Pay these public servants more The statement about not wanting to overburden taxpayers, in Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi advertisements in the media over the weekend, was really irksome. These public notices were placed in reaction to protracted negotiations with public service unions. As a taxpayer I have no issue in paying taxes […]
The official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) will on Friday finalise the order in which the names of candidates will appear on the ballot-papers that will be used during the election process at the party’s congress in Gauteng in May. This will be done by means of a draw.
At least 400 youths blockaded roads, stoned passing vehicles and robbed motorists in Khutsong township on Wednesday night, police said. The youths had just returned from a mass meeting called by the Anti-North West Forum to discuss Merafong municipality’s incorporation into the North West from Gauteng.
The Johannesburg home of Gauteng’s provincial minister of health Brian Hlongwa was robbed and four family members held up on Tuesday night, police said. ”I can confirm that yesterday [Tuesday] evening about 8.30pm in the Sandton area four family members were held up and household items were taken,” police said.
Sophie Edington of Australia picked up six gold medals at the 2007 Telkom National Aquatic Championships, which ended at the Kings Park pool in Durban on Sunday night. She took both the 100m and 50m freestyle medals, the 50m butterfly, and the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke races in her stride.
Gauteng must plan ahead if it wants to ease problems arising from increased migration, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday. It was clear that metropolitan areas like Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban would attract people ”from elsewhere in the country”, Mbeki said during an imbizo in Braamfontein on Sunday.
Johannesburg streets were on Sunday lined with frenzied residents clamouring to see President Thabo Mbeki as he made his way through Hillbrow. Some cheered out of windows, others were perched on their balconies — waving and shouting to grab Mbeki’s attention — as he shook hands with ecstatic residents on the streets.
If it is a football dictum that the mark of champions is that they can play badly and still win, then the opposite should apply to the teams that get relegated. They can play well and still lose. Mamelodi Sundowns, in conquering a valiant Maritzburg United, proved the first point, while their luckless opponents testified to the other.
No fewer than 210 cases of Klipdrift were sold at this year’s Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK). And this was only at the Klipdrift tent and did not account for truckloads of Klippies that made their way to Oudtshoorn in cooler bags and methods of mass transportation. There is no denying that the arts festival is one of the country’s biggest bashes and kuiers.
A 40-year-old Johannesburg metro police officer and a 43-year-old man were arrested when they were found driving a hijacked goods truck in Gauteng on Thursday, said Vaal Rand police. Captain William Mcera said the truck, carrying canned foods, was hijacked in Mpumalanga by three men on Wednesday morning.
Pretoria police have finally been cleared of accusations of beating a local prostitute into a coma, police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi said on Thursday. In January this year, newspapers reported that a 17-year-old girl was fighting for her life in a Pretoria hospital after being severely assaulted by Sunnyside police officials.
Gauteng Commissioner of Police Perumal Naidoo has ordered his officers to ”turn the world upside down” to find the killers of a two-year-old girl in Johannesburg, said Superintendent Eugene Opperman. The baby was shot in the head during a robbery at a Corlett Gardens home in Lyndhurst on Thursday morning.
Six people, including four foreign nationals, were arrested in Camperdown near Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday morning in what South African Revenue Service (Sars) officials claimed was the country’s second-largest seizure of perlemoen yet. Between five and six tonnes of perlemoen (abalone) were found.
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Hush-hush preparations are under way for a lavish birthday banquet this week for Jacob Zuma, media reports said on Wednesday. More than 1Â 000 people have been invited to celebrate the 65th birthday of the African National Congress deputy president at Durban’s International Convention Centre on Friday.
The curtain comes down on the South African athletics season this weekend when about 1 500 junior and youth athletes converge in Pretoria for the South African Junior and Youth Championships. Much is at stake. For some it provides an opportunity to qualify for the IAAF World Youth Championships.
A keenly contested final of the women’s 400m freestyle is expected on the opening night of the 2007 Telkom South African National Aquatic Championships at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre in Durban on Tuesday following the heats on the first morning of the six-day event.
President Thabo Mbeki will meet members of the Johannesburg public at a two-day imbizo (meeting) this weekend. His programme includes a community imbizo at the Safa-Simba Stadium in Klipspruit on Saturday afternoon, where residents will discuss their concerns directly with him, a Gauteng government spokesperson said.
The number of people killed on South African roads over the Easter weekend has risen to 181, the Department of Transport said on Monday night. Of the 181 people who lost their lives in 143 crashes, 41 were drivers, 71 were passengers and 69 were pedestrians, spokesperson Ntau Letebele said.
Thirteen people were arrested following a two-week investigation into bouncer violence and drug trafficking in Gauteng clubs. Superintendent Eugene Opperman said two illegal drug factories were also busted. Of the 13 people arrested, six also face charges relating to manufacturing tik (methamphetamine).
A deaf-and-dumb woman was raped, allegedly by two men, in Butterworth on Saturday morning, Eastern Cape police said. The 20-year-old grade-11 pupil from Gauteng, on holiday in the area, was accompanied to her family’s house following a party in the Bungeni informal settlement, said Captain Jackson Manatha.
A Soweto man is due to appear in the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday after his teenage girlfriend was found dead in his fridge, Gauteng police said on Saturday. The body of the 17-year-old, from Ermelo in Mpumalanga, was found crouched in the fridge on Friday morning, said Superintendent Thembi Nkhwashu.
On Wednesday, the Gauteng department of economic development hosted a seminar for prospective Johannesburg shareholders — targeted specifically at black, female investors — to promote public participation in inner-city regeneration. One focus of the seminar was a tax incentive for renovators looking to invest in the city.
Lloyd Gedye speaks to Kobus! about heavy metal, the death sentence and record labels.
The Transport Ministry on Wednesday called on motorists to drive carefully over the Easter weekend. Among others, main routes out of Gauteng are expected to carry heavy traffic from noon until 10pm on Thursday and from 6am to noon on Friday, said ministry spokesperson Ntau Letebele.
Nine Zimbabwean car guards were sent to South African deportation facility Lindela on Tuesday and another three were arrested in a swoop on an illegal car-guarding business in Johannesburg by the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (Psira). Twenty car-guarding businesses have come under Psira’s scrutiny over the past 40 days.
Construction along the Gautrain route could cause power failures in many Gauteng suburbs, Eskom said on Tuesday. ”Eskom needs to take out a number of transmission lines in the Gauteng area … The risk during this period is that if another transmission line is affected, there is a possibility of load shedding during peak periods.”
Alcohol abuse costs South Africa in the region of R10-billion a year, or 1% of GDP, but the excise tax on alcohol collects only about R7-billion. This leaves the country with a shortfall of about R4,5-billion in costs to health services, the criminal justice system, and, of course, human lives.
Members of Gauteng minister of safety Firoz Cachalia’s security detail shot at two men outside his Emmarentia home on Friday morning, police said. Spokesperson Sergeant Sanku Tsunke said the men were seen approaching Cachalia’s front gate by members of the security and protection services. ”One man was carrying a firearm,” he said.
The retail price of all grades of petrol will rise by between 68 cents and 69 cents per litre from Wednesday April 4, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Friday. The price of 95 octane petrol was set to increase 68 cents per litre, while that of 93 and 91 octane would increase 69 cents respectively.
South Africa’s insurance industry is waiting with bated breath as claims roll in for damage caused by the freak tides that hit the KwaZulu-Natal coast recently. More than 300km of the KwaZulu-Natal coastline needs to be reconstructed after it was devastated by 8m waves that struck in the early hours of March 19
The preparations for the Soccer World Cup need to provide infrastructure and services that will last beyond 2010, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said on Thursday. ”Our people expect the games to leave a lasting legacy …,” he said at the launch of the 2010 Strategic Framework in Johannesburg.
The backlog of housing currently stands at 2,4-million houses across South Africa, and the government hopes to reduce or do away with the shortfall by 2014. ”Yes, there is a problem with the backlog,” housing director general tumeleng Kotsoane said in an interview in Pretoria on Thursday. Kotsoane detailed the obstacles faced in the housing sector.