The government recently affirmed its commitment to scrapping 80% of old taxis by 2010, under its R7,7-billion taxi recapitalisation programme announced almost eight years ago. Despite this lengthy period, many in the industry are still dissatisfied, saying the recapitalisation programme was implemented too hastily and without sufficient consultation.
”The elections process within the ANC is clear. There is lobbying, followed by informal nominations, followed by formal nominations, followed by elections. What is happening now in my case is lobbying — people approach me and say: “We are discussing your name.” So, have I been lobbied? Absolutely, ” says Tokyo Sexwale.
Frustration continued to reign at Johannesburg’s Langlaagte testing and licensing station on Wednesday as the new transport electronic system (eNaTIS) kept on crashing. Some motorists queuing since dawn said they had been coming to the station since last month.
Five people had a close encounter with a great white shark while surfing at Robberg beach in Plettenberg Bay on Wednesday, the National Sea Rescue Institute said. The 3,5m shark was spotted by a local resident, Glen Brown, who had been flying a honeymoon couple and another passenger over the beach in his Robertson 44 helicopter.
A senior Pretoria government official was ”wild, like a tiger” after allegedly beating up his wife in a jealous rage, a witness testified in the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday. Schoolteacher Pumla Mkatali died in her house in Centurion in May 2005 of injuries allegedly sustained in an assault by her husband.
Yolanda King, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jnr’s eldest child who pursued her father’s dream of racial harmony through drama and motivational speaking, has died. She was 51. King died late on May 15 in Santa Monica, California, said Steve Klein, a spokesperson for the King Centre.
Poland’s education minister on Wednesday called for a ban on the ”propagation of homosexuality” in the country’s schools, a plan that he argues would protect traditional family values. Education Minister Roman Giertych’s outspoken views on homosexuality have attracted condemnation abroad in recent months.
Suburbs in the Ekurhuleni municipality experience at least one power failure a day, a Democratic Alliance spokesperson said on Wednesday. He made the comment after constant contact with councillors and listening to a radio broadcast on which Jacob Marogo, Eskom chief executive, was ”evasive” and non-committal about plans to curb the problem.
A Pietermaritzburg man (34) who raped his eight-year-old daughter was told by a judge on Wednesday that he failed to understand what possessed the man to commit such a callous act. Judge Herbert Msimang imposed a 20-year jail sentence on the man.
Thousands of African National Congress (ANC) demonstrators gathered at the civic centre in Cape Town on Wednesday to protest against the Democratic Alliance-led (DA) city council. ”March against DA council’s high rates, service cut-offs, pink letters and evictions,” read a pamphlet distributed to the protesters.