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/ 31 January 2006
A strike by several thousand Transnet workers continued on Tuesday to protest restructuring plans at the parastatal, a union spokesperson said. ”We are definitely continuing in KwaZulu-Natal. In the Free State, the strike was scheduled only for one day, but some will continue today,” the United Transport and Allied Trade Union said.
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/ 30 January 2006
The Durban and Richards Bay ports were running at 60% and 50% capacity respectively on Monday as unions embarked on a strike at Transnet. The United Transport and Allied Trade Union said about 15Â 200 workers from all four unions involved in the dispute over restructuring were on strike at both ports.
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/ 30 January 2006
Unions whose members started striking at Transnet on Monday over restructuring at the parastatal said the process had to be conducted with the proper participation of unions. ”There’s been a credibility problem with management, they’ve conducted themselves in an arrogant, imposing and unilateral manner,” said SA Transport and Allied Workers Union spokesperson Randall Howard.
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/ 26 January 2006
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South Africa’s municipal election on March 1 will be a test of whether the African National Congress (ANC) will be able to retain municipalities which ”turned” to it during two floor-crossing periods since the last national municipal election in December 2000.
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/ 26 January 2006
The Warriors lost it on all fronts on Wednesday night as their hopes of staying in contention for the Standard Bank Pro20 cricket series disintegrated with an amateurish display against the Free State Eagles at Sahara Oval St George’s. Sending the visitors into bat, the Warriors bowled with ill discipline to concede 173 runs in 20 overs.
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/ 25 January 2006
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/262374/vote-box_blue.gif" align=left>Inkatha Freedom Party Ingwe municipality mayor Innocent Miya and three councillors from nearby Ubuhlebezwe municipality have defected to Ziba Jiyane’s National Democratic Convention (Nadeco). Miya, according to Nadeco spokesperson Linda Hlongwa MPL, has been mayor of Ingwe since 2000.
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/ 24 January 2006
Agriculture MECs were sent back to do their homework on Tuesday when figures they presented to Parliament’s finance select committee differed from those provided by the national treasury. Chairperson Tutu Ralane instructed Casca Mokitlane of the Free State and Dikeledi Magadzi of Limpopo to report back in five days on the apparent anomalies.
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/ 24 January 2006
The unemployment rate among black South Africans had dropped over the past four years but blacks still lagged far behind whites in the employment stakes, Stats SA’s labour force survey has found. The unemployment rate for black men had dropped from 31,5% in September 2001 to 26,6% last September, according to the survey, released in Pretoria on Tuesday.
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/ 19 January 2006
Health workers and a doctor at the Rose Park hospital in Bloemfontein are being monitored for symptoms of Congo fever after treating a Petrusburg woman who died of the virus, a local newspaper reported. A specialist physician and personnel have been placed under observation.
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/ 18 January 2006
A woman arrested for abandoning her newborn baby near the Hennenman railway station would remain in custody until her next court appearance at the end of the month, Free State police said on Wednesday. She appeared briefly in the Hennenman Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for child neglect and would appear again on January 30, Captain Stephen Thakeng said.
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/ 17 January 2006
A newborn baby girl found naked and abandoned near the Hennenman train station in the northern Free State over the weekend had been sexually assaulted, local police said on Tuesday. Constable Kiddy Kitime said the baby was found at 6.45pm on Sunday and taken to the Bongani Hospital for treatment.
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/ 16 January 2006
The Free State Eagles entrenched their status as one of the country’s premier cricket teams when they defeated the Titans in a low-scoring thriller in the Standard Bank Cup final last week. ”We’ve been a bit lucky so far; we don’t want to be seen as a conceited bunch,” said Eagles coach Corrie van Zyl on Monday.
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/ 12 January 2006
With more than 500 people relocated because of rain damage to their shacks, Johannesburg’s emergency services has urged people living near water lines and crossing low-lying bridges to exercise caution. Some residents of Klipspruit, Alexandra, Diepsloot, Ennerdale and Kaya Sands had been moved, Gauteng Provincial Services said on Thursday.
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/ 12 January 2006
Shots were fired at Johannesburg’s emergency services and police who had rushed to the rescue of three people reportedly swept away by flood waters in Kya Sands on Thursday. ”We arrived at where they were supposed to be washed away and suddenly shots were fired towards the river,” an emergency services spokesperson said.
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/ 12 January 2006
Johannesburg’s emergency services urged caution near bridges and rivers on Thursday as another night of heavy rains raised flood fears. A tow-truck driver rescued a woman who was swept away in her car while crossing a bridge on Witkoppen Road in Sunninghill and two taxis were involved in a head-on collision on the Golden Highway.
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/ 11 January 2006
Former state president PW Botha, who turns 90 on Thursday, will spend the day with friends and family, his eldest daughter, Elanza Maritz, said on Wednesday. There will be ”coming and going” all day at Die Anker, Botha’s riverside home at Wilderness in the Southern Cape.
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/ 11 January 2006
The African Christian Democratic Party in the Free State on Wednesday urged the African National Congress and the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the province to sort out their differences. Sanco in the Free State on Tuesday said it would contest the forthcoming local government elections alone.
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/ 10 January 2006
Rollersport South Africa president Willie van Heerden and his wife, Madeleine, have been identified as the couple killed in Monday’s bus crash in the Free State. Van Heerden was one of South Africa’s top sport administrators, Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile said.
Three people were killed and 23 injured when a tour bus overturned on the N1 south of Springfontein in the southern Free State on Monday, police said. Captain Elsa Gerber said the bus was carrying tourists from Cape Town to Johannesburg. The passengers were from New Zealand, Italy and The Netherlands.
Bafana Bafana coach Ted Dumitru sprung a few surprises this weekend when he named his 23-strong squad for the upcoming African Cup of Nations. He has included lesser-known Benoni Premier United defender Tsepo Masilela, midfielder Mlungisi Gumede, Simphiwe Tshabalala and evergreen Pirates midfielder-cum-defender Daniel ”Sailor” Tshabalala.
A record 218-run opening partnership between AB de Villiers and Gulam Bodi saw the Titans cruise to a convincing 10-wicket victory over the Dolphins in their Standard Bank Cup semifinal cricket match at Supersport Park in Centurion on Sunday. The Dolphins scored 212 for five wickets in their 45 overs.
The number of shack dwellings in South Africa rose from 1,45-million in 1996 to 2,14-million in 2003, according to Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu. That was 417 new shacks a day on average between 2001 and 2003 and 210 shacks per day on average in the five years between 1996 and 2001.
The road death toll for December has risen to 1 215, the Department of Transport said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Collen Msibi said 512 of the fatalities were pedestrians, 414 were passengers and 289 were drivers. The figure is down from 1 234 reported in the same period last year.
Free State farmers celebrating the rain that fell over the New Year are praying the wet weather carries on into the planting season to ease a drought that has crippled the province since November. Free State Agricultural Union director Pieter Moller said the recent rainfall had not broken the drought, but had brought great relief to the farmers.
A ”lacklustre” performance by Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula and the ”disappearance from the radar” of National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi have left the Democratic Alliance wondering who is in charge of fighting crime, the party said in a statement on Tuesday.
Road deaths during the Christmas holidays were at 1Â 162 by the end of December, the Department of Transport said on Monday. There was heavy traffic on the country’s main routes on Monday as holidaymakers returned home. Meanwhile, the bodies of five people who drowned after their car plunged into the Vaal River have been recovered.
The Eagles swooped into Cape Town and inflicted yet another defeat on the Cape Cobras as the home side finished their season winless. The Warriors overcame an atrocious start to the new year almost to snatch what would have been a remarkable victory in their final Standard Bank Cup limited-overs cricket match against the Highveld Lions.
Kalay Maistry (33) is the newly appointed Southern Africa correspondent for al-Jazeera International, the new 24-hour English-language news channel.
Two mountain fires, fanned by a strong south-westerly wind, burned out of control in the Boland on Monday night, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. One of the fires was raging in Du Toit’s Kloof at Donkerhoek and the second above Dewdale on the Hottentots Holland flank.
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/ 28 December 2005
The death toll on South Africa’s roads over the holiday season has reached 965, the Department of Transport said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Collen Msibi said 411 of the casualties were pedestrians and 88 were children under 14. Msibi said that although ”shocking”, the figure was down from the 1 140 deaths over the same period last year.
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/ 22 December 2005
Jubilant 2,05m Mame Niang was walking extra tall at the Charles Mopeli Stadium in Qwa Qwa on Wednesday afternoon after scoring all four goals for Moroka Swallows in a 4-2 Premier Soccer League (PSL) win against Free State Stars. In other matches, Jomo Cosmos beat Silver Stars 2-1 and Arrows and Celtic played to a goalless draw.
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/ 22 December 2005
A series of dropped catches by the home team enabled the Eagles to run out victors by four wickets in their Standard Bank Cup cricket match at Kingsmead on Wednesday night. Chasing 182 runs to win, the Eagles scored the runs with just five balls remaining.