South Africa

Fight racism - Mbeki
JOHANNESBURG -- President Thabo Mbeki launched South Africa's first national conference on racism yesterday, urging delegates to remember that the twin challenges of white fears and black expectations needed to be met. Opening the four-day confer...

Emotional scenes as Strydoms arrive home
PRETORIA -- Callie and Monique Strydom, held hostage by Muslim extremists on the Philippines island of Jolo for more than four months, landed at the Waterkloof Air Force base here late last night. There were emotional scenes as they were re-unite...

Asmal to visit schools over prefect, assault problems
JOHANNESBURG -- Education Minister Kader Asmal and Gauteng MEC Ignatius Jacobs will visit two schools here and in Pretoria today in an effort to ease racial tensions. Asmal's spokesman Bheki Khumalo said the minister and MEC would first visit Bry...

Survey: minorities losing confidence
JOHANNESBURG -- Among South Africa's minority groups (whites, Indians and coloureds) a decreasing number had indicated they were confident or positive about the country's future, Markinor reported yesterday. However, the biannual national survey ...

Holomisa: stop whining
CAPE TOWN -- South Africa's black intelligentsia and their political leadership were whining about racism, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said yesterday. In a statement issued to coincide with the opening of the national confere...

Print unit supports stand on diversity
JOHANNESBURG -- Print Media South Africa (PMSA) yesterday said it endorsed a report by the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on the media, which recommended that more effort should be made to develop media diversity. It said the print developmen...

Equality waits on courts
JOHANNESBURG -- The government has a wide array of legal measures at its disposal to suppress racism -- but the most potent weapon, the equality act, cannot be used because it has not yet become operational. The act -- named the Promotion of Equa...

Merit should be only factor - FF
JOHANNESBURG -- Racism had done much damage in South Africa but it was continuing in the government's present policy of affirmative action, Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen said yesterday. Reacting to President Thabo Mbeki's opening ...

Labour opting for racism - MWU
JOHANNESBURG -- Mineworkers' Union (MWU) spokesman Dirk Herman yesterday criticised the labour movement for bringing racial classification back into the workplace. Herman was speaking outside the Sandton Convention Centre at the start of the nati...

Soldiers patrol city centre after Cape blast
CAPE TOWN -- Rifle-wielding soldiers patrolled the streets of the central city here yesterday, the day after a bomb exploded in the city centre, slightly injuring six people. Troops are routinely sent to help police monitor rampant crime in the p...

Serial killer of 7 convicted
PRETORIA -- A high court judge here yesterday convicted Samuel Sidyno of seven murders, adding him to South Africa's growing list of serial killers. In the densely bushed area of Capital Park hill, Sidyno assaulted and strangled two women and fiv...

History must reflect role of blacks in SA war - minister
DURBAN -- The role of black people in the Anglo-Boer South African War has been neglected and must be integrated into the country's history, says Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Minister Ben Ngubane. Ngubane was addressing delegates at the ...

Firm acts after girl, 14, allegedly painted white
JOHANNESBURG -- Two Pep Stores employees suspected of painting a 14-year old girl have been suspended, the company said in a statement yesterday. Pep Stores managing director André Labuschagne said he was deeply shocked and concerned over ...

Betsie's Orania home set to become Verwoerd museum
ORANIA, Northern Cape -- A museum for former prime minister HF Verwoerd and his late wife Betsie is to be established in the Afrikaner town of Orania in the Northern Cape, Verwoerd's daughter Anna Boshoff said yesterday. She said the house in A...

At least 700 children still missing in SA
PRETORIA -- While pictures of Monica Aggenbag hugging her hostage daughter Monique Strydom appeared in newspapers across the country yesterday, more than 700 South African families still wait and hope for a hug from a missing child. Eleven years ...

Assembly to deal with 36 bills
CAPE TOWN -- Parliament will have to deal with close to 40 bills before the end of the year. Information released by Parliament yesterday shows that 36 bills have still to be processed by the National Assembly and 38 by the National Council of Pr...

R19m to upgrade 10 prisons
CAPE TOWN -- Some R19million is being spent on renovations to 10 prisons in the Eastern Cape that can house a total of 627 prisoners, Correctional Services Minister Ben Skosana said. Replying to a written question from New National Party MP Johan...

TRC absolves 19 of crimes
JOHANNESBURG -- Nineteen people have been granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee, the TRC said in a statement. Phila Ngqumba said 13 members of self-defence units in Thokoza were granted amnesty for crimes ...