The Independent Democrat’s former Western Cape leader Lennit Max and his lawyer walked out of his disciplinary hearing in Cape Town on Friday. The walk-out came after independent presiding officer Sarah Christie refused to adjourn proceedings for Max to bring a high court application for a Christie’s recusal.
There must be no room for corruption or nepotism in municipalities, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Thursday. ”Nobody’s going to benefit, nobody’s spouse is going to benefit. The rules are going to be clear and we will ensure that the incentives and disincentives are in place,” he said on Thursday.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has announced that five members of Parliament "involved in the travel investigation" — now known as Travelgate — have resigned from Parliament. They are Ruth Bhengu, Mildred Mpaka, Rhoda Joemat, Pamela Mnandi and Mavis Magazi.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who was appointed as the new deputy president on Wednesday, is known as the architect of the empowerment charter that is transforming South Africa’s mining industry. But opposition parties say there are serious — and unanswered — questions hanging over her head.
President Thabo Mbeki has appointed Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as deputy president to replace Jacob Zuma, who was sacked last week. Mbeki made the announcement during a press conference following the Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting at Tuynhuys on Wednesday.
South Africans were on tenterhooks on Wednesday ahead of the announcement by President Thabo Mbeki of his new deputy. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel and Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka have emerged as the frontrunners for the post.
President Thabo Mbeki is expected to name South Africa’s new deputy president on Wednesday. Government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said Mbeki would make a ”relevant announcement” with regard to changes in his Cabinet. When asked if the announcement would include that of a new deputy president, Khumalo said: ”I assume it will.”
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is going to make sure vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath gets arrested, TAC chairperson Zackie Achmat said on Tuesday. The TAC is seeking to stop Rath and his Dr Rath Foundation from claiming that it is acting as a front for the pharmaceutical industry in promoting antiretroviral drugs for people with Aids.
Senior members of the judiciary were present on Tuesday when Minister of Justice Brigitte Mabandla officially opened the Equality court in the Cape High court. ”It is my hope that this Equality court will be successful in further eradicating the legacy of inequality and at the same time enhance our ability to bring justice closer to an increasing mass of our people,” said Mabandla.
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Former deputy president Jacob Zuma has welcomed the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to charge him on two counts of corruption. The ANC’s National Working Committee said it had accepted Zuma’s request to ”withdraw his participation from all ANC structures pending the completion of the legal process.” Zuma will however remain ANC deputy president.
Côte d’Ivoire peace talks scheduled for Pretoria this weekend were postponed on Monday because not all parties could attend, said a spokesperson from the office of South African president Thabo Mbeki. ”We are trying to get all parties down here,” said Bheki Khumalo, adding that a future date had not yet been proposed.
The director general in the presidency, Frank Chikane, has been asked by an opposition MP to investigate whether the Minister of Social Development, Zola Skweyiya, may have contravened the Executive Members’ Ethics Act. The question has been raised of whether a payment to Skweyiya constitutes an attempt to buy influence.
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism will — by the end of July — appoint a service provider to identify the top 50 air polluting industries or sectors in South Africa, said Minister Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Monday. "The web of life is more than just a poetic idea, it is a reality that defines our biggest social, economic and developmental challenges," he said.
The United States business community sees great potential for growth in the relationship between the US and South Africa, with more and more US businesses interested in investing in, exporting to, and importing from this country, according to Thomas Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, national chairperson of the South African Communist Party, has been named as axed Deputy President Jacob Zuma’s successor as Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly. This may be an indication of whom the president has in mind to fill the Deputy President’s shoes but the Presidency was still not telling on Friday morning.
The firing of Deputy President Jacob Zuma was only a bid to divert attention from the government’s multi-billion rand arms deal, activist Terry Crawford-Browne charged on Wednesday. Browne said that instead of acknowledging that the state succumbed to European pressures to buy armaments, President Thabo Mbeki was making Zuma a ”sacrificial lamb”.
The World Bank’s board of directors has approved a project to manage groundwater and drought in the Southern African region to be executed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the bank announced on Wednesday. The Groundwater and Drought Management project will cost ,5-million.
The African National Congress National Working Committee is to soon make public its decision on what action will be taken against Members of Parliament who have already been found guilty of defrauding parliament. Eight MPs have plea-bargained in the so-called "Travelgate" scam — involving the misuse of travel vouchers provided to Members of Parliament.
Lawyers representing black economic empowerment company Imvume Management have declined to provide the Democratic Alliance with information regarding its transactions and contract with state oil and gas company PetroSA and Glencore International. This follows a report in the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> on the "Oilgate" scandal.
There was still no clarity on Wednesday as to when President Thabo Mbeki will announce Jacob Zuma’s successor as deputy president — but an acting president has to be appointed to fill the shoes of Mbeki when he is in Nigeria on Sunday.
A 14-year-old boy has died after apparently being asphyxiated by fumes from a brazier at an initiation school in Port Elizabeth, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday. The police have opened an inquest docket, and a post-mortem will be conducted to establish the exact cause of his death.
Relief and joy were etched on the faces of women who were among the first Western Cape prisoners to be released on Monday as part of the government’s remission of sentence programmes. ”Ek is te bly. Ek wil net by die huis kom. Dis al. [I am so happy. I just want to go home. That’s all],” said Dorieca Demas from Bishop Lavis.
Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats (ID) party announced on Monday that Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Mervyn Cirota had resigned from the official opposition to join the ID. Cirota said the DA had created the perception that its policies were ”separate and contrary to the ideals of the majority of South Africans”.
The concept of willing-buyer, willing-seller has been underscored by Minister of Agriculture and Land Thoko Didiza in reply to a question about government’s target of 30% of white agricultural land being redistributed to black farmers by 2015.
African National Congress (ANC) MP James Ngculu ousted Western Cape ANC chairperson Ibrahim Rasool from his post following an election at the party’s provincial congress on Saturday. Ngculu, who chairs the National Assembly’s health committee, won the election by 274 to 259 votes.
President Thabo Mbeki has assured incoming Chief Justice Pius Langa and his deputy, Judge Dikgang Moseneke, of the African National Congress’s commitment to judicial independence. ”We will, in word and deed, respect their right and duty to carry out their tasks as part of an independent judiciary,” he said on Friday.
The government has denied asking the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to investigate whether any organised force was behind recent service delivery protests. It said in a statement on Thursday this was confirmed at the Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who arrives back in South Africa from a trip to Chile on Thursday, should act decisively on his return and ask embattled Deputy President Jacob Zuma to resign, official opposition leader Tony Leon said on Thursday.
Controversial Beaufort West politician Truman Prince on Wednesday night committed himself to promoting the rights of women after being found guilty by an African National Congress disciplinary committee. The three-person committee sitting in Cape Town suspended Prince’s ANC membership for six months.
Embattled South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma was welcomed in the National Assembly with a standing ovation by his African National Congress MPs on Wednesday afternoon. Zuma slipped through a side entrance of Parliament from the presidential office, Tuynhuys, evading journalists who were waiting for him.
The MPs and travel agents charged in connection with Travelgate, the parliamentary travel-voucher scam, will go to trial in the Cape High Court on July 31 next year, if the National Prosecuting Authority has its way. But lawyers for most of the accused said on Wednesday that they intend to fight the move to transfer the case to the high court.
Quick-service restaurant group Famous Brands is confident of experiencing enough sustained demand to open 80 new restaurants per year on average across its franchises over the next three years, the company said in its 2005 annual report, published on Tuesday.