The refloating of the bulk carrier Kiperousa, stranded on the Eastern Cape coast, will begin at about noon on Thursday, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) said. Samsa spokesperson Captain Peter Kroon said the fine weather in the East London area will assist in refloating the beached vessel.
A 23-year-old man has died while attending a school offering circumcision rituals illegally, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday. The man died of dehydration at the school in Sada outside Queenstown on Monday, said department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo.
The SABC will be allowed to broadcast regional television programmes on two stations in official languages other than English, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) announced on Wednesday. Icasa chairman Mandla Langa said SABC 4 would broadcast in Setswana, Sesotho, Sepedi and TshiVenda, Xitsonga and Afrikaans.
A 14-year-old boy has died after apparently being asphyxiated by fumes from a brazier at an initiation school in Port Elizabeth, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday. The police have opened an inquest docket, and a post-mortem will be conducted to establish the exact cause of his death.
The concept of willing-buyer, willing-seller has been underscored by Minister of Agriculture and Land Thoko Didiza in reply to a question about government’s target of 30% of white agricultural land being redistributed to black farmers by 2015.
Attempts to refloat the stranded log-carrier Kiperousa failed on Thursday, but the operation will be tried again on Friday evening, the South African Maritime Safety Authority said. Spokesperson Captain Peter Kroon said on Friday that the cable between the tug and the ship came undone on the first pull on Thursday evening.
South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle hero Nelson Mandela will be joined by pop superstars Peter Gabriel and Annie Lennox at charity concert.
The salvage tug Nikolay Chiker was on Thursday morning closing in on the stranded log-carrier Kiperousa, as part of an effort to refloat her, the South African Maritime Safety Authority said. Spokesperson Captain Peter Kroon said the tug would try to refloat her during the high tide on Thursday afternoon.
Deputy President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday the media have treated him in a ”grossly unfair” way and used the Schabir Shaik trial for political reasons. Meanwhile, hundreds of youths, participating in a protest against unemployment on Thursday, called for Zuma to become the country’s next president.
The Eastern Cape’s Great Train Race has been cancelled this year due to differences between Athletics South Africa (ASA) and Eastern Province Athletics (EPA). The race — in it’s 25th year — had to be called off after ASA and EPA were embroiled in a dispute regarding a controversial ruling over foreign athletes.
Six hours of negotiations between striking unions and Metrorail were a ”total disaster and waste of time”, said United Transport and Allied Trade Unions (Utatu) general secretary Chris de Vos after Wednesday’s meeting. The strike, which has left thousands of commuters inconvenienced, will enter its fourth day on Thursday.
The Central Unions have retained South Africa’s fifth Super 14 franchise, South African Rugby Union president Brian van Rooyen confirmed on Wednesday. However, the South-Eastern Cape franchise will play in the 2007 and 2008 Super 14, with the South African team that finishes last in 2006 dropping out to make way for them.
The bulk carrier Kiperousa is still aground by the stern off the Eastern Cape coast and is awaiting a salvage tanker from Cape Town, the National Ports Authority (NPA) said on Wednesday. Shortly after 11am on Tuesday, a Mayday signal was put out by the vessel and a massive rescue operation was launched.
Out in a remote rural area of the Transkei last week an unusual cattle auction, held by a new black economic empowerment auctioneering company, took place. Buyers gathered near a school in the Peddie location, 100km by road from East London. They were bidding for animals that would otherwise end up being sold for ceremonial slaughter or to travelling smouse or speculators.
The CEO of the Border Cricket Board in East London and a South African National Defence Force major were among 12 people arrested on Monday on fraud charges, Eastern Cape police said.
The awarding of a Rugby Super 14 franchise to the Southern and Eastern Cape must be ”non negotiable” when the SA Rugby Union’s President’s Council meets to discuss the matter on Wednesday. This is the view of the SEC bidding franchise, comprising the Border, Eastern Province and South Western Districts Rugby Unions.
Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu said on Friday that 1,6-million houses have been built since 1994, but admitted the housing backlog is still enormous and her department can only do so much. She said poor communication with the public is the likely cause of protests about the pace of housing delivery.
What makes the Afrikaans tabloid Son such a runaway success? And why are the tabloids in general doing so well, while the more established broadsheets seem to be struggling to increase or even uphold their circulation? One cannot answer these questions without taking into account the far-reaching, liberalising changes that have taken place in South Africa over the past 10 years.
There should be no rejoicing over the guilty judgement in the trial of businessman Schabir Shaik, despite its vindication of South Africa’s prosecutorial and judicial systems. Deputy President Jacob Zuma may not have been in the dock, but the judgement indirectly indicts him in such a devastating way that it is hard to see how his political career can survive it.
Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Buyelwa Sonjica has a tricky job. She needs to manage the implementation of the 1998 water Act, and try to ensure that black farmers gain access to water resources without cutting into the productivity of commercial farms. All of this work overlaps the responsibilities of other Cabinet portfolios, but Sonjica manages almost no implementation budget.
Very cold and wet conditions are due to hit parts of the country this weekend, but for many people a weekend of hot chocolate and romantic snuggling is a remote thought — finding ways of keeping warm safely is far more pressing. But makeshift measures such as illegal electricity connections can be deadly.
A surfer has received 100 stitches after being attacked by a shark at the mouth of the Kei River in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday. National Sea Rescue Institute spokesperson Craig Lambinon said Jay Catarall (32) was surfing with two other people when the shark bit him on both buttocks and the back of both legs.
More than R130-million will be made available for housing in the Nelson Mandela metropolis following four days of protests over slow housing delivery. Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela announced this on Thursday while appealing for calm. ”We shall not abandon the poor,” said Balindlela.
More roads were blocked in Port Elizabeth on Thursday as angry residents ignored the Eastern Cape premier’s call for calm, taking to the streets for the fourth day this week to protest against slow housing delivery, police said. A police spokesperson said the main roads in the suburb of New Brighton have been blocked.
The release of global brewing giant SABMiller’s final 2005 results on Thursday have highlighted the continued robust growth in its South African beer business, with Beer South Africa recording a 20% rise in its earnings before interest, tax and amortisation in rand (constant currency) terms.
An off-duty police officer allegedly killed five relatives, including two four-year-old twin girls, in a bloody killing spree in the Cape Town area on Tuesday night, police said. The 48-year-old inspector, who had taken leave, shot each of his victims in the head, execution-style, said a Western Cape police spokesperson.
Protests over municipal service delivery and lack of housing in the Eastern Cape has entered its second week, with dissatisfied residents on Monday blockading roads and burning tyres near Port Elizabeth. There were unconfirmed reports of motorists being stoned along the M14 and Uitenhage roads, police said.
South Africa coach Ray Jennings basked in the glory of his team’s 5-0 series sweep of the West Indies on Sunday, sending a message to his bosses back home: retain him as coach. There have been rumours that the 50-year-old Jennings will be replaced after the West Indies tour by Mickey Arthur, who coaches the Eastern Cape Warriors.
The Eastern Cape health department vowed on Thursday to prosecute officials responsible for letting clinics in the East London area run out of chronic medicines. ”We view this as gross negligence,” a departmental spokesperson said. ”We are going to charge people. There are people that are going to face the music.”
Volkswagen cannot understand the rationale for a strike at a Gauteng parts depot because nobody has lost jobs. ”Volkswagen of South Africa cannot understand the reasoning behind this unnecessary strike which will lead to great financial hardship for the 62 employees involved who are losing money every day they remain on strike,” a statement from the company read.
The time has come to get out the winter woolies because very cold conditions and snow is expected over the Northern and Western Cape this coming weekend. The South African Weather Service said that very cold and windy conditions are expected over the high ground of the Northern and Western Cape on Friday, with rain over the Western Cape and the western escarpment of the Northern Cape.
A cigarette probably saved fisherman Johan Ehlers in a sea tragedy feared to have claimed the lives of 14 of his shipmates. Ehlers was on deck smoking when a Brazilian ship collided with his trawler about 16km off Sardinia Bay in the Eastern Cape, around 1.30am on Sunday.