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/ 22 December 2007
At least 10 people were killed and more than 20 injured in a collision when a bus ploughed into the trailer of a stationary truck near Estcourt in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands on Saturday morning, paramedics and the provincial road traffic inspectorate said. Of those injured, eight were in a critical condition.
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/ 20 December 2007
South Africa’s second-largest housing market, the Western Cape, continued to have the lowest house price inflation in the country, fresh data showed on Thursday. Price inflation in the province dropped from 12% in July to 11% in August, the Lightstone residential property index showed.
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/ 19 December 2007
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An attempt to get the principle of gender parity elevated to the top structures of the ANC was trounced on Monday night, the Mail & Guardian has learned.
The policy, also known as the 50/50 principle, is a steep change in empowerment in the ANC and requires that every alternative position available for leadership be reserved for a female candidate.
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/ 19 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>Did the ANC fatten up for the slaughter in Polokwane? An audit of membership statistics suggests the wholesale recruitment of new members to boost the girth of provincial delegations has played — and will play — a role in the outcomes at Limpopo.
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/ 19 December 2007
Gauteng’s economy remained under pressure in November although strong performances were reported in several sectors. The Gauteng business barometer decreased by 2,7% to 142 index points, compared with November last year. However, it is 1% higher than the level of one month ago.
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/ 18 December 2007
More than 560 people have died on South African roads since the beginning of December, the Department of Transport said on Tuesday. At least 119 people were killed in accidents in Gauteng, 86 in KwaZulu-Natal, 58 in the Western Cape, 70 in the Eastern Cape, 52 in the Free State, 74 in Mpumalanga, 51 in Limpopo and seven in the Northern Cape.
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/ 18 December 2007
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A third day of cool, rainy weather in Polokwane did little to quench the fiery support for the front-runners in the ANC presidential race: Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. Voting for the party’s top six officials started later than the scheduled time of 6am on Tuesday morning due to computer-related delays.
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/ 18 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>Membership of the African National Congress has grown to 620Â 000 members from 416Â 000 members in 2002. A national conference, the most powerful gathering of the party, is a perfect opportunity to assess who makes up the ANC. Who is the typical ANC member and what do they believe in?
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/ 18 December 2007
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Secretary-general of the ANC Kgalema Motlanthe spared no punches when he presented his organisational report to the national conference this week. Mandy Rossouw looks at which provinces came out tops and which need to take a long hard look at themselves.
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/ 18 December 2007
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President Thabo Mbeki’s team fought back after a first day of humiliation at the ANC’s 52nd national conference at Polokwane, holding an unprecedented rally at lunchtime. Jacob Zuma’s people responded with an even bigger rally. The Mbeki rally was part of a package of measures to turn back the voting gains of deputy president Jacob Zuma, who is set to take the top job.
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/ 17 December 2007
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On Sunday a picture emerged of strong support for Jacob Zuma, overshowing the rest and spectacularly managing to humiliate national ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota. As strong an indicator as it was, some delegates supporting President Thabo Mbeki insisted that an Mbeki win remained a possibility.
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/ 17 December 2007
Uncertainty over the prosecution of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi was not in anyone’s best interest, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said. The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Sunday that a decision had been made on whether Selebi ”has a case to answer”.
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/ 15 December 2007
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Delegates to the African National Congress’s Polokwane conference, some of them weary after driving through the night from other parts of the country, began registering shortly after 10am on Saturday. Registration is taking place in a cavernous and hot aircraft hangar at the Gateway Airport north of Polokwane.
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/ 13 December 2007
The pompom weed — a plant in the daisy family — is rapidly becoming one of the most serious threats to the conservation of South African grasslands, the Working for Water programme said on Thursday. The weed’s beautiful flowers are leading members of the public to collect and inadvertently spread it to more places.
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/ 13 December 2007
The R230-million Gautrain tunnel-boring machine has been christened ”Imbokodo [Rock]”, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said in Johannesburg on Thursday. Shilowa said the name symbolises the country’s heritage of willpower and women’s emancipation. ”If you strike a woman, you strike a rock,” he said.
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/ 13 December 2007
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) still expects to make an announcement regarding its investigation of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi this week, NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Thursday. ”An announcement will be made this week but I can’t say if it will be today,” said Tlali.
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/ 12 December 2007
Proceedings at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court came to an end on Wednesday without any sign of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi. Phantom sightings and rumours that he had been arrested and due to appear in court had sparked a media frenzy at courts around Gauteng.
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/ 12 December 2007
Gauteng crime rates are still unacceptably high and the province will continue to implement safety strategies to combat festive-season crime, provincial minister of community safety Firoz Cachalia said on Wednesday. Briefing the media in Johannesburg on festive-season policing, he said crime-blitz operations, road blocks and searches would be conducted.
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/ 12 December 2007
The motorist who was caught doing 257km/h in his silver Audi TT on Sunday night has been named as Ukhozi FM’s DJ Sbu, Talk Radio 702 reported on Wednesday. DJ Sbu, or Sbusiso Leope, appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. He was released on R1 000 bail, Johannesburg metro police said on Wednesday.
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/ 11 December 2007
The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) says it is quite unacceptable that Eskom does not give adequate warning to the public about its load shedding. "It is a crying shame that Eskom can paralyse the economic powerhouse of Africa — Gauteng province — every time it needs to do maintenance to power-generating equipment," the DA said on Tuesday.
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/ 10 December 2007
More than 250 people have been killed on South African roads since the beginning of the festive season, the Department of Transport said on Monday. Spokesperson Ntau Letebele said 275 people were killed in 230 crashes — 65 drivers, 84 passengers and 126 pedestrians.
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/ 10 December 2007
South Africa’s Department of Minerals and Energy has converted Harmony Gold Mining’s old-order mining rights into new-order mining rights, Harmony said on Monday. Harmony has been granted 13 new-order mining rights covering all its South African gold-mining operations including its Evander, Doornkop and Randfontein operations.
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/ 10 December 2007
More than 100 houses were finally received by Sinqobile residents in Kagiso on the West Rand after a housing project that began in 2003 was completed, the Gauteng housing department said on Sunday. ”The long wait for houses has finally ended,” said spokesperson Aviva Manqa.
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/ 8 December 2007
Heavy rains swept across Gauteng and the Free State on Saturday afternoon, turning roads into rivers. The roof of the Dion store in Alberton caved in during heavy rain, said Netcare 911 spokesperson Mark Stokoe. In the Free State, a 10-year-old girl drowned when she was swept down a sewerage trench, provincial police said.
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/ 7 December 2007
The sheer number of crimes being committed in South Africa is still at an unacceptable level, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said on Friday. The decrease in reported crime, however, is encouraging, it said. The rights body said its finding on the unacceptable level of crime is ”exacerbated by the massive under-reporting of crime”.
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/ 6 December 2007
The South African Police Service (SAPS) was not involved in reviewing the arrest warrant for its National Commissioner, Jackie Selebi, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Thursday. However, he confirmed that the warrant was indeed the subject of review.
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/ 6 December 2007
House robbery, business robbery and truck hijacking increased between April and September this year, the police announced in Pretoria on Thursday. House robbery rose by 7%, business robbery by 29,3%, and truck hijacking by 53,3%. There were 6Â 711 house robberies in the six months from April to September, up from 6Â 271 over the same period last year.
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/ 5 December 2007
The Gauteng provincial police service received a cash boost of R500 000 on Wednesday for the specialised training of detectives. The South African Insurance Association’s deputy executive officer, Refiloe Moletsane, said the unacceptable levels of crime in the country had prompted the association to assist with the funding of the training programme.
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/ 30 November 2007
Fifteen people were arrested during a crime-fighting operation at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport on Friday, said the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa). ”Fifteen people have so far been arrested and 10 vehicles have been impounded,” said Acsa spokesperson Tasniem Patel.
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/ 30 November 2007
The retail price of all grades of petrol will increase by 43 cents a litre on Wednesday December 5, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. The latest changes bring the retail price of a litre of 95-octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng to R7,47 and to R7,23 at the coast — new highs.
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/ 29 November 2007
The Gauteng government is trying to curtail opposition politicians’ investigations into public health facilities, the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) said on Thursday. The FXI said a complaint by provincial minister of health Brian Hlongwa about Democratic Alliance member Jack Bloom’s visits to public health facilities in the province was ”problematic”.
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/ 29 November 2007
An extra R87-million has been allocated to help people living in extreme poverty, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said on Thursday. The money was in addition to funds already given to provinces for relief, he told reporters after meeting provincial ministers of social development in Durban.