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/ 2 September 2005
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa has lambasted the Democratic Alliance after the defection of one of his MPs on Friday. ”The DA are opportunists and hypocrites of the worst order for claiming that floor-crossing is being abused by the ANC [African National Congress],” Holomisa said.
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/ 2 September 2005
South Africa’s leading wine-producing company, Boland Vineyards International, on Friday announced the sale of a 26% stake to an investment firm owned by black women. ”The new company [Boland Basadi Investments] will handle 80% of our wine sales,” Boland Vineyards International chairperson Jannie le Roux said.
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/ 2 September 2005
Credit card payments by Camp’s Bay businessman Andrew Stofberg, allegedly for child pornography, formed part of an international investigation by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Thursday.
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/ 1 September 2005
The 15-day floor-crossing window for MPs and MPLs to change parties without losing their seats got under way on Thursday and brought some surprise defections. Among these were African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) MP and Chief Whip in the National Assembly Louis Green, and ACDP KwaZulu-Natal MPL and leader Reverend Hawu Mbatha.
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/ 1 September 2005
The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund donated R1-million on Thursday to the Children’s Hospital Trust for the refurbishment of the Red Cross War Memorial
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/ 1 September 2005
Four New National Party MPLs have crossed the floor to the African National Congress, giving the ANC an outright majority in the Western Cape legislature, while former Western Cape police commissioner and member of the Western Cape legislature Lennit Max has crossed the floor to the DA.
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/ 1 September 2005
Cape High Court judges worked overtime on Wednesday to deal with a barrage of legal action ahead of the midnight opening of the political floor-crossing window. The United Democratic Movement on Wednesday expelled six MPs and MPLs from the party, and the Independent Democrats gave the boot to its deputy leader and Gauteng MPL Themba Sono.
The Zimbabwean Parliament’s approval of constitutional restrictions on civil liberties has fuelled calls for President Thabo Mbeki to reconsider his policy of gentle diplomacy with his northern neighbour. Some even suggest Mbeki withdraw an offer of a loan aimed at keeping Zimbabwe from being kicked out of the International Monetary Fund.
The United Democratic Movement has expelled six of its senior members, including deputy leader Malizole Diko, with immediate effect. On Tuesday, Cape High Court Judge Basheer Waglay reversed the suspensions of the six, saying the party had not followed its own constitution in suspending them.
The Independent Democrat’s Lennit Max won another round of his marathon legal battle with the party on Wednesday afternoon. However, the way is not yet clear for him to cross the floor to the Democratic Alliance at midnight. Earlier, he won a court order barring the ID from filling his seat in the Western Cape legislature.
The Democratic Alliance has threatened legal action if the uniform patient fees system is not urgently reviewed, because many patients cannot afford it. Unaffordable fees imposed on patients at state hospitals by the Department of Health are causing a horrifying decline in the number of patients able to obtain treatment, it said.
Parliament’s minerals and energy committee on Wednesday adopted the public protector’s report on the alleged irregular payment of R15-million by PetroSA to Imvume Management — the backbone of the so-called Oilgate scandal. This was despite objection from opposition parties.
South African financial institutions doing business with Nigeria run the risk of tarnishing their reputations, Parliament’s finance portfolio committee heard on Wednesday. The West African country was on the blacklist of the international Financial Action Task Force, the director of South Africa’s Financial intelligence Centre, Murray Michell, told members.
Collins Chabalala was both hero and villain in the Castle Premier Soccer League 1-1 draw between Ajax Cape Town and Bloemfontein Celtic at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Tuesday evening. Chabalala scored the visitors’ first-half goal and then gave away the penalty that allowed Ajax to equalise.
The former Western Cape leader of the Independent Democrats, Lennit Max, won a high court order on Wednesday preventing the party from filling his seat in the provincial legislature. Judge Dennis Davis also declared that Max’s expulsion from the party, ordered after an internal disciplinary hearing, be suspended until his appeal is finalised.
Refugees attending a Parliamentary session on Wednesday urged the government to recognise their talents and use them to develop the country. ”Give these people a chance to use their skills to help build this country and teach South Africa how to walk,” said Ami Bomoka, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Western Areas has announced the resignation of Brett Kebble as CEO of the company with effect from August 24, while also unveiling the details of its rights offer. Kebble has also resigned as CEO of fellow mining group JCI, but will remain on the JCI board as a non-executive director.
Genetically modified organisms (GMO) food production is growing worldwide despite vigorous anti-GMO campaigning, according to major agricultural seed and pesticide company Monsanto. South Africa planted 400 000 hectares of GM crops, and a large percentage was grown by smallholder emergent farmers.
Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s son, Tutu Buthelezi, is to stand against his father’s party in an upcoming municipal by-election in the Inkatha stronghold. Tutu Buthelezi announced this week that he had joined former Inkatha Freedom Party national chairperson Ziba Jiyane in his new National Democratic Convention party.
A Cape High Court judge on Tuesday reversed the suspensions of six senior members of the United Democratic Movement, saying the party had not followed its own constitution. The six, two MPs and four members of provincial legislatures, include the deputy president of the party, Malizole Diko.
Floor-crossing battles kept two Cape High Court judges busy for the better part of the day on Monday. At stake in two cases involving the United Democratic Movement and the Independent Democrats are two seats in the National Assembly, one in the National Council of Provinces and five in various provincial legislatures.
Ziba Jiyane, founder of the newly established National Democratic Convention, paid a visit to former National Party leader FW de Klerk on Monday to inform him ”of his plans to establish a new centre-right party based on Christian family values, participatory democracy and free-market principles.”
The CEO of the state broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), has initiatied "an internal process" to review all facts and events surrounding the August 9 footage and news coverage of the booing incident involving Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
The United Democratic Movement hatched a deplorable scheme to oust six of its public representatives before the floor-crossing window opens, the Cape High Court heard on Monday. Advocate Jan Heunis was arguing on behalf of the six, who include UDM deputy president Malizole Diko.
Despite international oil prices having surged to fresh record highs on Monday, the situation is not yet a cause for panic, according to Absa industry analyst John Loos. He said petrol prices in Gauteng could reach R6 per litre by October, thus pushing CPIX inflation higher to around 5% in October.
The Cape High Court was set to be busy on Monday dealing with a wave of legal action ahead of the floor-crossing window that opens on Thursday. The court will hear argument on a bid by United Democratic Movement deputy president Malizole Diko and five other party officials to have their suspension from the party reversed.
The board of Swedish financial-services group Skandia has reportedly rejected as being too low an offer by South Africa’s Old Mutual to acquire the company, according to reports by Swedish newspapers on Monday. Skandia is set to make an announcement on the issue on Monday, the newspapers said.
The African National Congress’s political philosophy, which sees no distinction between the state and party, is partly to blame for its stance on the Oilgate saga, says opposition leader Tony Leon. He said the ANC’s mix of constant financial problems, on the one hand, with Jacobinic political ideology and pure greed on the other is a deadly combination.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>President Thabo Mbeki has bluntly given his support to a Congress of South African Trade Union campaign to protect former deputy president Jacob Zuma, and pledged on Friday to unite "the entirely of our movement in a determined offensive" to defeat any conspiracy to discredit him.
The Cape High Court has ordered e.tv to show prosecutors a programme on the murder of baby Jordan Norton before it goes on air. Acting Judge Dumisani Zondi made the ruling on Thursday after an application by the Western Cape directorate of public prosecutions to block the broadcast of the documentary.
Brett Kebble may be preoccupied with the loss of his mining empire, but his venture into fishing is looking even shakier. Allegations of broken promises, dodgy licence applications and attempts to use political influence swirl around the South Atlantic Fishing Company, an empowerment firm set up by Kebble’s JCI to hunt tuna and swordfish off the west coast.
A 50-year-old tree tumbled across a road in Newlands, Cape Town, on Friday as gale-force winds, driving rain and bitter cold hit the city in the early hours of the morning. The Elsieskraal River flowing through Pinelands had apparently burst its banks, but there was no major flooding reported so far, said senior traffic officer Lyndon Herbert.