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If there was anything to celebrate about the rape trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, it was that the proceedings in Johannesburg have revealed a small but significant sign that South Africa was slowly moving into a non-racial future, says official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon.
South African Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana is to visit an artisanship skills training centre on Friday as part of his monitoring of service delivery at establishments falling under his department. The ministry said the advent of the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition, a skills-empowerment arm of the government’s economic growth plan, had highlighted the importance of artisanship.
Climate change and improvements in the technological efficiency of South Africa’s fishing fleets have led to catches hitting an historical low over the past year, says the Department of Environmental Affairs. Reduced catches had resulted in fewer jobs and unemployment was ”rife” in the industry, marine and coastal management deputy director general Dr Monde Mayekiso told a media briefing in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Law enforcement agencies must act far more aggressively enforce the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, which makes it an offence to belong to a criminal gang and recruit others into a gang, official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said after visiting Cape Town’s gang heartland of Hanover Park.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will discuss the violence-prone security guards’ strike, including the disruption of May Day activities in Cape Town, at a central executive meeting on Wednesday. ”There is no place for violence,” said Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu’s Western Cape secretary.
The economic vision of the formerly ruling Inkatha Freedom Party in the KwaZulu homeland is being played out even today in KwaZulu-Natal, former premier Lionel Mtshali said on Tuesday. He also said the institutions set up in the former non-independent homeland are still providing key financial and banking services to the poor.
The nine provinces spent on average 98% or R214,8-billion of their adjusted budgets of R219,2-billion in 2005/06, the National Treasury said on Tuesday. This was a significant spending increase year-on-year of 13,5% or R25,5-billion over the audited R189,2-billion spent in 2004/05.
The Department of Home Affairs has slammed the statements of a former senior official who described the department as suffering from "a national crisis" over the issuing of passports. It has also rejected calls made for the resignation of Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and her deputy.
South African captain Graeme Smith said on Monday that New Zealand’s decision to bat into the third day took the possibility of South Africa playing positive cricket away from them. Smith was speaking to journalists after the second Castle Lager Test at Newlands ended in a draw.
The second Castle Lager Test between South Africa and New Zealand ended in a tame draw on Monday afternoon. When the umpires offered the batsmen the light just after 4pm, New Zealand had 121 for three in their second innings, for an overall lead of 202 runs. New Zealand dismissed South Africa for 512 shortly after lunch.
South Africa successfully avoided the follow-on after tea on the fourth day of the second Castle Lager Test at Newlands on Sunday, and a draw now looks a certainty. When bad light stopped play an hour-and-a-half after tea, South Africa had 427 for five, and still trailed New Zealand by 166.
The Stormers defied the odds to beat the log-leading Crusaders 28-17 in a fiercely contested Super 14 match at Newlands on Saturday night. Captain De Wet Barry got the Stormers off to a dream start in the first minute when he intercepted Crusaders hooker Corey Flynn’s pass and scored under the posts.
South Africa were still in deep trouble on 155 for two when bad light stopped play early on the third day of the second Castle Lager Test at Newlands on Saturday. They need another 239 runs to avoid the follow-on. Test debutant Jeetan Patel will have reason to remember the third day of his first Test.
The transfer of an anti-corruption unit detective to another branch has caused a major hiccup in a Cape Town Magistrate’s Court case involving two police officials and six police reservists facing charges of theft and corruption. The prosecution was unable to explain why the case has not been referred to the Western Cape directorate for public prosecutions.
A record eighth-wicket partnership of 256 by Stephen Fleming and James Franklin — including a double century for Fleming — put New Zealand firmly in control of the second Castle Lager Test at Newlands. When the players left the field on the second day on Friday, New Zealand had 535 for eight.
President Thabo Mbeki has warned against attempts to weaken and subvert South Africa’s hard-won democracy through violence and destruction. Writing in his weekly newsletter on the African National Congress website on Friday, Mbeki said the country will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Constitution next month.
While the government’s affirmative action and black economic empowerment (BEE) policies help a few people in South Africa, they do so at the expense of the desperate many, says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. However, if such policies are implemented without sacrificing merit, it is theoretically possible to achieve a ”win-win” situation for all.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has appeared to endorse the notion of collective guilt for apartheid in comments made about whites, says South Africa’s leader of the opposition. Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said in his regular Friday column, <i>SA Today</i>, that Tutu is, indeed, "no racial nationalist".
Two late wickets by Makhaya Ntini gave South Africa a slight advantage when bad light stopped play 23 minutes early on the first day of the second Castle Lager Test against New Zealand at Newlands on Thursday. However, an undefeated 114 by Black Caps skipper Stephen Fleming kept the visitors very much in the game.
A spinner-friendly Newlands pitch has South Africa picking Nicky Boje to be influential and New Zealand considering choosing two spinners for the second Test starting on Thursday. Boje was a definite starter in South Africa’s bid to clinch the three-Test series, coach Mickey Arthur said on Tuesday. The Proteas had considered dropping Boje for a fourth seamer.
Cape Town’s mayoral committee has given a thumbs-up to the proposed Darling Wind Farm — a R70-million national pilot project funded jointly by the Danish Development Aid, the Department of Minerals and Energy and the Darling Independent Power Producing Company.
Off-break spin bowler Jeetan Patel may make his Test debut for New Zealand in the second Castle Lager Test against South Africa, which starts at Newlands on Thursday. Black Caps skipper Stephen Fleming hinted on Wednesday that New Zealand were considering playing two spin bowlers in the second Test, because he thought the pitch at Newlands might be spinner-friendly towards the end of the match.
The family of a man arrested over the murders of actor Brett Goldin and designer Richard Bloom and then released may sue the state for unlawful detention, his lawyer said on Wednesday. ”The possibility of a civil claim is being considered by the parents … [for] suing the state for unlawful detention,” said Theophillis Swartz, attorney for Rashaad Shaik.
There is a ”turf war for human subjects” as pharmaceutical clinical trials increased 16 times in low-income settings such as Africa, the Microbicides 2006 conference in Cape Town heard on Wednesday. This is according to Professor Ames Dhai, head of Bioethics at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School.
Charges against three of the 11 accused of murdering actor Brett Goldin and designer Richard Bloom were withdrawn on Wednesday in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court in Cape Town. State prosecutor Thinus Groenewald told a packed court that charges against Rameez Said, Travino Cairncross and Anushka Anthony were withdrawn in absentia, as some family members sobbed in relief.
The government must act to protect former Zimbabwean opposition MP Roy Bennett and grant him political asylum in South Africa without delay, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. ”The DA believes that Bennett’s application for asylum provides the South African government with the ideal opportunity to signal to Harare that it believes there is a crisis in Zimbabwe,” DA Chief Whip Douglas Gibson said in a statement.
No charges of corruption or tender rigging were pending against any National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) employees, NPA head Vusi Pikoli said on Tuesday. He rejected a Sunday Times report that NPA chief executive officer Marion Sparg and her ”entire executive management team” faced such charges.
One in 10 people who take anti-retrovirals will experience difficulties with the medication or their bodies will reject it completely. This was heard in Cape Town on Tuesday at Microbicides 2006, the first international conference held in Africa into research into gels that could prevent HIV transmission in women.
HIV/Aids is increasingly regarded as a disease of the poor, blunting the enthusiasm of the rich and powerful to develop tools such as a virus-killing gel that could save millions of lives, delegates at an international conference said on Monday. Speakers at the conference said development of a microbicide gel that could be used by women to prevent the spread of the virus was slow.
The two men who were arrested on Sunday night in connection with the murders of actor Brett Goldin and fashion designer Richard Bloom were released on Monday, Western Cape police said. Nine people have already been arrested and will appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday in connection with the murders.
The prosecution is preparing to oppose a court bid by arms company Thint to be given immediate further particulars on the corruption charges it faces alongside former deputy president Jacob Zuma. Thint and Thint Holdings are accused numbers two and three in the pending corruption trial.
Sanlam, South Africa’s second-largest life insurer, has confirmed it is examining a possible acquisition of the United Kingdom life insurance business of General Electric (GE) as one of several opportunities for enhancing its capital efficiency. In a statement on Monday, Sanlam said, however, that its evaluation of the GE business was at an "embryonic stage".