There have been ”significant breakthroughs” in several police investigations into organised crime, the Safety and Security Ministry said on Friday. The latest was the arrest of 13 members of a gang suspected of carrying out a spate of cash-in-transit heists in the Eastern Cape, it said in a statement following Thursday’s meeting of the Anti-Crime Leadership Forum.
As fuel shortages continued countrywide and panic buying set in, the Department of Minerals and Energy insisted on Friday it would not intervene in the strike by fuel workers. ”It is a huge problem and we are not happy with it, but our hands are tied. It is a very tough one … it is an in-house issue,” said spokesperson Sputnik Rantau.
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The Eastern Cape government would implement recommendations arising from a probe into the deaths of babies at Frere Hospital. Some of the suggestions were already being implemented, said provincial health minister Nomsa Jajula, adding that the hospital was to undergo a R150-million revamp.
Failure to ”saturate” a patient, causing another to suffer ”importance” by not referring him to a urologist, and a fractured ”fumer” are among the reasons given by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang for public hospitals being sued for more than R26-million last year.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday dismissed a special task team’s report on conditions at East London’s Frere Hospital as a ”whitewash”. ”There are several problems with the methodology of the task team that make the conclusions entirely superficial and very difficult to take seriously,” DA spokesperson Mike Waters said in a statement.
The tiny kingdom of Lesotho is the unlikely venue for ambitious plans to create the number one destination for skiers in Africa. "This is going to be the biggest ski resort in Africa," says Ollie Esplin, manager of the Afri-Ski resort, as he tries to explain how to minimise the risks of meltdown in Lesotho’s picturesque Mahlasela Valley.
Eight community halls have been opened for people forced out of their homes by flood waters after a massive cold front brought heavy rain to Cape Town and surrounding areas on Thursday night. About 15 000 people have been displaced by heavy rains in the Cape peninsula, reports said on Saturday.
Unless Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang releases a full report on the deaths of babies in Eastern Cape’s Frere Hospital within the next 24 hours, the Democratic Alliance (DA) will take constitutional steps against her, the party warned on Wednesday. The DA’s health spokesperson, Mike Waters, said the party’s previous attempts to get the minister to release the report drew a blank.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has turned down an invitation for a question-and-answer session with the murderers of their secretary general Chris Hani, saying on Wednesday the two should rather hand their information to law enforcement authorities. Last week Janusz Walus and Clive Derby-Lewis sent the invitation to the SACP via their lawyers from prison.
Thirteen hostages were rescued from a supermarket in Mthatha on Tuesday night after being held hostage by a gang of gunmen. Eastern Cape police said the hostage takers had escaped. Guards were collecting money inside the Boxer supermarket on Callaway Street when the gang stormed into the shop.
A number of people were being held hostage at a supermarket in Mthatha on Tuesday afternoon, Eastern Cape police said. Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela said police believed two armed men, part of a gang that robbed the store at about 1pm, were holding staff at gunpoint by 4pm.
Snowfall and thunderstorms are expected in the southern and western parts of the country, said the South African Weather Service on Tuesday. A cold front over the Western Cape on Tuesday night is expected to result in heavy rainfalls and thunderstorms in the extreme south-western parts of the province.
The Health Department says the Eastern Cape’s Frere Hospital maintenance budget must be drastically increased. In a statement released on Sunday, the department recommended that the maintenance budget be increased to R35-million, or 5% of the hospital’s total budget.
Former African National Congress chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe could face jail for failing to appear in court for a maintenance hearing, media reports said on Sunday. Justice Ministry spokesperson Lazarus Mothupi said neither Goniwe nor his lawyer had informed the court of his absence. A warrant of arrest was issued.
Six people were stabbed to death during initiation ceremonies over the weekend, Eastern Cape police said on Monday. Captain Jackson Manatha said the initiates were stabbed by people while attending three different ceremonies. Five people were arrested in connection with the incidents.
Three Cabinet ministers and two deputies were nominated for the central committee of the South African Communist Party (SACP) at the party’s 12th national congress on Saturday. Meanwhile, ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma told the congress that the ”revolution is going through a test”.
The main beneficiaries of economic transformation are white capitalists who remain the ”induna [chief]” while the black middle class holds jobs in human resources, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told the national congress of the South African Communist Party on Saturday.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) elected new office bearers at its national congress in Port Elizabeth on Friday, media reports said. The party re-elected Blade Nzimande as its general secretary, and Jeremy Cronin remains his deputy. Former National Union of Mineworkers boss Gwede Mantashe was elected national chairperson.
Danny Jordaan, CEO of the 2010 Soccer World Cup local organising committee, on Friday returned to his home town of Port Elizabeth to switch on the First National Bank (FNB) World Cup countdown clock. This demonstrates that things are really ”hotting up” in the friendly city as it prepares to host some of the games in three years’ time.
Hundreds of newborns are reportedly dying every year at Frere Hospital’s overburdened maternity section in East London — many because of negligence, a media report said on Thursday. The situation is so bad that a cleaner delivered a baby in front of shocked students, it said.
<i>Mail & Guardian</i> writers look at the best of the real-life dramas on show at this year’s Encounters South African Documentary Festival.
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) left no doubt on Friday about its opposition to the notion of ”two centres of power”. ”We remained steadfast that there cannot be two centres of power, because that would be disastrous for our country,” president Fikile Mbalula said in a statement.
Two youths were killed in Limpopo on Friday after they were circumcised — bringing the number of circumcision deaths to at least 17 in four provinces in the last five weeks. At least 12 deaths were reported in the Eastern Cape, three in Limpopo and one each in Gauteng and North West since the winter ”circumcision season” started.
The ANC government’s sound economic policies have put South Africa on a good footing to address the backlogs of the past. For the past decade the government has implemented tight monetary and fiscal policies. It has been very painful but, in the long term, all South Africans will realise that it was the right thing to do.
A two-year-old who got lost on a farm near Jansenville in the Eastern Cape survived a night alone in the snow and rain, police said on Wednesday. Ronaldo Spogter toddled along behind his deaf grandfather, who was unaware of him, climbed over two barbed-wire fences and spent a mid-winter night outside.
Education Minister Naledi Pandor and leaders of teachers’ unions will meet on Tuesday to discuss an education recovery plan designed to help pupils catch up on the 10 days of schooling missed during the recent public-sector strike. Also expected to be discussed is a review of the results of the interrupted June examinations.
Six more youths have lost their penises as a result of bungled circumcisions in the Eastern Cape, the provincial health department said on Monday. Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said 18 would-be initiates were admitted to hospital in Port St Johns last week, of whom four had to have their septic penises amputated.
Seven prisoners regarded as ”dangerous” escaped from a holding cell at an Eastern Cape police station on Saturday. A police spokesperson said the seven, arrested for crimes including murder and armed robbery, overpowered a police officer, grabbed the keys to the holding cell and locked him inside at the central police station in Mthatha.