FRENCH MINISTER VISITS
FRENCH Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine will arrive in South Africa on Thursday for his first visit to the country, at the invitation of Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo, the foreign affairs department said on Wednesday. During Vedrine’s visit — his first in Africa in his capacity as Foreign Minister of the new French government — he will hold discussions on France’s future policies in Africa and co-operation with South Africa regarding development in the country and Southern Africa. A memorandum of understanding on a Franco-South Africa forum for political dialogue will be signed during a meeting with Nzo on Thursday in Cape Town.
N PROV FIRES
VELD fires that have killed livestock and destroyed more than 100 000 hectares of grazing land in and around Vaalwater in Northern Province since Sunday spread to the nearby Ellisras area overnight on Tuesday. Vaalwater police station commander Captain Staal Nienaber said elephants and rhino are among wildlife threatened by fire on the 30 000ha Kwalata game farm, about 40km west of Ellisras. The SA Air Force has two Oryx helicopters fighting the flames, which it is hoped will be extinguished on Wednesday.
OSTRICH EXPORTS UNBANNED
The longstanding ban on the export of fertile ostriches and eggs has been lifted, Land and Agriculture Minister Derek Hanekom said on Tuesday. Hanekom said lifting the ban, which was intended to support the worldwide ostrich monopoly once enjoyed by powerful Oudtshoorn farmers, could lead to ostrich producers generating a potential annual income of R900-million for birds, eggs, meat and other ostrich products. Hanekom said exports from two producers in a former nominally independent homeland, along with illegal exportation of genetic material, “has led to the establishment of ostrich breeding flocks all over the world.”
ENDANGERED PARROTS SEIZED
MPUMALANGA Parks Board officials seized 21 endangered Knysna parrots at a farm near White River on Tuesday night after receiving a tip-off that the birds had been offered for sale to collectors. The parrots were seized during a joint operation with the Endangered Species Protection Unit. Trade in the endangered birds is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. MPB officials declined to name the owner of the birds, but did confirm that no criminal charges have yet been laid.
KENYAN TEACHERS STRIKE
NEGOTIATIONS between the Kenyan ministry of education and the local teachers union reached a deadlock on Tuesday after striking teachers rejected a government offer of a 28% pay raise and ignored an ultimatum to return to work. The teachers, who earn about US$30 a month on average, are demanding a 150% to 200% rise in salaries, and over 200 000 teachers have been on strike since last week. The situation deteriorated on Wednesday, when hundreds of teachers stormed the education ministry compound in the capital Nairobi, chanting: “Sack us now.”
ZEBRAS DIE IN TRANSIT
THE SPCA’s wildlife unit is investigating a case of animal abuse after four zebras died when they were left in a truck in stifling heat in Bedford, in the Eastern Cape, last Thursday. They were part of a consignment of 17 animals being transported from Namibia. Their plight was discovered by paasersby who smelt the dead animals. Three of the zebras were already dead and a fourth, a foal with a broken leg, had to be put down. At least one pregnant mare had aborted and four other zebra had to be isolated with other injuries, SPCA national chairman Marie Eekhout said.
NAVY OUT VISITING
A SA NAVY task force is deployed in the West Indian Ocean at present to visit the Inter-State Defence and Security Committee (ISDSC) and other African countries, the defence department said on Wednesday. The task force is made up of the combat support ship SAS Drakensberg and two strike craft, the SAS Adam Kok and the SAS Jan Smuts, and includes elements from the SA Army, the SA Air Force and the SA Medical Service.
MOTHEO PROBE STARTS
MPUMALANGA’s independent commission of enquiry into the R198-million Motheo rural housing project will hold its first day of public hearings in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. The hearings follow Premier Mathews Phosa’s appointment of an independent commission earlier this month in reaction to the auditor-general’s special report on the Motheo construction company’s rural housing development project. The special report slated Mpumalanga’s housing board for repeatedly ignoring established procedures, for neglecting to obtain required documentation and other warranties, and for approving the project without having a quorum.
INKATHA WANTS TRC PROBED
The row between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Truth Commission began again on Tuesday when IFP chairman Ben Ngubane formally called upon the public protector, Selby Baqwa, to investigate ‘bias’ by the TRC. The TRC’s KwaZulu-Natal head, Richard Lyster, denied allegations of bias, and said attempts to probe attacks on IFP leaders had been stonewalled by the IFP itself.
REDDY PROMOTED
GOVAN REDDY, chief of radio at the SABC, has been promoted to deputy group chief executive, to be succeeded by Hawu Mbatha as head of radio.
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