Setting aside parts of Cape Town’s controversial new municipal rates system will prove ”catastrophic”, the city’s legal counsel argued in the Cape High Court on Tuesday. The Rates Action Group has challenged the validity of the city’s sewerage and refuse charges, which are linked to the market value of a ratepayer’s property.
Long-serving Pick ‘n Pay director and disabled rights champion Martin Rosen, who was also managing director for group enterprises, has retired from the group after 33 years with the company. Pick ‘n Pay said Rosen, who was also a member of the chairperson’s executive committee, started at Pick ‘n Pay in 1971 as a trainee manager.
South Africa’s most trouble-prone area is the sprawling township of Khayelitsha, situated not far from Cape Town International airport, says South Africa’s Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula. Speaking at a media briefing, Nqakula said the township is the number-one spot in the entire country for murder, rape and serious and violent assault.
The pan-continental African Union on Tuesday launched a new Peace and Security Council, which it hopes will become a robust guarantor of stability in Africa, much like the United Nations Security Council. ”It is with joy, pride and great honour that I solemnly declare the Peace and Security Council of the African Union formally launched,” said Mozambique’s President Joaquim Chissano.
Seventy South Africans being held in Zimbabwe on suspicion of plotting a coup d’état in Equatorial Guinea face real prospects of being executed if sent to that country for trial, the Pretoria High Court heard on Tuesday. In court papers, Samuel Kaunda and 69 others asked the court to direct the South African government to ensure they are not tried in Equatorial Guinea.
E Guinea ‘must deal’ with the matter
Namibian President Sam Nujoma fired his foreign minister and deputy foreign minister late on Monday ahead of a ruling party congress where Nujoma’s successor will be elected, the state broadcaster reported. No reasons were given. Hamutenya was given the foreign affairs portfolio during a surprise cabinet reshuffle in August 2002.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has vigorously rejected a claim that her department is delaying distribution of donor money to fight Aids. Richard Feacham, director of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria, made the claim this week, saying his organisation might look at other distribution mechanisms than the central government.
Online retailers in the United States collectively made a profit last year for the first time as sales jumped a better-than-expected 51%, in a sign of continued resilience in e-commerce, an industry survey found. Online sales surged to -billion last year, surpassing forecasts of -billion, fuelled by the travel category, according to an annual survey of 150 retailers.
Alluvial and marine diamond mining group Trans Hex has no plans to reduce jobs at its mining operations across South Africa, Namibia and Angola despite pressure on its earnings stemming from the strong exchange rate of the rand against the United States dollar, according to deputy chairperson Bernard van Rooyen.
South Africa’s Minister of Provincial and Local Government, Sydney Mufamadi, says R5,9-billion has been spent on rural upliftment nodes and R4,2-billion on their urban counterparts in the past financial year. The upliftment involves the provision of housing, free basic service delivery as well as food security and land restitution.