The Cape High Court on Wednesday handed down 19 life sentences for self-confessed serial killer Asande Baninzi. He was convicted of 14 murders, four rapes of hijacking victims and two armed robberies. In addition to the 19 life sentences, Baninzi was further sentenced to 189 years of imprisonment.
The new international La Mercy airport project needs to be driven as expeditiously as possible and the new African National Congress provincial government would like to see the first bricks laid by April 2005 and the project completed by 2009, says new KwaZulu-Natal finance minister Mike Mabuyakhulu.
South African financial services specialist Sterling Waterford Securities is breaking new ground in the international investment field with the planned launch of environmentally linked derivatives. The group’s upcoming carbon credit note issue will be a world first, while also providing the first formal trading facility for environmental derivatives.
The Dutch slave ship Meermin ran aground off the southern Cape coast 236 years ago after an on-board rebellion was almost victorious — now researchers are poised to find her secrets. ”It is the beginning of a larger project to find different slave wrecks around the South African coastline,” said project manager Jaco Boshoff.
A Russian salvage tug was making ready on Tuesday evening to head out to the stricken bulk carrier Cape Africa, which is currently lying 200km west of Hout Bay with a huge tear in her hull. A source in Cape Town harbour said the Nikolay Chiker was discharging 1 000 tons of bunker oil — presumably to make space to take fuel off the Cape Africa.
Salvage experts are hoping that the stricken bulk carrier Cape Africa, currently lying 200km west of Hout Bay, will remain afloat long enough for them to pump out the 1Â 900 tons of heavy fuel oil the ship is carrying. The vessel has a tear 23m long and between 5m and 7m high in her hull.
After weeks of negotiations with the African National Congress, the Inkatha Freedom Party has accepted three ministerial positions in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government. The IFP originally withdrew two of its officials from the provincial executive, announced at the end of April.
New African National Congress Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool has pledged to lobby national government to review the system of political defections — also known as party jumping between elections — which he believes the electorate views with distaste.
Shareholders representing 37,6% of short-term insurer Mutual & Federal’s issued share capital have accepted the R17,02 per share offer from parent Old Mutual plc, far short of the 90% Old Mutual required to succeed in its minority buyout. Old Mutual announced the results of the offer on Monday
A group of about 150 Capetonians, waving posters proclaiming ”Cannabis Can Make Petrol and Paper”, ”Go Green” and ”Grow with the Flow” marched to the gates of Parliament on Saturday afternoon calling for the legalisation of dagga. The marchers released a bunch of green balloons with alien faces drawn on them; these flew over the wall and into the grounds of the parliamentary complex, where they were quickly gathered up by police.
Cape Town judge Siraj Desai, cleared of a rape charge, wants to spend time with his family before dealing with the media, his lawyer said on Friday. An Indian judge on Thursday acquitted Desai, who serves on the Cape bench, of raping Aids worker Salome Isaacs in his Mumbai hotel room three months ago.
Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool on Friday named a male-dominated ten-person cabinet, a team which he said was ”destined to deliver” to the people of the province. ”Our goals are clear: our mandate is decisive,” he said. ”There is much to celebrate. But the work starts immediately.”
An urgent meeting of the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) national council was being held in Durban late on Wednesday evening to discuss the party’s future in national government — after Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi was left out of the new cabinet line-up.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority was on Wednesday waiting for a plan of action to be determined by the Taiwanese owners of a stricken bulk carrier, Cape Africa, currently under tow to a rendezvous point off the Cape coast. On Monday the 270 metre vessel sent out a distress signal after a hole was discovered near the bow of the ship.
A tough municipal by-election in a Chatsworth, Durban, ward will see the African National Congress-aligned Minority Front — led by new KwaZulu-Natal sports MEC Amichand Rajbansi — fight it out to retain a marginal seat from a determined challenge from the official opposition Democratic Alliance.
While Inkatha Freedom Party supporters protested against the declaration of the elections as free and fair, the party leadership continued talks with the African National Congress on setting up a broad-based provincial government in KwaZulu-Natal on Monday.
IFP ‘regrets’ king’s statement
The inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday will be sullied by the attendance of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, the official opposition Democratic Alliance said on Monday. Mugabe was reported to have arrived in South Africa on Sunday.
The circus is over, newly elected Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Monday in his inaugural speech in the provincial legislature where he, together with a new speaker, deputy speaker and 42 other MPLs were sworn in. Rasool said the possibilities are greater than ever before for having a dignified and stable provincial government.
Morkel loses bid for W Cape seat
The official opposition Democratic Alliance has selected its team representing the nine provinces in the National Council of Provinces but former Western Cape premier and former Cape Town mayor Gerald Morkel failed to be selected for one of two Western Cape seats available.
Food retailer Shoprite Holdings will be announcing a black economic empowerment (BEE) initiative with the Department of Trade and Industry’s credit facilitation agency for small and medium enterprises, Khula Enterprise Finance, on Wednesday. Shoprite said the business venture will create positive spin-offs for BEE in South Africa.
The Inkatha Freedom Party’s specially convened national council meeting late on Saturday evening endorsed the withdrawal of two of its officials appointed to the KwaZulu-Natal provincial cabinet by Premier S’bu Ndebele. Earlier on Saturday the IFP said the two ministers were appointed without the party’s approval.
South Africa’s new Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete — elected unopposed by Assembly members on Friday — says she hopes to contribute ideas on how to ”jack up” the debate in the 400-member assembly — possibly without the aid of written texts that are then read out.
Baleka Mbete, previously known as Baleka Mbete-Kgositsile, was elected unopposed to the position of Speaker in the National Assembly on Friday, where the process of swearing in of MPs was in full swing. Gwendoline Lindiwe (Gwen) Mahlangu was elected as the Deputy Speaker, succeeding Mbete.
New Speaker wants more natural debate
African National Congress leader Thabo Mbeki has been re-elected as President of the Republic of South Africa for his second term by the National Assembly. He was elected unopposed on Friday after nominations were called for by Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=58684">Where will Ginwala go?</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=58668">Mbete, Mahlangu elected to top posts</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=58678">New Speaker wants more natural debate</a>
Former speaker of the National Assembly Frene Ginwala looks set to be deployed by the organisation but her decision not to take the oath of office as a newly re-elected MP on Friday appears not to have been the decision of the ruling African National Congress.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=58668">Mbete, Mahlangu elected to top posts</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=58678">New Speaker wants more natural debate</a>
Talks between the African National Congress and Inkatha Freedom Party on an ”ANC-led broad-based government” continued on Friday ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of MPLs in Pietermaritzburg. IFP national spokesperson Musa Zondi said ahead of the ceremony that both parties were in caucus and no decision had been made.
The African Christian Democratic Party will throw its weight behind the African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal but only under certain conditions, the party announced on Thursday. Before the election, the ACDP supported the IFP in principle in the legislature, as it had the majority support of the province’s voters.
Frene Ginwala, who has been Speaker of the National Assembly for the past 10 years since democracy, got the axe on Thursday from ruling African National Congress MPs. The speaker will be replaced by the Deputy Speaker, Baleka Mbete, who has served in that position since the first Parliament.
The African National Congress on Thursday rejected suggestions the party is behind moves to evict journalists from their offices in the parliamentary precincts. Vienna-based International Press Institute director Johann Fritz on Wednesday suggested the "size of the ANC’s majority means it no longer needs to worry about the media".
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=34512">’Media need proper access'</a>
There was excitement and relief in the halls of Parliament on Thursday as MPs arrived to register for the third term of the African National Congress government. Pamela Mnandi, an ANC MP from KwaZulu-Natal, said the third term of government would represent her ”liberation” from the Inkatha Freedom Party’s rule in her home province.
The Independent Democrats and the Vienna-based International Press Institute added their voices on Wednesday to those condemning Parliament’s moves to evict the media from their offices in the institution. Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille said the party was ”shocked” by the moves.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress named its candidates for premiers in the nine provinces on Wednesday night, after a national working committee meeting was held in the Mother City. It is the first time that candidates have only been named after the election.