National health legislation, due to be signed into law by President Thabo Mbeki, will prohibit the manipulation of any human genetic material for the purpose of reproductive cloning. The minister of health said the legislation permits her to allow ”therapeutic cloning … under prescribed conditions”.
Four men detained in a raid on a suspected mercenary recruitment centre in Cape Town on Wednesday are being questioned by the Scorpions about possible illegal military activity. National Directorate of Public Prosecutions spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said on Thursday the Scorpions in the Western Cape had raided the offices of International Intelligence Risk Management in Parow. They took possession of two computers, files and stationery.
Former Western Cape premier Peter Marais was let off the hook in the Cape High Court on Wednesday on a sexual harassment civil claim brought against him by former provincial social services minister Freda Adams. Adams had claimed a total of R2 421 342 from Marais for sexual harassment and defamation.
The South African movie Forgiveness has received two prestigious awards at Switzerland’s 57th Locarno International Film Festival, taking away the best-film accolade and the Human Rights prize against stiff competition. Forgiveness stood out in a festival dominated by Middle Eastern themes.
The World Press Freedom Committee has expressed concern at what it calls the ”South African government’s attempts to muzzle media” after reports of a terrorist attack emerged from Pakistan earlier this month. The government later ”expressed its outrage” at the manner in which the reports had been aired.
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Tuesday gave an undertaking to sceptical representatives of the Western Cape fishing industry that he will ensure fishing quotas are allocated in an open and honest way. He was addressing several hundred members of the fishing community.
Short-term insurance policy holders in South Africa are under-insured by about 45% on average, according to market research conducted by Santam, South Africa’s largest short-term insurance company. This means policy-holders will only receive partial compensation after submitting an insurance claim.
South Africa and the rest of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has once again failed to stand up for democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe by siding with President Robert Mugabe’s government, South African official opposition leader Tony Leon said in a statement on Tuesday.
Former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu called on South Africans on Tuesday, especially those in the media, to report the good stories coming out of the country partly to help heal the rift caused by apartheid. ”We are not very good at acknowledging the good things that we accomplish. There are in fact many beautiful things that we do in this country,” he said.
A summons for R80 000 in respect of outstanding legal fees has added to the woes of former Western Cape Environmental Affairs and Tourism MEC David Mickey Malatsi, who is on trial in the Bellville Regional Court on corruption, theft and fraud charges. He lamented the fact in court on Monday, when his trial resumed before magistrate Andre le Grange.
South African retailer Pick ‘n Pay is set to introduce 200 000 new Proudly South African shelf labels into its stores as a way of helping consumers keen to contribute to the local economy identify those products. Unveiling its initiative on Monday, Pick ‘n Pay said its pilot project will encompass 37 of its Gauteng stores.
More than 200 of South Africa’s greatest inventions went on show this weekend in an exhibition designed to highlight innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. The inventions and innovations range from the Kreepy Krauly pool cleaner to the noisy vuvuzela and the famous dolos concrete structures which protect harbours and seawalls worldwide.
The New National Party leadership’s decision to dissolve the party and lay its ghost to rest — immediately after the 90th anniversary of the National Party in August — was unavoidable, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday, writing in the African National Congress’s online publication, ANC Today.
The Freedom Front Plus joined other political parties on Friday in welcoming the South African Reserve Bank’s reduction of the repo rate by half a percentage point to 7,5%, but expressed concern about the strong rand. "It … will contribute to a more realistic value for the rand on international markets," the FF+ said.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=120354">’Mboweni has shown foresight'</a>
The United Democratic Movement says South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni and the monetary policy committee have shown foresight and courage by lowing the repo rate by 50 basis points. The UDM finance spokesperson said for more than a year the UDM has been advocating against an excessively strong currently.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) killed off the New National Party (NNP) because the DA provided a principled, non-racial alternative to the ANC, (African National Congress) as opposed to the NNP’s ”tergiversation”, DA leader Tony Leon said on Friday. Leon said it was ironic that NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk had only a few months ago called the DA a ”dead-end party”.
The council of Cape Town’s Peninsula Technikon has approved a severance package ”not exceeding” R2,3-million for vice-chancellor professor Brian Figaji. However the National Health and Allied Workers Union in the Western Cape has called on the national education ministry to intervene to reverse the council decision, which it says sets a bad precedent and is procedurally flawed.
A group of youngsters brought a hush to Parliament chamber this week when they spoke about their lives of poverty and hardship and how they think the Children’s Bill could create a happier future for them. They call themselves Dikwankwetla, meaning heroes, and this is how they see themselves in the face of the Aids epidemic.
The Democratic Alliance has again urged the Speaker of Parliament to publish the list of MPs implicated in the so-called travel scam, involving the alleged fraudulent use of parliamentary travel vouchers. ”The scam surrounding MPs’ travel vouchers is doing great damage to Parliament,” DA chief whip Douglas Gibson said.
With their decision to disband and join the African National Congress, New National Party leaders had ”sold out” the 250 000 people who supported the party in the last election, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Tuesday. Many South Africans were clearly quite happy to see the NNP disappear while others had been left confused and angry, he said.
About 30 000 ostriches will be stunned by a powerful electric shock and then shot with a single bullet to the brain from a specialised pistol, as mass culling of infected birds gets under way on Tuesday. The birds are being culled following an outbreak of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu.
Fatigue is largely in the mind, not the muscles, research by South African scientists has discovered. The brain steps in and makes the body feel weary to stop it being overworked, thanks to a signalling molecule that seems to tell the brain when it is time to slow the pace of the body.
Cape Town municipal workers were on Friday morning mopping up after heavy rains caused flooding across the city. Thursday’s rains, which came amid a dry spell and water restrictions for the city, saw certain roads become virtually impassable.
Police and soldiers are manning roadblocks in the Somerset East area of the Eastern Cape to enforce a quarantine following a suspected outbreak of avian influenza. Test results determining the nature of the virus are expected by the end of the week. A particular strain of the avian flu virus can be transmitted to humans.
Torrential rain on Thursday brought chaos to Cape Town, flooding shack areas and roads and causing major traffic snarl-ups. Several people were ferried to higher ground by boat from the aptly named River Club in Observatory when the nearby Liesbeeck River burst its banks. Informal settlements were also affected.
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool on Wednesday welcomed the provincial auditor general’s report into a R227 532 car-allowance overpayment to him, saying the findings are a vindication and manifestation of his commitment to transparency. However, the DA said the report raises two important questions.
A suspected outbreak of avian influenza (bird flu) in the Eastern Cape province has halted all movement of ostriches to the Western Cape until a confirmed diagnosis has been made regarding the cause of serious mortalities at three ostrich farms in the Cradock-Somerset East region of the Eastern Cape.
At any given moment about 25 000 accused have been in prison in South Africa awaiting trial for over three months, and some have been there since 1996. ”Part of the Bill of Rights says that there should be no undue delay in concluding criminal trials. However, the reality is that these unsentenced prisoners often spend 23 hours of the day in a cell, with no rehabilitation, no work and no recreation.”
While the overall composition of the student body at South African higher education institutions is changing to reflect the demographic profile of society, there is no room for complacency, says Minister of Education Naledi Pandor. Women — and particularly black women — are under-represented in a number of key study areas.
Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana has tabled a report in Parliament blaming the PetroSA refinery for a R473-million loss during a shutdown in July 2003. Mushwana’s report clears Minerals and Energy Affairs Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of any misconduct over a controversial labour and maintenance contract that was awarded by the PetroSA refinery last year.
A spokesperson for Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri would on Monday afternoon not confirm or deny a report that she has promised not to grant a licence to stakeholders in the second network operator (SNO) until the entire process is scrutinised in a judicial review.
Dissatisfaction with the way in which business is handling black economic empowerment (BEE) is growing, the South African Communist Party said on Monday. In a statement following Friday’s SACP political bureau meeting, the party said this was because of the ”narrow BEE approaches with which big capital in South Africa is trying to head off the real challenge of significant transformation”.