Severe cold and more snow is to hit large parts of the country later on Tuesday and Wednesday, the South African Weather Service has warned. It said temperatures will drop as low as minus nine degrees Celsius in places such as Sutherland in the Northern Cape. The town was blanketed in snow on Monday.
Gauteng’s development programmes are not only about readiness for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said on Tuesday. ”We must avoid creating the impression that our programmes are driven by the desire to prepare for the 2010 World Cup,” Shilowa said in his budget speech to the provincial legislature.
Confusion reigned at a press conference of the Western Cape branch of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in Cape Town on Tuesday. After calling a media briefing on the ”suspension” of the public-service strike, Cosatu organiser in the province Mike Louw told journalists: ”We’re not suspending the strike.”
A national warning was issued by the South African Weather Service on Monday morning with regards to a strong cold front affecting the country this week. Already prevalent in the south-western Cape, the cold, windy conditions are expected to sweep across the central interior of the country on Tuesday.
An initiation-school surgeon was arrested following the death of two initiates in Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape, the health department said on Sunday. Meanwhile, in Gauteng, a 15-year-old boy was found dead by fellow circumcision initiates at a mountain between De Deur and Orange Farm on Sunday morning.
Gauteng residents should brace themselves for a strong cold front and isolated showers accompanied by wind in the coming week, the National Forecast Centre said on Sunday. Forecasters said the chilly weather should be expected in the middle of the week, with chances of light isolated showers on Tuesday.
The African National Congress’s (ANC) national policy conference in Gauteng next week should remain loyal to principle and continuity, but also respond to changing circumstances, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. The four-day conference, which starts on Wednesday, will assess the party’s major policy positions.
The Democratic Alliance accused the Nokeng tsa Taemane municipality on Friday of hiding the truth by denying it faced collapse and needed R20-million from Gauteng province to survive. Municipal manager Mpho Mogale admitted the municipality had a cash-flow problem, and said plans were already in place to deal with it.
South Africa lacks women in high positions, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has found. A lot still needed to be done to empower women, the PSC said in a report released on Friday. ”Critical in this endeavour is the creation of an enabling environment to ensure that women’s talents and potential are harnessed …,” it said.
Growth in South African household spending slowed to 7,5% year-on-year in the first quarter from 7,75% in the last quarter of last year, while debt reached record levels, the central bank said on Thursday. A household spending boom has contributed to high economic growth of 5% last year, but it has also added to inflationary pressures.
Benoni’s alleged visionary, Francesca Zackey, was handling criticism of her ministry ”very well”, her mother said on Wednesday. The 17-year-old has been inundated with people seeking prayer and healing since she claimed to have started seeing visions of the Virgin Mary some weeks ago.
The unprecedented economic growth in Gauteng is fading following a weakening in business conditions within the province, the Gauteng Business Barometer (GBB) said on Wednesday. In a statement, the GBB said growth levels had tapered off and the economy was set to experience a slowdown that would last until next year before growth accelerates.
South African businesses had little good to say about the country’s schooling system, according to a survey released on Wednesday. Private-sector employers had ”grave reservations” about its overall quality, indicated the research by the Centre for Development and Enterprise survey.
The electronic National Transport Information System (eNatis) is operating well countrywide, the National Road Public Management Corporation said on Wednesday. The corporation manages eNatis on behalf of the Transport Department.
Internet usage in South Africa is skyrocketing. The number of active South African browsers on the web has grown by 121% from 1,8-million in May 2005 to 3,9-million in May this year. In the same period, the number of page impressions grew by 129% from 91-million to 207-million.
A 12-year-old boy helped his dad fight off a gang of armed robbers in Pretoria in one of at least 19 violent incidents that Gauteng paramedics dealt with at the weekend. Netcare 911 spokesperson Mark Stokoe said three people died in the 19 incidents.
A devastating strike and looming policy conference are finally prodding the shadowy contest for the leadership of South Africa’s governing party into the open, even if no candidate wants to admit it. The next African National Congress president will be formally elected in December at a party conference.
More than 2Â 000 jobs in road construction and maintenance in Gauteng will go to young people, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa told a Youth Day rally at the Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change said the ”spectacular courage” shown by the youth of South Africa on June 16 1976 inspires Zimbabwe’s youth.
Gauteng is to get about 10 new mixed housing developments in the current financial year, provincial housing minister Nomvula Mokonyane said on Friday. They will be in Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Mogale City and Johannesburg, she told the Gauteng legislature in her 2007/08 budget speech.
A security officer was stoned to death on Friday when residents of an informal settlement outside Pretoria resisted an attempt to evict them, Gauteng police said. The residents then set fire to a truck that was to be used to move their belongings, said police spokesperson Inspector Paul Ramaloko. Three Nissan 1400 bakkies were also set on fire, he said.
The Gauteng transport department is playing double standards with the new number-plate system, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday. DA’s transport spokesperson James Swart said it is not clear how much the new number plates will cost motorists.
No more floor-crossing Hats off to the African National Congress (ANC), which at its recent policy conference revealed that it intends to discuss the immoral floor-crossing legislation at its national conference in December, where there will undoubtedly be a strong recommendation that it be scrapped. In the meantime, the party has proposed that it would […]
M&G gagged Being a journalist myself, I am absolutely disgusted by what has happened. Can we regard South Africa as a genuine democratic nation and an example to the rest of Africa when those who once fought for democracy undermine one of the most important pillars of this phenomenon? How can it be that authorities […]
How can teachers not be essential? I am a matric student currently attending Pretoria High School for Girls. I would like to voice my opinion on the recent strike action on behalf of the youth of South Africa. I hope that Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi is a subscriber of your newspaper […]
Govt out of touch David Macarlane (June 22) highlights the education department’s flawed policy of requiring qualifying schools to exempt poor parents from fees, while failing to compensate them for lost revenue. In fact, it is the fee-paying parents, many of whom make considerable sacrifices to meet their obligations, who are subsidising exempted parents. Education […]
Black economic embarrasment After 10 years of democracy and equality in my African South Africa, it’s almost tragic to note that I have far more opportunities than my white South African counterparts. Affirmative action and black economic empowerment (BEE) are just flashy labels for flat-out discrimination. Since some of us are clearly more equal than […]
Deaths in South Africa are on the increase, with 590Â 000 in 2005 — 3,3% up on the previous year, according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) figures on mortality and causes of death. ”The overall number of deaths shows a continuous increase from 1997 to 2005,” Stats SA said in a statement on Thursday.
Police have arrested 80 people for Road Accident Fund (RAF) fraud involving R3,7-million. Director Phuti Setati said they were accused of colluding with touts to fabricate information about vehicle accidents in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in May. ”False claims were allegedly submitted to the RAF for payment of fictitious injuries sustained in accidents that never occurred,” he said.
The former head of the Congress of South African Trade Unions told striking public-sector workers on Wednesday that negotiations should take place at the table and not on the streets. Mbhazima Shilowa’s comments were a sign of deepening differences between the ruling African National Congress and its allies.
Transnet’s plans to boost freight rail capacity include a feasibility study on a rail ring around greater Johannesburg to reduce delays, media reports said on Thursday. Moira Moses, the group executive for Transnet projects, said in a presentation: ”We want to build a new hub [to replace City Deep].” This proposal still needs to be presented to the Transnet board.
The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday said the planned replacement of Gauteng vehicles’ number plates had been kept a secret by the provincial department of transport. It was announced on Tuesday that the province’s motorists will have to purchase new number plates from January next year, as the current number system is almost exhausted.
Police have rejected as a hoax an email that warns people against ”stonings and shootings” on Gauteng highways on Saturday. National spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said on Wednesday the email claimed the South African Police Service and metro police were on standby because of the alleged threat.