After a decade of optimism and growth, many South African cities now face new challenges compared with competing international locations, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. These include perceptions of instability and uncertainty, growing urban poverty, increased crime, conflict and corruption, she told the United Nations.
Theatre personality Taliep Petersen and his wife, Najwa, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering him, were a loving couple, the Cape High Court was told on Wednesday. However, at the time of his death they were sleeping in separate bedrooms, and he was talking about ”getting another place”.
South Africa should use its powerful position on the United Nations Security Council to put the Zimbabwean election saga on the international body’s agenda, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Wednesday. Zille, who is currently in New York, said in a statement she would meet South Africa’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Najwa Petersen on Wednesday formally pleaded not guilty to the murder of her entertainer husband, Taliep. Taliep was shot in the couple’s Athlone, Cape Town, home in December 2006; his wife is standing trial in the Cape High Court along with three men the state claims she hired to carry out the killing.
South Africa’s conservation areas are facing ”real and urgent” threats, and first world countries must do more to help, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Wednesday. As a result of climate change, the Kruger National Park could experience more intense rainfall interspersed with longer dry spells, he said.
A new World Bank and International Monetary Fund report warns that most countries in Africa will not meet most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) due by 2015. While there has been strong growth in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the region is still likely to fall short of the first goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015.
Several major companies in India looking to expand their global footprint have shown ”serious interest” in investing at Coega, the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) said on Tuesday. The CDC said it had recently met 22 companies in Thailand and India to discuss investment.
The City of Cape Town has launched a high court challenge to the legality of the Erasmus commission, city speaker Dirk Smit announced on Tuesday. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool last year to probe the city’s own investigation of renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.
West-coast shellfish, including mussels, oysters and perlemoen, should not be collected and eaten because they are toxic, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism warned on Tuesday. Tests on perlemoen collected at Melkbosstrand had revealed low levels of a toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning.
Opposition parties on Monday criticised President Thabo Mbeki’s assessment of Zimbabwe’s elections. Mbeki’s remarks, made in Britain on Sunday, indicated he was either woefully out of touch with reality in Zimbabwe or he was attempting to ”deliberately mislead the world’s media”, the Democratic Alliance’s Dianne Kohler-Barnard said.
The trial of Najwa Petersen, accused of murdering her entertainer husband, Taliep, has been delayed yet again — this time by a clash over how much information she needs about the charges she faces. The case got under way in the Cape High Court on Monday, but Judge Siraj Desai sat for less than two hours before postponing it to Wednesday.
The murder trial of Najwa Petersen started in Cape Town on Monday with her advocate demanding that the state provide more details of the allegations against her. Klaus von Lieres und Wilkau brought the application before Petersen and her three co-accused were asked to plead in the Cape High Court.
The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) on Friday called for Eskom’s proposed electricity tariff increase to be put on hold for further consultation. The process should be delayed to allow for urgent consultation on possible alternatives and the socio-economic impact of the increase, Nedlac said.
The South African government needs to ratify an international treaty on preventing torture, South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) chief executive Tseliso Thipanyane said on Friday. Thipanyane said he is concerned about the government’s ”terrible attitude” towards the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille on Friday accused the African National Congress (ANC) of shutting down the space for free and informed debate. Writing in her weekly newsletter, Zille said recent events suggested the image of openness that ANC president Jacob Zuma was cultivating was just a smokescreen for closing down the public space.
The Presidency and Justice Ministry on Friday claimed to have no knowledge of Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy’s attempts to resign. They also claimed to know nothing about President Thabo Mbeki’s reported refusal to accept the resignation letter. ”There’s no such thing,” said Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga.
Torture and inhumane treatment in prisons was ”a casualty of Africa’s war on crime” international human rights expert Mumba Malila told a conference in Cape Town on Thursday. Malila is special rapporteur on prisons for the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The city of Cape Town says it is to strengthen oversight of its metro police, following reports of indiscipline and alleged brutality. A task team, chaired by city manager Achmat Ebrahim, would be set up to perform this oversight, the city said in a statement on Thursday.
The deadline for public comments on Eskom’s proposed massive tariff hike is April 29, and there will be a public hearing a month later, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa said on Wednesday. Eskom, which was granted a 14,2% increase at the end of last year, is now seeking a 53% hike.
African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Gwede Mantashe has agreed to meet the Democratic Alliance (DA) to discuss the future of the Scorpions, DA leader Helen Zille said on Wednesday. ”Unfortunately, Mr Mantashe’s letter indicates that [ANC president] Jacob Zuma will not be attending the meeting, as I originally requested,” she said in a statement.
Shortages of steel and massive price hikes mean that there will be a delay in moving thousands of Delft evictees to temporary homes, Cape Town mayoral committee member for housing Dan Plato said on Wednesday. He said the ”three- or four-week” time frame that the city originally set for the move had already lapsed, and that it could now take months.
A Cape Town councillor who allegedly encouraged the invasion of new homes at Delft on the Cape Flats is to go before a disciplinary committee, city speaker Dirk Smit said on Tuesday. Smit said in a statement that he had completed his own probe into whether the councillor, Frank Martin, had breached the councillors’ code of conduct.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s allies have rallied to his defence in the wake of University of South Africa rector Barney Pityana’s indictment of his character on Monday. The Young Communist League said it had noted the ”disrespectful and dastardly remarks made by the deplorable” rector.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma has failed to inspire confidence during his first few months at the party’s helm, says University of South Africa rector Barney Pityana. ”We now enter a new era. It is a time shrouded in anxiety and uncertainty with the looming presidency of Jacob Zuma and a new assertive leadership of the ANC,” he said on Monday.
Siyabonga Nqakula was on Monday effectively given a sentence of a R10Â 000 fine or six months in prison on a charge of drunken driving. Nqakula’s father is Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula and his mother Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
The Department of Education is to investigate the extent of racism and other forms of discrimination in higher education, it said on Monday. A ministerial committee is expected to look into discrimination based on gender, ethnicity and disability, with a particular focus on university residences, said spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele in a statement.
South Africa plans to boost livestock and crop production by up to 15% in the next two to five years and help tame soaring food inflation, an agriculture official said on Monday. Priscilla Sehoole, chief communication officer at the Department of Agriculture said the government was ”confident” it would achieve its expansion targets.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Monday again asked African National Congress president Jacob Zuma for a meeting to discuss the Scorpions’ future. ”In a press interview published on the weekend, Jacob Zuma declared that he is willing to ‘debate anything’ — even the future of the Scorpions,” said Zille.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday called for a constitutional amendment to grant school principals the power to appoint teachers. Presenting proposals on education, party spokesperson George Boinamo said school principals could only be held accountable for the performance of their schools if they were given the power to hire and fire teachers.
Siyabonga Nqakula, son of the Minister of Safety and Security, was on Monday found guilty in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. The charge stemmed from a late night head-on collision in the Cape Town CBD in March last year.
The Presidency and the African National Congress moved on Friday to dispel Democratic Alliance (DA) allegations over President Thabo Mbeki’s refusal to release the Khampepe commission’s report on the Scorpions. There was no intention to ”cover up” the report as alleged by DA leader Helen Zille, the Presidency said.
President Thabo Mbeki and African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma have established a ”solid working relationship”, the ANC said on Friday. ”Contrary to some expectations, a solid working relationship has been established, with the president of the Republic interacting regularly with the officials,” ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said.