Departmental budget votes are scheduled to dominate the next few weeks of parliamentary activity following the official opening of Parliament by President Thabo Mbeki — and the delivery of the State of the Nation address — on Friday. The State of the Nation address will be debated next week.
Manager of the Table Mountain National Park Brett Myrdal has received death threats in the wake of the park’s decision to shoot the Himalayan tahrs on the mountain. Park spokesperson Fiona Kalk confirmed on Thursday that Myrdal was threatened on Wednesday that ”if one single tahr is murdered, you will be next”.
Although the consensus view among economists and financial-market participants is that interest rates in South Africa will rise in the second half of 2004 in reaction to expected higher inflation, there is a case to be made for the possibility of the next move in interest rates being down rather than up, according to a Sanlam economist.
The International Wildlife Trust which offered to help pay for the relocation of Table Mountain’s Himalayan tahrs says the decision to shoot them is ”an absolute disgrace”. The Marchig Animal Welfare Trust said some time ago it would help fund the animals’ removal to a private game reserve if a permit for their relocation was obtained.
Key opposition parties in the South African Parliament are expecting President Thabo Mbeki not to divert too much from his State of the Nation address delivered in February when he reopens the newly elected Parliament on Friday. A Democratic Alliance spokesperson said "he probably won’t mention HIV/Aids or escalating crime levels".
The vuvuzela, the braying trumpet which has become an ubiquitous symbol of South African soccer, will in future be fully trademarked to prevent its inventor being ripped off, SAB-Miller said on Wednesday. The beer company will give entrepreneur Neil van Schalkwyk legal and mentoring aid.
The thorny issue of the Table Mountain tahrs may be headed for court again following a threat by the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) to seek an urgent interdict. NSPCA executive director Marcelle Meredith labelled South African National Parks’ decision to cull the goat-like creatures "maverick slaughter".
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66496">Tahrs to die a ‘slow death'</a>
Newly appointed Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk is to visit the Eastern Cape’s Pondoland coast to assess the impact a plan to mine titanium from sand dunes will have on the area, known for its biodiversity and scenic beauty.
The New National Party’s federal council is to meet in three weeks — on Saturday June 5 — to assess the party’s future after its poor showing in the national and provincial elections. A newspaper report on Tuesday said the Free State region of the party will motivate that the party should disband.
South African satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys was on Monday night awarded a prestigious Obie at the 49th Annual Village Voice Obie Awards held in New York. This coveted Off-Broadway accolade was presented to Uys for his one-man show Foreign Aids that he performed at the legendary La Mama Theatre last year.
The likelihood of sharpshooters achieving clean and humane kills of Table Mountain tahr is more a matter of luck than good judgement, according to an affidavit by a firearms expert. ”It can be expected that a great many will be injured or wounded, although they may later die from blood loss from wounds or from infections,” said Cape Town security consultant Francois van der Merwe.
As the government’s national roll-out of anti-retrovirals (ARVs) intensifies, there is growing concern that the available sources of supply — including the only South African company manufacturing generic ARVs, Aspen Pharmacare — could be pressurised by the demand.
Two of South Africa’s biggest employers have committed themselves to supporting HIV/Aids vaccine research and development by collectively donating R4-million to the South African Aids Vaccine Initiative. Impala Platinum Holdings will invest R2,5-million over five years while Transnet donated R1,5-million.
With almost 1 900 tons of bunker fuel removed from the holed bulk carrier Cape Africa, salvors are expecting the vessel to enter the safety of False Bay by Tuesday. The vessel was on Monday morning still under tow, stern first, by the salvage tug Smit Amandla.
The eThekwini (Durban) municipality is planning a national conference on cemeteries and land to address the shortage of space for burial grounds, the head of cemetery services said on Friday. The municipality is also looking at alternatives to cremation, even freezing and shattering bodies.
Reflecting on worldwide celebrations that marked South Africa’s 10 years of democracy, President Thabo Mbeki said the world must unite to give meaning to the concepts of humanity and hope. He said South Africa’s past and present challenges are ones that many other countries around the world are also facing.
South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has launched the government’s Domestic Tourism Growth Strategy, a three-year plan aimed at encouraging South Africans to travel more frequently in their own country. The strategy was unveiled at the Tourism Indaba 2004 in Durban this week.
The draft information communications technology (ICT) empowerment charter needs substantial changes to prevent significant additional costs to foreign investments in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. Stakeholders are to meet on Friday to finalise black empowerment goals in the ICT sector.
Three Cape Flats community leaders, including former gangster Rashied Staggie, were effectively jailed for 13 years on Wednesday for a burglary at the Faure police armoury six years ago. Staggie’s sentence will run concurrently with the 15 years he got last year in the Cape High Court for rape.
The Food and Allied Workers Union will meet Parmalat South Africa management next week to get clarity on a plan designed to restructure the Italian diary giant, brought to the brink of liquidation by allegations of fraud and corruption. Parmalat was last year declared insolvent and placed under supervision of turnaround expert Enrico Bondi.
South African Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin has been urged by the official opposition to break his silence on the government’s privatisation plans. A Democratic Alliance spokesperson said: "Too many contradictory messages have been sent into the market place and investors are rightly feeling confused and uncertain."
The health-care industry in South Africa is in a similar position to commercial farming in Zimbabwe, the Board of Healthcare Funders conference was told on Monday. Sunter said private health care in South Africa is at present ”exclusive and efficient”, meaning that only a small percentage of the population receives efficient health care.
The first phase of a precarious salvage operation commenced at first light on Tuesday, with bunker fuel being pumped from the holed bulk carrier Cape Africa to the tanks of the salvage tug Nikolay Chiker. ”A pumping rate of approximately 50 tons per hour is currently being achieved and the operation will continue day and night, weather and swell permitting,” the joint operations committee said on Tuesday.
As part of the unbundling of listed black empowerment group New Africa Investments, its subsidiary New Africa Publications Magazines Limited has been sold to unlisted publishing house Cape Media for an undisclosed sum. Announcing the sale on Tuesday, Nail said the main asset in the company is business publication, <i>Leadership</i>.
Ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide has asked to visit South Africa ”until his personal situation normalises”, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced on Monday. Dlamini-Zuma said she would, this week, table the request at the first session of the Cabinet.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela said it was his wish that South Africans never gave up on the belief in goodness.
A heavy swell of about 4m, predicted for Saturday as well, hampered salvage efforts on Friday to start a ship-to-ship oil transfer from the stricken bulk carrier Cape Africa off the coast of Cape Town. Earlier the day, salvage personnel prepared for the transfer to start during the daylight hours of Friday or Saturday.
The removal of Himalayan tahrs from Table Mountain National Park will go ahead following the end of a legal challenge, park manager Brett Myrdal said on Thursday. ”In order for klipspringers to come back onto Table Mountain we do need to remove tahrs,” he said.
Former state president PW Botha has rejected a claim that he encouraged a right-wing coup plotter to leave politics and "get a movement with an iron fist". State witness Lourens du Plessis earlier testified at the Boeremag treason trial in Pretoria that he had visited Botha in 2001 to discuss the political situation in the country.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=65906">PW Botha ‘advised right-wingers'</a>
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has appointed a member from its own ranks to fill the post of chairperson of the key parliamentary watchdog committee, the standing committee on public accounts. Traditionally the public accounts committee has been chaired by a member of an opposition party.
The Democratic Alliance is facing a court challenge from the trustees of German fraudster Jurgen Harksen’s estate over a donation to the party from the mysterious ”Hans”. The trustees say Hans, who according to evidence before the Desai Commission gave 99 000 Deutschmarks to the DA, was in fact Harksen.
A leading climatologist has warned that the government should take a long-term view of changing climate conditions, or face potential consequences that could ”seriously compound” the existing challenges facing South Africa. Government is aware of it, but needs to recognise this as a long term issue of seriousness,” said Professor Bruce Hewitson.