No image available
/ 9 November 2004
While most South Africans agree that black economic empowerment (BEE) is necessary to uplift standard and correct the wrongs of the past, there is a strong feeling that it has benefited only a select few, a survey has found. The survey shows that 70% of the sample felt that BEE has enriched only a select few.
No image available
/ 8 November 2004
Sun International has consolidated its leading position in South Africa’s R7,34-billion casino industry over the past year, and is now ready to pursue regional and international opportunities in the gaming, hotel and resort sectors, according to CEO Peter Bacon.
No image available
/ 5 November 2004
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has given the Department of Correctional Services 14 days to reinstate 127 prison workers dismissed for striking illegally. The 127 Modderbee prison officials were dismissed during an illegal strike in July, after ”defiantly” ignoring ultimatums to disengage.
No image available
/ 5 November 2004
Gauteng’s minister for community safety, Firoz Cachalia, expressed anger and shock at the killing of a police officer at a roadblock in Johannesburg on Thursday. ”It is very saddening to see these kinds of vicious attacks on members who are dedicated to serving their communities,” he said on Friday.
No image available
/ 5 November 2004
There is no need to panic about drought — unless the rain stays away for another two months, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said in Pretoria on Friday. The department is reviewing the state of the Vaal River system to see if water restrictions in Gauteng — now South Africa’s driest province — will be necessary.
No image available
/ 5 November 2004
The South African government’s refusal to disclose the number of children receiving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in KwaZulu-Natal province has raised fears among Aids activists that children’s rights to health care and life are being violated.
The national treatment plan, unveiled last November, initially targeted the treatment of 53Â 000 people by March 2004, which has since been extended to March 2005.
No image available
/ 4 November 2004
The South African government’s refusal to disclose the number of children receiving anti-retroviral drugs in KwaZulu-Natal has raised fears among Aids activists that children’s rights to health care and life are being violated. A survey at 13 of KwaZulu-Natal’s public hospitals found only 39 children were receiving anti-Aids medication.
No image available
/ 3 November 2004
A R10-million provincial cash injection for equipment at the East Rand’s ailing Natalspruit hospital could be too little, too late, Democratic Alliance health spokesperson Jack Bloom said on Wednesday. Blaming provincial inaction for the hospital’s woes, he said prevention would have been better than cure.
No image available
/ 2 November 2004
Gauteng’s 153 roadworthy centres will be audited over the next two years amid fears of widespread fraud and corruption, provincial ministers said on Tuesday.
The move follows Talk Radio 702’s exposure earlier this year of fraud and corruption at the privately owned Wynberg testing station.
No image available
/ 28 October 2004
As the country holds its breath for confirmation of a fuel hike on Friday, economist Mike Schussler believes it will not break the R5 barrier this year. Preliminary figures released this week show that motorists should expect to pay an additional 19c a litre from next Wednesday. This means Gauteng drivers will be paying R4,87 a litre for petrol.
No image available
/ 26 October 2004
The Gauteng province will consider increasing taxes to raise extra funds if research shows this to be justified, the provincial treasury said in Pretoria on Tuesday. Addressing the Gauteng legislature’s finance portfolio committee, Nomfundo Tshabalala, acting deputy director general, said greater revenue raising powers were needed in the province.
No image available
/ 26 October 2004
Investigators have found that allegations of matric examination papers leaked in Gauteng were ”baseless and unsubstantiated”, the provincial education department said on Tuesday. It was alleged on Monday that a business economics paper was leaked in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg.
No image available
/ 25 October 2004
Only 200 of an expected 5 000 residents marched on the Natalspruit hospital in Katlehong on Monday afternoon to demand a response to a memorandum handed to the hospital’s management last month. One of the marchers, Patricia Mkani, said nothing seems to be going right at the hospital.
No image available
/ 21 October 2004
Are the ruthless hierarchs of the ruling Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe finally facing up to the fact that Zimbabweans are going hungry? With Amnesty International releasing yet another report about the worsening food crisis, there were reports this week that the Zanu-PF politburo was preparing to debate the issue. Typically, more pressing bureaucratic matters swamped the agenda.
No image available
/ 16 October 2004
Schabir Shaik’s Nkobi group paid almost a quarter of a million rand to woo Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini from the Inkatha Freedom Party to the African National Congress, according to a document handed to the Durban High Court. The document is the transcript of an interview Scorpions investigators conducted with Shaik’s former business associate, Professor Themba Sono.
No image available
/ 15 October 2004
A wealthy South African, accused of illegally exporting more than R200-million-worth of precious metals, was arrested at Johannesburg International airport on Friday. The man, now living in Newmarket, United Kingdom, had arrived in South Africa for a holiday with his family when he was arrested at the airport.
No image available
/ 15 October 2004
Stephen Saad — MD of South African pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare Holdings — has been named as the South African winner of the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for 2004/05, Ernst & Young announced on Friday. Saad will represent South Africa at the global awards ceremony, to be held in Monte Carlo in May next year.
No image available
/ 15 October 2004
”It is no secret that our ability to manage leadership succession in the movement and state structures is under a serious test.” This is an extract from an African National Congress (ANC) Gauteng document, which calls for the presidential succession debate to start. It has stirred a hornet’s nest. It also reveals the factionalism, careerism and other threats facing the party.
No image available
/ 14 October 2004
Themba Luke Radebe, one of four men accused of murdering members of two Benoni families in February, on Thursday accused the police of assaulting and torturing him to extract a confession. Radebe (44) told Judge Nico Coetzee in the Secunda High Court that a plastic bag was put over his head and kept there until he fainted.
No image available
/ 14 October 2004
The African National Congress has rejected media speculation that it is opening debate on who is to succeed President Thabo Mbeki as South African leader. In a statement on Thursday — in response to such speculation — the party said it wants to clarify a number of issues regarding the leadership succession.
No image available
/ 14 October 2004
The first witness in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial, Independent Democrats deputy leader Themba Sono, was in the witness box in the Durban High Court on Thursday. Sono said he met Shaik in 1996 through a colleague.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=123695">Tangled web of intrigue at Shaik trial</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=123679">Zuma debt aired in Shaik trial</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=123667">State shows link between Shaik, Zuma</a>
No image available
/ 13 October 2004
Improved security for banks and cash-in-transit vehicles has seen robbers turn to the retail industry, which has suffered a R12-million loss so far this year, Kobus Kuyler, general manager of safety and security at Pick ‘n Pay, said on Wednesday. This is up from the total loss for 2003 of R9-million.
No image available
/ 12 October 2004
Ordinary South Africans on Monday celebrated a decade of democracy by sharing with Parliament their experiences of the ”rainbow nation”, whose post-apartheid Constitution ensures equality for all. But many of the 150 participants who attended the special session complained that the black majority were still sidetracked after decades of oppression, and formed the main chunk of the jobless.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have 12 hours to get out of South Africa, the Jubilee Debt Campaign (JDC) said in Pretoria on Thursday. About 150 marchers walked from the IMF building in Park Street to the World Bank building in Pretorius Street to protest againstAfrica’s debt and the institution’s pro-privatisation policies.
Hundreds of anti-debt campaigners were expected to take to the streets of Pretoria on Thursday in protest against the World Bank’s privatisation policy. Sonto Mthimkhulu, chairperson of the Gauteng branch of the International Jubilee Debt Campaign (JDC), said they would march from the International Monetary Fund offices in Park Street to the World Bank building in Pretorius Street to hand over a memorandum.
A cold front will hit the Western Cape province from Wednesday evening and should continue moving over South Africa, while at the same time bringing rain, until Tuesday next week, said South African Weather Service (Saws) forecaster Evert Scholtz. There should be heavy showers over parts of the Western and Eastern Cape up until Friday.
The ambulance crew who failed to transport an injured, homeless man to hospital in Johannesburg will appear before a disciplinary tribunal on Thursday. Johannesburg Metro spokesperson Gabu Tugwana said on Monday that an initial inquiry by the city’s emergency management services into the incident had found the men had acted negligently.
Four policemen were behind bars on Friday following an exposé on South African Broadcasting Corporation television showing policemen demanding bribes from prostitutes and their clients in Johannesburg suburbs, said Gauteng safety and security minister Firoz Cachalia. Seven policemen were identified and suspended after the television programme.
No image available
/ 30 September 2004
If there is one lesson to be drawn from events over the past month in the Free State, Gauteng and Eastern Cape, it is the central importance of mature political leadership. Confronted by the <i>M&G</i> with serious allegations against provincial minister Angie Motshekga, Gauteng has acted quickly, ordering a set of investigations into reports that she unfairly privileged an empowerment trust.
No image available
/ 30 September 2004
Since the front section of this paper seems to be getting all the good stories, Oom Krisjan is happy to be the first to bring details of Travelgate II. On a recent whip-around of city press clubs to tell the public why they are not a bunch of high-flying gadabouts, the speakers of the National Assembly and the National Council of Whatever all arrived in the Big Smoke on the same plane. Definitely a step in the right direction, you’d say.
No image available
/ 29 September 2004
Kanellie Hatzikonstandinou, accused of murdering an 81-year-old shopper at the Cresta shopping centre in Johannesburg on Monday, appeared in the Randburg Regional Court on Wednesday. Her tearful father, Iounno Hatzikonstandinou, entered the dock and before giving her a hug, said in a Greek accent: ”I want to apologise for what happened… I am saying sorry to the family.”