Lucy Dixon, who works on a cattle and horse farm, said she had never seen so much snow in the area. “Every mountain was covered, even the famous Spandau Kop.
“I heard some farmers say it has never snowed like this since 1977. We have had up to six inches of snowfall.”
Stock farmer James Kingwill said he had not seen so much for a long time. “It is good for farmers,” he added.
The Garden Route weather office warned of very cold conditions for Oudtshoorn, where the mercury is expected to hit -2°C.'
Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to break up the World Cup’s first episode of crowd unrest – by stadium staff.
Officers wearing helmets charged at least 400 stewards protesting about low wages.
The clashes came after workers refused to leave the ground at the seaside resort of Durban last night, following Germany’s 4-0 win over Australia, claiming they had been underpaid.'
What does it mean? Neither South Africa nor Israel is admitting that the nukes were delivered. General beliefs are that they were, a real shock to Nelson Mandela when he took office, from prisoner of apartheid to commander of a nuclear power. What is proven by this is that Israel was, even 35 years ago, a nuclear state, in direct violation of numerous international treaties. It also proves that Israel offered nukes to South Africa, a rogue nation under sanctions that covered not only any weapons but trade as well. This made Israel a criminal state and Mr Peres a war criminal.
More than that, it makes any aid America gives Israel illegal. If Israel is nuclear, which is now official, and in violation of international treaties, just as with Iraq and Iran, then America has to demand inspections and disarmament. There is no choice. This is the law. Law for Iran, law for Iraq is also law for Israel. Israel has expected this day for years. The US can’t give or sell arms to any country with an illegal nuclear arsenal. Worse than this, we are sworn to defend the world from any nation that would spread nuclear weapons, a charge made by the South African government, one that has been made before, but can no longer be ignored.'
Declassified documents cast new light on Israel's nuclear arsenals, revealing an offer by Tel Aviv to provide South Africa's apartheid regime with nuclear arms.
In an article published on Sunday, UK-based daily The Guardian explained how South African officials asked for nuclear warheads and Tel Aviv promised to sell them to the apartheid regime.
According to the report, in 1975, then South African Defense Minister Pieter Willem Botha held a clandestine meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who served as Israel's defense minister at the time.
A secret military cooperation agreement was signed at the meeting, during which Botha reportedly requested nuclear weapons and Peres offered three warhead versions for sale.'
A high-ranking army officer from Saudi Arabia has been accused of planning an attack during the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa, an Iraqi official says.
Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim Atta said Monday Colonel Abdullah al-Qahtani participated in the planning of a terrorist act in South Africa.
Iraqi police arrested Qahtani two weeks ago. He was also in charge of security for the terror network in Baghdad, General Atta said.'
The subject of attacks on white farmers is deeply disliked by the ruling African National Congress for the unflattering comparisons that it brings with neighbouring Zimbabwe, but it has come to the fore since the murder of the white supremacist leader Eugène Terre’Blanche a month ago. That incident followed a sharp deterioration in race relations after Julius Malema, the outspoken leader of the ANC’s Youth League, started singing at rallies an old anti-apartheid struggle song that includes the words “shoot the boer [farmer]”.
The High Court banned the song but the ruling is now under appeal. Mr Malema faces an ANC disciplinary hearing after he defied orders and continued to sing the song while visiting Zimbabwe, where he praised President Mugabe for land reform policies, under which 4,000 white commercial farmers have been driven off the land in the past decade.'
Waving iron bars and pickaxes, the Red Ants, a rented mob of thugs in bright red overalls and crimson helmets, used the half-light of dawn for cover as they marched into the slum. Stamping out the first cooking fires of the day with heavy boots, they spread out in a long line. Then they attacked.
Bleary immigrant women dropped plastic water containers and ran in panic towards their corrugated iron homes. “Grab the children,” they screamed.
By sunrise their shacks on the outskirts of Johannesburg had been razed. They were forced to watch as their few possessions were burnt.
The Red Ants, described as state-sponsored mercenaries by their critics, have become a growing force in the past few months as South African cities have begun a campaign of “beautification” before the World Cup begins in June. This means clearing away unsightly immigrant squatter camps.'
Members of the far-Right AWB threatened vengeance after he was beaten to death in a dispute with two farm workers over unpaid wages.
Police said he was attacked to the head with a machete and a club in his bed at his farm outside Ventersdorp, North West province, on Saturday night.
Two men, aged 21 and 15, have been charged with murder and will appear in court on Tuesday.
Andre Visagie, the AWB's secretary-general and a leading candidate to succeed Mr Terreblanche as head of the organisation, said the party was planning its response.
"The death of Mr Terreblanche is a declaration of war by the black community of South Africa to the white community that has been killed for ten years on end," he said.'
Thousands of homeless people are being forced off the streets of South Africa to hide the scale of poverty there from World Cup fans.
More than 800 tramps, beggars and street children have already been removed from Johannesburg and sent to remote settlements hundreds of miles away.
And in Cape Town, where England face Algeria on June 18, up to 300 have been moved to Blikkiesdorp camp where 1,450 families are crammed in a settlement of tin huts designed for just 650 people.
Why is it that governments can find billions of dollars for global sporting events and little to deal with the grinding poverty that affects impoverished populations? Canada applauded itself for the $135-million in aid and disaster relief it sent to an earthquake ravaged Haiti while spending nearly $6-billion on the two-week long Vancouver Olympics. A similar contradiction is revealing itself in South Africa, where massive amounts of public and private spending on the upcoming 2010 Soccer World Cup are expected to salve a faltering economy and crippling poverty. Most South Africans, however, will see little direct or sustained economic benefit from the games let alone muster the funds to even purchase a ticket.
What is trumpeted as a branding and investment remedy to South Africa’s economic woes may very well become another Greek tragedy – where the legacy of the 2004 Athens Olympics has contributed to an economic meltdown. These global games offer dual incentives to both local and foreign business elites and little to a frustrated local population. On the one hand, investment, sponsorship and tourism opens new markets to foreign capital while local business elites profit from a heightened global image. At least, this is the story sold by both the state and World Cup planners. Central to this strategy is selling South Africa as a marketable and consumable brand.
The transition from apartheid to democratic rule in South Africa has been well documented. During this period, the pressures of both domestic and foreign capital forced the emergent African National Congress (ANC) government to follow the economic paradigms of the past and encourage foreign investment. The sanctions that once crippled the economy gave way to a period of increasing investment and relatively stable economic growth. Promoting a comfortable and gentrified image of South Africa perfectly serves the ruling African National Congress’s redistribution through growth policy that is intended to drum up foreign investment while selling off government owned assets. The Soccer World Cup effectively opens these economic and political spaces necessary to further neoliberal policies and development.'
Police in South Africa have allegedly shot dead a three-year-old boy because they mistook a metal pipe he was holding for a gun.
Atlegang Aphane's family, who claimed the officer responsible showed no remorse, questioned whether their son had been the victim of a "shoot to kill" policy encouraged by the government. The incident comes after a string of deaths of innocent people at the hands of police, raising fears of the reckless use of lethal force reminiscent of the apartheid era.'
South African farmers suffered millions of dollars in lost income when 82,000 hectares of genetically-manipulated corn (maize) failed to produce hardly any seeds.The plants look lush and healthy from the outside. Monsanto has offered compensation.
Monsanto blames the failure of the three varieties of corn planted on these farms, in three South African provinces,on alleged 'underfertilisation processes in the laboratory". Some 280 of the 1,000 farmers who planted the three varieties of Monsanto corn this year, have reported extensive seedless corn problems.
Urgent investigation demanded
However environmental activitist Marian Mayet, director of the Africa-centre for biosecurity in Johannesburg, demands an urgent government investigation and an immediate ban on all GM-foods, blaming the crop failure on Monsanto's genetically-manipulated technology.
Another scene of hysteria was experienced at the prayer meeting held at the Windsor Secondary School in Ladysmith yesterday. The prayer gathering came as a result of Thursday’s panic when about 90 pupils from the school had to be rushed to the Ladysmith Provincial Hospital after some began experiencing dizzy spells, fainting, breathing difficulties, convulsions and foaming at the mouth. Local religious leaders were on the scene yesterday to cast out what they say were demons after some of the pupils claimed they saw huge serpents.
They bear the look of street urchins, their eyes on the prowl for useful scraps of garbage and their bodies covered in clothes no cleaner than a mechanic's rags.
With their nation in a prolonged sequence of crises, more unaccompanied children and women than ever are joining the rush of desperate Zimbabweans illegally crossing the frontier at the Limpopo River, according to the police, local officials and aid workers.
For those in the know, crossing the border can be a simple chore, a bribe paid on one side and a second bribe on the other. But for the uninitiated and the destitute, the journey is as uncertain as the undercurrents of the Limpopo and the appetites of the crocodiles.
Unexpected snowfall and freezing temperatures in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa has been described by so called climate experts as a feature of global warming. The country experienced its coldest night on record two nights ago — in the spring time. The adverse weather has shocked and surprised many locals, with forecasters warning that worse conditions could follow. The snow is part of a continuing pattern of cold snaps across the continent that has also seen unprecedented ice storms in Kenya, resulting in 4 inch deep hail covering the ground.
