No image available
/ 16 October 2006
The PetroSA plant outside Mossel Bay was calm on Monday morning after it was hit by a strike last week, Southern Cape police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie said. He said police had set up a joint operations centre along with the parastatal at the plant, which has been shut down for annual cleaning and maintenance, to monitor the situation.
No image available
/ 10 October 2006
Delegates at Free State public hearings on initiation schools on Tuesday called for special courts to be established to deal with transgressors of initiation customs. The call was made in a joint statement by the South African Human Rights Commission, the National House of Traditional Leaders and the Commission for the rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities.
A 78-year-old woman managed to identify the men who raped her and then set fire to her body before she died, Eastern Cape police said on Thursday. The brutal rape and murder of the woman and her niece on Tuesday last week have left the Grahamstown community shocked and angry, according to police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender.
There appeared to be little relief in sight for the rain-sodden Eastern Cape, with the whole province on high alert as heavy rains continued, disaster management said on Thursday. Disaster Management’s Captain John Fobian said warnings had been issued all over the province from the Fish River to Port Elizabeth.
Four street children stole a cellphone and a pair of shoes after stabbing and killing 52-year-old Quintin Boutel in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape police said on Thursday. Spokesperson Superintendent Johann van Greunen said Boutel and his girlfriend were walking home from the Pub & Grub restaurant in Newton Park at about 10.30pm on Wednesday when they were confronted by the youths.
Any South African who uses national highways or main roads in our cities will sooner or later run into a government convoy. Depending on the rank of the politician being taxied, the convoy can stretch from two to eight cars. At the last count, President Thabo Mbeki had eight. Jacob Zuma may be out of government, but he has almost as many.
Traditional circumcision rites have killed 83 initiates in the Eastern Cape alone between 1996 and 2005, public hearings into initiation schools were told on Wednesday. There had been 19 more deaths in the province this year. Another 63 initiates had to undergo amputations, while 562 were hospitalised, Eastern Cape department of health officials said on the second day of the hearings.
South Africa’s recent upbeat assessment of job growth is not a true reflection of trends in the country’s workforce, say critics who contend that gaps in official employment data undercut the government’s rosy claims. Statistics South Africa reported last week that there were 544Â 000 new jobs in the year to March and noted a ”slightly upward trend” in employment.
The African National Congress (ANC) has expressed deep sadness over the death of MP James Kati, a spokesperson said on Monday. James Zamiwonga Kati, who became an MP in 1999, died on Friday after a long illness. ”The ANC dips its revolutionary banner in remembrance of his undying spirit,” said ANC Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
Parts of the Western Cape can expect heavy rain and snow on Monday, Weather SA warned on Monday. ”Heavy falls of rain are possible in the Overberg, Breede River Valley, Ruens, Garden Route and the Little Karoo,” said Weather SA. ”Very cold, wet and windy conditions are expected on the high-ground areas of the Western Cape province and western parts of the Northern Cape province.”
No image available
/ 29 September 2006
South Africa’s poorest municipality, the OR Tambo District Municipality in Transkei, could find itself lagging as much as 10 years behind the national target dates for water and sanitation, President Thabo Mbeki heard on Friday. This was the warning in a report handed to him during a day-long visit to the Mbizana area.
No image available
/ 29 September 2006
President Thabo Mbeki on Friday laid a wreath at the grave of the parents of former African National Congress stalwart Oliver Tambo on a rural hillside in the Mbizana district of Transkei. The wreath-laying came ahead of a presidential imbizo that will include a public meeting and a report back on the functioning of the Oliver Tambo district municipality.
No image available
/ 27 September 2006
Top SA Rugby officials are to meet the three Southern and Eastern Cape unions soon to find a solution to an ongoing franchise dispute, Dispatch Online reported on Wednesday. The SA Rugby delegation will comprise president Oregan Hoskins, vice-presidents Mike Stofile and Koos Basson and chairperson Mveleli Ncula.
No image available
/ 20 September 2006
Hundreds of people from the Landless People’s Movement and the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF) gathered in central Johannesburg on Wednesday to protest against the slow delivery of services to the poor and the destitute. About 1 600 people were expected to take part in the march to the Department of Home Affairs.
No image available
/ 20 September 2006
Only the position of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president is to be contested in its leadership election, the union federation’s congress in Midrand heard on Wednesday. Willie Madisha, who presently holds that office, will be pitted against Zanoxolo Wayile, Cosatu’s Eastern Cape chairperson and a National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa member.
No image available
/ 19 September 2006
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.
No image available
/ 8 September 2006
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.
No image available
/ 8 September 2006
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.
No image available
/ 8 September 2006
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.
No image available
/ 6 September 2006
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.
No image available
/ 6 September 2006
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.
No image available
/ 6 September 2006
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.
No image available
/ 5 September 2006
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.
No image available
/ 5 September 2006
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.
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
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.
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
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.