The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is contemplating strike action against the Gautrain project, the provincial branch of the union federation said on Thursday. Gauteng provincial secretary Siphiwe Mgcina told reporters that the project failed to tackle the most significant transport problems in the province.
A workshop that went up in flames in Johannesburg on Wednesday, killing 12 people, was not suitable for accommodation and would have been earmarked for closure, a municipal official said. If the building had been inspected, it would have been earmarked for closure, the official said.
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If the rape allegation against Jacob Zuma was part of a political conspiracy against him, it was poorly planned, the state prosecutor told the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday. ”If there was a political conspiracy, it wasn’t the most well-planned conspiracy,” said Herman Broodryk.
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The Public Protector, the Gender Commission and the South African Human Rights Commission have expressed concern over the conduct of Jacob Zuma supporters and media coverage of his rape trial. The three bodies — all set up under chapter nine of the Constitution and referring to themselves as the C9s — said they met on Friday to discuss events around the trial.
The government plans to improve staff and management of tuberculosis (TB) services and to improve access to laboratory services where it is poor. This forms part of the TB crisis plan launched by Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Friday, World Tuberculosis Day, at Durban’s King George V hospital.
Sexual relations between the president and women Cabinet ministers, opposition leader Tony Leon being for the ”white man struggle”, and racist talks between Scorpions investigators are all part of the National Intelligence Agency’s hoax e-mail saga. On Thursday, the inspector general of intelligence declared the e-mails to be false.
Phil Naledi has changed the lives of residents along a leafy street in the north-eastern Johannesburg suburb of Sydenham. He earns R900 a month for guarding the houses in the relatively affluent suburb, working 12-hour shifts. ”No one can make a life if they spend so much time working for this little money,” he explains.
Police were keeping an eye on striking private security guards in the Johannesburg city centre on Friday. About 100 guards had gathered at Beyers Naude Square by 9am, police said. In other centres, striking security workers were also expected to march in support of their demands for better wages and working conditions.
Protesting security guards in Pretoria began to disperse on Thursday afternoon after their strike turned violent earlier, with a security vehicle set alight and rubbish strewn in the inner city. At one stage police fired rubber bullets at the protesting guards in an effort to calm the situation.
Police fired rubber bullets at protesting guards after they apparently set alight a security van in Pretoria on Thursday afternoon. Guards made their way to Church Square, trashing rubbish bins and causing havoc in the city centre. Shops were also set alight. The violence came on the first day of a security-guard strike in seven provinces.
Security-guard employers were reporting little absenteeism in Johannesburg and the East and West Rand on Thursday, the first day of a two-day security-industry strike in six provinces. In the Cape and Pretoria, however, some companies experienced 80% absenteeism, and cases of intimidation were reported.
An estimated 90 000 security guards from 13 unions will strike for two days from Thursday, South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) security industry coordinator Jackson Simon said on Thursday. The figure is down from the 150 000 mooted on Wednesday.
Thirteen security guard unions will embark on a two-day strike in six provinces on Thursday and Friday, in support of higher wages and better working conditions — including the right to lunch breaks and using a toilet without being charged for deserting a position of duty.
Suffering and sacrifices made during apartheid were not in vain, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said at a Human Rights Day rally in Sharpeville, Vereeniging, on Tuesday. The 1960 Sharpeville massacre was a ”watershed moment” that helped bring democracy to South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki said in Rome on Tuesday.
Listed short-term insurer Santam has launched South Africa’s first affordable household insurance product aimed at the lower-income sector, the company announced on Monday. The new product, called Santam MultiHome, is initially being launched to homeowners in Soweto.
Metallica fans can expect a broad range of the band’s music — spanning more than 20 years of its career — at Saturday’s Coca-Cola Colab Music Festival at Supersport Park in Centurion. ”It’s just us doing our thing,” said drummer Lars Ulrich in Johannesburg on Friday. ”We always play stuff from all our different records. We’re playing our full headlining show … covering all different sides of Metallica,” he said.
The Pretoria High Court has reserved judgement in an application by a Gauteng chef to change intestate legislation that prevents him from inheriting his gay partner’s estate. Henley-on-Klip chef Mark Gory sought an order declaring unconstitutional a Section of the Intestate Succession Act of 1987.
Her next stop could be the Union Buildings, incoming Tshwane Metropolitan City Mayor Gwen Ramokgopa said on Friday. Speaking to the National Press Club in Pretoria only hours before she was due to be elected new mayor of the capital city, Ramokgopa joked that she was ”very close to the Union Buildings”.
Although South Africa currently has one of the fastest growing new vehicle markets in the world, the local motor industry still has a number of significant challenges to address, according to McCarthy CEO Brand Pretorius. Pretorius was speaking at the opening of the Durban Motor Show on Friday.
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The rape trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma enters its ninth day in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday. After more than a week of sensational and at times graphic medical testimony, proceedings on Wednesday focused on the technicalities of the investigation.
Global positioning systems units in South Africa are retailing for twice as much as they sell for in the United States, bringing into question the markup on the latest technologies that are imported into South Africa. A Garmin E-trex Yellow GPS unit retails in the US for about $100 (R617).
Khutsong residents are not accepting their fate regarding the government’s decision to incorporate their municipality into the North West province. Instead they plan to challenge the government in the Constitutional Court on March 30. Khutsong is preparing to battle it out in the courts to remain part of Gauteng.
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Jacob Zuma’s lawyer could ask that testimony by a top Gauteng police detective be declared inadmissible after he admitted to not following basic police procedure, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Wednesday.
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The investigating officer in the rape allegation against Jacob Zuma will return to the witness box in the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday. Police Commissioner Norman Taioe told the court on Tuesday that a statement from Zuma did not refer to the consensual sex that Zuma claims, but mentions enjoying each other’s company ”privately”.
Property in the vicinity of Rosebank, Park and Sandton railway stations will be the first to be expropriated to make way for the Gautrain line, the Gauteng government said on Tuesday. Land in Midrand will also be expropriated for the construction of the maintenance depot and land in Marlboro for the tunnel portal.
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Jacob Zuma’s first statement to police during the rape probe against him made no mention of consensual sex he has claimed he had with his accuser, the court heard on Tuesday. A police officer also testified he forgot to add to his statement Zuma’s reply when asked to point out the crime scene.
The African National Congress announced its candidates for mayor in the 13 municipalities it controls in Gauteng on Tuesday. There will be new mayors for Tshwane, the West Rand, Metsweding, Mogale City, Emfuleni, Kungwini and Nokeng tsa Taemane municipalities. ”Changing a mayor is not a statement on a specific individual,” the ANC said.
A meeting between Transnet unions and Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin yielded progress on Monday after another day of national strikes crippled the transport industry. ”Erwin has agreed that government will facilitate a resolution of certain pension issues related to Metrorail,” said his spokeswoman Gaynor Kast.
Senior police officers were overpaid, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday. ”It seems that President Thabo Mbeki’s 2005 State of the Nation commitment to ‘improve the salaries of members of the police service’ has largely only benefited senior police managers, including National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi,” DA spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn said.
Tsotsi director Gavin Hood and lead actor Presley Chweneyagae arrived to screams of applause in the international arrivals hall of Johannesburg International airport on Sunday. As they stood on a balcony overlooking the arrivals hall, they took turns holding up the Oscar statuette Tsotsi won for best foreign film.
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South Africa has taken a giant step towards the goal of gender equality and the emancipation of women in the recent municipal election, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. The election results show the success the African National Congress has achieved to increase the numbers of women in the municipal system, he said.
Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe said on Friday he has no reason to complain about the manner in which police searched for his murdered four-year-old granddaughter Makgabo Matlala. ”I am not in a position to comment on whether they did what they were supposed to,” Ngoepe said.