All news items
21 July 2014
Phase two of the arms procurement commission’s public hearings will start on Monday. Now, the commission will deal with the second leg of its terms of reference: allegations of fraud and corruption. It has called a number of authors, arms deal critics and activists, to present evidence.
Richard Young will be this phase’s first witness. Besides being the first of the so-called “...
21 July 2014
Zimbabwe will be able to support any influx of deportees from South Africa and Botswana, according to the minister of home affairs, Kembo Mohadi.
There are indications that the two neighbouring countries might start deporting a large number of undocumented Zimbabweans.
South Africa has introduced stringent immigration laws which will compel 250 000 Zimbabweans who benefited from a...
19 July 2014
The purchasing of the Gripen and Hawk fighter jets during the 1999 arms deal remains sullied with allegations of bribery and rigged tender processes. It has been the subject of international and local investigations.
On Friday, former president Thabo Mbeki said he knew nothing about the controversy. Mbeki also denied any knowledge of an investigation by the US into the purchasing of fighter...
19 July 2014
A gravely ill 12-year-old Somali girl will receive the medical treatment she needs for a heart condition, including an operation, after a settlement was reached in the High Court in Pretoria on Friday.
Lawyers for Human Rights, acting on behalf of the girl's family in South Africa, launched an urgent application after she was allegedly turned away from the Steve Biko Hospital because she was...
19 July 2014
Somali girl to get life-saving treatment
A critically ill young Somali girl was Friday morning admitted to a state hospital in Pretoria for treatment after a settlement between her lawyers and health authorities.
Lawyers for Human Rights launched an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court to secure life-saving treatment for the 12-year-old girl after she was allegedly refused treatment...
19 July 2014
Former president Thabo Mbeki was asked to tell the Seriti Commission of Inquiry on Friday how his administration justified spending billions on the arms deal but not on antiretrovirals (ARVs) in 1999.
“It is wrong to only discuss the costs when talking about HIV/Aids, look at government policy,” he told the commission sitting in Pretoria.
“I don't know if this is part...
19 July 2014
Former president Thabo Mbeki’s handling of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV patients has been questioned at the arms deal inquiry.
He was testifying at the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into alleged fraud and corruption in the multibillion rand procurement deal.
Mbeki’s record on HIV and Aids has long been controversial, particularly due to the time it took government to...
18 July 2014
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has launched an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court to seek life-saving treatment for a 12-year old Somalian girl who may die because she is undocumented and cannot pay a quarter million rand bond for surgery. AAISHA DADI PATEL reports.
The girl arrived in South Africa on July 4 as an asylum seeker, with the intention of applying for...
18 July 2014
The brother of a 12-year-old refugee Somali girl who is being refused life-saving surgery will turn to the North Gauteng High Court for an urgent order forcing the health authorities to give her the heart operation she desperately needs.
The girl cannot be operated on because she has no refugee documents, or R250 000.
The two cannot be identified because the girl is a minor.
Lawyers for...
18 July 2014
No heart surgery for ailing girl
The 10-day journey from war-torn Somalia to South Africa was tough, but it was the start of a better life for the 12-year-old.
Or so she thought.
The girl, whose unemployed and widowed mother remains in Mogadishu, planned to live with her brother in Pretoria, where he runs a small shop.
But just a day after she arrived in the country on July 4, she collapsed and...