A 38-year-old businessman was arrested in Durban on Thursday for allegedly failing to pay R43-million in value-added tax (VAT) to the South African Revenue Service (Sars). Properties, cash in bank accounts and vehicles in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng — valued at R90 million — were seized in dawn raids.
A public-service strike will go ahead this week despite government claims of progress in last-ditch efforts to resolve a wage impasse, union leaders said on Wednesday. ”The general strike is going ahead,” said Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha.
The Democratic Alliance wants a judicial investigation into Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride’s motor accident after claims that officers had covered up for him and were now being intimidated. It is alleged that McBride was drunk at the time of the accident in December near Centurion.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) may decide to withdraw from the coalition that has ruled since the end of apartheid, threatening to shatter cooperation between leftists and moderate black nationalists. The SACP’s provincial council in Gauteng voted in favour of a go-it-alone approach last week.
The government’s taxi-recapitalisation programme is a solution to destructive competition over profitable taxi routes, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Tuesday. He condemned recent taxi violence around Johannesburg as ”barbarism”. Radius permits will be converted to operating licences.
The ailing electronic national traffic information system had a negative effect on car sales and the Gauteng economy, a business breakfast heard on Tuesday. Discussing the Gauteng Business Barometer for April, T-Sec economist Mike Schussler said April had been a particularly weak barometer.
The National Treasury has gazetted the details of municipalities whose 2006/07 municipal infrastructure grant allocations have been stopped — because of non-compliance with the 2006 Division of Revenue Act. It amounts to R503-million. The main reason for the funds being stopped is "significant under-expenditure".
The ”Green Scorpions” begin an inspection of Mittal Steel’s Vereeniging plant on Tuesday, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said. The inspection, to last several days, marks the launch of a national environmental compliance campaign in the iron, steel and ferro-alloy industry.
Angry protesters from various informal settlements in Ekurhuleni urgently demanded provincial government attention on Monday afternoon, saying they had been subject to illegal evictions. Riot police used shields and batons to push the crowd that packed Simmonds Street in the Johannesburg city centre, where they handed over a memorandum.
Gauteng’s provincial ministers for transport and finance should be fired for bungling the proposed monorail between Soweto and central Johannesburg, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday. The R12-billion monorail project was put on hold after Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said he had not been informed about the project and only heard about it through the media.
Two pastors were among the five people killed when their vehicles collided head-on on the Mafikeng-Lichtenburg road on Sunday, the North West transport department said. Also, seven people were killed when three vehicles burst into flames after colliding on the R34 route between Vryheid and Melmoth on Monday.
Schoolgirls who fall pregnant could face having to spend two years out of the classroom before being allowed back if a proposal in circulation within the Department of Education is approved, the <i>Sunday Times</i> reported.
The building of a 44,7km monorail between Johannesburg and Soweto has been ”put on hold”, the Transport Ministry said on Friday. It said while the monorail proposal cannot be supported in its present form, the government is in principle not opposed to the concept of a monorail.
The planned R12-billion monorail between Johannesburg and Soweto was a first step in addressing the daily traffic chaos on South African roads, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Friday. It was surprised that Transport Minister Jeff Radebe opposed the move, said FF+ transport spokesperson Corne Mulder.
A deophobic sermon Shaun de Waal has written a deophobic sermon (“Fighting fire with fire”, May 25), but needs to deal with the evidence evenhandedly. If the wrong religion has done is evidence that belief in God is false, is the right religion has done evidence that belief in God is true? Likewise, does the […]
A number of power failures across Johannesburg on Friday morning could be linked to overloading and cable theft or damage to cables by third parties, City Power said. Spokesperson Louis Pieterse said power failures in parts of Parkmore, Houghton, Kensington, Wisonia, Glenvista and Boksburg affected individual households, not every resident in those areas.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has pledged support for a separate bargaining chamber for health workers proposed by the African National Congress (ANC) health committee. ”There is no doubt that nurses and doctors should get a pay boost above the inflation rate,” DA Gauteng health spokesperson Jack Bloom said in a statement.
The Gauteng provincial government on Thursday said it was waiting for an urgent meeting with the national government on the province’s planned R12-billion monorail linking Johannesburg and Soweto ”The [provincial minister] is awaiting a response from the minister,” said spokesperson Alfred Nhlapo.
The feasibility study for a proposed R12-billion monorail between Soweto and central Johannesburg was ”Mickey Mouse,” the chairperson of Parliament’s standing committee on transport, Jeremy Cronin, said on Thursday. ”On the face of what we got it’s not only the process that is poor …,” Cronin said.
The increase in electricity demand must be reduced, Eskom said on Thursday. "We have only so much generating capacity; therefore the only solution is to reduce the demand," it said in a statement. Rolling power failures affected parts of Gauteng and Mpumalanga on Wednesday evening.
Sandra Botha has beaten her rival, former National Party minister Tertius Delport, for the post of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. Finance spokesperson Ian Davidson was elected unopposed for chief whip after KwaZulu-Natal leader Mike Ellis withdrew from the contest.
Public-sector unions are expected to meet the state in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council next week in a last-ditch attempt to avert a strike. Bargaining council general secretary Shamira Huluman said the employer had sent a request for a meeting on May 28 and 29. Unions had been given until Thursday to say if they would attend, she said.
The City of Cape Town on Wednesday unveiled a two-year plan to provide essential services to all 222 informal settlements within its boundary. The plan, which would see every household given access to water, sanitation and area lighting, would cost R63,4-million, Mayor Helen Zille told a media briefing.
Much of South Africa can expect another freezing night on Wednesday, the South African Weather Service said as the costs of this week’s cold spell mounted. At least 22 people have died of cold in different parts of the country this week, 15 of them in the Eastern Cape.
In Braamfontein, Johannesburg, under the M1 North highway, a group of street children huddles together for warmth. Metres away, seemingly oblivious to the morning traffic, a middle-aged homeless man lays down on the ground, adjusting the heap of white dustbin bags blanketed around him.
Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Wednesday he is ”in the dark” about a proposed R12-billion monorail between Soweto and Johannesburg. The first he knew about the project was when he read about it in the media. The Gauteng provincial government did not ”consult, discuss or seek our approval” for the project, he said.
There was still no schooling in Khutsong on Wednesday although teachers had agreed on Sunday that teaching would resume in the township, the Khutsong Learners’ Forum (RCL) said. ”Grade 12 learners went to school as they usually do but teaching did not take place,” said RCL president Sibusiso Kula, adding that teachers had also arrived at schools.
With a new plan to bury the nation in a few million books, a radio DJ is the latest to get on board to highlight the importance of reading for South Africa’s future. A book-distributing initiative has been launched by youth radio station 5fm’s Kevin Fine to deliver more than three million books to underprivileged schools and communities.
Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride will know by the end of this month if he will face a charge of drunken driving, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Tuesday. NPA spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi said police had been asked to finalise the case by May 25 when McBride’s dossier had to be back with the NPA for a decision on whether to prosecute him.
The South African Weather Service recorded 54 weather records in the icy wet and snowy weather this week. On Monday, there were 34 new temperature records and on Tuesday another 20. At least 17 people were reported dead from exposure or in fires trying to keep warm in the icy wet weather gripping the country.
A power failure in Gauteng’s Midrand area on Tuesday disrupted the new electronic national traffic information system at some testing stations, the Transport Department said. Spokesperson Collen Msibi said generators kicked in immediately after the power failure in the morning.
A 37-year-old Malawian man alleged to be a serial rapist appeared in the Alberton Magistrate’s Court on Monday, Gauteng police said. Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said the man was charged with rape and robbery involving more than 10 victims in the Ekurhuleni area. He had his case postponed to May 28 for further investigation.