South Africa

Balfour to knock boxing into shape
By Mesuli Zifo JOHANNESBURG -- National boxing is to undergo a dramatic overhaul after Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour advised at an indaba here yesterday that the next boxing commission would consist ofonly four members. The indaba, attended b...

SAA bans unruly diplomat from all flights
CAPE TOWN -- South African Airways has thrown the book at senior South African diplomat Jerome Barnes, including banning him from ever flying on any of the airline's services worldwide and laying criminal charges against him. In a statement yeste...

Rand decline seen as temporary
CAPE TOWN -- The decline in the value of the rand was temporary and did not warrant a corrective interest rate hike, the head of an International Monetary Fund delegation said yesterday. "The rand is inherently stronger than its present level," M...

Moosa: rock art is richest cultural gem
CAPE TOWN -- South Africa's richest and most significant cultural treasure, past and present, was its 15000 recorded rock art sites, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa said yesterday. Opening debate on his department's budget ...

7 ANC cadres seek amnesty from TRC
JOHANNESBURG -- Seven African National Congress cadres will appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee here next week for several offences, including murdering former SA Defence Force soldiers and attacking police s...

Tourism bill given the nod
PARLIAMENT -- The National Assembly yesterday unanimously approved the Tourism Amendment Bill, which provides for radical changes to South Africa's tour guide system. The bill is aimed at developing a socially, environmentally and culturally resp...

SA, Zim, Moz in wildlife venture
PARLIAMENT -- The governments of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe will sign a protocol next month to establish the world's largest wildlife park, Environment and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa said. Speaking during the debate on his department...

'Paper likely to fuel xenophobia'
CAPE TOWN -- A White Paper dealing with immigration was likely to fuel the high levels of xenophobia experienced by black foreigners in South Africa, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) said yesterday. Briefing Parliament's home affairs portfolio c...

New dentists to do service
PRETORIA -- Newly qualified dentists would have to do community service from July 1 this year, Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in a notice in the Government Gazette yesterday. She also published a list of about 150 hospitals and...

Plastic carry bags on way out
CAPE TOWN -- The ubiquitous plastic shopping bag, more often seen wrapped around neighbourhood trees and fences than the family groceries, is to be outlawed. Opening debate on his department's budget vote in the National Assembly yesterday, Envir...

Govt on side of environment
CAPE TOWN -- Government had a policy of zero tolerance for companies that damaged the health of workers and residents in the areas in which they conducted their activities, Deputy Environment Minister Joyce Mabudafhasi said yesterday. Speaking du...

HDIs not for the chop - Asmal
JOHANNESBURG -- Education Minister Kader Asmal yesterday denied he planned to close down historically disadvantaged higher education institutions. "I have no intention of doing so," he said here in a speech prepared for delivery at a meeting of t...

Frontier Hospital doctors made first diagnosis Q'town scan showed Siamese twins
Report & picture by Sonja Raasch QUEENSTOWN -- A Frontier Hospital team of gynaecologists made the initial diagnosis that Ncumisa Mtshofeni of Qamata was expecting Siamese twins and proposed her referral to Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town...

Poison umbrella man: I could've shot Basson
PRETORIA -- A highly qualified mechanical engineer, who in the 1980s designed special poison-injecting screwdrivers and umbrellas for the apartheid government, denied in the high court here yesterday that he had tried to sell some of the devices t...

Mom, 82, held for murders
PRETORIA -- An 82-year-old woman faced murder charges at the Mogwase Magistrate's Court yesterday, Marico police said. A report handed to the police in Sun City, near Rustenburg, established that Mr Moses Mkhomazi "disappeared" from his home. Fif...

Afrikaners in bitter debate over 'sell-out'
CAPE TOWN -- A furious debate is raging in Afrikaans newspapers about the perceived sell-out of Afrikaners now in their 30s and 40s by their apartheid-era elders. The younger generation is accusing the older one of having made it bear the brunt o...