<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>The tripartite alliance is to meet sooner rather than later to discuss President Thabo Mbeki’s proposed inquiry into an alleged plot against Jacob Zuma, African National Congress spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said on Monday, as a call was made for Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s resignation.
Planned boundary changes to an Eastern Cape ”cross-border municipality”, announced recently, were preceded by intense behind-the-scenes lobbying by provincial African National Congress leaders concerned about the loss of electoral support. The Mail & Guardian has learned that the Eastern Cape ANC was particularly concerned about the relocation of Kokstad to KwaZulu-Natal.
The CEO of the state broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), has initiatied "an internal process" to review all facts and events surrounding the August 9 footage and news coverage of the booing incident involving Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Climate change is a ”very powerful and threatening reality”, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in Port Elizabeth on Monday. ”It could have a direct cost to our economy,” he told the congress of the Institute of Environment and Recreation Management.
A corruption scandal on Monday hit Egypt’s best-known media tycoon, also a long-time confidant of President Hosni Mubarak, a few days before the president runs for re-election in a landmark poll. The El-Osboa newspaper made allegations regarding massive salaries, hidden benefits and the siphoning of funds.
The appeal process Schabir Shaik was on track, his attorney Reeves Parsee said on Monday. Shaik was sentenced in July to 15 years in prison on two corruption counts, and another three years for fraud. The sentences were to run concurrently, but Shaik is currently out on bail of R100 000.
Two important nuclear anniversaries take place in August. The first — for many the most significant — is that commemorating the dropping of the first nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6 1945. The second event is likely to receive less notice. But it has, in its way, been just as significant.
Large parts of Johannesburg’s north-eastern suburbs were by Monday afternoon still without electricity, the city’s power supplier said. Technicians were still battling to restore power after a fault on an 88kV power line caused an outage at about 3.30am on Monday. Power was restored to a portion of Rosebank at about 9.30am.
Google has thrown its considerable weight into the burgeoning market for internet telephony, or voice messaging as it is now being called. Google has announced its own voice messaging service, Google Talk, which uses voice over internet protocol and can also be used for instant messaging.
A three-day conference that took place last week in Johannesburg has highlighted the possibilities for increased trade between South Africa and Nigeria. The Nigeria and South Africa Business Investment Forum 2005 kicked off on August 24, mostly with the aim of attracting South African entrepreneurs to the West African country.