Residents take on the Gautrain in court, and other brief reports
* A Pretoria residents association has lodged an application with the Pretoria High Court to set aside a decision by the Gauteng Environmental MEC to proceed with the proposed route of the Gautrain rapid rail link in Pretoria. It claims the basis of the decision taken by former MEC Mary Metcalfe was flawed and the route between Pretoria and Hatfield stations was not in the best interests of Tshwane. Business Day
* Consumer education and a streamlined dispute resolution system dominated the final day of debate in Parliaments Finance Committee on the Financial Services Ombud Schemes Bill. It was adopted by the committee yesterday with few fundamental amendments, though the committee did introduce changes to ensure that consumers are directed to the correct ombudsman in cases where they approached the wrong institution. Business Report * The Treatment Action Campaign has not withdrawn its legal action or its claim that the Health Department had a legal duty to have an AIDS implementation plan and to make it publicly available, the organisation said. Spokesperson Mark Heywood said the TAC would go to court next month to argue for costs of actions incurred. Business Day * The appeal by a former Cuban spy against a Randburg Magistrates Court decision to send him to the US to be tried on drug charges was rescheduled yesterday to next year. In April last year the court found Yster Garrido extraditable from SA to the US. He remains in custody pending the outcome of his appeal. Business Day * Gold producer Harmony had become the first local mining company to convert its mining licences under the mining Charter, CE Bernard Swanepoel said yesterday. Business Day * The Port Elizabeth High Court has handed down an effective 20-year prison sentence to Melikaya Yonar who was convicted of raping two girls aged 14 and 17, in June 2003 and March 2004 respectively. The Herald