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/ 16 February 2006
There were two prints of baby murder accused Dina Rodrigues’ right thumb on the back of a waybill found at the scene of the killing, a police fingerprint expert told the Cape Town High Court on Thursday. The evidence from Inspector Jan Bester followed his testimony on Wednesday identifying other prints on the document as being those of two of her co-accused, Sipho Mfawe and Zanethemba Gwada.
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/ 16 February 2006
Fresh from presenting his 10th Budget, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel on Thursday dismissed any suggestion that he is tired of his job. Replying to a question at a Cape Town post-Budget breakfast on whether he is considering retirement, he said he cannot ask for anything more challenging in his life.
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/ 15 February 2006
The anticipated expenditure outcome for 2005/06 of R419-billion took into account unforeseeable and unavoidable expenditure of R2-billion to the state arms company Denel Corporation, and R2,7-billion to the Road Accident Fund, reported South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
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/ 15 February 2006
Individuals and companies are to benefit from tax cuts totalling R19,1-billion in terms of the 2006/07 Budget announced by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday. The net benefit for individuals amounted to R12,1-billion. The income threshold below which no tax was payable was raised from R35Â 000 to R40Â 000 a year.
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/ 15 February 2006
A tax deduction on the expenses of dating was one of the ”tips for Trevor” that didn’t make it into Wednesday’s Budget. But Finance Minister Trevor Manuel still thought it worth sharing with MPs. He said citizens and civil society organisations had again been generous in offering suggestions for the Budget.
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/ 15 February 2006
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has allocated R580-million for the development of the pebble-bed modular reactor for the 2006/07 financial year. In the Budget review released on Wednesday, the minister said that the allocation will be made to the Department of Public Enterprises.
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/ 15 February 2006
Spending on social services remains the key component of South Africa’s Budget, rising from R229,8-billion in 2005/06 to R262-billion in 2006/07. Education remains the biggest consolidated Budget item at R110,3-billion in the 2008/09 estimates. Education received R83,5-billion in 2005/06.
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/ 15 February 2006
South Africa’s rail commuter system will get R4,5-billion in capital subsidies over the next three years, according to the Budget Review. The review, released on Wednesday together with Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s Budget, notes that the system "faces urgent challenges".
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/ 15 February 2006
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has unveiled a "good news for all" Budget for the next three years, providing for lower Budget deficits between 2005 and 2009, tax relief of R19,1-billion in 2006-07, and additional spending of R82-billion on priority infrastructure projects.
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/ 15 February 2006
A Transnet strike in the Western Cape and Northern Cape kicked off on Wednesday with rail services in the Cape Town area severely affected. The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union said more than 5 000 employees downed tools to protest ”management’s unilateral decisions about restructuring the company”.
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/ 15 February 2006
Cape Town station was quiet in the morning rush-hour on Wednesday as a strike by three transport unions brought the Metrorail train service to a virtual standstill. Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott said only 20 trains were running in the entire system, cutting the usual commuter service to a minimum.
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/ 14 February 2006
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The Inkatha Freedom Party does not play the political games of power and patronage that are ”known to be part and parcel of the politics of the Western Cape”, IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi told a campaign meeting in the Cape Town suburb of Hanover Park on Tuesday evening.
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/ 14 February 2006
A loan allegedly made by Imvume Management head Sandi Majali to the wife of a Cabinet minister should be probed by the police as it might be a criminal offence, the Public Protector said on Tuesday. He did not have the powers to conduct criminal investigations or prosecute guilty parties, the office of the protector, Lawrence Mushwana, said in a statement.
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/ 14 February 2006
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel is expected to provide further details in Wednesday’s national Budget about the new form of business tax that will take the place of regional service council levies — including when enabling legislation is likely to be put to Parliament, says Local Government Research Centre head Clive Keegan.
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/ 13 February 2006
Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana has decided to probe Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s holiday trip to the United Arab Emirates last December, despite a public explanation by President Thabo Mbeki. Mlambo-Ngcuka used a South African Air Force plane on her trip, reportedly at a cost of R700 000.
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/ 13 February 2006
The prosecution in the Jordan Leigh Norton murder trial on Monday took the first step in its bid to link a crucial piece of evidence — a waybill — to accused Dina Rodrigues. The state alleges that the waybill was left on the scene of the murder on June 15 last year by the three men and a youth it claims Rodrigues paid to carry out the killing.
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/ 13 February 2006
Baby Jordan Leigh Norton’s biological father, Neil Wilson, burst out in tears when he heard that the child had been murdered, a former friend of his told the Cape High Court on Monday. Arendene Fourie said she had been good friends with Wilson, his then girlfriend, Dina Rodrigues, who is now on trial for the murder, and the infant’s mother, Natasha Norton.
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/ 13 February 2006
The South African Treasury should set aside about R1,1-billion a year to increase the pace of land reform and protect the principle of willing buyer, willing seller, says the official opposition Democratic Alliance in its alternative Budget released ahead of Wednesday’s national Budget by Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel.
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/ 13 February 2006
The main instrument of the state to effect change was the Budget and the government needed to be bolder in redistributing resources, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Sunday. ”The last Budget was marginally expansive and we must continue with that trend, but we see no radical change … if we don’t put money aside it’s all just dreams,” said Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu’s Western Cape provincial secretary.
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/ 10 February 2006
President Thabo Mbeki has appointed a commission of inquiry into the alleged illicit activities of certain South African companies or individuals relating to the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq. The commission will be chaired by advocate Michael Donen.
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/ 10 February 2006
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool has again raised the prospect of a provincial development levy to boost funds for subsidised housing. Speaking at the opening of the provincial legislature on Friday, Rasool said it has become clear that the current subsidy budget is inadequate for growing housing demand.
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/ 10 February 2006
Billionaire businessman and philanthropist Anton Rupert, who died in January, has been described as ”a man of worth” by President Thabo Mbeki. In his regular internet column on Friday, ANC Today, Mbeki described Rupert as ”as an outstanding son of our people”.
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/ 10 February 2006
Anglican teenagers in the Western Cape are almost as sexually active as their peers outside the church, according to a survey reported in the latest issue of the South African Medical Journal. The survey was carried out by researchers from the Cape Town-based Fiklela Aids project and the University of Stellenbosch’s theology department.
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/ 10 February 2006
The South African government is faced with such an embarrassment of riches in 2006/07 that Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel will be able to cut personal income tax by 1% across the board, reduce corporate income tax by 2%, and possibly halve the rate of retirement tax to 9%, according to Investec Asset Management.
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/ 10 February 2006
The row over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons holds a lesson for ”callous” political parties in the Western Cape, provincial Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Friday. ”Just like we must calm the flames of the cartoon anger, we must desist from fanning the flames of local identity issues,” he said at the opening of the provincial legislature.
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/ 9 February 2006
A probe into alleged hoax e-mails aimed at discrediting senior ruling party figures could be completed by the end of the month, Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils said on Thursday. ”That is the hope and the expectation,” he told reporters at Parliament.
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/ 9 February 2006
The sound of Muslims singing praises reverberated in Cape Town on Thursday, as an estimated 30 000 people marched in protest and called for a boycott of Danish products. It was the first mass South African response as worldwide condemnation of Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad gathered momentum.
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/ 9 February 2006
De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer that is 45% owned by mining giant Anglo American, posted record diamond production of 49-million carats in 2005, according to newly appointed group MD Gareth Penny. De Beers is set to unveil its 2005 annual results on Friday.
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/ 9 February 2006
One of the 11 men accused of hijacking cigarette trucks became ”very religious” after a shooting incident that turned him into a paraplegic, a former member of the hijacking gang told the Cape High Court on Wednesday. Vernon Aspeling, who has turned state witness, gave the court a detailed account of the alleged hijackings.
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/ 8 February 2006
South African President Thabo Mbeki has himself been frank about the failure of his ruling-party-controlled municipalities to deliver services, Cape Town’s Democratic Alliance mayoral candidate Helen Zille said in Parliament on Wednesday as opposition parties commented on Mbeki’s State of the Nation address last week.
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/ 8 February 2006
After the death of baby Jordan Leigh Norton, murder accused Dina Rodrigues told her boyfriend at the time that she paid R10 000 ”for all of it to go away”, the Cape High Court heard on Wednesday. Rodrigues is accused of hiring four men to slit the throat of the infant in June last year.
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/ 8 February 2006
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was "very welcome" at this weekend’s progressive governance summit, South Africa’s Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad said on Wednesday. "It is very important for Mr Blair to be here as leader of the British Labour Party … [although] we may disagree with him on some of his policies," said Pahad.