South Africa

Graça picks UCT over Ft Hare
CAPE TOWN -- Graça Machel, wife of former president Nelson Mandela, has declined an invitation by the University of Fort Hare to be its new chancellor, SABC news reported yesterday. Machel will take up the chancellorship of the University...

Maduna says sorry ­ but gets support
JOHANNESBURG -- Justice Minister Penuell Maduna yesterday apologised to Constitutional Court Judges Richard Goldstone and Johann Kriegler, whom he had accused of spending time overseas while there was work to be done at home. But far from being u...

Clothing supplier fined R10000
JOHANNESBURG -- A clothing supplier was yesterday fined R10000 in the magistrate's court here for contravening the Defence Force Act. The company, G Fox and Co, represented by Gerald Fox, pleaded guilty to using a few lengths of camouflage materi...

Life terms for police killer
PRETORIA -- National police commissioner George Fivaz yesterday welcomed the four life terms imposed on a former soldier for killing three policemen. This was a clear warning that the courts and society would no longer tolerate police murders, Fi...

Private work ban on govt doctors
PRETORIA -- State-employed doctors, specialists and dentists will from today no longer be allowed to run private practices, the Government Communication and Information System announced yesterday. Previously government doctors could engage in l...

DP says fuel hike unnecessary
JOHANNESBURG -- The Democratic Party yesterday condemned the 13cents a litre increase in the fuel price which came into effect at midnight last night. DP mineral and energy spokesman Ian Davidson said in a statement the hike was ill-timed and unn...

New ID system planned for all SA citizens
CAPE TOWN -- The Department of Home Affairs plans to start introducing a new fingerprint-based identity system in the second half of next year -- at a cost of R50 per person. Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi announced that negotiations ...

W Cape argues constitutionality of Liquor Bill
JOHANNESBURG -- Although "liquor licences" were clearly listed in the constitution as being within the jurisdiction of provincial legislatures, the Liquor Bill left no room for provinces to make meaningful laws related to licensing. This was the ...

Inquiry urged to declare Maduna unfit for office
CAPE TOWN -- Former Mineral and Energy minister Penuell Maduna had lied to Parliament, shown a consummate disdain for the Constitution, and should be declared unfit for public office, Public Protector Selby Baqwa was told here yesterday. Maduna,...

Third of SA homes still without electricity
CAPE TOWN -- About one third of South African households still have no access to electricity, and many of those with access are not able to enjoy the benefits because of the high cost, Parliament's portfolio committee on environmental affairs and ...

Children's sex evidence can be valid says judge
PRETORIA -- A high court judge here found on Monday that young children who were single witnesses in sexual offence cases should be treated in the same manner as adults in similar circumstances and that their evidence should not automatically be s...

Council pledges R1m for Cape storm victims
CAPE TOWN -- Donations for the city council's Mayoral Relief Fund for the victims of the storm that ravaged parts of the Cape Flats continued to pour in yesterday with the council itself and big business leading the way. The city council pledged...

Court overturns Eikenhof Three conviction
JOHANNESBURG -- The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein yesterday set aside the convictions and the sentences of the "Eikenhof Three". The court ruled that the state had ignored some testimony and not called some witnesses in the trial of th...

TRC accuses amnesty seekers of false pretences
JOHANNESBURG -- A section commander of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) armed wing, Apla, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee yesterday how a policeman was killed when his unit sprung a fellow PAC member from a Brakpa...

Plant a tree, heal our land -- Kasrils
CAPE TOWN -- "Plant a tree, heal our land" was the call Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Ronnie Kasrils made to an enthusiastic audience attending the national launch of Arbour Week at the Nelson Mandela Peace Park in Delft near here yesterday....