The forestry sector could lose almost R900-million because of invasive alien wasps, says Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks. In written reply to a question by Democratic Alliance MP Janet Semple in the National Assembly, Hendricks said a control programme to limit damage had been introduced.
An elderly man who was stung to death bees at a village near Butterworth at the weekend was probably taking part in a cultural ceremony to remove dangerous African honey bees. Eastern Cape police said on Monday that Victor Ndoda Nyembezi (73) had been part of a group of about 100 people who were trying to remove a hive from a homestead in Mgomanzi village on Friday.
The death of a female leopard three days after she tore herself from a gin trap in the Eastern Cape has reignited debate around what some conservationists call ”barbaric weapons”. The leopard tore free from the trap and was on the loose in the Baviaanskloof area for at least three days with the trap still attached to her paw.
Twelve people were killed and four left in a critical condition when a tour bus overturned near Kroonstad on Monday, Free State police said. Captain Rosa Benade said 35 people were treated for serious injuries on the accident scene and moved to the Boithumelo and Kroon hospitals.
Support for a third term for President Thabo Mbeki has not cost South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) leader Mlungisi Hlongwane his job. National executive committee member Donovan Williams said a Business Day article reporting that Hlongwane and deputy general secretary Master Mahlobogoane had been suspended was wrong.
Rugby, it seems, is continually in the wars, if not for misadministration then for poor results. The latest piece of idiocy presented itself in the form of the meeting between the South African administrators and MPs. In our second decade since the unification of sporting codes and our shiny new democracy, the progress made in racial integration in the sport is shameful.
The Department of Correctional Services has deployed a team of investigators to probe the possibility of a syndicate assisting prisoners to escape from the Middledrift and St Albans prisons in the Eastern Cape. Spokesperson Zukisa Nduneni on Friday said a team from the department’s investigation unit has been deployed.
President Thabo Mbeki has reached new heights of public popularity, with current job-approval ratings matching the best ratings given to Nelson Mandela, the Afrobarometer survey said on Wednesday. According to the survey, conducted in January and February, nearly eight in 10 South Africans approved of the job Mbeki was doing as president. When asked about the way Mbeki had performed his job over the past year, 77% said they approved, with 28% strongly approving.
Two more people have been taken in for questioning after two prisoners escaped from the Middledrift maximum security prison on Tuesday morning, the Eastern Cape correctional services department said. Authorities have also reviewed the closed circuit television footage which implicated four officers at the prison.
An East London man who caused the death of six children when he lost control of a bakkie has been sent to prison for seven years, the Dispatch Online reported on Thursday. It said East London Regional Court magistrate Fungile Dotwana handed down the sentence on Wednesday.
Thousands of Eastern Cape children are going hungry after the province’s new school feeding scheme collapsed before it got off the ground, Dispatch Online reported on Thursday. Problems apparently arose after the previous suppliers for the feeding scheme, including two major bakery groups, were dumped.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday called for regular inspections to be conducted at construction sites to ensure compliance with safety standards. The call followed the death of three construction workers on Tuesday afternoon while working on a construction site at Volkswagen in Port Elizabeth.
I may as well state the facts up front. This article is not about the Jacob Zuma rape trial. It is best to be clear about this to avoid the passionate disquisitions and name-calling of ”bjective”intellectuals and ”biased” partisans alike. I find it strange that in all the buzz about South Africa’s transformation — particularly the transformation of the judiciary — one subject has not been broached.
South African retailer Mr Price on Thursday reported a 48% rise in diluted headline earnings per share to 154,7 cents for the year ended March from 104,7 cents a year ago. A total distribution of 81 cents per share — based on a cover of two times — was declared, up from 60 cents last year.
The government has done what it can for a group of protesting former miners from the Eastern Cape, and urged them to go back home. ”We are not resisting to pay the claims; we are willing to, especially when it comes to the elderly,” Boas Seruwe, acting Unemployment Insurance Fund commissioner, said on Tuesday.
A group of about 800 protesting former miners from the Eastern Cape who were evicted from the Tshwane city hall on Monday were being cared for by residents on Tuesday. ”The group has been separated into two smaller groups of about 300 and 500 each and they are staying in open halls in blocks of flats in the Pretoria CBD,” said Willie Fuledi, spokesperson for the Ex-Mineworkers’ Union of SA.
Winter will not be exceptionally cold, it will just be normal, Weather South Africa said on Monday. ”According to our models the temperatures will be normal for this time of year,” meteorologist Selebaleng Gaebee said. Last winter was exceptionally warm, which may explain why people feel the current cold weather more intensely.
The icy weather experienced over the country was set to continue until about Thursday when the days will become slightly warmer, the South African Weather Service said on Sunday. Forecaster Ezekiel Sebego said another cold front would move in over the Western Cape on Monday night, bringing with it rain for that area, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Bitterly cold weather around the country is likely to result in snow on higher ground, hail and sleet in the interior and rough seas in the Cape, meteorologists said on Friday. The National Forecasting Centre said the central and eastern parts of the country are being invaded by very cold weather.
Thousands joined marches throughout the country on Thursday to protest against job losses, but the impact of the one-day strike varied across the sectors of the economy. The strike, called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, was felt hardest in the mining industry, followed by car manufacturers, retailers and the textile industry.
Thousands of workers heeded a call by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to down tools on Thursday in protest against South Africa’s high levels of unemployment and poverty. The mining and car-manufacturing industries appeared to be hardest hit.
Hundreds of people have gathered to pay their respects to the former public works minister Stella Sigcau at the Qawukeni Great Place in the Transkei on Tuesday morning. South African President Thabo Mbeki is to deliver the eulogy. Sigcau’s body has been lying in state at her home ahead of the official funeral.
General Motors plans to begin exporting South African-made Hummers to countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America by the end of the year, a company official said on Monday. The Struandale plant in the Eastern Cape is slated to export 33 countries, a spokesperson said.
Fourteen tons of dagga were found in the mountains of the Eastern Cape and three people were arrested in an operation running from last Wednesday to Friday, police said. Two unlicensed firearms and 85 rounds of ammunition were also confiscated. Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela said the dagga is harvested at this time of the year.
Cerebos, a local investor, has announced a R85-million expansion and relocation project in the Coega Industrial Development Zone in the Eastern Cape’s Nelson Mandela metro. Managing director Len Chandler said on Thursday the expansion meant the company would remain in the metro, retaining and even increasing jobs for the local communities.
A pay strike has brought teaching at Walter Sisulu University in East London to a standstill, media reports said on Thursday. The action by academic and administrative staff came just weeks before more than 21 000 students were due to sit for mid-year examinations.
Gases and welding products group African Oxygen (Afrox) is to invest approximately R350-millionin several major new gas production facilities around South Africa during the year. Craig Falconer, Afrox’s general manager process gas solutions, says this expenditure results from increased demand from the company’s existing customer base as well as by new business wins.
The public is worried about how the judiciary operates and the impartiality of judges, a survey released on Wednesday has found. Seventy-three percent of those polled felt it was easy to bribe justice officials and 85% thought that the crime-to-punishment process took too long, said Research Surveys, which released the poll.
Minister of Public Works Stella Sigcau has died at Durban’s St Augustine hospital, ministerial spokesperson Lucky Mochalibane said on Monday. He said Sigcau (69), who was appointed minister of public enterprises in the first post-apartheid government in 1994, died of a recurring heart problem on Sunday.
A fishing trawler that was sinking with 21 crew members on board was safely towed to Port Elizabeth, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said on Sunday. NSRI Port Elizabeth deputy station commander Paul Killeen said the boat was successfully towed by rescue craft Spirit of Toft.
A former chairperson of South African Schools rugby and the founder of Craven Week, Jan Preuyt, died on Thursday evening at the age of 83 in the Eastern Cape town of Cathcart. Preuyt, a well-known school rugby administrator, was South African Schools chairperson for 19 years, and a friend of the late Danie Craven.
In response to at least a dozen e-mails and letters asking, sometimes desperately, for help, this week’s Loose Cannon takes the form of an Agony column, giving judicious advice to those in need.