United Kingdom power provider Ipsa is making good progress in expanding its portfolio of power generation projects in the Eastern Cape. Two important additions to capacity are now planned at the Elitheni Clean Coal Project and at the combined heat and power project for Da Gama Textiles.
South Africa could have at least ten more nuclear power stations within two decades if Eskom has its way, according to the utility’s chief executive, Jacob Maroga. He told journalists at a briefing in Cape Town on Thursday that in the face of global warming, nuclear power was the ”next big viable alternative” to coal.
The National Treasury has gazetted the details of municipalities whose 2006/07 municipal infrastructure grant allocations have been stopped — because of non-compliance with the 2006 Division of Revenue Act. It amounts to R503-million. The main reason for the funds being stopped is "significant under-expenditure".
A lack of capacity to spend their allocations from the integrated housing and human-settlement development grant has resulted in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga being stripped of R145-million by the national Housing Department, the Cape Town-based South African Local Government Research Centre has reported.
The naked, decomposed body of a 22-year-old woman was found in Mdantsane near East London, Eastern Cape police said on Saturday. Earlier in the day, a naked, battered and badly bruised woman was found dumped in a field in Umlazi, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal police said. She died soon after being found.
At least 14 people, nine of them schoolchildren, have been killed in a five-vehicle accident on the N2 highway near East London, Eastern Cape police said on Thursday. Captain Stephen Marais said a group of schoolchildren returning to Elliotdale in two minibus taxis were involved in the accident shortly after 7pm.
Much of South Africa can expect another freezing night on Wednesday, the South African Weather Service said as the costs of this week’s cold spell mounted. At least 22 people have died of cold in different parts of the country this week, 15 of them in the Eastern Cape.
In Braamfontein, Johannesburg, under the M1 North highway, a group of street children huddles together for warmth. Metres away, seemingly oblivious to the morning traffic, a middle-aged homeless man lays down on the ground, adjusting the heap of white dustbin bags blanketed around him.
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.
The South African Weather Service recorded 54 weather records in the icy wet and snowy weather this week. On Monday, there were 34 new temperature records and on Tuesday another 20. At least 17 people were reported dead from exposure or in fires trying to keep warm in the icy wet weather gripping the country.
Passengers on board the train that left Johannesburg for Cape Town on Monday will want to wrap up warmly, especially those in third class. When it passes through the Karoo railway junction town of De Aar in the small hours at about 11pm, the mercury will be on its way to plummeting down to minus eight degrees Celsius.
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.
Widespread frost is expected over the central interior and Highveld of Gauteng from Tuesday until Thursday morning, the South African Weather Service said on Sunday. Very cold conditions were expected to persist over the central interior until Wednesday.
Business mogul Tokyo Sexwale’s decision to enter the African National Congress (ANC) presidential succession race has dealt a heavy blow to President Thabo Mbeki’s chances of securing a third term as party president, the Sunday Times reported. It said several senior ANC leaders close to Mbeki have decided to throw their weight behind Sexwale’s bid.
Transport Minister Jeff Radebe on Saturday denied a Mail & Guardian report that he had backed businessman Tokyo Sexwale’s ”presidential ambitions”, and called for a withdrawal of the article, but the newspaper says it stands by its story.
Tunisian doctors are coming to South Africa to alleviate a local staff shortage, the Ministry of Health said on Friday. KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape and Mpumalanga are expected to benefit, said spokesperson Sibani Mngadi. H said it was a short-term measure that would give the department time to train more staff and improve its ability to retain them.
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.
The increase in the period of internship for doctors from one to two years in 2008 may cause a shortage of doctors, the Health Department said on Thursday. Spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said the department was making efforts to address the challenge. ”There is ongoing collaboration between relevant stakeholders,” he said.
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.
In the same week that a major climate conference said that gas-emission cuts need to be both drastic and urgent, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk gave his go-ahead for a giant new Eskom coal-fired power station. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that the world has just 10 years to implement new strategies to combat global warming.
Dr Marianne Cronje’s office speaks volumes about her. From the framed pictures of her husband and two sons to the neatly stacked documents, everything points towards a woman who is extremely well organised. This serves the senior lecturer in the biochemistry department of the University of Johannesburg well as she juggles teaching and research.
Everyone knows <i>Sunday Times</i> columnist David Bullard has enough vitriol to run a small vehicle for a month.
Media reports about chronic ambulance shortages in the Eastern Cape are a ”gross exaggeration”, the Eastern Cape health department said on Thursday. ”The situation is not out of hand,” said spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo. A national targeted norm of one ambulance for every 10Â 000 residents by 2010 had been set by the national committee on emergency services, he said.
An Eastern Cape traffic officer seized seven state vehicles that were apparently being misused by civil servants at the weekend, the Dispatch Online reported on Monday. Some of the vehicles he confiscated were out of their jurisdiction and others had no valid authorisation for trips.
If the Democratic Alliance is to shrug aside it baggage from the past, it could hardly do better than vote Cape Town mayor Helen Zille into the top job.
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille was on Sunday elected as the new leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA). The announcement was made by DA leader Tony Leon to over a thousand delegates at the party’s federal congress in Gauteng. She beat two other contenders for the position, Eastern Cape leader Athol Trollip and federal chairperson Joe Seremane.
The education crisis is the greatest challenge facing South Africa, newly elected Democratic Alliance Leader Helen Zille said on Sunday. In her first speech as party leader to delegates at the DA Federal Congress in Midrand, Zille outlined what she saw as the greatest challenges in the country.
Tony Leon on Saturday delivered his last speech as leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), predicting that the party would one day bring about a new government in South Africa. In an emotionally charged session of the party’s federal congress in Midrand, he thanked supporters for the ”incredible journey” they had allowed him to take in heading the DA.
After months of speculation over the next Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, it will all come down to just over two hours of voting by 1 145 delegates on Sunday morning. The new leader is expected take to the stage to address the party’s federal congress in Midrand by 11am on Sunday.
Outgoing official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon bid farewell in his final internet column, <i>SA Today</i>, which since its launch in February 2003 has focused largely on the state of democracy, including critiques of the ruling African National Congress and its governance.
If the consumer pays between R5 and R6 for a litre of milk in the shops, how much should the farmer get? The milk industry is currently under investigation by the competition authorities, who are focusing on the price build-up between farmer and consumer. In particular, they are paying close attention to a set of apparently cosy interventions that the large milk processors are able to make in the market.