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”.
The rejection of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report by South Africa has come as no surprise as it is consistent with the government’s "depressing habit" of shooting the bearer of bad news, says official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille.
Denel has landed the biggest contract in its 16-year history, to supply the South African National Defence Force with 264 infantry combat vehicles worth about R8-billion, Denel CEO Shaun Liebenberg announced on Thursday. The contract was about three years in the making, he told a media briefing.
The Legal Resources Centre (LRC), which has been championing the Richtersvelders’ land claim for almost a decade, announced on Thursday it would no longer be acting for the community. The news follows last month’s decision by community leaders, acting against the LRC’s advice, to sign a settlement agreement with Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin.
State diamond-mining company Alexkor will have to mothball some of its activities if the Richtersveld land claim is not settled, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Thursday. He also hit out at the community’s legal firm over its opposition to a settlement agreement signed by himself and community leaders last month.
The municipality of Matatiele seems likely to stay in the Eastern Cape, according to Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi. Briefing the media on Thursday following Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting the day before, he said new draft legislation would re-affirm the current cross-boundary arrangements as they are now.
The South African Cabinet has dismissed as ”misleading” media reports that the government has rejected the African Peer Review Mechanism country review report on South Africa, government communications head Themba Maseko said on Thursday.
A row over selection for the national training squad has overshadowed what should be South Africa’s biggest week of celebration since the Springboks won the World Cup on home soil in 1995. Durban’s Sharks and the Bulls from Pretoria contest the first all-South African Super 14 final on Saturday before a 54Â 000-strong sell-out crowd in Durban.
Thousands of African National Congress (ANC) demonstrators gathered at the civic centre in Cape Town on Wednesday to protest against the Democratic Alliance-led (DA) city council. ”March against DA council’s high rates, service cut-offs, pink letters and evictions,” read a pamphlet distributed to the protesters.
MPs serving on the National Assembly public enterprises portfolio committee have been told that the establishment of a new state-owned company, Infraco, would allow for massively reduced costs of access to broadband in future. If the Infraco model were adopted, it could cut prices immediately by 65%.
Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile has warned against complacency in the Rugby World Cup in France in September after South Africa’s success in the Super 14 competition. Meanwhile, the official World Cup trophy stimulated nostalgia in South Africa where it arrived on Wednesday for a two-day visit.
A Johannesburg man who joked on board a kulula.com aircraft about hijacking the plane is to go on trial in the Bellville Regional Court in October. The case was on Wednesday transferred from the Bellville Magistrate’s Court to the regional court, when Mncedisi Eric Maluleka (32) made his fourth appearance since his arrest in October last year.
Good progress is being made in establishing a ”special-purpose vehicle” to speed up and ensure effective land reform, Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana said on Tuesday. She said the matter was still under discussion, but would hopefully go to the Cabinet for approval in a month’s time.
The legislative framework underpinning South Africa’s labour market "is sound" and shall not be altered, South African Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Tuesday. He was speaking in his budget vote in an extended public committee in the National Assembly.
The government has vowed to banish the bucket system by year-end, but on January 1 there will remain many South Africans who have no choice but to use this system of sewage disposal. Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Lindiwe Hendricks said on Tuesday that there are still 15,3 million people without access to basic sanitation services.
Increasing numbers of South Africans are taking sick leave because of psychological illness, costing companies over R1-billion a year, management consultants said on Tuesday. ”R1,2-billion … was lost by companies who had to pay the direct costs of sick leave due to psychological reasons,” said Johnny Johnson of Corporate Absenteeism Management Solutions.
Exploitative wages in the hospitality industry will be outlawed following the Labour Department’s announcement on Monday that minimum wages for workers in the sector will be introduced in July. Briefing the media in Cape Town, Deputy Director General of Labour Les Kettledas said the wages will apply to all the sector’s entities across the country.
The six companies singled out last year by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana for failing to comply with employment-equity legislation still continue to defy the law, the Labour Department said on Monday, describing as ”horrifying” the extent to which the companies are disobeying the Employment Equity Act.
The heads of education committee moved on Monday to quash ”misleading reports” on the draft Education Laws Amendment Bill, gazetted for comment by Education Minister Naledi Pandor last week. Meanwhile, Pandor paid her first surprise visit to a Western Cape school in the Khayelitsha area on Monday.
A 42-year-old Guguletu man was shot dead in his car in central Cape Town on Monday during an argument with another motorist, apparently over a parking spot. The shooting took place at the corner of Adderley and Strand streets in the city centre shortly after midday.
About 100 000 South African rugby fans will pack into stadiums in Durban and Pretoria on Saturday in anticipation of the country’s biggest party since the World Cup was won at home in 1995. The relative recent form of the teams has encouraged local pundits to predict an all-South African final and first South African winner.
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has described a conflict between him and President Thabo Mbeki in the run-up to the 2004 national elections. Speaking at the 10th anniversary dinner for law firm Eisenberg and Associates, Buthelezi said he and Mbeki had fallen out over the issuing of immigration regulations.
South Africa’s judiciary has started to fast-track women for judges’ jobs, which are still dominated by white males, the nation’s top judge told Parliament on Friday. Constitutional Court Chief Judge Pius Langa said the programme was aimed at making South Africa’s courtrooms more reflective of the country’s overall population.
President Thabo Mbeki was made a Knight of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in a colourful investiture ceremony held in St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town on Thursday. Mbeki was admitted to the British royal order of chivalry by the organisation’s grand prior, the Duke of Gloucester, a grandson of George the Fifth.
Opposition political parties have lauded Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s announcement that the South African Revenue Service is introducing a new, simplified income-tax return system. ”The long overdue and welcome simplification of South Africa’s tax-return system will hold many benefits …,” DA spokesperson Ian Davidson said on Thursday.
There is still no clarity on when the National Lottery, suspended since the end of March, will be back up and running. At a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa declined to elaborate on the issue. He repeated an earlier statement that he would be able to give a more ”definitive indication” at the end of May.
The apartheid regime was part of a global plot by the pharmaceutical industry, according to vitamin entrepreneur Dr Matthias Rath. He said in an affidavit filed in the Cape High Court: ”This regime was the political arm to turn South Africa into a bridgehead of the pharmaceutical interests with the goal to conquer and control the entire African continent.”
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) is urging its members to live a healthy lifestyle, which should include ”at least 30 minutes” of exercise a day. In a document released ahead of the December national conference, entitled Policy Discussion Documents, the ruling party devotes a section to ”healthy lifestyles”.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is to request a special debate in Parliament about the poor performance of the courts, spokesperson Sheila Camerer said on Wednesday. ”Effective and efficient courts are essential in the fight against crime,” she said in a statement. Among other things, court sitting hours had steadily decreased over the past three years.
The troubled new electronic national traffic information system was back online for vehicle registration from 8am on Tuesday morning, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said later in the day. The problem with vehicle registration ”has not gone without being noticed”, he said.
A recent article in the publication noseweek alleging that the Presidency had threatened to pull all government advertising from two local radio stations if they failed to broadcast an interview with President Thabo Mbeki was ”pure fiction”, the Presidency said on Tuesday.