South African Rugby Union president Brian van Rooyen expressed regret on Tuesday that the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee has called on the top leadership structure of his organisation to step down. ”We can’t arbitrarily dismiss elected officials,” he said.
Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile has thrown his weight behind a call by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee for South African Rugby Union president Brian van Rooyen and other senior figures in the union’s management committee to step down.
Jacques Kallis was voted the 2004 Sportsman of the Year for the Western Cape Sports Writers’ Association. Kallis was presented with the trophy by Nick Mallet at a function held at the Newlands cricket stadium on Monday evening. The woman’s award went to Natalie du Toit for her performance at the Paralympic Games held in Athens.
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has outlined a very favourable picture of South Africa’s economy for the year, pointing to the National Treasury’s expectations of rising gross domestic product growth, low inflation, a very low budget deficit and improving employment trends, as well as continuing strong capital inflows.
A frail but high-spirited Robbie Jansen was released from Tygerberg hospital’s respiratory unit on Monday afternoon, said his spokesperson Patrick Lee-Thorp. ”He is going into a period of convalescence and is not going to perform anywhere in the near future,” said Lee-Thorp.
South Africa’s Parliament has a strategic plan that includes the intention of turning the institution into "a beacon of good moral behaviour", according to its secretary, Zingile Dingani. On Monday, journalists asked why it is that parliamentarians are able to remain on as members after being convicted of Travelgate fraud charges.
It is a mistaken perception that retailers are responsible for the overwhelming job losses in the textile industry, retail group Foschini said on Monday. ”If anything, we have been creating even more employment opportunities — 2000 in the past two years alone — especially for small business and independent contractors,” said Ronnie Stein, financial director of the Foschini Group.
The design of the proposed basic income grant is ”fundamentally flawed”, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Monday. Speaking at the launch in Cape Town of the 2005/6 tax-filing season, he said there is no country in the world that has been able to implement it. The grant will cost South Africa about R89-billion.
An alleged syndicate member linked to the e-mail scam attack against South African banks last week is being questioned by the Scorpions following an intensive investigation by Standard Bank. A ”runner” had been recruited to launder money from customers’ accounts to an Eastern European fraud syndicate.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) launched its annual tax-filing season on Monday in a bid to encourage the country’s 4,5-million taxpayers to get their returns in by July 8. Speaking at the launch in Cape Town, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said this figure includes 2,4-million individual taxpayers.
Absa, one of South Africa’s "big four" retail banks that will soon be 60% owned by United Kingdom banking giant Barclays, has unveiled a major programme to enhance its brand, called My Bank. Absa said the programme will capitalise on the bank’s well-known pay-off line, "Today, tomorrow, together".
South African Rugby Union president Brian van Rooyen has called the country’s 14 provincial rugby presidents to an urgent meeting in Johannesburg on Monday, local media reported. The meeting follows disclosures that a dossier has been compiled of alleged irregularities in Van Rooyen’s running of the game, media reports said.
The hearing of the Richtersveld community’s multibillion-rand land claim has been postponed to October 25 — and could continue into 2006. Land Claims Court Judge Antonie Gildenhuys, who has been hearing evidence in Cape Town over the past four weeks, said on Friday that seven weeks have been set aside for the October session.
President Thabo Mbeki has questioned the figures produced by official data capturer Statistics South Africa on unemployment figures and says it is "quite unlikely" that its figures are correct — otherwise people would have seen millions of people in the streets looking for work. There are even millionaires who are deemed "unemployed", he argued on Friday.
The ”racist tantrum” thrown by Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy Lulu Xingwana in Parliament will hurt black South Africans as much as whites by discouraging investor confidence in the country, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday. He said it is necessary for all to raise their voices against what Xingwana said.
The Cabinet will finalise the roll-out plan of the taxi-recapitalisation process by the end of next month — but the transport minister has promised that the much-delayed scrapping of currently ageing vehicles ”will commence this financial year”. He was speaking in his Budget vote in an extended public committee on Friday.
Insurance group Momentum, part of the listed FirstRand group, has made an offer of 175 cents per share to acquire all of rival insurer Sage, in a transaction worth R634-million, the companies announced on Friday. If the offer is successful, Sage will be delisted from the JSE Securities Exchange.
Dynamos made certain of keeping their place in the Premier Soccer League when they beat Ajax Cape Town by 3-0 at Newlands Stadium on Wednesday night.
The visitors from Giyani, who were placed 14th before the game, led 2-0 at the interval. Their victory catapults them to 10th spot, with 32 points from 29 matches.
Global brewing giant SABMiller on Thursday reported basic earnings per share of 94,1 United States cents for the year ended March 31 2005, from 54,1 cents a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were up 33% to 103,2 US cents, while in sterling terms, earnings per share were up 22% to 55,9 pence, from 45,8 pence a year ago.
The release of global brewing giant SABMiller’s final 2005 results on Thursday have highlighted the continued robust growth in its South African beer business, with Beer South Africa recording a 20% rise in its earnings before interest, tax and amortisation in rand (constant currency) terms.
South Africa’s proposed ”smart” identity-card plan will receive about R270-million this year, Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told parliamentarians on Wednesday. The card is now ”at the final stages for Cabinet’s approval of such a procurement model”, the minister reported.
An apartheid-era law is causing headaches for a committee set up to investigate the underlying reasons for instability and conflict in the Western Cape minibus taxi industry. The ”problematic area” relates to Ordinance 13 of 1978, which stipulates that the proceedings of such committees should not be open to the public.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has told African transport ministers that he is "concerned" about the high concentration of air-traffic accidents on the continent. He was speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday of a summit of African Union ministers responsible for air transport and aviation being held in South Africa.
A woman was found shot dead and three children died in a fire after an attack on their Mitchells Plain home on Wednesday, Western Cape police said. An unknown number of people allegedly set the house in Chrysler Street, Beacon Valley, on fire after trying to gain entry to it at about 4am.
A black economic empowerment (BEE) consortium is to be set up in a bid to save the embattled Rex Trueform clothing company, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Tuesday. This follows talks between textile-factory owners and trade-union leaders on ways to avert the closure of a Rex Trueform plant outside Cape Town.
An off-duty police officer allegedly killed five relatives, including two four-year-old twin girls, in a bloody killing spree in the Cape Town area on Tuesday night, police said. The 48-year-old inspector, who had taken leave, shot each of his victims in the head, execution-style, said a Western Cape police spokesperson.
One man was arrested as protesting members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) clashed with police in central Cape Town on Tuesday. About 2 000 workers marched through the city to voice their opposition to privatisation of basic services such as water and electricity.
Springbok coach Jake White has said his class of 2005 reflects well on transformation and that the balance of youth and experience in the squad is a key factor. Addressing a media conference in Cape Town on Monday, White said he is confident that the squad of 33 will rise to the occasion and represent their country with pride, in spite of the poor showing of South African teams in the Vodacom Super 12.
The African Christian Democratic Party says it hopes that the Constitutional Court will rule in favour of the wishes of the majority of South Africans — and oppose same-sex marriages. ”The ACDP has continually said that we do not support the legalisation of so-called gay marriages,” said ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe.
Four of South Africa’s major clothing retailers — Foschini, Truworths, Woolworths and Edcon — have issued a statement citing their concerns over the state of the local clothing and textile manufacturing industry, but "unequivocally" rejecting calls by unions to sign a code committing them to prescribed local procurement targets.
State-owned Alexkor’s land-based diamond-mining operations have ”collapsed”, an expert witness told the Richtersveld hearing in the Land Claims Court on Monday. The community is claiming the return of more than 84 000ha of land confiscated by the state when diamonds were discovered there in the 1920s.
The Inkatha Freedom Party has cracked the whip following a public debate about its leadership, with its national chairperson swearing allegiance to 76-year-old party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi. There is tension in the party, with persistent talk that Buthelezi is being challenged for his position by the party’s traditionalist guard.