What do you do when you have a municipality that owes R56-million on its water bill and a company threatening to cut off water to 500 000 people? If you are Matjhabeng executive mayor Mathabo Leeto, you crack your whip, get it paid and avoid political embarrassment and disaster for your constituents.
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi expressed shame on Tuesday over how an apparent disappearance of an South African Communist Party (SACP) donation had been handled. ”We think the whole matter is such a clumsy disgrace to our movement,” he said.
With pressure mounting on banks to make their products more comparable, a website that capitalises on the Competition Commission’s recommendations has been launched. The site, www.thinkmoney.co.za, reviews banking products and calculates comparative pricing based on the individual’s banking behaviour.
It took the human species about one million years to reach a population of one billion. Nowadays, we add another billion at the rate of every 14 years. Whereas a century ago, only 10% of the population lived in cities, by 2050 it will be closer to 75%. Tens of thousands of people migrate to cities every day. New megacities are sprouting, many of them on coastlines.
The United Nations resident representative in Sierra Leone on Tuesday warned that the war-scarred West African country cannot afford to fail to organise credible elections, ahead of weekend polls. Sierra Leoneans will vote on Saturday for the first time in five years, and only the second elections since the country emerged from a decade of war.
The discovery of a mutilated body on the N1 highway near Vanderbijlpark seven years ago resulted on Tuesday in three former police officers and a former reservist going on trial on charges of kidnapping and murder. The four have pleaded not guilty in the Pretoria High Court to charges of kidnapping and murdering 29-year-old Sandy Botomane in May 2000.
All veld fires that raged through Mpumalanga recently have been brought under control, the department of local government and housing said on Tuesday. ”Although the fires have been brought under control, fire fighters and the provincial disaster-management team are still monitoring the situation,” the department said in a statement.
The National Lottery, stopped at the end of March, appears set to start up again within the next fortnight. Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa will announce the name of the preferred bidder to run the operation in Pretoria within days, his spokesperson, Vukani Mde, told the South African Press Association on Tuesday.
Legislation paving the way for regulating interactive gambling, such as on the internet, has been tabled in the National Assembly. According to a memorandum attached to the draft National Gambling Amendment Bill, the interactive gaming industry in South Africa is unregulated.
Police have closed their investigation into the rape of a student at Johannesburg’s Chris Hani-Baragwanath hospital because they do not have enough information to continue, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. Confirming a report in the Star, Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said: ”We don’t know where the scene of the crime is and don’t have witnesses or physical evidence.”