Cape Town

Failure to deal with preventable chronic diseases such as those induced by smoking and overeating could erode the gains made in combating other types of disease, public health expert Dr Derek Yach said on Monday. Yach, director of global health programmes at the Rockefeller Foundation, was speaking at a conference in Cape Town.

The presidential task team on African traditional medicines has been compromised by the inclusion of Professor Herbert Vilakazi and advocate Christine Qunta, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday. The inclusion of Vilakazi and Qunta is a giant step backwards in developing a regulatory framework for traditional medicines, DA spokesperson Gareth Morgan said.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has shrugged off combative remarks by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, saying the process it is engaged in with the government to change the national strategic plan on Aids will go ahead anyway.

It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. None of the 16 159 spectators at Newlands on Friday night would have disagreed with that sentiment as Alan Dawson bowled Brent Kops to clinch victory for the Cape Cobras in the final of the MTN Domestic Championship.

A Zimbabwean student’s application to be sent for psychiatric evaluation following his alleged attempt to hijack a South African Airways (SAA) flight was on Friday postponed in the Bellville Regional Court. Lawyer Reuben Liddell will now, on Tuesday, launch the application to have Tinashe Rioga sent to the Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital to assess whether he is fit to stand trial.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has urged South Africans to rise above their sectarian interests and unite in the fight against HIV and Aids. In an article on the African National Congress’s website on Friday, she called for the country’s citizens to use World Aids Day on December 1 to join hands against the pandemic.

The budding South African film industry should draw from the country’s own rich and painful experience of the apartheid era and not try to emulate Hollywood’s big-budget movies, veteran actor Morgan Freeman said on Thursday as he appeared at Cape Town’s Sithengi film festival.

The ruling African National Congress has an ”amazing self-belief” that because it demands a majority among the electorate, it has a divine right to do ”what it wants, when it likes”, official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon charged on Friday in his regular internet column.

Although there is a long way to go in creating a fully non-discriminatory and prosperous society, progress is being made and South Africans must embrace the challenges ahead with confidence, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. Expecting to eradicate a deeply entrenched 350-year-old legacy of poverty, inequality and underdevelopment in a very short time was entirely unrealistic.

The government is considering applications for the pardoning over 1 000 prisoners who claim their crimes were politically motivated, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla said on Thursday. Briefing the media at Parliament, she referred to repeated appeals by the Inkatha Freedom Party and Pan Africanist Congress for the release of what they called ”political prisoners”.

The Public Finance Management Act has proved toothless in holding the executive to account for government departments and entities who fail to submit annual reports on time, the Democratic Alliance said. The DA said on Thursday that while the legislation had made tremendous contributions in modernising the way government managed public finances, it was now due for an overhaul.

Private security companies have to do more to ensure the safety of their employees, particularly during cash-in-transit heists, government ministers said on Thursday. Replying to questions during a media briefing at Parliament, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said the police should not be the only ones to respond to increased crime over the festive season.

The arrest of businessman Glen Agliotti clearly shows police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi ”in a good light”, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Johnny de Lange said on Thursday. Selebi, who has tried to downplay his friendship with Agliotti after initially saying that Agliotti was ”my friend, finish and klaar”.

Floor-crossing is not only morally problematic, but is also ”dysfunctional” in a parliamentary system, a German political scientist told a conference in Cape Town on Wednesday. Dr Hans-Joachim Veen, honorary professor of comparative government at the University of Trier, said South Africa’s regular floor-crossings were a sign of a ”rudimentary party system”.

It seems state oil company PetroSA has failed to fully comply with a Cape High Court order to provide the Democratic Alliance with documentation related to the so-called ”Oilgate” scandal, the DA said on Wednesday. ”A preliminary analysis of the documents provided suggests that PetroSA has not fully complied with the court order,” DA spokesperson Hendrik Schmidt said.

The legislative provision for floor crossing — defection by elected national, provincial and local government representatives — was still in place, Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi said on Wednesday. He was responding to a question whether the floor-crossing mechanism would still be in place next September.

President Thabo Mbeki has appointed Deputy Auditor General Terence Nombembe to replace retiring Auditor General (AG) Shauket Fakie with effect from December 1, Parliament announced on Tuesday. Nombembe has been Deputy AG for the past five years and his term of office in the top post will be seven years.

The state is eyeing the end of July next year as a trial date for the travel agents and politicians charged in the alleged parliamentary travel voucher fraud case. This emerged during a brief appearance by the remaining 12 accused in the Cape High Court on Tuesday.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday received its long-awaited documents relating to the so-called Oilgate scandal from state oil company PetroSA. A DA spokesperson said PetroSA has handed over about 30 documents, including contracts between black economic empowerment company Imvume Management and itself.

The African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League on Monday called for the immediate suspension of the ANC’s chief whip in the National Assembly, Mbulelo Goniwe, pending an investigation of sexual-harassment allegations. The league views these allegations as very serious, it said.

Former African National Congress chief whip and fraud convict Tony Yengeni will be hauled before a Correctional Services Department hearing for his alleged breach of the parole code of conduct. Yengeni, who was granted parole for the past weekend, is being investigated following claims he contravened the code of conduct.

The granting of a weekend pass by the Correctional Services department to fraud convict and former parliamentary African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Tony Yengeni "sends the wrong message about corruption to the South African public", says Democratic Alliance correctional services spokesperson James Selfe.

Jailed African National Congress fraud convict Tony Yengeni could be out in time to make a guest appearance at next year’s opening of Parliament. A source in the Department of Correctional Services said on Friday that the Malmesbury prison parole board has set January 15 as the date for Yengeni’s release.