Ben Maclennan
Guest Author
No image available
/ 12 September 2007

Minister ‘not contemplating forced removals’

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu vehemently denied on Wednesday that she was contemplating forced removals from Cape Town’s troubled Joe Slovo settlement. But in the same breath she said she had instructed her department ”to investigate legal avenues to compel residents of informal settlements to make way for housing developments”.

No image available
/ 12 September 2007

ANC gets majority rule — in Morkel family

Thanks to floor-crossing, the African National Congress (ANC) has at last secured a clear two-thirds majority in the Morkel family. The decisive moment came on Wednesday when the last of the Morkel brothers, Craig, joined the party. But the patriarch, former premier Gerald Morkel, has no intention of following in his sons’ footsteps.

No image available
/ 11 September 2007

Zille arrest ‘should be condemned’

The arrest of Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille was an attempt to settle political battles with state resources, the Western Cape office of the Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Tuesday. The Cosatu statement coincided with a brief appearance by Zille and 10 other people in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court.

No image available
/ 6 September 2007

ID accuses NPP of ‘misinformation campaign’

The newly formed National People’s Party (NPP) on Thursday claimed that five former members of the Independent Democrats (ID) had crossed the floor, bringing their Cape Town metro seats with them. However, the ID said two of the five — Abdulla Omar and Aaron Kallie — were expelled from the party before the floor-crossing window opened.

No image available
/ 1 September 2007

Floor-crossing off to low-key start

After all the drama of the court cases that preceded it, the floor-crossing window got off to a low-key start on Saturday. The only excitement was provided by a senior African Christian Democratic Party politician in the Western Cape, Johan Kriel, who accompanied his move to the Democratic Alliance (DA) with a blistering attack on ACDP leader, Kenneth Meshoe.

No image available
/ 31 August 2007

Floor-crossing: Judge slams ‘horse-trading’

A Cape High Court judge on Friday criticised what he called ”unseemly political horse-trading” ahead of the floor-crossing window, and said it resembled transfer season in the English Premiership. Dennis Davis made the remarks before rejecting an application by the former general secretary of the Independent Democrats to overturn his expulsion from the party.

No image available
/ 28 August 2007

Zille, De Lille put up united front over floor-crossing

Cape Town mayor Helen Zille and Independent Democrats (ID) leader Patricia de Lille put up a united front on Tuesday against the floor-crossing onslaught of controversial city councillor Badhi Chaaban. Chaaban is facing a disciplinary inquiry over claims that he offered ID and Democratic Alliance councillors cash and positions to join his yet-to-be-formed party.

No image available
/ 22 August 2007

Not that kind of cottage, says massage studio

A Cape Town massage studio that included the word ”cottage” in its advertisement was not advertising casual gay sex in a public toilet, the Advertising Standards Authority has decided. The ruling was in response to a complaint about a newspaper advert for a Cape Town business that describes itself as an upmarket massage studio.