President Thabo Mbeki is "not a dictator", but there is no way to hide the dissent within his government over leadership issues, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said it is unfortunate that Mbeki is head of state, government and his political party.
The dribble of voters casting their ballots for the Western Cape’s only by-election being contested in Tafelsig, Mitchell’s Plain, was expected to increase when people returned home from work on Wednesday. The by-election is seen as a two-horse race between Democratic Alliance candidate Sheval Arendse and the Independent Democrats’ June Frans.
South Africa had an obligation to oversee and regulate the thousands of militarily-qualified citizens selling their skills abroad, Parliament’s Defence Portfolio Committee heard on Tuesday. ”If you keep dangerous animals in your yard, you have responsibility to ensure they don’t get out and harm people,” Defence Department official Siviwe Njikela told committee members.
South Africa’s foreign arrivals have jumped from less than one million annual foreign arrivals in 1990 to 7,3-million in 2005, said Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk. Speaking in his Budget vote on Tuesday, the minister noted that there was "little doubt as to why tourism has been identified as one of the immediate priority sectors".
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The Congress of South African Trade Unions has charged that its alliance partner, the ruling African National Congress, is making contradictory statements on whether or not its deputy leader, Jacob Zuma, has been summoned to account for statements made during his recent rape trial.
The Council of Education Ministers has approved measures to beef up security at public schools, and the department will identify ”problem schools” needing immediate attention, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor announced on Monday. These are aimed at schools around the country.
Former president FW de Klerk was doing well after weekend surgery to remove a colon tumour, a spokesperson for Cape Town’s Panorama Medi-Clinic said on Monday. Melissa Rademan said he was still in the general intensive-care unit. A decision had yet to be taken on when he would be moved to a general ward.
High oil prices and the United States deficit of $800-billion were key reasons for the large sell-off that occurred on the stock markets last week, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Monday. He referred to the "yawning, gaping" $800-billion deficit and the rapid rise in the oil price which had been $11 a barrel "a few years ago" and was now standing "on the other side" of $70 a barrel.
Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula’s remarks on crime were almost on a par with Jimmy Kruger’s pronouncement on the death of black activist Steve Biko, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Saturday. Leon was speaking to several hundred people at a DA rally in Cape Town’s coloured suburb of Tafelsig.
The Africa summit of the World Economic Forum closed on Friday with participants agreeing that the continent had come a long way and that the prospects for the continent experiencing record-high economic growth were positive. More than 700 political and business leaders, civil society representatives and academics attended the three-day event.
A shortage of fresh water will crimp South Africa’s economic growth if government fails to decrease demand and increase supply of this essential commodity, World Wildlife Fund-South Africa warned on Friday. The conservation organisation said if current usage rates continued, water demand would exceed supply by 2025.
A decision on whether or not to establish a ”Gateway to Antarctica” centre in Cape Town will be taken at the end of the year, the Department of Science and Technology said on Friday. Tenders had been received for a six-month pre-feasibility study, and the service provider picked to compile this report would be chosen at the end of June.
Next week’s by-election in Tafelsig, Cape Town, may be close, but the Democratic Alliance will win, DA leader Tony Leon predicted on Friday. A DA win in the ward 82 by-election will double its slender majority on the city council. The by-election was called after the resignation of then Independent Democrats councillor Sheval Arendse.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has underscored the World Economic Forum on Africa’s focus on developing agriculture to absorb unemployment and fight poverty on the continent. Speaking in a plenary session on Friday, he said the central issue confronting Africa was job creation.
Africans need to think of themselves as Africans before they worry about national identities if the continent is to meet the challenge of growth, South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Thursday. He was speaking in a panel debate at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, which is being held in Cape Town.
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President Thabo Mbeki on Friday denied suggestions of a ”supposed life and death conflict” between himself and former deputy president Jacob Zuma. Reality would also prove speculation that the African National Congress was in danger of falling apart was nothing more than ”an expression of the vain wishes of its inventors”, he said in his weekly newsletter on the ANC website.
The Independent Democrats have failed in their bid to topple the Democratic Alliance-led coalition in the Cape Town unicity, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Thursday. The ID, with the backing of the African National Congress, moved to scrap the mayoral executive-committee system.
Three men, including two Chinese nationals, are expected to appear in court in June after the Scorpions arrested them and confiscated more than three tonnes of perlemoen (abalone) and R263Â 000 in cash, the elite unit said on Thursday. In a statement, the Directorate of Special Operations said it acted on a tip-off.
The parliamentary caucus of the ruling African National Congress has backed the movement’s national executive committee in declaring that it was not over-centralised and that the country was not systematically shifting towards a dictatorial leadership style.
Internal trade barriers are "not the issue" as far as promoting business growth in Africa is concerned but rather poor communication between member states, says a top delegate and trustee of the newly established African Investment Climate Facility, Ugandan businessman William Kalema.
The African Investment Climate Facility (ICF), which is a public-private partnership aimed at making Africa a better place to do business by removing obstacles to domestic and foreign investment, has been widely hailed as an instrument which will work, government and business leaders told the World Economic Forum on Thursday.
Even if the latest round of the protracted Doha trade negotiations broke down, it was imperative for developing countries to deepen trade among themselves, the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit heard on Wednesday. Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa was speaking at an update session of the Doha negotiations at the three-day WEF summit on Africa.
Cabinet on Wednesday confirmed the cut-off date [Wednesday midnight] for minibus taxi-permit conversion applications, but left the door slightly open to latecomers. At a media briefing, government communications head Joel Netshitenzhe said Cabinet had been updated on progress in the implementation of the taxi recapitalisation programme.
SA Rugby has refuted a report that former Springbok captain Francois Pienaar was not welcome to serve as national team manager. The article, which appeared in Sunday’s Rapport newspaper, claimed the story came from a source within the Springbok camp currently taking place in Bloemfontein.
While it is generally agreed the African continent must be developed, the challenge is in the capacity to do so, President Thabo Mbeki told the World Economic Forum’s summit on Africa on Wednesday. ”Basically our challenge is the capacity to implement what we’ve agreed,” Mbeki said.
The Labour Court on Wednesday granted bus operators an interdict to prevent their employees joining a threatened sympathy strike with security guards. Earlier, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union confirmed that strikes in solidarity with the guards — who have been on strike since March 23 — will start on Friday.
The Daily Voice news editor’s explanation for linking Onele Mfeketo’s shoplifting case to his high-profile mother, former Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo, has landed the news editor and the newspaper proprietor in a R100 000 defamation action.
HIV/Aids is a global emergency and urgent action needs to be taken rather than spewing out words about the pandemic, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Njongonkulu Ndungane said in a statement on Tuesday, on the eve of a high-level United Nations meeting on HIV/Aids in New York from Wednesday.
Big business and government leaders, including President Thabo Mbeki and Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa, agreed on Tuesday that there was ”no need to panic” over the matters of transition from an Mbeki presidency to a new one. These words were used by Standard Bank’s Saki Macozoma.
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has defended the high revenue overruns of the state saying it was natural in an environment of strong growth, high corporate profits and more money being about. He was present at the Finance Portfolio committee hearing on Tuesday with the South African Revenue Service — which has reported strong revenue growth for some years.
Only the Constitutional Court can help axed Cape Town municipal manager Wallace Mgoqi after his bid to appeal a high court decision against him was dismissed. The Cape High Court dismissed with costs Mgoqi’s appeal against a full-bench decision in May, setting aside a one-year extension of his contract as city manager.
The number of South African companies doing business in Africa has more than doubled since 1994, Minster of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told MPs on Monday. She noted that the figures were drawn from <i>Who Owns Whom</i> and the South African Institute of International Affairs.