A new energy-saving initiative, targeting Johannesburg businesses and homes, has begun. Launched by Talk Radio 702 presenter Jenny Crwys-Williams, the Power to the People campaign urges Johannesburg residents to save energy and protect the environment.
The decision on whether to toll Gauteng’s main highways will be announced later this year, the Department of Transport said on Wednesday. Beeld newspaper reported that motorists would be charged 50c per kilometre to use the main highways in Gauteng if it was decided to toll the roads.
A man appeared in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday accused of certifying defective condoms in exchange for cash, said Gauteng police. Sphiwe Fikizolo faces charges of fraud and corruption. Police spokesperson Captain Percy Morokane said Fikizolo’s case was postponed to August 23 and he was released on R2 000 bail.
What remains of Pretoria is a ”cadastral area” registered in the deeds registry as a township, the City of Tshwane metropolitan council said on Wednesday in answer to a notice of motion of an urgent application for a ciourt interdict against the pending change of Pretoria’s name on road signs to Tshwane.
If it were up to Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan, the potential of South Africa’s music industry would be felt all over the world. His strong belief in the cultural sector was shared with those present at the opening of the Moshito Music Conference and Exhibition 2007 at MuseuMAfricA in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The number of foreign tourists visiting South Africa has grown by 10% ahead of Tourism Month in September, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Tuesday. ”South Africa is following the global trend with a rise in travel and tourism to our country. Overall foreign arrivals grew by 10% from January to May 2007,” he said.
Reigning champions Western Province (WP) and co-favourites Southern Gauteng both won their opening games at the Spar Women’s Interprovincial Tournament being played at the Hartleyvale Astro in Cape Town on Monday. WP showed their pedigree with a 3-1 win over Northerns, while Southerns beat KwaZulu-Natal 3-0.
Four national government departments owe the Gauteng health department more than R43-million for patients treated at hospitals, the department said on Monday. Spokesperson Zanele Mngadi said the provincial department is in talks with the affected national departments for payment.
African National Congress (ANC) presidential contender Tokyo Sexwale criticised the current state of the ANC on Friday at an ANC Youth League fund-raising dinner, saying it is marked by ”character assassinations, smear campaigns, mudslinging, whispering campaigns and rumour-mongering”.
The Social Construction gig at the Gem Bioscope in Kensington is the place to be this weekend, writes Lloyd Gedye.
The Gauteng provincial government on Wednesday launched watchdog committees in a bid to ensure accountability from municipalities. The municipal public accounts committees, the equivalent of Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts, will examine the financial statements of municipalities and their entities.
A notice of motion indicating an urgent application for an interdict will be brought against the pending change of Pretoria’s name on road signs to Tshwane. The notice of motion was filed by the Freedom Front Plus and one of its councillors on the City of Tshwane municipality as well as Afriforum.
About 5Â 000 high school pupils from across Gauteng brought traffic to a standstill in central Johannesburg on Tuesday, demanding the implementation of recovery plans after the public-service strike, metro police said. The pupils were led by the Congress of South African Students.
Police have made more arrests in connection with violent organised crime in Gauteng in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year, provincial minister of community safety Firoz Cachalia said on Tuesday. He said arrests for residential and business robberies and vehicle hijackings had increased compared with last year.
As another 30 people were arrested in a protest on Tuesday, this time in Sebokeng in the Vaal triangle, political parties urged the government to speed up service delivery to angry communities. ”Is the [provincial minister] going to finally do something about service delivery or are more communities going to have to riot?” asked Paul Willemburg of the DA.
More than R45,6-million was lost by national and provincial government departments due to financial misconduct in the 2005/06 financial year, the Public Service Commission (PSC) said on Tuesday. Releasing the commission’s report on financial misconduct in government departments, PSC chairperson Stan Sangweni said there were 771 reported cases.
Police have made more arrests in connection with violent organised crime in Gauteng in the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year, provincial community safety minister Firoz Cachalia said on Tuesday. Cachalia said arrests for residential and business robberies, and vehicle hijackings had increased compared to last year.
Mzamo Xala disavows the term ”black diamond” — conferred on members of South Africa’s booming black middle class who now hold nearly a third of the country’s buying power. The expression implies superiority, he protested, which offends the collective-mindedness of his cultural background.
Gauteng’s public works department denied a Democratic Alliance (DA) claim that hospital generators were no longer being tested weekly after maintenance contracts had been cancelled in June. Spokesperson Alfred Nhlapo said the system that had replaced the contracts, involving a pool of contractors, was better than what had been available under the previous system.
About 3 500 mine workers will continue their strike over low salaries on Tuesday, trade union Solidarity said. Spokesperson Reint Dykema said Solidarity members started striking at coal mines around the country on Monday over an inadequate pay offer, particularly for artisans.
The 24-hour power failure at Johannesburg’s Coronation Hospital on the weekend should serve as a wake-up call on maintenance work, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday. Jack Bloom, Gauteng health spokesperson for the party, warned that hospitals in the province were at dire risk because maintenance contracts had been cancelled.
About 3 500 mine workers downed tools on Monday over low salaries, trade union Solidarity said. Spokesperson Reint Dykema said Solidarity members were striking at coal mines around the country over an inadequate pay offer, particularly for artisans.
Money is pouring in for the 2010 World Cup as the country anticipates an economic kick from hosting the world’s largest sporting event. With government providing billions of rands to upgrade infrastructure and depressed inner-city areas, there are indications that the private sector is following suit, particularly in Gauteng.
A total of 28 people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed by a series of forest fires that have swept through parts of South Africa and Swaziland since the end of last month, officials said on Thursday. ”Twenty-six deaths have been reported thus far” in South Africa alone, said a statement issued after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The South African Cabinet has effectively vetoed the Soweto monorail project announced by the Gauteng government in May this year. There were major shortcomings in the process leading to the announcement of the project, government spokesperson Themba Maseko told journalists in Pretoria and Cape Town on Wednesday.
Tracking down rape suspects has been made a police priority, Deputy Minister of Safety and Security Susan Shabangu said on Wednesday. ”One of the issues we are going to make a priority is to ensure that where we have warrants of arrest for rape suspects, the police go down and hunt those individuals and bring them to book,” she said.
The average abused woman leaves her husband 37 times before she divorces him. After every lame excuse, every bunch of flowers and every empty promise, she takes him back again. And again. And again. Why? Women’s rights activists, social workers and clinical psychologists agree: abused women are kept in abusive relationships by a combination of fear, emotional or financial dependence, low self-esteem or a false sense of loyalty.
The Tshwane/Pretoria name change ”is neither here nor there”, said the Gauteng African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday. ANC Gauteng secretary David Makhura told a press conference the party believed Tshwane was the capital. But it was still a ”matter of process” to make this ”attitude” a reality.
Winter had one last blast before making way for spring as snow fell in parts of South Africa on Tuesday. Snow had fallen near the Hex River in the Western Cape, in Sutherland in the Northern Cape, near Tiffendell in the Eastern Cape and in parts of Lesotho and the Drakensberg, according to South African Weather Service forecaster Elke Brouwers.
Limpopo is the country’s safest province, the South African Institute of Race Relations said on Tuesday. It had the lowest rate of murders, rapes and armed robberies, according to a study based on police statistics released in Polokwane. Limpopo is also one of South Africa’s poorest provinces with a very high rate of unemployment.
It is only logical that when a ruling party elects its own leadership it prefers also to be electing the leadership of the country, the Gauteng African National Congress (ANC) said on Tuesday. ANC provincial secretary David Makhura was speaking at a press conference after the provincial executive committee’s meeting earlier this month.
All the fuel industry workers who were on strike over the last week would return to work on Tuesday after accepting an 8,5% wage increase. ”We hope that at least by the afternoon shift everybody would have gone back to work,” said Keith Jacobs, spokesperson for the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers’ Union.