Cape Town – The car used in the kidnapping of a University of Johannesburg student has been retrieved in Eldorado Park, according to a university spokesperson.

The 23-year-old student, who chose to remain anonymous, was allegedly grabbed from the Kingsway Campus and held hostage for an hour. 

She told EWN that the man cable tied her hands and put her in the boot of her car before driving out of the university to draw cash from all her accounts.

The deputy vice chancellor for strategic services, Prof Derek van der Merwe, said the South African Police Service was investigating and had retrieved the car from Eldorado Park, which is close to where the student was dropped off.

“The university is trying to obtain CCTV information and also checking the university entrance and exit data,” he told News24.

The case is under investigation by the Booysens hijacking unit.

The university is scheduled to meet with the student on Friday.

  News24

Pretoria – Former president Nelson Mandela’s wife Graça Machel on Friday arrived at the Pretoria hospital where the ailing icon is being treated.

Activity outside the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital was minimal.

Tshwane metro police continued manning the cordoned-off section of the Celliers Street entrance, but there was little traffic.

A few local and international journalists remained outside both entrances to the facility.

Members of the public occasionally visited the hospital to take pictures of a wall covered with messages and flowers for Mandela, who was admitted on June 8 with a recurring lung infection.

Friday was his 56th day in the hospital.

SAPA

Johannesburg – Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi apologised on Friday to its members and the country following recent allegations that he raped a colleague.

“I have erred and in the process embarrassed my family and disappointed many South Africans who looked to me to provide moral leadership,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery at an SA Democratic Teachers’ Union biennial general meeting in Port Elizabeth.

He said he regretted making headlines for the wrong reasons.

“I have decided to come to your meeting to apologise to each one of you and through you, to all Cosatu members and every South African, for letting them down,” said Vavi.

News of the alleged rape surfaced last week in reports that Vavi was being accused by a 26-year-old married woman, whom he claimed had tried to extort R2m from him.

Vavi denied raping the woman, but admitted to having consensual sex with her.

The Congress of SA Trade Unions held a hearing about the matter on Monday and it ended when the woman withdrew her grievance.

On Friday, Vavi said he had no one but himself to blame for the incident.

“I am only human and not a perfect saint. I have learnt so much from the mistake and I commit to never repeat the same, and in the process hand over to the enemies of the working class a victory on a silver platter.”

He said he would work hard to regain the lost trust of both his family and the nation.

“I am back on my feet. I have a mandate to fulfil,” he said.

After the hearing on Monday, Vavi said he would consult with his lawyers to consider action against the woman.

SAPA

Harare – Zimbabwe’s election was credible and fair, the chief of the African Union observer mission said Friday, but the bloc’s report noted some problems with the voters’ roll and of people being turned away from polling booths.

President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF appeared confident of a sweeping victory, while the rival Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said the “sham” polls would plunge the country into crisis.

“We are very happy this morning. We are very confident and excited. We think there is a sense of victory for us,” Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said.

He said the party expected to get between 130 and 140 seats in the 210-member parliament.

Results from about 30% of seats in parliament showed Zanu-PF taking a strong early lead, with 52 to the MDC’s 10.

Mugabe’s party managed to wrest control of some urban constituencies previously held by the rival MDC.

The final results of Wednesday’s election must be announced by Monday.

Local elections observers noted there were serious problems with the voters’ roll in urban areas – long considered MDC strongholds.

Vote rigging

Tsvangirai has declared the elections to be “null and void” because of allegations of vote rigging.

Zanu-PF insists the polls were conducted in a “free and fair” manner, as does the Zimbabwe Election Commission.

In the 2008 election that was marred by violence, Tsvangirai won the first round but did not get enough votes to avoid a run-off. Widespread intimidation, including the deaths of some 200 of his supporters, forced him to pull out of the runoff.

The presidential poll results are only expected in the coming days. If no candidate gets at least 50% of the vote, a second round will be held September 11.

The 89-year-old Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since 1980, has vowed to step down if he loses.

Africa’s oldest head of state presided over a decade-long economic collapse, in part blamed on his policy of grabbing white-owned farms without compensation and fuelling hyper inflation.

SAPA

Johannesburg – South Africa’s rand fell through the psychologically important level of R10/$ in Friday’s early trade, with upbeat expectations about US jobs data that comes out later in the session bolstering the greenback.

The rand had weakened to R10.0145/$ and later gained some ground.

By 08:44 on Friday, the local currency had come back slightly to R9.9970, but still extended five days of losses that also dragged bonds lower.

“This move has been spurred by dollar strength, rather than rand weakness, although there is little domestically to offer traders any reason to go against greenback strength,” said Christopher Shiells of Informa Global Markets.

However, the rand was looking oversold and dealers said it could trade sideways until the release of US jobs data at 14:30, which will give an indication on the health of the world’s biggest economy, and in turn clues about quantitative easing.

Markets have been on edge on when the US Federal Reserve will slow the taps on monetary stimulus that has supported emerging markets.

Investors were also expecting an upbeat US non-farm payrolls number, which will lend further support to dollar bulls and support views than the Federal Reserve may start to withdraw stimulus as early as September.

“We are not expecting the dollar-rand to see any upside beyond R10.100 at the moment,” Shiells said.

The rand should find some support in the R10.07/08 region- a low hit on July 12.

Government bonds played catch up with the rand’s fall, with the yield on the benchmark 2026 paper up 8.5 basis points to 8.26%.

The government is expected to announce higher fuel prices later in the session, drawing further focus on the weak exchange rate.

National Treasury will hold a sale of inflation-linked bonds at 11:00, where demand is expected on the longer-dated paper, and Treasury Bills at 12:00.