Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Monday vowed to take her fight against the Erasmus commission to the Constitutional Court. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool in December 2007 to investigate the City of Cape Town’s probe into controversial councillor Badih Chaaban.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Friday urged President Thabo Mbeki and national conventional arms-control committee chairperson Sydney Mufamadi to stop the transfer of arms aboard a ship, the An Yue Jiang, in Durban harbour to Zimbabwe. The ship has been at anchor off the port of Durban since Monday.
The Erasmus commission’s sittings have been suspended pending the City of Cape Town’s application to the Cape High Court challenging the commission’s legality. This emerged after a day of behind-the-scenes negotiations on Wednesday between the legal representatives of the various parties involved.
The Erasmus commission is facing three new urgent interdicts to put its activities in Cape Town on hold, prompting commission chairperson Judge Nathan Erasmus to adjourn proceedings on Tuesday afternoon. The interdicts are expected to be heard in the Cape High Court on Wednesday morning.
The African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday accused the Democratic Alliance (DA) of a persistent hatred towards it following a meeting between the parties on the future of the Scorpions. ”The only thing the DA and the Scorpions have in common is their persistent hatred of the ANC,” ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said.
Erasmus commission chairperson Judge Nathan Erasmus on Monday dismissed an application by the City of Cape Town for the commission’s suspension. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool last year to probe the city’s own investigation of renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.
The fate of the Scorpions will be discussed at a meeting between African National Congress (ANC) general secretary Gwede Mantashe and Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille, the DA said on Monday. The opposition leader called for a meeting with the ANC after a decision was taken to ”dissolve” the Scorpions and incorporate them into the police.
After a decade of optimism and growth, many South African cities now face new challenges compared with competing international locations, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. These include perceptions of instability and uncertainty, growing urban poverty, increased crime, conflict and corruption, she told the United Nations.
South Africa should use its powerful position on the United Nations Security Council to put the Zimbabwean election saga on the international body’s agenda, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Wednesday. Zille, who is currently in New York, said in a statement she would meet South Africa’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille on Friday accused the African National Congress (ANC) of shutting down the space for free and informed debate. Writing in her weekly newsletter, Zille said recent events suggested the image of openness that ANC president Jacob Zuma was cultivating was just a smokescreen for closing down the public space.
African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Gwede Mantashe has agreed to meet the Democratic Alliance (DA) to discuss the future of the Scorpions, DA leader Helen Zille said on Wednesday. ”Unfortunately, Mr Mantashe’s letter indicates that [ANC president] Jacob Zuma will not be attending the meeting, as I originally requested,” she said in a statement.
A Cape Town councillor who allegedly encouraged the invasion of new homes at Delft on the Cape Flats is to go before a disciplinary committee, city speaker Dirk Smit said on Tuesday. Smit said in a statement that he had completed his own probe into whether the councillor, Frank Martin, had breached the councillors’ code of conduct.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Monday again asked African National Congress president Jacob Zuma for a meeting to discuss the Scorpions’ future. ”In a press interview published on the weekend, Jacob Zuma declared that he is willing to ‘debate anything’ — even the future of the Scorpions,” said Zille.
The Presidency and the African National Congress moved on Friday to dispel Democratic Alliance (DA) allegations over President Thabo Mbeki’s refusal to release the Khampepe commission’s report on the Scorpions. There was no intention to ”cover up” the report as alleged by DA leader Helen Zille, the Presidency said.
Releasing the Khampepe commission’s report on the Scorpions at this juncture will ”cause prejudice” to South Africa’s national security, says President Thabo Mbeki. In a letter faxed to the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday night, Mbeki’s office refused the DA’s request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act for access to the report.
The provincial government’s claims that the City of Cape Town was underspending on its budget were ”outright lies”, mayor Helen Zille said on Thursday. ”I am deeply concerned at this pattern of dishonesty coming from the provincial government,” she told a city council meeting.
Cape Town is holding fire on a decision on the renaming of streets and public places, mayor Helen Zille announced on Thursday. A list of proposed changes that would see apartheid-era names such as Hendrik Verwoerd Drive replaced by those of struggle heroes, was on the agenda for approval at Thursday’s council meeting.
Construction of the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town is on schedule and the city is in the process of selling naming rights and finding a long-term operator for it, mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. The stadium is being built in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and has been earmarked for a semifinal.
Cape Town’s director of health, former anti-conscription campaigner Ivan Toms, was found dead in his home on Tuesday morning, police said. Police spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said foul play was not suspected at this stage. He said police used a key from a neighbour to gain access to Toms’ Mowbray home at about 9.30am.
Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool says he has scrapped the Erasmus commission and reappointed it with expanded terms of reference. Rasool appointed the commission, headed by judge Nathan Erasmus, in December last year, to probe allegations that Cape Town mayor Helen Zille’s administration illegally spied on renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.
Recent revelations on how the African National Congress used its investment arm Chancellor House to divert taxpayer’s money into its own coffers explains the ruling party’s obsession with black empowerment policy, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Friday.
Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana is studying a response from Eskom regarding allegations about a contract awarded by the electricity utility to a company linked to African National Congress investment firm Chancellor House. Mushwana’s office said he had noticed reports stating that Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille intended lodging a complaint.
Heroin is more easily obtainable than a hamburger nowadays, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille told an anti-drugs rally in Johannesburg on Saturday. This was after she led marchers — wearing DA T-shirts bearing the slogan: ”No to drugs and save our children” — through the streets of Vrededorp in Johannesburg.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille led a march against drugs through the streets of Johannesburg on Saturday. A main concern is that drugs are being brought into areas once considered safe for children, said Westsiders against Addiction group chairperson George Pappas.
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African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma asserted, in an interview published on Friday, that power in South Africa rests with the ruling party, not with his rival, President Thabo Mbeki. ”Power lies in the ANC,” Zuma — who ousted Mbeki in a bitter ANC leadership contest three months ago — told Britain’s Financial Times newspaper.
A Cape Town memorial to two anti-apartheid struggle heroes has been stolen, apparently for its scrap value, even though it was only a stone’s throw away from a police station. The memorial was to students Coline Williams and Robbie Waterwitch, who died in 1989 when a bomb they were handling exploded.
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/ 27 February 2008
A racist video — featuring University of the Free State employees on their knees eating food that had been urinated upon — was widely condemned by various institutions and political parties on Wednesday. The video, made by members of the Reitz men’s residence on the Bloemfontein campus, came to the attention of the public on Tuesday.
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/ 26 February 2008
A video of University of the Free State employees on their knees eating food which had been urinated upon was condemned ”in the strongest possible terms” by the university on Tuesday. The video, made by male students at the Reitz Residence, surfaced on Tuesday morning and adds to an already tense racial situation at UFS.
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/ 25 February 2008
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on President Thabo Mbeki to make public the full report of the Khampepe Commission. ”I have today [Monday] submitted a request to the Presidency to make the full Khampepe Commission Report public in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act,” DA leader Helen Zille said in a statement.
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/ 25 February 2008
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Sunday accused the government of failing all South Africans in the battle against crime, with suspended police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi being ”a symbol of that failure”. Zille spoke to about 3 000 people in Durban’s Phoenix area following a tour through the area.
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/ 22 February 2008
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille on Friday dismissed as ”posturing” Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool’s threat to sue the DA over recent land invasions in Delft. ”A threat to sue the DA for allegedly encouraging land invasions in Delft is just posturing,” she said in a statement.
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/ 22 February 2008
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille has accused the Public Protector of abusing his office for party political purposes in attacking DA MP Mike Waters. She declared that in the six years since his appointment, Lawrence Mushwana, a former ANC MP, has succeeded only in protecting the ANC from the people.