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.
Overnight floods in areas around Cape Town have temporarily displaced about 600 people, an emergency services spokesperson said on Wednesday. Geoff Laskey said heavy rains had affected about 20 shacks in Khayelitsha and about 100 shacks in Freedom Park in Mitchells Plain.
The African National Congress has denied claims that the loan of trucks and buses for its election campaign last year was irregular. The ANC said in a statement ”for the record” that the ANC was loaned 10 trucks and two buses by the MAN Truck and Bus South Africa during its election campaign.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) wants at least 200Â 000 people on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment by 2006, thereby holding the government to its own commitment in the operational plan. Of the proposed figure, at least 20Â 000 should be children, the TAC said.
Civilisation has outgrown animal bounties, an oceanographic scientist said on Monday following calls to hunt down sharks after an attack on a Cape spear-fisherman. ”Bounties come from the Dark Ages,” said the director of the Oceanographic Research Institute in Durban.
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor’s assurances to whistle-blowers are hollow if her department cannot take the minor administrative steps needed to protect them, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday. A teacher from the Kamhola school in Barberton — one of the schools implicated in the cheating — was dismissed last week.
The car keys of the Durbanville scuba diver feared to have been taken by a shark in False Bay on Saturday were found on a beach at Fish Hoek on Sunday, the National Sea Rescue Institute said. The diver was apparently attacked by the shark about 200m to 300m off Millers’ Point, near Simon’s Town.
In his regular internet column on Friday, ANC Today, President Thabo Mbeki said he is inspired by United States President George Bush’s determination to help ensure that the upcoming Gleneagles Group of Eight summit in Scotland will produce a positive outcome for Africa.
Practical outcomes, such as supporting peace initiatives in Africa, are expected from the forthcoming Group of Eight (G8) heads-of-government summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, President Thabo Mbeki told the World Economic Forum’s Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town on Friday.
Organisers at the World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town were tallying up on Friday morning the number of signatures of business leaders endorsing the recommendations of the Commission for Africa. "It’s looking good," said Africa Economic Summit spokesperson Matthias Luefkens.
It is possible that Pretoria will not be renamed Tshwane, Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan said in Cape Town on Thursday. He said he was still awaiting a recommendation in favour of the re-naming from the South African Geographical Names Council.
It is inevitable that poor countries will compete for donor aid, Tanzania’s President Benjamin Mkapa told delegates at the World Economic Forum’s Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town on Thursday. Steve Booysen, chief executive of Absa, said business has been slow to take advantage of the changing political landscape in Africa.
Leading industrial countries should look at the positive examples elsewhere in Africa and not concentrate solely on the crisis in Zimbabwe, British high commissioner designate to South Africa Paul Boateng told the World Economic Forum’s Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town on Wednesday.
With Africa expecting $25-billion by 2010 if the Commission for Africa’s recommendations are implemented, Tanzania’s President Benjamin Mkapa said each country should be assessed individually to see if previous aid was misused. Mkapa was part of a panel that spoke on how aid can be allocated and used effectively.
In a bid to attract more direct foreign investment into Africa, the Nepad Business Foundation (NBF) has committed itself to two ”covenants” — anti-corruption and corporate governance. NBF chairperson Reuel Khoza was addressing the World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday.
International business and political leaders have a unique opportunity to recognise the ”moral reprehensibility” of what is allowed to happen in Africa, Reuters chairperson Niall FitzGerald said on Wednesday. He addressed media at the World Economic Forum’s Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town.
The World Economic Forum’s 15th annual Africa Economic Summit has opened in Cape Town with a strong call by business to support the proposals contained in the recent Commission for Africa report for promoting economic growth and development across the continent.
South Africa’s Black Management Forum wants the government to set up a commission of enquiry into racism and unfair discrimination in the workplace. Such a commission should be given a one-year mandate "to review incidents and cases of racial discrimination in the workplace", it said.
AltX-listed branded food producer All Joy Foods has reported a dip in its headline earnings per share for the year to the end of February 2005 to 6,3 cents, from seven cents a year earlier. No dividend was declared for the year. At the same time, All Joy said it has agreed to acquire 100% of the operations of Retailer Brands.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) begins its 15th annual Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town on Wednesday with leaders from some of Africa’s top companies and multinationals calling for the strong voice of business to be heard in the flow of targeted aid and investment on the continent.
For growing numbers of South African women, pregnancy is not something to celebrate — it is a desperate descent into depression and anxiety. ”In the South African setting, we have a recipe for an epidemic of perinatal mental health problems,” said Dr Simone Honikman, director of the Perinatal Mental Health Project at Liesbeeck midwife obstetric unit.
The Democratic Alliance has accused minerals and energy committee chairperson Nathi Mthethwa of assisting the government to hide alleged irregularities concerning a donation to the ruling party. This follows a court decision to interdict the Mail & Guardian from running a follow-up to its ”Oilgate” report last week.