Gauteng

Within the next three years, motorists travelling alone should expect to pay a fee for doing so, the Department of Transport said on Thursday. The measure, called ”congestion pricing”, will be implemented to encourage the use of public transport, the deputy director general of transport said in Mabatu at the launch of National Transport Month.

”The Independent Democrats in Gauteng have lost their engine room,” the Democratic Alliance’s provincial leader in Gauteng, Ian Davidson, claimed on Thursday. According to a statement released by the DA, 11 leading ID office-bearers — including provincial chairperson Peter Batchelor — are joining the DA.

Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini were both honoured for a record-equalling fourth time at the launch of the 2005 Mutual & Federal South African Cricket Annual in Gauteng on Monday. Kallis and Ntini were among the five Mutual & Federal annual cricketers of the year named at the function.

A man was killed when a tree fell on top of him during high winds on Monday night at Zevenfontein informal settlement, north of Johannesburg. Monday night also saw large areas of Gauteng plunged into darkness and roofs flying off houses. Johannesburg emergency services received about 1 500 emergency calls.

In Berea, an inner city suburb in Johannesburg, a worn-out sign next to a hole in a wall reads: ”Place your newborn baby in the door of hope. Anytime day or night. We will care for your baby.” Inside is a square steel container with a colourful teddy bear blanket, ready for the next arrival.

Public transport needs to be safer, cheaper and more efficient to decrease congestion and encourage people to leave their cars at home, Gauteng transport minister Ignatius Jacobs said on Thursday. He was speaking at the launch of Public Transport Month and Car-Free Day at Johannesburg’s Park station.

On October 20, Gauteng motorists will have to ask themselves: Do I leave my car behind for one day? Car-Free Day, an initiative from the Gauteng department of transport, challenges motorists to take responsibility for their driving habits. ”We encourage people to … travel with public transport,” a departmental spokesperson said.

Gauteng residents have rated local government an overall 5,1 out of 10 for service delivery and governance, according to a survey released on Monday by the department of local government. Participants in the survey were income-earning residents from 433 of the 439 municipal wards.

Teacher training will not disrupt Gauteng schools this week despite the absence of thousands of teachers, provincial education minister Angie Motshekga said on Monday. As many as 12 000 out of 49 000 teachers in the province will be attending a workshop on the new curriculum for grades 10 to 12.

A new English-language daily called Nova hit Johannesburg newsstands on Monday, targeting ”professionals on the move” who are confident in South Africa’s multiracial future. Nova is hoping to reach a mix of Afrikaans and English speakers as well as the upcoming black middle-class.

The case of a 39-year-old teacher who is still working after admitting to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl is ”deeply concerning”, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union said on Monday. The story of the statutory rape was published in The Star newspaper on Monday.

Gauteng authorities are considering recruiting immigrants into the police to improve policing in migrant communities, provincial security minister Firoz Cachalia said on Friday. A group of Gauteng police officers was recently shown allegedly taking bribes from illegal immigrants on a television programme.

Police corruption can be nipped in the bud if the public stop offering officers bribes, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said on Wednesday, responding to a television exposé of police taking bribes to release illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, the television footage is, on its own, ”insufficient” to secure the officers’ prosecution, Gauteng police Commissioner Perumal Naidoo said.