Rare and endangered cycad plants, often referred to as living fossils, are being stolen in South Africa at an alarming rate, with at least two species from Limpopo province having disappeared completely. According to the National Botanical Institute, the country’s botanical gardens are also being targeted by cycad poachers.
Sardine frenzy hit the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on Monday as the tiny silver fish headed back home towards the Eastern Cape. Mike Anderson-Reade from the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board said a huge crowd was gathered at Shelley Beach and that at least 150 baskets had been filled with fish.
On a national tour ahead of the floor-crossing window for councillors, Inkatha Freedom Party national chairperson Ziba Jiyane is stressing its ”centre-right” position and its standpoint on family values. He also criticised the appointment of women with wealthy husbands in jobs above breadwinners.
The Eastern Cape soccer referee who allegedly shot dead a coach and injured two players during a match at Kenton-on-Sea in July has been arrested in Port Elizabeth, police said on Thursday. Grahamstown policing area spokesperson Inspector Mali Govender said detectives had followed up information that the man was hiding in the Walmer township in Port Elizabeth.
Avian flu has been detected on three more farms near Middleton in the Eastern Cape, but the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs said on Wednesday there is no need to panic as the farms are within its quarantine zone. Blood and tissue samples from ostrich farms around the country are also being tested.
Five officials of the Eastern Cape health department were arrested in a pre-dawn raid by the Scorpions on Wednesday for allegedly defrauding the government of R12,5-million. The five will soon appear in the Mdantsane Regional Court on charges of fraud, theft, money laundering and tax evasion.
A total of 118 South African women have discovered since the beginning of the month that they had been married without their knowledge, the Home Affairs Department said on Wednesday. This emerged from a campaign urging women to check their marital status on the department’s records in a bid to curb the problem of fraudulent marriages, the department said in a statement.
The government must tackle muti killings and ritual murders even though some might want this problem to remain hidden, an expert said on Monday. Professor Thias Kgatla, professor of religious studies at the University of the North, said a repeat of a successful campaign in 1994 against the practice is needed.
The Eastern Cape government needs more than R150-million over the next three years to address some of the problems it faced before 2002, an interim report said on Wednesday. The report states that the education department needed more than R37-million, social development over R93-million and roads and public works was short of more than R20-million.
Chaos erupted in Umtata on Wednesday when police used teargas and rubber bullets to forcibly evict students from the Eastern Cape Technikon. Police took action after an hour-long standoff with a group of students who stood at the main entrance of the institution refusing to leave the premises.
Swiss authorities said on Wednesday that they have suspended all imports of poultry from South Africa indefinitely following the outbreak of bird flu in ostrich farms. Meanwhile, testing of ostriches for avian flu on Wednesday moved outside the quarantine area in the Eastern Cape where it was first detected.
Ostrich culling continues — in secret
A 24-hour hotline for concerned members of the public and farmers became operational on Wednesday, as the culling of thousands of ostriches entered its second day in the Eastern Cape. A media photographer was earlier on Wednesday turned away from a farm where the culling of the infected birds is taking place.
The Eastern Cape Technikon’s Umtata campus has been closed indefinitely after student unrest on the campus on Tuesday. Technikon spokesperson Angela Church said the campus was closed at 5pm in order to ensure the safety of students and staff as well as the institution’s property.
Ostrich meat is still safe for consumption despite the outbreak of avian flu on two farms in the Eastern Cape, the Klein Karoo group, which represents producers of ostrich meat and ostrich products, said on Tuesday. A spokesperson said the outbreak of the disease has been contained to the two farms in the Middleton area.
Ostrich culling to start in E Cape
About 30 000 ostriches will be stunned by a powerful electric shock and then shot with a single bullet to the brain from a specialised pistol, as mass culling of infected birds gets under way on Tuesday. The birds are being culled following an outbreak of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu.
First National Bank, a division of FirstRand Bank Limited, has opened a portable branch in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni, for personal and business customers. The bank’s spokesperson Nono Bam said on Saturday that the branch provided all banking services. She said clients will have access to two tellers, two customer service consultants and two ATMs.
South Africa will on Monday begin culling about 30 000 ostriches to control an outbreak of avian flu in the Eastern Cape. Police and soldiers have set up roadblocks in a 32km radius around Middleton in the Somerset East area, to prevent exposed birds being transported around the country.
Police and soldiers are manning roadblocks in the Somerset East area of the Eastern Cape to enforce a quarantine following a suspected outbreak of avian influenza. Test results determining the nature of the virus are expected by the end of the week. A particular strain of the avian flu virus can be transmitted to humans.
A suspected outbreak of avian influenza (bird flu) in the Eastern Cape province has halted all movement of ostriches to the Western Cape until a confirmed diagnosis has been made regarding the cause of serious mortalities at three ostrich farms in the Cradock-Somerset East region of the Eastern Cape.
Mail & Guardian editor Ferial Haffajee was on Thursday evening in Cape Town appointed Woman of the Year in the media and communications category. Sponsored by Shoprite Checkers and SABC2, the Women of the Year Awards recognise achievements by South African women in nine categories.
The African National Congress won a by-election in Umtata on Wednesday — the fifth upset victory by the party in the past few weeks — over General Bantu Holomisa’s United Democratic Movement. In other by-elections on Wednesday, the Democratic Alliance snatched a municipal ward in Somerset East from the ANC.
Lemmer was impressed by the appointment of Kholeka Mzondeki as general manager for corporate services at Mintek. That is because Mzondeki brings impeccable credentials to her job. A United Kingdom-qualified chartered accountant, the press release also states that she has worked at ”Eskom, the water utilities corporation”. Presumably, she knows how to turn water into electricity.
The recent brutal murder of a university student and the shooting of a soccer coach by a referee have rekindled the long-running debate about gun control in South Africa. Gun-related violence claims about 10Â 000 people in South Africa each year, according to the campaign group Gun-Free South Africa.
More than half of the drivers on Eastern Cape roads do not have legal licences. Eastern Cape transport department spokesperson Tshepo Machaea said on Tuesday about 530 000 of roughly one million drivers in the province had either obtained fraudulent licences by bribing departmental officials or were carrying out-of-date licences.
Although the economic powerhouse of Gauteng has only 1,4% of South Africa’s land area of 1,219-million square kilometres, it has 24% of the population aged between 25 and 59 years, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. It also announced that the life expectancy at birth in South Africa is forecast to be only 50,7 years next year.
The Eastern Cape soccer referee who allegedly shot and killed a coach and injured two players during a dispute over a decision is still on the run, Grahamstown police said on Tuesday. The shooting allegedly occurred during a match between the Ekuphumuleni and Marcelle soccer teams at Kenton-on-Sea on Saturday.
There is no need for alarm at an expected budget deficit in the education and social development departments of the Eastern Cape, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Monday. ”The scenario was being attended to,” Finance Ministry spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said in a statement.
Nine municipal by-elections will take place in South Africa this Wednesday, but the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has already won another five wards uncontested. Trends indicate that the ANC could win all but two of the contested by-elections.
A South African referee dispelled any doubt that soccer is more important than life and death over the weekend when he shot dead a coach and wounded two players who challenged a decision. A yellow card awarded to a player during a match between two local teams in Kenton-on-Sea in Eastern Cape province prompted protests from the coach and team.
The Cabinet agreed on Wednesday to institute an investigation into foreign land ownership in South Africa and how it impacted on land reforms. Government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said in Pretoria that the audit would be run by the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs.
New research by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has shown that 57% of South Africans are living below the poverty line of R1Â 290 a month for a family of four. And the ”poverty gap”, which measures the required income transfer to all poor households to lift them from poverty, grew from R56-billion in 1996 to R81-billion in 2001.
The government should be bolder in its approach to making South Africa’s flagship industrial initiative at Coega in the Eastern Cape a ”sure thing”, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. The area is currently defined as an industrial development zone, but the DA said it should be defined as an export processing zone.