Battle for control of South Africa’s newest political party, the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco), is set to enter the public arena this week when its leader, Dr Ziba Jiyane, opposes a court action to set aside the appointment of the party’s federal executive. Last Thursday Vincent Ngema filed papers in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Friday called on its members to boycott all Shoprite Checkers stores. ”Cosatu is calling on its members not to buy from Shoprite until the strike is resolved,” Cosatu’s regional chairperson Sdumo Dlamini told a 2Â 000-strong crowd of protesters in Durban.
Nearly 1Â 000 striking Shoprite workers marched down Durban’s West Street on Friday morning amid a heavy police presence. The workers were due to hand over a memorandum to the KwaZulu-Natal regional managing director of Shoprite at its flagship store in West Street. The Shoprite store in West Street was closed for business.
National Treasury figures showing that KwaZulu-Natal’s education department had only spent 1% of its capital budget did not take into account work done by the public works department, the province’s education chief said on Thursday. He said the department had spent R75-million of its annual infrastructure budget of R807,2-million.
Lectures were suspended indefinitely at the University of Zululand on Tuesday after protesting students failed to heed an ultimatum to return to class. The university’s management decided to close down the university after a student meeting in the morning failed to resolve the crisis at the troubled institution.
National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) leader Ziba Jiyane has disputed his ”suspension” on Tuesday by the national executive committee (NEC) of his party. He said the members of the NEC seeking to depose him would be expelled. The NEC is ”an old structure” that is not mentioned in the party’s constitution, Jiyane said.
A man was burnt to death when his nephew crashed their car on Saturday night in what an eyewitness described as ”a race with a tow-truck”. ER24 spokesperson Neil Noble said the Ford Sierra hit a traffic sign on the M41, crossed the median and collided with oncoming traffic. The car caught alight on impact.
An African National Congress (ANC) councillor was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his home in Umhlali, KwaZulu-Natal, early on Friday morning, police said. KwaZulu-Natal ANC spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu said Khumalo had been ”receiving death threats for quite some time”.
A memorandum was handed over to the University of Zululand’s rector and vice-chancellor, Rachel Gumbi, on Friday by students protesting against a ”lack of accommodation” and about many of the university’s courses ”not being nationally recognised”. There was no disruption to lectures at the university.
More than 100Â 000 copies of a CD containing a song about Jacob Zuma have been sold legally, and more have been pirated, music-industry insiders said on Thursday. Eric Majola, promoter of the band Izingane Zoma, said the pirating of the popular album, with the catchy Msholozi title track, is ”really bad”.
KwaZulu-Natal Aquatics president Peter Thompson has confirmed that eThekwini Municipality was among the six cities announced by the world governing body of swimming, Fina, bidding to stage the 14th Fina World Aquatic Championships in 2011.
A woman jumped off a Durban beach pier with her three-year-old son strapped to her back in an apparent suicide bid on Wednesday night. Inspector Tray Allison of the police search and rescue unit said fishermen on the Wedge Beach Pier saw the woman climb over the railings and jump into the water.
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Fund-raising efforts to ensure that Zuma’s legal fees are paid will be ”doubled”, as more than the previously estimated R12-million may be needed. In a personal affidavit filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday, Zuma said he was ”effectively unemployed and quite unemployable”.
The ability to intercept passes and create try scoring chances from turnovers enabled the Free State Cheetahs to take four valuable points from their exciting top-of-the-table Absa Currie Cup rugby encounter as they toppled the Sharks 31-19 in Durban on Saturday evening.
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African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma made a surprise guest appearance at the 85th anniversary fund-raising dinner of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in Durban on Saturday night. Zuma said: ”South Africa is an amazing country where communists and capitalists can sit [at] the same table.”
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South African trade unionists and communists rallied on Friday to demand authorities drop corruption charges against former Deputy President Jacob Zuma. Zuma is set to stand trial on Monday in a case that could wreck or resurrect his presidential hopes.
The Young Communist League (YCL) has accused the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of ”hiding crooks who have political interests”. Addressing a crowd of about 1Â 500 people in Durban on Friday, the KwaZulu-Natal deputy general secretary of the YCL, Buthi Manamela, said: ”There are crooks hiding in the NPA under the guise of prosecutors.”
KwaZulu-Natal’s education department on Friday repeated its warning to schools that had not submitted audited financial statements that they will lose their Section 21 status. Departmental spokesperson Christi Naude said: ”Parents need to know that even if a school loses its section 21 status, it does not mean that those schools that are no-fee schools will lose their no-fee status.”
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KwaZulu-Natal’s top leadership of the tripartite alliance will be out in force to support the African National Congress’ deputy president as he goes on trial for corruption next week. From 6pm on Sunday the city centre is expected to be packed with thousands of supporters of Jacob Zuma who will turn out for an all night vigil.
Civil-society organisations in South Africa are preparing to push government to meet its commitment for setting national targets on HIV/Aids, made at the recent United Nations General Assembly Special Sessions on HIV/Aids. The first special sessions on HIV/Aids were held in 2001, when UN member states signed a declaration of commitment on HIV/Aids that recognised the need for concerted action against the pandemic.
A train derailment in Durban has left 86 people injured, Metrorail said on Thursday. Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said a coach left the tracks near the Duffs Road Railway Station in KwaMashu. It appeared most of the injuries occurred when passengers tried to jump from the coach. There were no major injuries.
Two foreign delegates attending the International Sociological Association’s world congress in Durban were beaten and assaulted within three hours of arriving in the city on Saturday evening. Mexican sociologist Daniel Gutierrez Martinez (33) and Belgian sociologist Delphine Resteigne (28) were attacked by a group of at least 10 youths who attempted to mug them.
KwaZulu-Natal education minister Ina Cronje on Friday threatened legal action against the Inkatha Freedom Party Youth Brigade after it claimed a ”link” between Cronje’s husband and the company distributing stationery for the education department. The brigade on Thursday called on KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sbu Ndebele to sack Cronje.
The Underberg community is divided by the R160-million tarring of the Sani Pass — touted by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe as the southern Drakensberg’s gateway to tourism. ”They [tourists] enjoy the horror of the trip. That’s why they come,” a local tour operator said on condition of anonymity.
Distribution of water, reliability of water supply, water storage and vandalism were problems still facing communities hit by a cholera outbreak at the end of 2000, scientists said on Wednesday. The outbreak in 2000 claimed the lives of 265 people in five provinces and 120Â 000 others were infected.
A man who allegedly shot and killed three people during a dispute over an electricity bill was killed by the police near Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday morning. Rodney Gxubane, who allegedly killed his landlord, the landlord’s daughter and a boyfriend of another of the landlord’s daughters last month was shot dead by members of the Serious and Violent Crimes Unit in Sweetwaters
The figures are certainly impressive. According to Statistics South Africa, the country’s tourism industry has experienced growth of more than 100% since the demise of apartheid in 1994. But in a country struggling to overcome the effects of apartheid, these figures do not necessarily add up to a success story.
African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma’s family reacted with shock on Tuesday to reports that his first wife’s name has been used in a 419 scam e-mail. Nephew Michael Zuma, in Nkandla, said: ”What? She doesn’t even have a computer. She has a phone, but she can’t even send SMSs.”
It turned out to be the big gamble that paid off as Dick Muir’s decision to field a completely new look Sharks side — he now has two teams of equal strength at his disposal — was vindicated with a 34-16 triumph over the Pumas in their Absa Currie Cup rugby match in Durban on Friday night.
Two municipal trade unions indicated this week that they have accepted a three-year wage deal put forward by the South African Local Government Bargaining Council. The South African Municipal Workers’ Union announced on Friday that it would accept the deal, while the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union accepted it earlier this week.
The 37-year-old man who allegedly killed his wife before driving into Durban’s harbour in a bid to cover up the crime has claimed he is mentally unstable. Dhanendra Heeralall appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday to face charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice.
South Africa will pledge an additional R1-million this year to the global fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in Durban on Tuesday. ”We further remain committed to supporting the global fund consistent with our potential and ability to do so,” she said.