The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) expects about 20Â 000 public servants to take part in Friday’s march through central Cape Town, the first called by the federation in the city since last year’s security sector protest. That event was marred by looting, violence and damage to public and private property before it was broken up by police.
South Africa’s central bank was closely watching whether another round of oil and food price increases widens inflation, and it would take action if this occured, Governor Tito Mboweni said on Wednesday. ”If we see second-round effects coming through it is prudent for the central bank to tighten monetary policy,” Mboweni said in a speech in Cape Town.
Sandra Botha has beaten her rival, former National Party minister Tertius Delport, for the post of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. Finance spokesperson Ian Davidson was elected unopposed for chief whip after KwaZulu-Natal leader Mike Ellis withdrew from the contest.
The African National Congress (ANC) has retained a key seat in a municipal by-election in the Theewaterskloof municipal area while it lost a seat to an independent in the Western Cape’s Saldanha Bay. The independent candidate was backed by the Independent Democrats and Democratic Alliance.
The City of Cape Town on Wednesday unveiled a two-year plan to provide essential services to all 222 informal settlements within its boundary. The plan, which would see every household given access to water, sanitation and area lighting, would cost R63,4-million, Mayor Helen Zille told a media briefing.
South Africa’s health minister said on Wednesday she favoured expanding access to HIV/Aids treatments in her first public appearance since having a liver transplant. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said making HIV-treatment and support programmes more available to those infected with the virus was the linchpin of the government’s prevention strategy.
Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Wednesday he is ”in the dark” about a proposed R12-billion monorail between Soweto and Johannesburg. The first he knew about the project was when he read about it in the media. The Gauteng provincial government did not ”consult, discuss or seek our approval” for the project, he said.
The controversial new electronic traffic information system (eNaTIS) is performing transactions twice as fast as the system it replaced, MPs heard on Wednesday. It is currently operating at an average rate of 619Â 000 transactions a day, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe told members of Parliament’s transport portfolio committee.
South Africa will beef up security for tourists for the 2010 Soccer World Cup to ensure visitors are shielded from the country’s notoriously high crime rates, the country’s tourism chief said on Wednesday. The continent’s economic powerhouse, which has among the world’s highest incidence of murder and rape, is battling perceptions that it is unsafe.
The Democratic Alliance parliamentary caucus will hold elections for a caucus leader on Thursday. ”This is an important position as the caucus leader will also be the leader of the official opposition in Parliament, who must represent over two million DA voters countrywide,” the party’s leader Helen Zille said in a statement on Wednesday
A merger of the Eastern and Western Cape could be good news for both provinces, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Tuesday. This would resolve the issues of shrinking allocations to the Western Cape and poor delivery in its neighbour, he told the provincial legislature.
Marketing company Glomail has withdrawn a South African television advertisement for a supposed memory-training programme that has already run foul of United States regulators. The withdrawal follows a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about an infomercial broadcast for American Kevin Trudeau’s ”Mega Memory System”.
The long-awaited Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill was finally adopted by the National Assembly on Tuesday, several months after it was debated in the House. The Bill’s primary purpose is to extend protection and treatment provision to victims of rape, MPs were told.
Interest shown by synthetic-fuel firm Sasol in the pebble-bed modular reactor is evidence of private-sector interest in nuclear power, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin argued on Tuesday. He was speaking in his policy debate in the National Council of Provinces.
It was ”pretty certain” that a second person would join Hard Livings gang boss Rashied Staggie in the dock on a murder charge, the Cape High Court heard on Tuesday. Prosecutor Anthony Stephen made the announcement when he applied — successfully — for the case against Staggie to be postponed to August 27.
The Department of Home Affairs has brought in experts to push the department’s turnaround strategy, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Tuesday. Briefing the media, Mapisa-Nqakula said the task team, comprising experts from both the private and public sector, would bring radical changes to the department.
Newly appointed Home Affairs director general Mavuso Msimang has downplayed the gravity of sexual harassment charges hanging over his head, saying they do not give him any ”sleepless nights”. Briefing the media in Cape Town on Tuesday, Msimang said the allegations would not affect his duties.
Fidentia’s curators took another bite out of J Arthur Brown’s empire on Monday when they secured control over the multimillion-rand Facets property in Cape Town’s Century City. The curators were granted an order by Cape High Court Judge Daniel Dlodlo putting the property, registered in the name of the Brown family trust, into their hands.
Trade relations between South Africa and the People’s Republic of China were the subject of discussions in Beijing on Monday between Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and her Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi. ”The ministers discussed the strengthening of political and economic relations,” South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs said.
The Home Affairs Department has introduced a new ”track-and-trace” system to help fight corruption and speed up delivery of identity documents (ID). ”The new system allows us to know who has done what every step of the way, whether they have acted efficiently and properly,” Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Monday.
More than 800 people were forced to evacuate their homes by the stormy weather that hit Cape Town on the weekend, the city’s disaster risk management centre said on Monday. And the South African Weather Service said more bad weather is on the way. Forecaster Stella Nake said Cape Town should expect another cold front on Thursday.
An enormous gulf exists between the levels of service provided by different provinces, a Democratic Alliance (DA) study has found. ”If you are poor and reliant on the state for health, education and housing, the best provinces to live in are the Western Cape, Gauteng and the North West,” DA spokesperson Willem Doman said on Monday.
The Independent Democrats (ID) in Cape Town called an emergency caucus on Monday to discuss the impact of the draft budget on the 406 739 households across the city. A report reveals that 52% of households would experience increases between 15% and 50% in rates and tariffs, the ID said.
Flanker Luke Watson kept his place on Sunday in a revised Springbok squad for the first Test against England on May 26 while Bulls flyhalf Derick Hougaard was added as cover for the injured Andre Pretorius. Hougaard’s inclusion came an hour after officials released details of a squad that had been reduced from 46 to 37 players. The addition of Hougaard made it 38.
Shavaan Marlie (25) and Clinton Davids (23) were each sentenced on Monday to an effective 28 years in prison for the murders last year of actor Brett Goldin and fashion designer Richard Bloom. The men were sentenced in terms of a plea bargain finalised in the Cape High Court.
The trial of two men charged with the murder in April last year of actor Brett Goldin and fashion designer Richard Bloom is scheduled to start in the Cape High Court on Monday. Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe on March 5 postponed the trial to Monday.
Predatory imported fish including trout, bass and carp are crowding out many local species in one of the few places in the world still rich in biodiversity. Introduced in the 18th century and popular with both local and foreign anglers, these fish form an integral part of a burgeoning recreational fishing industry.
About 300 people are vying for vehicles, printing and office equipment on offer in Cape Town on Saturday in the first auction of assets of financial-services company Fidentia Holdings. ”There is no place for anybody to sit,” said an Auction Alliance employee, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Male circumcision should not be seen as a ”silver bullet” in fighting HIV infection, University of Cape Town researchers said in a paper published in the latest issue of the South African Medical Journal. The evidence for the preventive benefit of male circumcision is ”rather modest”, humanities student Alex Myers and co-author, public health professor Jonny Myers, said.
South Africa will make it easier for black people to buy predominantly white-owned farms under a controversial land-redistribution programme, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Lulama Xingwana said on Friday. South Africa’s government has vowed to give its black majority a 30% slice of the country’s farmland by the end of 2014.
Businesswoman Danisa Baloyi has repaid an interest-free loan of just less than R8-million she received from financial services company Fidentia Holdings, her spokesperson Dominic Ntsele confirmed on Friday. He said the amount, of R7,95-million, was repaid to Fidentia’s curators on Wednesday, in the form of two bank cheques.
South Africa must do much more to train and create a public service that meets the highest professional standards and ”that is proud of the fact that it exists to serve the people”, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. While he does not refer to the upcoming national strike, he clearly has this in mind when he refers to the need for public servants to be ”patriotic and selfless”.