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.
More than 800 people were forced to evacuate their homes by the stormy weather that hit Cape Town on the weekend, the city’s disaster risk management centre said on Monday. And the South African Weather Service said more bad weather is on the way. Forecaster Stella Nake said Cape Town should expect another cold front on Thursday.
An enormous gulf exists between the levels of service provided by different provinces, a Democratic Alliance (DA) study has found. ”If you are poor and reliant on the state for health, education and housing, the best provinces to live in are the Western Cape, Gauteng and the North West,” DA spokesperson Willem Doman said on Monday.
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Willie Madisha was optimistic that teaching would resume in Khutsong on Monday. ”Teachers have agreed, they are going back to classes, education will happen,” he said on Sunday following a meeting with teachers and parents.
Widespread frost is expected over the central interior and Highveld of Gauteng from Tuesday until Thursday morning, the South African Weather Service said on Sunday. Very cold conditions were expected to persist over the central interior until Wednesday.
Transport Minister Jeff Radebe on Saturday denied a Mail & Guardian report that he had backed businessman Tokyo Sexwale’s ”presidential ambitions”, and called for a withdrawal of the article, but the newspaper says it stands by its story.
Khutsong residents are embarking on an indefinite consumer boycott starting on Saturday, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. The Merafong Demarcation Forum said the boycott was aimed at intensifying the defiance campaign against the incorporation of Khutsong into the North West from Gauteng.
More than 500 woman from the Khutsong Women’s Forum marched to the local police station on Friday to call on the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to intervene in the ongoing unrest in Khutsong. Spokesperson for the forum Pearl Khanyile said they had asked SAHRC chairperson Jody Kollapen to accept the memorandum.
Gauteng’s planned monorail should be kept off taxi routes, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) said on Friday. Santaco secretary general Philip Taaibosch said there was no agreement between the taxi industry and the government on the planned monorail between Soweto and central Johannesburg.
Opposition parties on Friday demanded answers on the troubled electronic national traffic information system, following allegations the Auditor General had warned of problems before the system was introduced. The Inkatha Freedom Party said it has urgently tabled questions in Parliament to Transport Minister Jeff Radebe.
South African rugby this week found itself once again dancing to the strains of a political orchestra
The communities of Khutsong and Moutse will contest the demarcation issue in the Constitutional Court, their attorneys said on Thursday. ”We are now in a process of compiling papers,” said Rudolph Jansen of Lawyers for Human Rights. Jansen said papers for Khutsong would be filed soon.
The increase in the period of internship for doctors from one to two years in 2008 may cause a shortage of doctors, the Health Department said on Thursday. Spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said the department was making efforts to address the challenge. ”There is ongoing collaboration between relevant stakeholders,” he said.
Conditions in some Gauteng state hospitals pose a serious health risk to patients, Beeld newspaper reported on Thursday. It said this emerged from complaints by readers in the past week. They spoke of cockroaches in hospital kitchens, dirty toilets, faeces on the walls and of incompetent nurses who treated wounds without gloves.
An interim Labour Court order forced a halt to a security guard strike at Magnum Shield Security late on Wednesday, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union said. The strike was over the selling of work contracts, which would require some Magnum Shield guards to work for Springbok Fidelity.
Thirteen people were arrested overnight in the troubled Khutsong township and more police are being deployed in the area, North West police said on Thursday morning. Superintendent Louis Jacobs said the arrests came after a supermarket was broken into and looted at about 10pm and a spaza shop was burnt down.
Suburbs in the Ekurhuleni municipality experience at least one power failure a day, a Democratic Alliance spokesperson said on Wednesday. He made the comment after constant contact with councillors and listening to a radio broadcast on which Jacob Marogo, Eskom chief executive, was ”evasive” and non-committal about plans to curb the problem.