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drivers in the province had either obtained fraudulent licences by bribing departmental officials or were carrying out-of-date licences.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.
South African Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin has promised that he will intervene in the matter of the relocation of a tank farm operated by petroleum companies at the Port Elizabeth harbour. Erwin has indicated that while the National Port Authority would not pay for relocation, it would provide land at the new Coega port.
A team from the national Department of Social Development is visiting the Western Cape to outline the processes of the establishment of the South African Social Security Agency, the government news agency said on Monday. The agency will ultimately take over from provinces the payment of social welfare grants.
Birthday tributes have started pouring in for former president Nelson Mandela who turns 86 on Sunday.
Revenge has been declared against a writer who dares to express an opinion on the overwhelming ”snow-whiteness” of a festival. Quite bizarre, reckons Mike van Graan. Hopefully, this issue will not dwarf others of concern.
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor on Tuesday urged the Education Labour Relations Council to get more of South Africa’s best school children to train as teachers. ”Around 17 000 teachers leave teaching each year, and only 3 000 new ones graduate from the 25 universities,” she said.
The Eastern Cape department of health on Monday vowed to continue its crackdown on illegal circumcision schools after three officials were stoned and their vehicle damaged. Monday’s attack took place during a raid on illegal initiation schools in Luthuthu village, near Cradock, said a departmental spokesperson.
A Chinese man has handed himself over to Port Elizabeth police following one of the biggest illegal perlemoen busts in the Eastern Cape. Police on Friday raided a smallholding and recovered more than a ton of perlemoen as well as equipment used to process the shellfish for illegal export. Three people were arrested.
There is enormous potential for shark eco-tourism in the Eastern Cape, according to British shark researcher Matt Dicken. A marine biologist based at Bayworld at present, Dicken was speaking at an international marine seminar and expo at the University of Port Elizabeth last week.
In November 2003 the Cabinet approved a national plan for HIV/ Aids prevention, care and treatment. The plan estimated that 53 000 people would be placed on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment by the end of March this year. Eight months on, fewer than 10 000 people with HIV/Aids are receiving anti-retrovirals through the public health system.
Second-hand book dealers, old-age homes and a whole assortment of so-called ”secondary merchants” are all eagerly awaiting the forthcoming Government Publications Warehouse Sales. As each fulfilling decade of the South African rainbow democracy comes to an end, government storage houses will be kicking off the next 10 years with a major clean-out. I managed to get a look at some.
Leading media and entertainment group Johnnic Communications will contribute R4,6-million towards a new teaching facility for the Rhodes University school of journalism in Grahamstown, group CEO Connie Molusi has announced. The grant comes as part of a long-standing partnership between the company and Rhodes University.
The way the Eastern Cape provincial government spent its health budget has significantly contributed to the health-care crisis in the province, a new book demonstrates. Key findings include that more than 81% of the provincial health department’s budget from 1996 to 2003 was not properly accounted for.
Warders at the medium-security prison and the C-Max prison in Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal, as well as warders at St Alban’s prison outside Port Elizabeth, have embarked on a strike, SABC Radio News reported on Saturday. The warders were reportedly demonstrating outside the prisons.
Oom Krisjan was a little confused (or a little more confused than usual, anyway), after a cyber visit at the South African embassy to the United States. Lemmer was surprised to see that the prez had written a letter especially for the website. Intrigued by what Oom Thabo might want to share with disciples of the Great Satan, Lemmer clicked on the link …
The South African Police Service will launch a crime prevention programme in the 63 areas of South Africa identified as experiencing the most contact crimes, Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula said on Tuesday. Nqakula also touched on the Firearms Control Act that comes into effect on Thursday.
Fifteen people were killed in a head-on collision between a taxi and a bakkie on the R61 near Aberdeen in the Eastern Cape on Monday morning, police said. Inspector Stephanie Smith said the drivers of both vehicles were among the dead. Twelve people were injured and were being treated in the Aberdeen hospital and the Midland hospital in Graaff-Reinet.
Police arrested two directors of the Bush Bucks soccer club in East London on Thursday night in connection with alleged match fixing. The men, aged 45 and 40, were arrested at the club’s offices on Thursday afternoon by a team of about 10 policemen from Johannesburg.
South Africa’s new Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Monday stood by his department’s anti-mining stance towards proposed dune mining in the Pondoland region of the Eastern Cape — but he is set to see the king of the Pondos to discuss the matter.