Diamond giant De Beers said on Tuesday that its 2006 Diamond Trading Company sales reached $6,15-billion — the second highest figure ever achieved. The 2006 sales were down from 2005’s record $6,5-billion, reflecting reduced purchases from Alrosa in line with the commitments given to the European Commission.
What’s in a scrum? Put that question to rugby league fans, and the answer would probably be, ”not much”. Ask a rugby union fan, and it would almost definitely be ”everything”. Ask a beneficiary of the Chris Burger/Petro Jackson fund, and it might be a bit of both.
Debate on how to strengthen the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), occasioned by its 10th anniversary, will not achieve the desired outcome if led by critics who are distanced from the institution. This includes the press. Earlier this year, NCOP chairperson Mninwa Mahlangu remarked that in general, the media had scant knowledge of the council.
Free State provincial minister for safety and security Playfair Morule faces a culpable-homicide charge in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court, the Volksblad newspaper reported on Friday. The case was postponed to August 24 for a possible trial, after Morule (47) appeared in court on Thursday.
A massive stayaway by public servants will hit the country on Friday even if last-gasp efforts to settle their pay dispute with the state succeed. ”Friday’s strike is going to go ahead because all the unions have committed themselves to the action,” Congress of South African Trade Unions Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said on Thursday.
The National Treasury has gazetted the details of municipalities whose 2006/07 municipal infrastructure grant allocations have been stopped — because of non-compliance with the 2006 Division of Revenue Act. It amounts to R503-million. The main reason for the funds being stopped is "significant under-expenditure".
Schoolgirls who fall pregnant could face having to spend two years out of the classroom before being allowed back if a proposal in circulation within the Department of Education is approved, the <i>Sunday Times</i> reported.
Allan Donald, the South Africa pace bowling great, has been given a role with England’s coaching staff, it was announced on Friday. In a statement, the England and Wales Cricket Board said Donald would assist England’s fast bowlers on a short-term basis from the lead-in to the third Test at Old Trafford through to the end of the one-day series against the West Indies in July.
A deophobic sermon Shaun de Waal has written a deophobic sermon (“Fighting fire with fire”, May 25), but needs to deal with the evidence evenhandedly. If the wrong religion has done is evidence that belief in God is false, is the right religion has done evidence that belief in God is true? Likewise, does the […]
Sandra Botha has beaten her rival, former National Party minister Tertius Delport, for the post of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. Finance spokesperson Ian Davidson was elected unopposed for chief whip after KwaZulu-Natal leader Mike Ellis withdrew from the contest.
The South African Weather Service recorded 54 weather records in the icy wet and snowy weather this week. On Monday, there were 34 new temperature records and on Tuesday another 20. At least 17 people were reported dead from exposure or in fires trying to keep warm in the icy wet weather gripping the country.
England’s new coach Peter Moores tried to play down the prospect of South Africa pace great Allan Donald joining his backroom staff after seeing the home side’s fast bowlers struggle during the drawn first Test against West Indies at Lord’s. England’s quicks struggled to make much of an impression against a West Indies side ranked a lowly eighth in the world Test rankings.
More than 800 people were forced to evacuate their homes by the stormy weather that hit Cape Town on the weekend, the city’s disaster risk management centre said on Monday. And the South African Weather Service said more bad weather is on the way. Forecaster Stella Nake said Cape Town should expect another cold front on Thursday.
An enormous gulf exists between the levels of service provided by different provinces, a Democratic Alliance (DA) study has found. ”If you are poor and reliant on the state for health, education and housing, the best provinces to live in are the Western Cape, Gauteng and the North West,” DA spokesperson Willem Doman said on Monday.
Widespread frost is expected over the central interior and Highveld of Gauteng from Tuesday until Thursday morning, the South African Weather Service said on Sunday. Very cold conditions were expected to persist over the central interior until Wednesday.
SA Rugby has gagged Springbok coach Jake White, who will not be allowed to grant media interviews until next Monday. ”This is an instruction from SA Rugby,” the organisation’s media manager, Vusi Kama, told Johannesburg morning newspaper Beeld.
Petsana at Reitz in the Free State was quiet on Wednesday morning after protests and a stayaway from work the day before, police said. Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said that according to police on the scene, schooling was going on as usual in Petsana, and workers had returned to work.
Police arrested 31 people on Tuesday afternoon after a protest in the Petsana township near Reitz in the Free State. Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said the people arrested faced charges of public violence, damage to state property, vandalism and being in possession of stolen goods.
Residents of Pepsana at Reitz in the eastern Free State blocked roads with burning tyres and stones on Tuesday in a protest over municipal service delivery, police said. Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said the protesters had stopped all traffic in and out of the township since 4am on Tuesday.
Dr Marianne Cronje’s office speaks volumes about her. From the framed pictures of her husband and two sons to the neatly stacked documents, everything points towards a woman who is extremely well organised. This serves the senior lecturer in the biochemistry department of the University of Johannesburg well as she juggles teaching and research.
Leading South Africa from identity-based to issue-driven politics is the only way to turn freedom into reality, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille said on Friday. In her first weekly newsletter as DA leader, Zille dismissed suggestions that her party is not interested in compensating for past discrimination.
South Africa’s only civil society network for rape and abuse victims, Themba Lesizwe, has collapsed after the European Union withdrew â,¬20-million it had pledged to the organisation over the next three years. Themba Lesizwe, established in 2001 by four NGOs, had grown into a network of 269 affiliates in the victim empowerment sector in South Africa.
M&G Media, which publishes the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> newspaper in Johannesburg, has been contracted by Mafube Publishing to take over its key management functions, it was announced on Monday. M&G Media will market and distribute all magazine titles published by Mafube — including <i>Enterprise</i> magazine — and assist with advertising sales.
Tony Leon on Saturday delivered his last speech as leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), predicting that the party would one day bring about a new government in South Africa. In an emotionally charged session of the party’s federal congress in Midrand, he thanked supporters for the ”incredible journey” they had allowed him to take in heading the DA.
Spending by South Africa’s provincial governments dramatically improved in the past year as they managed to spend 98,7% of their budgets in the 2006/07 financial year, the National Treasury reported on Thursday. The provinces spent R185,6-billion of their combined adjusted budgets of R188-billion.
Businesses in parts of Ekurhuleni, the Free State and Northern Cape are counting losses running into millions of rands after power failures, media reports said on Tuesday. A prolonged power failure has affected Eastgate Mall, one of South Africa’s largest shopping centres, in Bedfordview, east of Johannesburg.
South African world heritage site, the Vredefort Dome, is under threat, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported Monday. The area around one of the world’s oldest meteorite craters is experiencing major development as tourists and investors flock there. Geologist Frans Waanders said people and even scientists chipped off pieces of rock during visits.
Ace Magashule, the Free State African National Congress (ANC) chairperson, has made a scathing attack at a regional conference on supporters from the Thabo Mofutsanyane district in the eastern part of the province, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Saturday.
Thousands of South Africans gathered in various locations across the country on Friday to celebrate the country’s 13th year of freedom from apartheid rule. In the Eastern Cape, President Thabo Mbeki addressed the packed Bisho Stadium and urged South Africans to join the fight against crime and corruption.
Ninety-five percent of South Africans are proud to be South African, a survey by the University of Stellenbosch found. ”The overwhelming majority of South Africans are proud to be South African, prefer democracy as a governing system and believe that our democratic system will develop positively in the future,” said spokesperson Mari Harris on Thursday.
An aggressive bull buffalo killed a man and hampered the retrieval of his body on a farm near Bethlehem on Wednesday, Free State police said. Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said that Sam Shongwe (26) was returning from a pit latrine to a fenced area with two homes when the buffalo attacked at about 10am.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Wednesday added more than 1 000 new applications to the small-business tax-amnesty process through an extensive registration campaign across the country. Several thousand Sars and police officials visited 4 160 small businesses in 30 towns and cities.