The Refugees Appeal Board and the Standing Committee on Refugee Affairs are swamped by appeals to review previously rejected asylum applications, an official said on Thursday This was causing a delay in issuing asylum certificates, home affairs director general Mkhuseli Apleni told reporters in Pretoria. He said 87,602 asylum applications were being reviewed by the
Shares fall on European debt worries
(Reuters) – Asian shares fell on Thursday after a weak Spanish bond sale heightened concerns about funding difficulties for weaker euro zone countries, further undermining sentiment hurt by fading expectations of more stimulus from the U.S. Federal Reserve. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell for a second straight session, easing
US growth of distant suburbs falls to historic low
WASHINGTON (AP) — Stung by high gasoline costs, outlying suburbs that sprouted in the heady 2000s are now seeing their growth fizzle to historic lows, halting American city dwellers’ decades-long exodus to sprawling homes in distant towns. New census estimates as of July 2011 highlight a shift in population trends following an extended housing bust
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Communist Party supports punishment of SA whites for ‘fronting’
The SACP has welcomed the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Amendment Bill which would see the assigning of a commissioner to solely investigate incidents of fronting. “The SACP urges government to move with the necessary speed to finalise provisions in law that allows for fronting to be criminalised,” said spokesman Malesela Maleka on Wednesday.
Read more: Communist Party supports punishment of SA whites for ‘fronting’
Child rapist’s case postponed 72 times
A convicted child rapist’s case was postponed by the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for the 71st time in four years, Mpumalanga police said. Lt-Col Leonard Hlathi said Andries Mfana Sibiya’s the case was postponed to May 2. “It was postponed because he claimed he was tired.” Sibiya, 55, a preacher, raped a 13-year-old girl
Pandor disappointed at delay over telescope
Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor is disappointed at the delay of the announcement of whether South Africa would host the world’s largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), she said on Wednesday. “I am disappointed at the delay. I hope that the SKA organisation will make a decision in the first half of
Angola marks 10 years since end of civil war
Angola marked the 10th anniversary of the end of its three-decade civil war on Wednesday as President Jose Eduardo dos Santos unveiled a monument near the site where a long-time rebel leader was killed. The 27-year war was one of the longest and most brutal in Africa and Dos Santos praised the country’s accomplishments since
ANC welcomes Malema’s latest suspension
No ANC member is bigger than the organisation’s constitution, the party said on Wednesday in welcoming Julius Malema’s latest suspension. “We welcome and respect the decision as we do with all decisions arrived at by constitutional structures of the ANC,” spokesman Jackson Mthembu said in a statement. On Wednesday the African National Congress’s national disciplinary
Romney takes Wisconsin, Maryland, DC
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Mitt Romney tightened his grip on the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday night, sweeping primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C., with time left over to swap charges with President Barack Obama. “Four more years?” Romney asked sarcastically of the president as supporters cheered in Milwaukee. He said Obama was “a little out
Trayvon Martin case shows up American racial divide
(Reuters) – Tracy Martin had been looking for his son Trayvon since the night before. He went to bed figuring the teen must have gone to the movies and turned off his phone. When Trayvon still wasn’t home in the morning, Martin called the police. After a flurry of phone calls back and forth, an
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New bill will punish whites for ‘passive black shareholders’
The gazetted Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Amendment Bill will put in place strict measures to tackle fronting, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Tuesday. “What we are doing is defining it much more closely in the bill so that there is a specific statutory offence of fronting,” Davies told reporters in
Read more: New bill will punish whites for ‘passive black shareholders’
E-tag testing to start in Gauteng
Live testing of Gauteng electronic toll transactions for road users with e-tag accounts would start this week, the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said on Tuesday. “Road users who have registered for Gauteng e-tolling and fitted an e-tag to their vehicles are advised that their e-tags will start beeping as they pass underneath toll
‘Crude rhetoric’ from ANC leaders
by Genevieve Quintal and Hlengiwe Nhlabathi ANC leaders on Tuesday condemned the “shockingly crude, disrespectful and un-ANC” remarks recently made by some within the party. “The brazen and often rude and crude rhetoric to detract from real issues facing our youth does nothing to add value to the integrity of the ANC and its leagues,”
Moscow fire kills 13 migrant workers
Twelve people died Tuesday when a night time fire tore through a two-story Moscow market warehouse that was being used by migrant workers from a former Soviet republic as a temporary residence. “Twelve people died. They were migrant workers. We are trying to confirm which (ex-Soviet) republic they came from,” a Moscow emergencies ministry spokesman