Lauding President Thabo Mbeki’s drive for gender equality and South Africa’s women for their fight against HIV/Aids, United States First Lady Laura Bush said Africa’s progress is best measured in hope. Bush was speaking at a gathering at the Centre for the Book in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Cape Town city centre’s station deck minibus taxi rank, which serves 1Â 200 vehicles, is a disaster waiting to happen, according to a senior transport manager. There are also more than 200 traders sharing the confined space of the deck, the committee of inquiry into violence in the Western Cape taxi industry heard on Tuesday.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) had by Tuesday received an estimated 2,4-million tax returns for the 2004/05 financial year, following the passage of the official tax-return deadline on Friday July 8. The estimate of 2,4-million is a "very conservative" one, Sars spokesperson Adrian Lackay said on Tuesday.
A 25-year-old Hout Bay resident was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the rape of a German tourist near Cape Town’s Sandy Bay, police said. The man was arrested at 1.30am after police followed up on information provided by the public, Superintendent Billy Jones said. He will appear in court on Thursday.
United States First Lady Laura Bush arrived in Cape Town on Monday where she will spend time with her daughters while visiting HIV/Aids centres, the American embassy said. On the apron at the Cape Town International airport, awaiting her arrival in a US Air Force jet, was a cavalcade of more than 30 vehicles.
Sanlam, South Africa’s second-largest life assurer, is planning to undertake a share repurchase totaling about R4-billion as part of its major capital restructuring plans, the company said on Monday. The group will offer shareholders R12 per share in a specific pro-rata offering for 10% of their shares.
Four men appeared briefly in the Wynberg Magistrate’s court on Monday in connection with the murder of a six-month-old baby last month. The court proceedings were held in camera because one of the accused is 16-years-old, said police spokesperson Captain Elliot Sinyangana.
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor wishes to introduce legislation early next year giving school principals more power and authority, she said on Monday. School governing bodies have become ”very powerful” and principals do not play a big enough role, she told the seventh International Conference of School Principals in Cape Town.
Verimark Holdings (VMK) debuted on the JSE on Monday, opening with an inaugural trade of R3,05 and subsequently trading in a range of R2,99 to R3,01 per share in early dealings. The company develops and retails a range of products including household goods, DIY, beauty and exercise equipment.
Cape Town taximen have been deliberately sabotaging the city’s rail services in order to gain customers, the commission of inquiry into violence in the Western Cape minibus taxi industry heard on Friday. Metrorail’s regional manager handed the commission a document he said contained ”very sensitive information” on the issue.
The African National Congress’s policy-making body had been correct to express its support for former deputy president Jacob Zuma "during these trying and painful times", wrote President Thabo Mbeki in his internet letter on Friday. "[Zuma] should have an opportunity to defend himself against whatever accusations have been made against him," said Mbeki.
Two South Africans were among the 700 people injured in Thursday’s bomb blasts in London, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. One was in a critical condition, the other seriously injured, spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said. The identities of the man and woman cannot be released until their families have been informed.
Due to the "tremendous response" by taxpayers to meet Friday’s 2005 tax return deadline, offices of the South African Revenue Service will open countrywide on Saturday from 8am to 12.30pm in order to accept returns, Sars said in a statement on Thursday. About two million taxpayers had submitted their tax returns by Thursday.
The R62 between Worcester and Robertson in the Boland is to open again on Thursday morning after it was closed when about 300 people blocked the route with burning tyres and dumped debris to protest the lack of service delivery to the De Doorns township.
The head of the commission into Western Cape taxi violence clashed on Wednesday with a senior legal adviser to the City of Cape Town on the issue of witness safety. The confrontation took place in the wake of the slaying at the weekend of a prominent figure in the taxi industry, who only days earlier had testified to the commission.
Alleged baby killer Dina Rodrigues was granted bail of R20 000 in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court in Cape Town on Wednesday. Magistrate Hafeesa Mohamed said Rodrigues will be placed under 24-hour house arrest for what she described as ”one of the most serious conceivable crimes” the country has seen.
A R14,2-million "interim maintenance" project is in the planning stage for President Thabo Mbeki’s official Tshwane home of Mahlamba Ndlovu on the Bryntirion Estate, according to Minister of Public Works Stella Sigcau. Three ministerial homes are also to be built on the estate in the next two years.
South African Tourism said on Tuesday that it recognises all 10 indigenous languages and that the Democratic Alliance’s complaint of an airport billboard insulting Afrikaners is based on misunderstanding. According to the DA, the advert is insensitive and a ”smack in the face of everyone who spoke Afrikaans”.
There were gasps in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday when it was revealed that the former boyfriend of Cape murder accused Dina Rodrigues will testify that she had paid R10 000 for a contract murder on a baby. ”You told him, ‘I paid R10 000 to sort out the problem,”’ the state prosecutor said.
Three more boys have died as a result of botched circumcisions in the Eastern Cape, bringing the death toll over the past few weeks to 12. Last week, the National House of Traditional Leaders called on the government to establish a special task force to deal with deaths in traditional initiation schools.
According to South Africa’s Competition Tribunal, any public-interest concerns over the merger between listed retailer Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon) and Topics, regarding cheap clothing imports from China and the effect on local employment, cannot be cured by the imposition of a merger condition on a single firm.
Red distress flares are to be fired in emergencies only, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) warned on Monday. The call followed a false alarm on Saturday and another possible false alarm on Monday night in Simonstown, in which red distress flares were fired.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has recognised the critical role to be played by the private sector in combating poverty in Africa, while pledging to push for the "best possible package" for the continent during the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialised countries in Gleneagles, Scotland, set to begin on Wednesday.
The Democratic Alliance has accused South African Tourism of discriminating against the Afrikaans language in an airport advertisement. The DA feels the advert, with the words ”nine indigenous languages, 44-million people”, is grossly insensitive and a ”smack in the face of everyone who spoke Afrikaans”.
The National Sea Rescue Institute has ended its search off the Western Cape coast for the remaining crew member of a ski boat that went missing in rough seas on Saturday. Five rescue boats and a Dakota aircraft from the Ysterplaat air-force base in Cape Town were used in the search.
The ruling African National Congress’s policy-making conference has agreed that a further "look" at the labour market in South Africa is necessary, says President Thabo Mbeki. The president spoke on his labour-market reform in an interview on South African Broadcasting Corporation television, broadcast on Sunday night.
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Analysts are divided on what effect Jacob Zuma’s retention of the deputy presidency of the African National Congress will have on his bid for the ANC presidency in 2007. While some believe his dismissal as deputy president of the country sounded the death knell for his political career, others feel his retention of his party position is the life raft he needs.
South African teachers are being lured to Britain by unscrupulous British recruitment agencies, a post-graduate dissertation for the IMM Graduate School of Marketing suggests. ”The vast majority of British recruitment companies recruiting in South Africa are guilty of gross unethical misconduct,” said the researcher, Guy Mulvaney.
South Africa’s Scorpions have arrested four people, three of whom work for cigarette producer Mastermind Tobacco SA, for allegedly being involved in a R48-million VAT fraud scheme in which cigarettes meant for export were instead sold in South Africa.
Mercenaries could soon be prosecuted under the about-to-be amended Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Wednesday. ”We have information that [South African citizens] are involved in actual fighting in the actual conflict [in foreign countries],” he said.
The Democratic Alliance has again reported Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), saying the latest statements by the minister mean the council can no longer ignore her.
The mercury plunged in the Northern Cape town of Sutherland this week, hitting a near-record minus 15 degrees Celcius on Monday night. Resident Mariana Bernardo, who collects data for the South African Weather Service, said it came close to the lowest temperature ever recorded in South Africa, which was minus 16C, also recorded in Sutherland, on the night of July 21, 2003.