Johannesburg’s first real snowfall in more than 20 years and the freezing temperatures that accompanied it claimed at least one life on Wednesday morning. Motorists were warned to avoid all passes in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday due to snowfalls, the South African Weather Service said.
Delegates were on Wednesday morning filling up the ballroom at Gallagher Estate, venue of the African National Congress’s (ANC) policy conference in a bitterly cold Midrand, Gauteng, raising the roof with song. About 1Â 500 delegates are expected to attend the four-day conference, due to be opened by President Thabo Mbeki.
President Thabo Mbeki is to deliver the opening address at the African National Congress’s policy conference in a bitterly cold Midrand, Gauteng, where delegates started arriving on Wednesday morning. The conference takes place against intense behind-the-scenes jockeying over the leadership of the party, and coincides with a bitter public-service strike.
Many residents of Gauteng woke up on Wednesday morning to a layer of snow turning lawns, rooftops and cars white, while the South African Weather Service predicted a freezing day with temperatures staying below eight degrees Celsius in Johannesburg. A number of roads in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were closed to motorists due to snow on Wednesday morning.
The government formally tabled a final public-service wage proposal, including a 7,5% increase, at wage talks on Friday — but unions said they were not yet ready to sign the offer. Unions have 21 days to accept or reject the offer. Until then, the wage talks are suspended.
Barcelona’s soccer superstar Ronaldinho helped his side to a 2-1 victory over South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns at a packed Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Wednesday night. The visitors were trailing 1-0 for most of the exhibition match, raising the hopes of the 45 000-strong crowd.
Civil rights group AfriForum is to lodge a complaint with the International Olympic Committee if the South African Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) refuses to withdraw its ”threat”, made on Tuesday, of sending a 50/50 racial-quota team to the next Olympic Games.
Luthuli Dlamini, who has played the character of Stan Nyati in e.tv’s soap opera <i>Scandal</i>, is feared missing. His agent, who would not divulge his full name, on Monday confirmed that the actor was missing and that he had not heard from him. "I left messages on his phone this morning and at the moment I haven’t heard anything," he said.
The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday said the planned replacement of Gauteng vehicles’ number plates had been kept a secret by the provincial department of transport. It was announced on Tuesday that the province’s motorists will have to purchase new number plates from January next year, as the current number system is almost exhausted.
South African trade unions have launched one of the biggest national strikes of the post-apartheid era in a move widely seen as spearheading the left’s challenge to win control of the ruling African National Congress ahead of next year’s presidential election. Public-service unions seem determined not to back down on their demands.