The excitement of the Absa Cup starts this weekend, and the boys will be separated from the men as they try to reach the quarterfinals. For the lower-division teams, it will be do or die against the Premier Soccer League teams. It seems the lower-division teams have reached the end of the road unless they plan to surprise their opposition, as Silver Stars did in 2003.
Red tape is the biggest constraint to the expansion of business in South Africa, according to Grant Thornton’s 2005 international business owners survey. Forty one percent of business owners in South Africa cite regulation and red tape as the biggest constraint to the growth of their business, up from 34% last year.
The Eastern Cape health department on Tuesday began immunising young people to combat a measles outbreak in villages in the Elliotdale area of Transkei. Departmental spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said 35 nurses and 6 000 doses of vaccine have been moved into the area, where about seven villages are seen as under threat.
There was chaos at Port Elizabeth’s Livingstone Hospital on Monday as would-be research volunteers flocked to give blood and hair samples, a provincial official said. Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said a pharmaceutical research company had announced it would pay R300 for each sample.
Niche banking group Investec will open an office in Knysna this week, to provide specialised services in the Garden Route area, announced Andy Vogel, Investec regional manager for the Eastern Cape. The specialist investment banking group will offer a number of services from its private client division.
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/ 26 February 2005
The young male hippo that made headlines last year after escaping from a nature reserve in Cape Town will soon start his own herd, City Parks and Nature Conservation said on Saturday. The hippo escaped from the Rondevlei Nature Reserve and took up residence in Zeekoevlei for several months until he was recaptured in December.
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/ 25 February 2005
Raymond Mhlaba, who has died aged 85, dedicated his formidable talents to the struggle against apartheid. A member of the Rivonia group with Nelson Mandela, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, but emerged to take office in 1994 after South Africa’s first democratic elections.
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/ 25 February 2005
As the four South African franchises have one last go at winning the Super 12, the competition that gave southern hemisphere rugby its identity is being somewhat overshadowed by events elsewhere. The lobbying has begun for the right to host the 2011 World Cup and International Rugby Board chairperson Syd Millar is already accusing the Japanese media of misquoting him.
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/ 25 February 2005
African National Congress stalwart Raymond Mhlaba died satisfied, Deputy President Jacob Zuma said at the struggle veteran’s memorial service in Pretoria on Thursday evening. ”He died satisfied that we are on course and are still committed to meeting the minimum demands of our people as stated in the [Freedom] Charter,” Zuma said.
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/ 24 February 2005
It is easy to be blasé about the Budget and label it ”boring” — but we shouldn’t. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has once again announced major increases in spending, symbolically important tax cuts and a reduced budget deficit — the headline measure of sound fiscal management.
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/ 23 February 2005
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There has been a 76% increase over the past three years in the number of people receiving disability and care dependency grants in the Eastern Cape, according to the Budget Review tabled by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel at Parliament on Wednesday.
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/ 23 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>The maximum old age, disability and care dependency grants will rise by R40 to R780 a month from April 2005, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel announced on Wednesday. In his national Budget speech he said that foster-care grants will be increased by R30 to R560 and the child-support grant goes up by R10 to R180 a month.
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/ 23 February 2005
Simphiwe Mbalula’s home was saved last month when a runaway fire razed about 3Â 200 shacks in the Joe Slovo informal settlement outside Cape Town. Instead of relief, he feels unlucky, as all the victims of the fire have been fast-tracked to the front of council housing lists. They will receive houses as part of the first phase of the N2 Gateway Project.
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/ 21 February 2005
Loss of habitat looks set to put paid to one of South Africa’s more distinctive and charismatic bird species, the southern ground hornbill. The savannah-dwelling birds, once widespread across the country’s grasslands, now face a ”very real possibility” of extinction, says the Endangered Wildlife Trust.
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/ 21 February 2005
Raymond Mhlaba was a stalwart of the liberation struggle whose life enriched all South Africans, President Thabo Mbeki said in a statement on Monday morning.
The African National Congress veteran and Rivonia trialist died on Sunday night at the age of 85.
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/ 18 February 2005
By the time the Super 12 starts in earnest next week, there is a distinct possibility that some South African franchises may already be battling fatigue. The Stormers, for instance, have been playing warm-up games for three weeks in places as far apart as the Boland, Dubai and England.
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/ 10 February 2005
Former Eastern Cape agriculture MEC Max Mamase should be criminally charged, the Grahamstown-based Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) said on Wednesday. PSAM director Colm Allan also urged Mamase’s wife, provincial social development MEC Neo Moerane-Mamase, to follow his example and quit.
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/ 8 February 2005
Bush Bucks chairperson Sturu Pasiya is adamant that the Eastern Cape team will not be relegated at the end of the season despite languishing at the bottom of the log. ”We are definitely going nowhere. Bush Bucks will still be campaigning in the Castle Premiership next season.” said Pasiya from East London on Monday night.
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/ 7 February 2005
A range of international scientists are preparing to come to South Africa for this year’s national festival of science in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. The Sasol Scifest is not only considered the biggest science festival on the African continent, but it is also opening up dialogue between local and developed-world scientists.
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/ 4 February 2005
The damage caused by the freak storm which struck the Eastern Cape town of Klipplaat on Wednesday evening has been estimated at R8,4-million. Five people were critically injured and more than 20 sustained minor injuries when the storm descended on the town shortly after 6pm.
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/ 3 February 2005
Five people were critically injured and at least 20 hurt when a tornado whipped through the town of Klipplaat near Jansenville in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday evening. ”The town looks like Baghdad. It’s dead. There was wind, rain, hail coming from all four corners,” Iqwezi municipality councillor Mannetjie Blouw said.
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/ 2 February 2005
Health managers in the Eastern Cape face censure and possible dismissal if they do not deal with complaints about negligence at hospitals under their care, health minister Bevan Goqwana said on Wednesday. In a statement, Goqwana warned quality assurance managers to ”pull up their socks or ship out”.
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/ 31 January 2005
South African exports rose by 7% in rand terms and 25,7% in dollar terms in 2004, as the strong rand failed to dent export growth due to strong demand from China and high commodity prices. Exporters are reporting buoyant demand, which is sadly constrained by bottlenecks on the railways and harbours, not by the strong rand.
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/ 28 January 2005
”Blacks don’t have an identity in South African rugby because of the complexities of what constitutes black. Black is not coloured and coloured is not black. While this debate continues, the white conservatives sit back and play the role of puppeteer.” Former Springbok communications manager Mark Keohane writes for the Mail & Guardian.
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/ 25 January 2005
Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Buyelwa Sonjica is to sign a forestry lease agreement on Tuesday between the South African government, MTO Forestry and the Amatola Forestry Company, which opens the door to black empowerment companies to lease part of the country’s forests.
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/ 20 January 2005
The Eastern Cape health department has announced a R4-million plan to help deal with perennial cholera outbreaks, which have since 2002 claimed the lives of 83 people and hospitalised another 6 000 in the region. A departmental spokesperson said 22 specialised motorbikes are going to help combat outbreaks.
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/ 20 January 2005
Due in part to the high-profile launch of Mark Shuttleworth’s new Ubuntu open-source operating system, more and more ordinary computer users are realising that there is life after Windows. To help them on their way, a new magazine, <i>Tectonic</i>, will be launched in South Africa in March.
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/ 18 January 2005
Chief land-claims commissioner Tozi Gwanya says he believes that all 22 447 unresolved land-restitution claims will be settled by the end of this year. ”We are confident,” he said on Monday in Cape Town, where he and provincial commissioners are holding their regular quarterly meeting.
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/ 15 January 2005
Hundreds of people, including President Thabo Mbeki, converged on Qunu in the Eastern Cape on Saturday to support former president Nelson Mandela at the funeral of his son, Makgatho, who died of Aids. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Aids activist Zackie Achmat and businessman Patrice Motsepe were among those who went to bid farewell to Makgatho.
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/ 15 January 2005
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Friday came out in support for prison warders in their dispute with the Department of Correctional Services. Cosatu said a meeting of its public-sector affiliates on Thursday agreed on a programme of action to rally support for the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union.
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/ 15 January 2005
Aids activists will join President Thabo Mbeki and anticipated thousands of other mourners at the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela’s son, Makgatho Mandela, on Saturday. Makgatho died of Aids-related complications last week, and Mandela used the announcement of his death to plead for openness on the disease.
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/ 13 January 2005
More prison workers could be fired following threats of legal action by the South African Prisoners Human Rights Organisation (Sapohr), National Correctional Services Commissioner Linda Mti warned on Thursday. Sapohr has served papers on the Department of Correctional Services after the dismissal of prison staff in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.