military instructors" are training militiamen backed by the ruling junta in Guinea, a US official said Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG, 21 November 2009 - South Africans are dying younger and in greater numbers, and HIV/AIDS is to blame, according to a report released this week by the South African Institute of Race Relations.

Gwynne Dyer Eagle-eyed Columnist analyses global issues It was ostensibly about obscenity, but it was really about corruption and censorship - and in the end, justice prevailed.

Associated Press Writer= When Henry Spelman found out he'd won a Rhodes Scholarship, his first call was to his girlfriend.

Cape Town - Up to 2 700 Zimbabwean asylum seekers have set up a temporary "safety camp" in a rural South African town following attacks on their shacks in a dispute about jobs, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

The Young Communist League of South Africa wants to talk to the ANC Youth League about its president Julius Malema's insults against South African Communist Party general secretary Jeremy Cronin.

Ugandan officials say they are offended that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has praised former dictator Idi Amin.

Detectives investigating Africa's biggest drugs haul suspect that the three South Africans and three Britons allegedly involved are well funded and have connections in China, the Middle East, South America and Europe who could help them evade justice.

A group of tourists, including a West Midlands couple, has launched legal action against a South African safari park after being trapped by a pride of lions.

South Africaa s main agriculture and farming union has expressed concern about the bilateral investment treaty agreed with Zimbabwe, which is set to exclude South African owned farms that were expropriated by the Robert Mugabe regime during the chaotic land a reforma programme.

A total of 20 people were injured in five separate accidents in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday and Saturday, paramedics said.

Former Stellenbosch student Jacobus Eksteen, accused of raping and killing fellow-student Erin Van Rensburg, is to go on trial in the Cape High Court next year.

A group of senior government officials is to assess the state of South Africa's 354 public hospitals, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said.

Liberals are incensed that Conservative MPs have distributed taxpayer-funded pamphlets that suggest the Grits are anti-Semitic. Read the pamphlet here Even New Democrat and Bloc QuA©bA©cois MPs agree the latest propaganda represents a new low in the Tories' increasingly partisan use of so-called 10 percenters, mailings that MPs are ...

By Xolani Mbanjwa and Bronwynne Jooste Staff Reporters Farmers in De Doorns have rejected allegations that they are paying Zimbabwean immigrants lower than the minimum wage and are therefore responsible for the xenophobic attacks that erupted in the region this week.

South African Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson will star as Winnie Mandela in a film to be made in 2010 in South Africa, Ma-Afrika Films said on Friday.

Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi told hospital chief executives and managers on Thursday to shape up or they will be removed.

The wives of four South African men abducted on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, nearly three years ago have made an emotional plea for help to President Jacob Zuma.

The Western Cape government was more concerned about the media than the well-being of the De Doorns xenophobia victims, refugee rights group Passop claimed.

BRITISH tourists whose truck crashed in a safari park in Cape Town, South Africa managed to scare off a pack of lions by throwing their shoes at them.

The cost and use of the police jet bought last year was defended by Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa in Pretoria.

A man was beaten to death by community members in Umlazi K section in Durban on Thursday, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

South Africa's government says it is investigating reports that South African mercenaries are training supporters of Guinea's military junta.

View the gallery Natasha Prince Staff Reporter Scores of De Doorns residents, most of them farmworkers, ripped down shacks belonging to Zimbabweans this morning, accusing them of "stealing our jobs". The Zimbabwean families were forced to pack up their belongings and seek refuge in a community hall in the Hex River Valley town, which is about two ...

A 24-year-old woman is in a serious condition after hijackers forced her out of her vehicle and pushed her over the Umkomaas River Bridge on the N2 south in Chatsworth , Netcare 911 said on Saturday.

Cabinet has decided to set up a new anti-corruption inter-ministerial committee to deal effectively with all incidents of corruption in the public service, government spokesman Themba Maseko announced.

The global recession is not dampening America's international drive to stop AIDS, the head of the campaign said Wednesday.

Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson is to play Winnie Mandela in a new biopic about the controversial former wife of South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela.

By Joe Lauria A Western diplomat has corroborated French media reports that mercenaries from South Africa are training forces loyal to the coup leader in Guinea.

The reggae singer the Springboks accused of butchering the anthem before the 20-13 Test match defeat to France said Saturday that he thought he had "sung beautifully". Ras Dumisani, sporting dreadlocks tucked into a huge red, green and white Rastafarian cap, was adamant that his performance - which made large parts of the Toulouse crowd burst into ...

Dressed in identical orange uniforms, inmates at South Africa's maximum-security Pollsmoor prison sing and act for the cameras in a new reality series where they vie to be crowned "Jail Star". Photograph by: . The Cape Town prison, best known for gang violence in one of the world's most violent countries, has launched a TV talent search for ...

A mom gains more than 100 pounds after having a baby, and becomes suspicious of her husband after she finds a woman's number in his pocket; a Russian man makes a shocking discovery about his love interest.

Japan's soccer chief has joined in the chorus of protestors wanting the noisy vuvuzela trumpet be banned from next year's World Cup in South Africa.

By Bronwyn Gerretsen and Siphilile Shelembe Wet and misty weather combined with negligent driving caused havoc on KwaZulu-Natal's roads on Monday, with two people killed and 20 injured in more than 20 accidents.

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema last night defended former President Thabo Mbeki's handling of the HIV/Aids epidemic and said the campaign to have him charged with genocide will never happen.

You've planned the best holiday meal ever. Now it's time to shop for all the ingredients.

Police say a South African woman has survived after carjackers threw her off a nearly 200-foot -tall bridge.

An anti-apartheid campaigner who on Monday became the head of the environmental group Greenpeace says he will use his activism know-how to spur governments into reversing climate change, stressing that unless dramatic steps are taken "all the world is going to sink." Kumi Naidoo is the first African to head Greenpeace, said Gerd Leipold, his ...

Durban-born reggae singer Ras Dumisani says an old microphone and technical glitches are to blame for his embarrassing rendition of South Africa's national anthem before the Test match against France in Toulouse.

ANC Free State spokesperson Teboho Sikisi, 38, died n a car crash outside Bloemfontein, police said on Sunday.

"We want to know their point of view on the peace process" before the start of talks between the government and the rebels, the UN-African Union mediator said on condition of anonymity.

BBC : South Africa's police watchdog has condemned the "shooting of innocent people" after a boy of three was allegedly killed by a police officer.

Eight armed men were arrested after a robbery at the Westonaria Shopping Centre this afternoon, Gauteng police said Current Font Size: Handcuffs Photograph by: . The men went into the Jet shop in the centre at 12.30pm and stole several cellphones before making their getaway in a white minibus, said Senior Superintendent Noxolo Kweza.

The former students at the centre of the Reitz race row will probably make a public apology before the end of this month, University of the Free State rector Jonathan Jansen said.

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale had put one of his private jets on standby for his hospitalised deputy, Zoe Kota-Fredericks, his office said on Thursday.

THE Pretoria Portland Cement Company has reported a 9% increase in turnover - despite being in trouble with the Competition Commission.

South Africaa s President Jacob Zuma has called for closer international co-operation among the nations of the world to close the space for international drug syndicates.

Caster Semenya, the South African teenage world champion runner who sparked allegations over her gender, has spoken of her difficulties coping with her newfound fame.

A privately-owned Lightning fighter jet has crashed at an airshow at the Overberg Air Force Base east of Cape Town.

Carbon trading, as promoted by the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism , has become a key global strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

South African police do not have a licence to shoot to kill, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday, but vowed the government would press on with a tough crackdown on rampant crime ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Speaking in the National Assembly, he said the new agreed reduced mobile termination rates by Cell C, Vodacom, and MTN would be 89 cents in peak times and 77 cents off peak.

A Zimbabwean told the Durban Regional Court how foreigners were forced to jump from a high-rise building by people wielding bush knives in January this year.

A predominately white South African trade union accused the government on Thursday of putting racial job quotas ahead of fighting crime.

THIS just in: Deputy Police Minister, Fikile Mbalula says innocent lives will be lost as police fight crime with lethal force and that's just one of those things His exact words, as quoted on Sapa: a oeIn the course of any duty the innocent will be victimised.

Brandon Huntley's lawyers have slammed a Canadian government bid to overturn his crime refugee status as driven by pressure from South Africa and "based on misguided politically correct notions", the Star reported on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's three governing parties are expected to begin negotiations before weekend in line with a SADC recommendation to tackle a power-sharing dispute threatening to tear apart their shaky coalition government.

South Africa's deputy police minister has stood by his force's tough, shoot-to-kill policy, days after a three-year-old boy was shot dead by officers.

A struggle over how to manage South Africa's state-owned power company has opened debates on racism in the boardroom and political meddling in a country where politics and race remain a volatile mix.

According to the credo of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee, everyone should be entitled to free electricity.

Consider a scenario of a trigger-happy police force getting out of hand before crime does.

A Durban woman left her two-day-old son in a public toilet with a stranger, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Wednesday.

President Jacob Zuma has been awarded best African President by Africa Consciousness Media at a gala dinner held in Sandton last night.

New dinosaur species found in Africa Paleontologist Adam Yates describes the find of fossilized bones of a new dinosaur species, Aardonyx Celestae, from the early Jurassic period during an announcement of the discovery at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, Wednesday, Nov.

Somali pirates on Wednesday seized a cargo ship in the Indian Ocean with 22 crew members on board, the European Union Naval Force said.

United Nations, Nov 10 The United Nations General Assembly decided to declare July 18 as International Nelson Mandela Day, in recognition to this South African fighter against racial discrimination and for the liberation of Africa.

South Africans will have a four months to hand in illegal firearms under an amnesty in 2010, the police ministry said today.

Former president Thabo Mbeki came under fierce attack once again as Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi released shocking statistics on the devastation HIV/Aids has inflicted on the country's population.

Government will invite all stakeholders to have their say on how best to achieve a more competitive exchange rate, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said on Tuesday.

The latest developments at Eskom are a "complete disaster", analyst Adam Habib said after Eskom chairperson Bobby Godsell resigned on Monday and CEO Jacob Maroga returned to work after his own apparent recent resignation.

Ecumenical Body Sends Letter to South African Churches Nov. 6, 2009 -- The Executive Committee of the Reformed Ecumenical Council has sent a letter to the South African members of the REC and of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches concerning and clarifying the status of the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa related to the union of the REC ...

When Jose Bright arrived in South Africa in 1994, he felt daunted by the task ahead. After all, as an education consultant from the Washington, D.C., public school system, his job was to help South Africa transform its schools, designed to benefit the white minority of 4 million, into a system to educate the 40 million black majority as well.

Nobody would have blamed him if he'd simply declared victory, turned, and run.

But after several consultancies, Mr. Bright stayed. He's now a professor in the business school at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. He has dipped into his own pocket and donated his free time to ensure that a handful of poor but promising South African middle-school students make it through high school.

The weekend murder of former senior government official Warwick Dorning seriously questions the ruling party's selective security arrangements for its cadres, the Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of South Africa said on Monday.

The Final Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa will take place in Cape Town on 4 December 2009 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre .The entertainment lined up for the 90-minute live show will include the Soweto Gospel Choir, Beninoise singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo and Johnny Clegg.

Former president Thabo Mbeki on Monday conveyed his condolences to the family of ex-intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils whose wife, Eleanor, died at the weekend.

The threat of climate change could imperil an estimated 4 million South African citizens who are still without access to potable water, the country's Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Ms.

South Africa is set to begin harnessing its legendary sunshine in a substantial way following the announcement on Monday of the go-head for a 115 million U.S. dollars plant to manufacture thin-film solar panels.

Freed from African jail, U.K. plotter threatens revenge In this image made from video, Simon Mann smiles after thanking court officials following his pardon in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

This Oct. 28, 2009 photo from a derelict cottage, shows leafy oak trees surrounding the graves of 217 members of the Native Military Corps, a black volunteer contingent during World War II, in the isolated Palmietkkuil near Springs, South Africa.

Congress of South African Trade Unions secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi on Tuesday urged the government to transform the economy, saying the market-driven polices of the past were to blame for poor delivery and, in part, the recession.

While most people are well aware of the years of civil unrest which led to the demise of Apartheid in 1994, not as many know about the secret talks that simultaneously transpired for almost a decade between the South African government and the African National Congress , the political party spearheading the independence movement.

By Khanyisa Tabata 06 November 2009 The Government says there has been no word yet on the return to South Africa of four mercenaries pardoned this week by the government of Equatorial Guinea.

South Africa's relations with China are conducive to the country's plan to halve unemployment by 2014, the labor minister said on Saturday.

By Clayton Barnes Terminal 2010, the multimillion-rand central terminal building under construction at Cape Town International Airport, is to be opened on November 7 - months before schedule, the Airports Company of South Africa says.

A 36-year-old man was arrested in Mamelodi after police caught him with a bag full of dagga worth R10 000, Pretoria police said on Saturday.

By Sharika Regchand Pietermaritzburg Bureau A Pietermaritzburg woman who allegedly killed her two young children last week will be sent for psychological assessment.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has commended government's decision to cancel an order for military aircraft, his office said today.

A soldier will take on beauty contest duties after the original Miss England relinquished her crown following her arrest over an apparent nightclub brawl.

Two members of the South African National Defence Force have died in a parachute incident, the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans said.

The ANC Youth League said Nedbank had committed itself to sponsoring sports development in South Africa, following a meeting over transformation concerns.

Africa is rarely thought of as a destination for gay travelers. Now, one company is setting out to change that - 2Afrika.

Eskom's "obscene" price hikes meant foreign visitors would be the only people able to afford tickets to 2010 soccer World Cup events, the United Transport and Allied Trade Union said on Thursday.

Airbus planes under construction of the type A319 at the Airbus factory on February 6, 2009 in Hamburg, Germany.

South Africa's Athletics chief Leonard Chuene has been suspended for his role in the poor handling of the Caster Semenya gender row.

Four South Africans pardoned by Equatorial Guinea for a failed coup in 2004 will not face local criminal charges when they return home, the justice ministry said.

Eskom chief executive officer Jacob Maroga has resigned, chairperson Bobby Godsell told staff on Thursday.

When the Orlando Pirates take on local Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs, violent sporting tribalism is refreshingly absent Ten years ago I was a sports reporter for the Daily Express.

A Durban woman was raped and strangled in a park near Blue Lagoon on Tuesday night, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

The 1Goal campaign is pushing to make education for all children the legacy of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Springbok scrum-half Fourie du Preez capped a wonderful three days in his career on Monday when named South Africa Rugby Player of the Year.

The United Nations refugee agency has rushed relief items to help tens of thousands of Angolans expelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo last month.

A passenger enjoying a civilian joyride accidentally cut the trip short when he ejected himself from the plane after grabbing the eject lever while trying to brace himself.

The interim board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation is contesting a R1-billion contract, the SABC reported on Tuesday.

Government is investigating reports that controversial ANC Youth League president Julius Malema threw his weight around after being stopped for speeding in Limpopo, Deputy Transport Minister Jeremy Cronin said.

Dancers clad in animal skins opened a royal ceremony Tuesday, a nod to tradition for the forward-thinking kings, queens and chiefs who jetted in to Johannesburg from across Africa to launch an institute they hope will expand their roles on the continent The two dozen leaders from Morocco to Swaziland describe their new Institute of African Royalty ...

Western Cape Congress of the People leader Allan Boesak resigned from the party on Tuesday, saying its structures were in disarray.

Simon Mann was issued "a full pardon for humanitarian reasons" for the 2004 coup plot.

A taxi driver smashed his taxi through the doors of a busy Edgars store in Durban on Monday evening and then collapsed and died of gunshot wounds, KwaZulu-Natal authorities said.

A civilian passenger in an air force display plane got the shock of his life when he reached for something to steady himself during a mid-air manoeuvre - and accidentally activated the ejector seat.

Two Pretoria policemen were arrested for allegedly shooting dead a street vendor after refusing to pay him, the Independent Complaints Directorate said today.

By Sipho Khumalo Despite huge protest at the glitches that accompanied referendum on whether the residents of Matatiele should remain part of Eastern Cape or should instead be incorporated into KwaZulu-Natal, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs yesterday expressed satisfaction with the process.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila arrived at the OR Tambo International Airport last night to co-chair the 6th Bi-National Commission with President Jacob Zuma.

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille must take responsibility for the City of Cape Town's financial mismanagement of the Bus Rapid Transit system, the ANC said on Sunday.

A South African man has been arrested in Botswana for allegedly telling one of his workers he was "dumber than the president", Beeld reported on Thursday.

The Umhlabuyalingana municipal manager and chief financial officer have been suspended following allegations of corruption and gross mismanagement.

In a culmination of his party's major shift on AIDS, a disease that has led to plunging life expectancies here, President Jacob Zuma last week definitively rejected his predecessor's denial of the viral cause of AIDS and of the critical role of antiretroviral drugs in treating it.

By Leila Samodien More than two years after the multimillion Fidentia scandal erupted, fraud accused Arthur Brown has moved into a mansion on an estate in the Hout Bay Valley.

Former transport minister and veteran ANC and SA Communist Party member Mac Maharaj as been appointed "special envoy", President Jacob Zuma announced on Friday.

Twenty-nine South African beaches have been awarded Blue Flag status this year, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced on Thursday.