Ben Maclennan
Guest Author
No image available
/ 18 August 2006

Protest leads to arrest of TAC members

Forty-four Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) members who occupied provincial government offices in Cape Town on Friday to call for the arrest of Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang were themselves arrested. The protesters, who included TAC chairperson Zackie Achmat, were charged with trespassing and warned to appear in court on Tuesday.

No image available
/ 16 August 2006

LeisureNet accused denies kickback claims

A sum of  000 deposited in an offshore trust set up by LeisureNet boss Peter Gardener was cash for a joint investment in property, not an extortion payment, the Cape High Court was told on Wednesday. Gardener, former joint chief executive of the now-defunct group, was in the witness stand for the third day in succession.

No image available
/ 15 August 2006

LeisureNet: A deal made in heaven

Former LeisureNet boss Peter Gardener on Tuesday denied that the purchase of a R7-million home at Hermanus by an offshore trust he set up was an attempt to launder money. In the witness box in the Cape High Court for the second day in succession, Gardener also denied that he was dishonest with his tax return in concealing a R6-million payment into the trust.

No image available
/ 14 August 2006

LeisureNet: Former CEO defends non-disclosure

Former joint chief executive of the defunct LeisureNet group Peter Gardener on Monday defended his non-disclosure of a substantial interest in an offshore company that the group entered into multimillion-rand deals with. He has taken the stand in the Cape High Court to rebut multiple charges of fraud, money laundering and contraventions of the Companies Act.

No image available
/ 3 August 2006

Cape Town goes green and commits to wind energy

The City of Cape Town on Thursday signed a 20-year contract to buy wind energy from a yet-to-be-built generating farm at Darling on the West Coast. ”Ultimately we would like to see Cape Town become one of the world’s leaders in sustainable energy,” said city mayor Helen Zille in a statement issued at the signing ceremony.

No image available
/ 19 July 2006

End in sight for golf-estate case

The end of the marathon Roodefontein corruption trial came into sight on Wednesday as former Western Cape premier Peter Marais decided to exercise his right to silence. As the state and his co-accused, former Western Cape provincial minister of environment David Malatsi, closed their cases, Marais’s advocate Craig Webster asked for half an hour to consult his client.

No image available
/ 11 July 2006

Golf-estate case: Malatsi tells of donations

Millionaire Italian developer Count Riccardo Agusta doled out donation cheques to senior New National Party members in the Western Cape government after they intervened on his behalf in the Roodefontein development, the Bellville Regional Court heard on Tuesday. This was in testimony from former Western Cape environment and development planning provincial minister David Malatsi.