Police have issued a robbery and plunder warning to businesses in Cape Town ahead of what the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) says will be a massive march through the city centre on Tuesday. The march is to call for improved safety measures for violence-plagued schools on the Cape Flats.
The Democratic Alliance accused the government on Monday of poor urban planning and allowing ”soulless slums” to develop. ”The legacy of the ANC government’s housing programme is mile upon mile of tiny, box-like houses, unbroken by trees, churches or parks,” the DA said in a statement.
The African National Congress has hailed the development of Afrikaans over the past 130 years as an inspiration for South Africa’s other indigenous languages. It has also pledged its commitment to protecting and promoting Afrikaans as well as South Africa’s other indigenous languages.
Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota has justified the expenditure of R10-billion on the new A400 military transport aircraft, saying the Hercules C-130 aircraft currently in use is heading towards the end of its operational life. He said the air force has spent about R870-million on the avionics and major servicing of the air frames.
South Africa is looking forward to a windfall from hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and hopes other top sports events such as the Rugby World Cup and formula-one auto racing will follow. But who will really benefit from the promised bonanza in a country still bearing the social and economic scars of apartheid?
A man was killed when a train ploughed into his car on the railway tracks between the Mitchells Plain and Lentegeur stations on Saturday morning, metro rescue officials said. A Cape Town metro rescue spokesperson said the man ”had had a bit to drink” and wanted to drive across the railway tracks.
Embattled Independent Democrats member of the Western Cape legislature Lennit Max says he ”strongly denies” accusations that he has tried to draw out a disciplinary hearing against him in order for him to be able to defect to a new political home next month. He has merely tried to clear his name of allegations made against him, he said on Friday.
Anglo American and Old Mutual have both received a political pat on the back by President Thabo Mbeki for their black economic empowerment initiatives. In his regular internet column, <i>ANC Today</i>, Mbeki added that the country has taken the decision to realise the goal for a better life for all.
The African National Congress has engaged in a series of "winks and nudges" in dealing with the human rights abuses and autocratic behaviour of President Robert Mugabe, says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. "Mugabe’s ‘cocking a snook’ or giving a ‘two’s-up’ to whiteys and the West seems to appeal to a sizeable constituency in the ANC," he said.
Blackman Ngoro, who was ousted this week as media adviser to the mayor of Cape Town, has bounced back with a new approach to race relations. He has offered space on his website for ”Khoisan intellectuals” to write about their history, and urged that the term ”coloured” should be buried ”once and for all”.
The number of hungry children in Africa will increase by more than three million by 2025 if current policy and investment trends continue, according to a new report that predicts the continent will fail to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving child malnutrition by 2015 unless more aggressive measures are taken now.
Inkatha Freedom Party senior MP Gavin Woods has accused the media of selectively reporting only ”dramatic” sections of a leaked document penned by himself. The Mail & Guardian reported that the discussion document pulls no punches and calls for the ”infusion of new thinking and new minds”.
The Democratic Alliance has formally requested a debate in Parliament on the government’s proposed loan package to Zimbabwe, saying South African taxpayers need to be told why money may be made available for that country. ”Parliament must approve any financial agreement of this nature,” the DA said.
Sanlam Life, South Africa’s second-largest life assurer, will buy a 50% stake in niche life assurer Channel Life from its parent, PSG Group, for R116,5-million, the two companies said on Thursday. The purchase price represents 125 cents per share for Channel Life, valuing the company at approximately R230-million.
Lawyers for six suspended United Democratic Movement (UDM) politicians will argue their case in the Cape High Court on August 29 — only three days before the opening of the September floor-crossing window. The six were suspended on August 5, apparently after rumours that they intended to defect to another party.
Sundowns left Cape Town with full points when they beat a plucky Ajax Cape Town 2-0 in a Castle Premier Soccer League game played at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night. Orlando Pirates thumped Bloemfontein Celtic 3-0 at Ellis Park and Silver Stars beat a 10-man Moroka Swallows 1-0 at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.
South Africa needs to achieve "significantly higher rates" of economic growth if it is to succeed in meeting the needs of the people, President Thabo Mbeki has told trade unionists. He said one of the issues being studied by his government was import parity pricing as it affected the chemical industry.
About 500 striking municipal workers, many of them fired up by cheap wine and brandy, threw rocks, lumps of concrete and bottles at police and dumped mounds of rubbish in Cape Town’s Adderley Street during a march on Wednesday. Police threw a stun grenade as the stone-throwing continued.
South Africa is rolling out a new lightning detection system to track the atmospheric phenomenon across the country. ”The need for real-time lightning information to supplement the advanced high spatial and temporal weather radar and satellite systems in a lightning-prone country is regarded as an essential component to the services required by the South African community,” said South African Weather Services spokesperson Bheki Zwane.
Sixty-eight striking municipal workers were arrested in Knysna on Wednesday and at least 27 more in Cape Town as violence surrounding a countrywide pay protest continued. The incidents come as the South African Municipal Workers’ Union considers legal action against police who have intervened in its protests.
President Thabo Mbeki is ”trying his best” to resolve the situation in Zimbabwe, Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said in Cape Town on Wednesday after a two-and-a-half-hour meeting in Pretoria on Tuesday night between Mbeki and a South African Council of Churches delegation.
Messages on a telephone answering machine told of a Durbanville woman’s desperate attempts to warn her neighbour that intruders had entered his home, the Cape High court heard on Monday. Durbanville resident Pieter Theron told Judge Siraj Desai he found two messages on his answering machine, from the widow of retired Dutch Reformed Church pastor, Pietie Victor.
Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo has fired her media adviser Blackman Ngoro over his controversial website remarks about coloureds. Mfeketo made the announcement on Monday after receiving the report of an internal council inquiry, saying the affair has ”really created racial disharmony” in the city.
Cape Town’s central business district, which has already been the recipient of about 1 100 new hotel rooms in the past five years will be the site of at least nine more new hotels in the next two years, according to the Cape Town Partnership.
Ajax Cape Town gained a valuable point in their CAF Champions League game against the number-one team in Africa, Egypt’s Al Ahly, when they held them to a goalless draw at the Athlone Stadium on Sunday. The experience of the visitors showed, but the home side kept their heads.
Listed gaming and hotel group Gold Reef Casino Resorts has ended talks with brewing giant SABMiller over its acquisition of SABMiller’s 49% stake in fellow gaming group Tsogo Sun Holdings, Gold Reef said in a statement on Monday. According to Gold Reef, SABMiller said its stake in Tsogo Sun is not for sale.
Springbok coach Jake White played down the ecstasy in the aftermath of his team’s nerve-racking Tri-Nations victory over the All Blacks at Newlands on Saturday. While the 49 118 fans crammed into Newlands erupted at the final whistle to celebrate one of the Boks’ finest performances in recent memory, White preferred to remain focussed. After failing to gain a bonus point from their two home matches, the Boks will, in all likelihood, need a rare away victory if they hope to retain the trophy — a point that is not lost on the coac
The Freedom Front Plus has raised concerns about falling standards in the training of pilots in the South African Air Force, saying this may lead to accidents. ”Earlier the minister said trainee pilots are allowed to fail all their exams and to fail two repeat exams. Previously trainee pilots were allowed to only fail three subjects and then to pass a repeat exam with a pass mark of 60%,” said a spokesperson.
Another round of talks between the South African Local Government Association (Salga) and municipal unions is scheduled to take place on Monday in an attempt to reach a wage agreement and stave off a national strike. Unions are scheduled to embark on a second week of protest action on Monday.
Estimates of the number of black South Africans who want to become farmers may have been exaggerated, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday. Joining the racially charged debate over land ownership in South Africa, he said recent research indicated only 9% of black people who are not currently farming wish to do so.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa has suspended eight of his top elected officials with immediate effect following fears that they were intending to cross the floor next month. Holomisa would not supply details, claiming it is an internal matter, but denied they were asked to leave, as was previously stated.
Springbok rugby is set to be thrown into more turmoil on the eve of the crunch Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks with a potentially divisive power struggle between SA Rugby vice-president Andre Markgraaff and Bok coach Jake White.