Journalists at Parliament each received a notice on Wednesday warning them to vacate their offices within the Old Assembly and New Wing buildings by noon on Friday, or face eviction ”without further notice or delay”. The eviction notices were hand delivered by a parliamentary official; most reporters operating out of the institution’s Press Gallery refused to sign for the document.
The Western Cape department of health has asked the Scorpions for help in busting a suspected crime syndicate stealing hospital linen. ”In the past three years we have lost hospital linen to the value of more than R23-million,” provincial minister of health Piet Meyer said on Wednesday.
The Inkatha Freedom Party says it has no intention of ending its Coalition for Change agreement with the Democratic Alliance, even if it is invited to govern KwaZulu-Natal with the ANC. IFP national spokesperson Musa Zondi said on Wednesday that he did not understand what all the ”fuss” was about.
NNP, ANC talk about govt posts
The New National Party and the African National Congress held talks on Tuesday night to discuss the representation of the NNP in the Western Cape government. It is understood that the NNP are unhappy with the offer of two posts in the 11-seat Cabinet.
The United Democratic Movement is to negotiate with the African National Congress regarding a provincial government in KwaZulu-Natal, UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said on Tuesday. Holomisa said he was approached by President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday ”with a view to resolve the stalemate in KwaZulu-Natal”.
In a move that has called into question the freedom of journalists to report on proceedings within its two Houses, Parliament has threatened to evict media organisations from their offices within the parliamentary precinct. The threat came in the form of a letter from Secretary to Parliament Sindiso Mfenyana.
There were virtually no surprises on Tuesday as political parties finalised the names of candidates to be sworn in to the National Assembly on Friday. The African National Congress’s list includes President Thabo Mbeki and Deputy President Jacob Zuma, and there are 21 new faces who will represent the Democratic Alliance.
The jostling over the spoils of Cabinet posts in the Western Cape and possible representation for the New National Party in the national Cabinet will begin this week. The NNP on Monday went out of its way to underscore the point that there was no suggestion of any calls for its leader to resign.
Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi had not been deceitful when he promulgated the controversial immigration regulations, says the Cape High Court. The court was handing down the reasons for ruling in favour of President Thabo Mbeki in his immigration regulations dispute with Buthelezi.
Pick ‘n Pay Stores, one of Africa’s largest food and general merchandise retailers, is expected to post a 20% rise in its fully diluted headline earnings per share for the year to the end of February 2004 when it releases its final results on Tuesday April 20. Dividends for the year are forecast to rise by 17,8%.
Listed furniture, electronic and electric appliance retailer JD Group expects its basic headline earnings per share for the six-month period ending February 29 2004 to be more than 50% higher than those reported for the previous corresponding period.
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Unbowed New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Thursday vowed to continue advocating its reconciliation message as espoused in the coalition agreement with the ruling party. He would do this even though it might not be popular among the electorate.
Special Report: Elections 2004
South Africa’s unit trust industry saw total assets leap to R243-billion in the quarter to the end of March 2004, from R230-billion in the previous quarter, on the back of continuing strong inflows and impressive performances in many sectors for the 12-month period to the end of March.
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As expected, the race for control of the South African provinces of the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal remains tight. In the Western Cape, with 23% of the votes counted, the African National Congress was only slightly ahead of the official opposition Democratic Alliance, with figures indicating that a hung legislature could result.
Special Report: Elections 2004
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Slightly more than 45% of registered voters in the Western Cape had cast their vote by 2.30pm on Wednesday. An Independent Electoral Commission officer said there had been numerous complaints from political parties contesting the elections, and long queues had formed in areas such as Guguletu and Langa.
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Former South African president FW de Klerk, who voted at the Sonop Primary school in Paarl on Wednesday morning, said his old party — the New National Party (NNP) — ”might come up with a surprise” in the national election on Wednesday.
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Election day dawned mild and misty in Cape Town’s southern suburbs on Wednesday, with apparently more people lining up to vote than five years ago. A snap Sapa survey of polling stations in Plumstead, Wynberg and Constantia showed queues starting to form outside the venues from about 6.30am.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe should be held accountable for crimes against humanity, delegates attending the Second World Bar Conference of the Forum for Barristers and Advocates heard in Cape Town on Tuesday.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille has emerged as the favourite opposition politician in South Africa, according to a Markinor survey. The survey also showed the ANC has the backing of 72,3% of registered voters.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk promised jobs, more police officers, teachers, the rapid roll-out of anti-retrovirals and the rights of parents in school governing bodies while touting family values at a rally at Eastridge, Mitchells Plain, on Monday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
Cape High Court prosecutor Carine Teunissen on Thursday called for ”at least 20 years” jail for Mitchell’s Plain magistrate Sithembele Elvis Tebe, who a year ago shot dead an inebriated motorist in a hit-and-run road rage incident in Khayelitsha.
You are a junior nurse and the specialist surgeon constantly makes suggestive advances, but you keep quiet for fear of recrimination — this is the sort of scenario a sexual harassment campaign aims to address at Groote Schuur hospital. The hospital launched its campaign on Thursday.
The messages sent out to South African youths by the government’s loveLife Aids prevention campaign are ”inadequate and dangerous”, says the African Christian Democratic Party. The campaign sends out mixed messages and causes passions to become ”inflamed by their explicit advertising with sexual images”, the ACDP said on Thursday.
Leading international drinks companies Heineken, Diageo and Namibia Breweries have finalised the shareholder agreements for their new joint venture company in South Africa, the companies announced on Thursday. The joint venture combines the sales, marketing and distribution businesses in South Africa of the three shareholders.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has requested the country’s four major commercial banks to introduce a payment validation system on each of their electronic banking applications to prevent incorrect electronic tax payments. Sars said on Wednesday First National Bank will be the first to begin in April.
The results of a survey conducted to find out whether President Thabo Mbeki is doing a good job show that sentiments vary according to race, location and age — but the bottom line is that Mbeki’s popularity is improving. According to the research, 47% of respondents said Mbeki is doing a good job, compared with 27% in February 2002.
Cape High Court Judge Hennie Erasmus on Tuesday afternoon set aside the immigration regulations published by Minister of Home Affairs Mangosuthu Buthelezi. The interim regulations in force before Buthelezi’s immigration regulations were gazetted on March 8 will now continue to remain in force.
The increase at midnight on Tuesday of the retail price of petrol and diesel will further dampen economic growth in South Africa, says official opposition energy spokesperson Ian Davidson. "All taxes and duties that currently make up almost 40% of the fuel price should be reviewed," he said.
Four countries — China, Iran, the United States and Vietnam — accounted for most of the 1 146 known executions carried out around the world last year, says human rights organisation Amnesty International (AI). In a statement on Tuesday to mark the release of its annual report on death sentences and executions, AI said the true figure could be much higher.
The South African Human Rights Commission must protect the national organiser of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), Mangaliso Kubheka, and retract its hate-speech finding against him, the LPM said on Tuesday. Kubheka was reported to have said that LPM members would ”take farms and chase away white farmers like dogs”.
Road accidents are the biggest cause of death in South Africa among children between the ages of four and 15, and a national plan of action is needed to combat this ”epidemic”, Western Cape provincial minister of health Piet Meyer said on Tuesday. He said on average two children die every day on the country’s roads.
A 16-year-old surfer was in a critical but stable condition in the Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic in Cape Town on Monday after he was attacked by a shark off Muizenberg Beach, a spokesperson for the clinic said on Monday. On Monday evening the boy, identified by SABC News as John Paul Andrew, underwent surgery and his condition was critical but stable.