The Independent Democrats (ID) were riding high on the eve of the floor-crossing window on Friday after Cape High Court judges rejected bids by four would-be deserters to hang on to their seats until midnight. Judge Dennis Davis turned down an application by former ID general secretary Avril Harding to have his summary expulsion from the party reversed.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is a South African heroine and a true and devoted servant of the masses, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. The recent sustained and merciless propaganda assault against her was frightening, and ”belongs to wild animals”, he said in his weekly online newsletter, ANC Today.
Piet Bothma, the suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court in connection with the Fidentia saga. It was Bothma’s second court appearance. He was recently arrested as a third suspect in the affair.
A Cape High Court judge on Friday criticised what he called ”unseemly political horse-trading” ahead of the floor-crossing window, and said it resembled transfer season in the English Premiership. Dennis Davis made the remarks before rejecting an application by the former general secretary of the Independent Democrats to overturn his expulsion from the party.
A magistrate had misdirected himself in finding that the ”exceptional circumstances” needed for Najwa Petersen to get bail did not exist, the Cape High Court was told on Friday. Petersen, who was not in court, is appealing against last month’s decision by Wynberg regional magistrate Robert Henney to refuse her bail.
Small business owners have until 1pm on Saturday to submit their 2006 tax return and financial statements in support of their applications for the small business tax amnesty. ”The South African Revenue Service [Sars] is encouraged by the number of queries and visits to our offices in the past week,” it said on Friday.
The African National Congress MPs who had pleaded guilty to Travelgate crimes should be dismissed, not demoted, says Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader Sandra Botha. ”They should not be allowed to remain in those positions of responsibility and trust at all,” she said on Friday.
The Independent Democrats (ID) won another round in the floor-crossing battle on Thursday when the Cape High Court refused to overturn the expulsion from the party of Cape Town city councillor Achmat Williams. Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso also rejected Williams’s bid to delay his appeal hearing against the expulsion.
Despite persistent incredulous questioning by opposition parties, President Thabo Mbeki insisted on Thursday that the Zimbabwean government, the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change and representatives of civil society are engaged in talks that will produce conditions for holding free and fair elections next March in an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity.
A Western Cape headmaster, charged with three counts of indecently assaulting young girls, was found not guilty in the Parow Sexual Offences Court on Thursday. Christiaan Abrahams (56), principal of The Hague Primary School in Delft on the Cape Flats, was also acquitted on three charges of possession of child pornography.
South Africa fears tourists could fall prey to armed robbers, many from neighbouring states, at the 2010 Soccer World Cup, a government minister said on Thursday. Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told reporters the region’s police chiefs are trying to tackle cross-border crime.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has withdrawn its request to the Public Protector to investigate whether President Thabo Mbeki intervened to assure a liver transplant for Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Party leader Helen Zille said on Thursday she made the decision after meeting Mbeki earlier in the week.
South Africa is facing the possibility of state Aids patients developing ”major resistance” to currently prescribed antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, Health Director General Thami Mseleku said on Thursday. ”The challenge is going to be huge,” he told a parliamentary media briefing.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) is set to entrench its political dominance with a 15-day window period opening this week to allow elected officials to swap party allegiance without losing their seats. The opposition is likely to be further fragmented as representatives at the national, provincial and municipal government levels are free to cross the floor.
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) on Wednesday submitted a formal complaint about alleged fraud, theft and corruption at Parliament to the Public Protector and the National Prosecuting Authority. The complaint deals with contracts awarded to African Strategic Asset Protection for revamping and maintaining Parliament’s access and security system.
Want to know when you can play the Lotto again? Don’t ask Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa — apparently you are not allowed to. A senior government communications official on Wednesday told reporters they could not ask any questions about the suspended National Lottery when Mpahlwa appeared at a briefing.
Controversial Cape Town councillor Badih Chaaban offered the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Western Cape leader Theuns Botha R200 000 in cash and a woman in a floor-crossing bribe, Botha said on Wednesday. However, Chaaban has denied the claim, saying it was in fact Botha who proposed the payment.
The United States Africa Command (Africom) should stay out of the African continent, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Wednesday. Africom was not really a new development, as the US has always had some kind of focus on the African continent, he told a media briefing in Cape Town.
South Africa is at the forefront of research into so-called clean-coal technology, aimed at reducing the huge volumes of greenhouse gases emitted by its power stations, MPs heard on Wednesday. The country’s high-quality coal was mined out, leaving more environmentally harmful, lower-grade coal for use in the country’s power plants, MPs were told.
President Thabo Mbeki and Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille met in Cape Town on Tuesday to discuss a range of current issues. These included crime, skills shortages, floor-crossing and the dismissal of former deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge.
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille and Independent Democrats (ID) leader Patricia de Lille put up a united front on Tuesday against the floor-crossing onslaught of controversial city councillor Badhi Chaaban. Chaaban is facing a disciplinary inquiry over claims that he offered ID and Democratic Alliance councillors cash and positions to join his yet-to-be-formed party.
The NPA is appointing 18 dedicated advocates and prosecutors to focus exclusively on organised crime in the Western Cape.
South Africa’s demand for fresh water will exceed its supply by 2025, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warned on Tuesday. Urgent and immediate action must be taken to stave off massive social, economic and environmental damage, the conservation organisation said in a statement, released at the launch of the WWF Sanlam Living Water Partnership in Cape Town.
Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi has rejected suggestions the government is seeking to create one public-service administration for all tiers of government. ”What the initiative seeks to do is to harmonise the conditions of service across government, so that government is able to work better,” she said on Tuesday.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) failed to pose critical questions when reporting on the South African Communist Party ‘s (SACP) R500 000 missing donation saga, MPs heard on Tuesday. SACP member Sizwe Shezi told the National Assembly’s communication committee that the public broadcaster’s current reporting style left much to be desired.
Fraud, theft and unauthorised spending are on the rise in government departments, according to a Public Service Commission (PSC) report tabled at Parliament on Tuesday. The PSC’s Report on Financial Misconduct for the 2005/06 Financial Year says this cost the taxpayer at least R45-million at the time.
A Cape Town city councillor on Monday lost a high court bid to keep his Independent Democrats seat as floor-crossing fever hotted up in the city. Cape Town mayor and Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille was scheduled to meet her ID counterpart, Patricia de Lille, on Tuesday afternoon to discuss floor-crossing.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday welcomed the dismissal of Central Karoo district municipality manager Truman Prince, saying it had lost confidence in the controversial politician. DA Western Cape chairperson Theuns Botha said the party was glad Prince has been ousted.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union has called off its planned strike in Cape Town following a Labour Court ruling on Monday that the action would be unlawful. The strike, in protest against what the union claimed was unilateral staff restructuring by the city, was to have started at midnight.
Confusion and a lack of communication among prison officials on Monday led to a delay in the start of former Hard Livings gang leader Rashied Staggie’s murder trial in the Cape High Court. The chaos also caused a frustrated Judge Nathan Erasmus to warn all involved that he would not tolerate unnecessary delays.
Former South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) director general and sports commentator Steve de Villiers died in Johannesburg on Monday after a lengthy illness, his family said. He was 84. De Villiers’s career in broadcasting spanned more than 40 years.
The national office of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has once again called its Western Cape region to order, this time over a call to boycott all Chinese imports. Last week, the region called on its members and working-class communities ”to not purchase Chinese-made products”.