By the end of the second day of the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) congress in Midrand, there was still no clarity on whether there was any official opposition to the present leadership. The nominations for new national office bearers for Cosatu closed on Tuesday but no details on any possible new candidates were being released.
Blasting at a building site near Mdantsane, East London, has been stopped after a hospital patient was killed by a flying rock, the Department of Labour said on Friday. The woman was fatally wounded on Wednesday when a stone fell through the roof of the Nkqubela Tuberculosis hospital ward and hit her on the head.
Fifty female inmates who stripped naked to protest against being transferred to another prison intend stepping up their action by going on a hunger strike, a prisoners’ organisation said on Friday. The protest was sparked by a pending transfer to another prison further away from the prisoners’ families.
The Cats will no longer be. The much-maligned Super 14 franchise will now only be know as the Lions. In a statement issued on Friday, the Golden Lions Rugby Union said that after ”in-depth market research” they decided that their international brand (read Super 14 brand), which used to be known as Cats, will in future be called Lions.
The east coast of South Africa is experiencing a severe blood shortage, the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) said on Wednesday. Blood stocks in the region, which includes KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, are ”way down”, especially of type O blood, said SANBS spokesperson Ianthe Exall.
The 21 000 civil servants caught fraudulently claiming social grants should all be prosecuted, face disciplinary hearings and be made to pay back the money, two rights monitoring groups said on Wednesday. ”It is vital that justice in these cases be seen to be done,” the Grahamstown offices of the Black Sash and the Public Service Accountability Monitor said in a joint statement.
Labour regulations and official red tape tops a list of key constraints hampering South Africa’s economic growth, a Bureau for Economic Research survey showed on Wednesday. Other constraints identified are state leadership and capacity (policy support and municipal services), infrastructure deficiencies and costs and labour skills.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Tuesday welcomed the agreement to limit Chinese clothing and textile imports. Spokesperson Mziwakhe Hlangani said in a statement that the move will benefit the local manufacturing sector by creating 55Â 000 jobs.
An agreement has been reached between the Russian Federation and South Africa to supply the latter with nuclear fuel up to 2010, visiting Russian president Vladimir Putin told a media conference at Tuynhuys on Tuesday. A Russian company is planning to invest $1-billion in production of manganese in this country.
An agreement to limit Chinese clothing and textile imports has brought mixed reaction, with labour in the textile industry welcoming the opportunity to rebuild the industry and the Democratic Alliance saying it will bring price increases. The China-South African agreement follows more than a year’s negotiations. It sets quantitative targets on specified clothing and textile products.
More children are attending and finishing school but more are vulnerable due to poverty and the death of at least one parent, said an Education Department report released on Monday. The report found that the demand for high school and higher education institutions would probably grow strongly while demand for primary schools would grow more slowly.
South Africa’s dams are 92% full, according to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s records. The department reports on its website that the dams were only 65% full this time last year. This week, dam levels in the provinces ranged from overflowing in the Northern Cape to 72% full in Limpopo.
Eastern Cape Police have questioned eight people after discovering an investment scam in Grahamstown which used Oprah Winfrey’s name to target hundreds of people. Captain Mali Govender said on Friday people were told: ”You pay R10 and [US talk-show queen] Oprah Winfrey is going to pay you R1 200 a month for 10 years”.
Members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) staged protests outside government offices around the country on Thursday. The illegal protest was part of a ”global day of action” to pressure the government on its response to HIV/Aids. However, the Department of Health said it will continue to focus on prevention in its fight against HIV/Aids.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) had decided to deliberately stage illegal protests because it was tired of the government’s failure to act on HIV/Aids, it said on Thursday. ”We deliberately did not apply for permission to protest and we don’t apologise for that because we are tired of government’s inactivity in the face of the Aids pandemic,” said the TAC’s general secretary Sipho Mthathi.
Rainfall has eased in the sodden southern Cape but more is expected, said the South African Weather Service on Thursday. In the 24 hours to 8am on Thursday, the weather service recorded 11,6mm in Riversdale, compared to 28mm the day before, 4mm in George (71,5mm on Wednesday) and 18mm in Heidelberg (25mm on Wednesday).
A striking Shoprite employee has appeared in court after he and other strikers allegedly intimidated a 30-year-old woman in Butterworth, Eastern Cape police said on Wednesday. Captain Jackson Manatha said Zukisani Mboxwana made a brief appearance at the Butterworth Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is remaining tight-lipped hours ahead of a planned international day of action on Thursday. ”It is a secret,” said Rukia Cornelius, the TAC’s national manager, on Wednesday. The day will see protests at South African embassies and government institutions in South Africa, the United States and Europe.
The country’s biggest short-term insurer, Santam, on Wednesday reported a 16% decline in headline earnings to R583-million for the six months to the end of June. This equates to headline earnings per share of 498 cents against 599 cents for the previous comparable half-year.
The South African government has been told that progress has been very slow in achieving black economic empowerment (BEE) in South African business, with government itself contributing little in terms of procurement from black business. This emerged in a meeting between President Thabo Mbeki and his economic cluster ministers on Tuesday.
Two boys died near Cofimvaba after picking up hand grenade they found while hunting, Eastern Cape police said on Monday. ”Police explosives experts said it is an M26 hand grenade of South African origin,” said Superintendent Edwin Taleni after the police explosives unit went to the scene on Monday to identify the type of explosive.
Parliament on Saturday said it has taken note of Constitutional Court rulings this week relating to the Abortion Amendment Act and the cross-boundary municipalities law, among others. ”The two judgements are of critical importance to the legislative procedures of Parliament,” Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete said.
The Eastern Cape is fast-tracking housing for those left homeless by recent floods, said the provincial department of housing and local government on Wednesday. Up to 20Â 000 families were either displaced or partially affected by the recent floods, storms and snowfall disasters that struck certain parts of the province.
Despite the difficulties they faced, women’s struggles during apartheid resulted in South Africa today having one of the most progressive constitutional-legislative frameworks for women’s rights in the world. It is not, however, a time for complacency — there exist devastating compromises and crucial omissions, writes Pregs Govender.
Three people were found dead after they were trapped in snow in Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Wednesday. ”Today’s [Wednesday] freezing weather in the area is probably the cause of their death.” Disaster teams in the Eastern Cape were also battling to clear roads of snow that fell overnight in Barkly East and Elliot, Arrive Alive said.
Prominent Eastern Cape politicians and officials believe their cellphone conversations are being tapped or intercepted, Dispatch Online reported on Wednesday. It said at least one has made a formal complaint on the matter to the police. So nervous are senior officials that many now use code names to disguise their conversations when discussing political affairs on their cellphones.
Negotiations to end a pay strike by workers at Shoprite Checkers will begin in Johannesburg on Friday, the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) said on Wednesday. ”Shoprite requested the CCMA [Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration] to intervene and a meeting has been set up for August 18,” said Saccawu negotiator Thoko Mchunu.
The South African Rugby Union (Saru) and private broadcast channel Supersport on Tuesday launched a high-performance academy for rugby that will be based in Alicedale, near Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. The institute will house 30 players from across the country between the ages of 17 and 20 years.
Roofs of houses and businesses were in danger of collapsing under the weight of snow in Barkly East and Elliot in the Eastern Cape, Arrive Alive said on Wednesday. Disaster teams and traffic authorities were using graders to clear snow off the road. ”But it is very, very cold and the snow is very thick,” said an Arrive Alive spokesperson.
A strike at Shoprite stores around South Africa enjoyed widespread public support and is impacting on the company, the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) said on Tuesday. ”The strike is continuing today [Tuesday] and the fact that Shoprite are closing some stores is proof that the strike is having an impact,” said Saccawu negotiator Thoko Mchunu.
The Addo Elephant National Park is set to become the third-largest national park in the country, according to South African National Parks. The park’s new southern access road was officially opened by the minister of environmental affairs and tourism on Tuesday, coinciding with the park’s 75th-anniversary celebrations.
Shoprite on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" incidents of violence and vandalism allegedly involving striking members of the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union at some of its stores in the Eastern and Western Cape over the last 48 hours.