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.
This week saw the official launch and installation of Parliament’s new emblem, a design created by the people as a cornerstone for South Africa’s new democracy. ”A new emblem was an important step in establishing an identity for Parliament, one that represents its values, vision and mission,” Parliament said in a statement.
Researchers at the North West University have compiled a profile on biltong hunters in a study of the economic impact of biltong hunting in South Africa. About 200 000 hunters set off each year with biltong as their target, which is far greater than the number of trophy hunters who visit the country.
The South Africa Bus Employers’ Association (Sabea) said all staff reported for duty on Wednesday morning in accordance with a Labour Court ruling, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. On Tuesday, the court granted an interim order in favour of Sabea preventing a strike planned for Wednesday. This means that any strike will now be unprotected and illegal.
The government plans to cut rush-hour traffic around South Africa’s big cities by at least 20% over the next three years, Transport Director General Mpumi Mpofu said on Tuesday. She warned of future steps to discourage ”single-occupancy vehicles” such as more dedicated highway lanes for high-occupancy vehicles.
South African and foreign intelligence agencies have been monitoring an alleged training camp linked to Muslim fundamentalists at Greenbushes, Port Elizabeth, the Herald Online reported. According to an intelligence source, the camp is no longer operational because of possible botched surveillance activities.
Most people believe that corruption occurs to speed up approvals to which people are legally entitled, a survey has found. The number of people who believe this roughly equals the number of people who think that corruption is a means to ill-gotten gains. Business Against Crime and the German Technical Cooperation Agency commissioned the survey as part of business’s contribution to the South African National Anti-Corruption Forum.
The Highveld Lions won the Standard Bank Pro20 competition in fine style on Friday night, beating the Cape Cobras by six wickets in the final at the Wanderers, thanks to a superb 73 by the Lions captain. Neil McKenzie won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat. The Cobras appeared to have lost some of their venom, and lost wickets at regular intervals.
New approaches and tools in dealing with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) must be sought, the South African branch of international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) said on Friday. ”MDR and now [extensively-drug resistant] TB are the tip of an iceberg of failing strategies to control TB,” the organisation said.
R1-billion has been allocated this year to eradicate bucket toilets in established settlements by December, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Friday. ”All bucket systems that exist in formal establishments and townships will be completely removed by December 2007,” said a departmental spokesperson.
Senior members of the Italian Mafia have obtained an interest in Namibia’s nascent diamond-cutting industry, using front companies to buy an existing but unused diamond-cutting and polishing licence, an 18-month-long investigation has revealed. Company documents show that the Italian criminal syndicate appears to have been aided and abetted in obtaining their licences by Sam Nujoma’s youngest son.
About 250Â 000ha of bush have been razed by fires that have been burning in the Pilanesberg area of the North West for the past six days, Working on Fire (WOF) said on Thursday. More than 120 local farmers, farm workers and residents and eight fire engines from nearby towns were fighting the fire, said WOF’s Evelyn John Holtzhausen.
Community involvement is essential in the fight against crime, Britain’s metropolitan police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said on Thursday as he wound his way though the streets of Alexandra to assess the outcome of a partnership programme geared to promote community responsibility in the Johannesburg township.
A passenger on a Mango airline flight was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Thursday for allegedly telling a flight attendant he was in possession of an explosive device, the company said. The incident caused the flight to Durban to be delayed by 18 minutes on Thursday morning.
Two employees of the Gauteng health department have been dismissed for defrauding the department of more than R700Â 000, the department said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Vusi Sibiya said the dismissals followed disciplinary action taken as a result of a probe that was conducted by forensic auditors.
Thirteen infectious tuberculosis (TB) patients who forced their way out of Pretoria West Hospital, wanting to be treated as outpatients, have been ordered back to their beds. This follows an interim high court order as a result of the Gauteng health department having lodged an interdict against them.
The tax amnesty for businesses with a turnover of less than R10-million a year expires on May 31 this year, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) warned on Monday. To date, Sars has received close to 18 000 applications for amnesty, said spokesperson Adrian Lackay.
An eight-year-old boy who nearly drowned when his arm was stuck for more than two hours in an intake pipe in a public swimming pool in Pretoria has died, paramedics said on Monday. Halaletsang Nkome was swimming at the Danville municipal pool in Pretoria when his arm was sucked into the pipe on Sunday afternoon.
Sprinter Sherwin Vries pulled off an amazing sprint double at the South African Senior Track and Field Championships at King’s Park Athletics Stadium in Durban on Saturday, showing he is on track to go to the World Championships in Japan later this year. It was a fifth national title for Vries.
Bus drivers are set to go on strike following the collapse of a three-month-long negotiation process, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union said on Friday. ”Labour demands an across-the-board increase of 13%, while bus owners are prepared to give a 5% increment,” read a statement.
A court challenge to the incorporation of the Merafong municipality into the North West will be welcomed by Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi. ”We generally know that the Khutsong community wants to approach the Constitutional Court — and the minister welcomes that,” a spokesperson said this week.
Disintegrating boxes of medical waste left out in the rain and rotting waste from abattoirs dumped in ditches in the veld were among the environmental hazards discovered by the ”Green Scorpions” during a nation-wide blitz this week. Inspectors from the environmental police force this week carried out a series of countrywide enforcement inspections.
Heavily armed gangs raided three cash vans in and around Johannesburg on Thursday, taking undisclosed amounts of money. The first gang struck at the Midas store in Luipardsvlei, Krugersdorp, at 9.30am. The three men had apparently been waiting inside the store when two unsuspecting guards went in with cash containers, spokesperson Captain Sphiwe Ndlovu said.