No image available
/ 7 September 2005
It seems that even if police officers are shown on national television accepting bribes, they can keep their jobs. After the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s Special Assignment showed officers accepting bribes from alleged illegal immigrants, the seven officers in question were still on the beat on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 7 September 2005
Political parties were on Wednesday challenged to field more female candidates as councillors for the upcoming municipal elections by chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula. ”We had about 60% of all voter registrations this weekend being women,” Tlakula said at a briefing on the outcome of the registration drive.
No image available
/ 7 September 2005
Absa customers may soon be able to negotiate new overdrafts, finance cars and make cash deposits at their branches on Sundays, if a trial run at two Gauteng branches is anything to go by. In a move unique in banking circles in South Africa, Absa opened two of its biggest and busiest branches last Sunday to test the waters.
No image available
/ 7 September 2005
White farmers on Wednesday threatened an armed struggle similar to that waged by the African National Congress unless their property and cultural concerns are addressed. A handful of farmers presented a memorandum to TAU South Africa president Paul van der Walt on the fringes of an agricultural union conference.
No image available
/ 7 September 2005
Gauteng minister of community safety Firoz Cachalia wants the sword to fall on the Booysens policemen shown taking bribes on the South African Broadcasting Corporation televison programme Special Assignment on Tuesday night. ”We are expecting nothing less than firm and decisive action from the area and provincial commissioners,” Cachalia said on Tuesday night.
No image available
/ 2 September 2005
A Cape High Court matter about Independent Democrats deputy leader Themba Sono’s cessation of party membership because of failure to pay a R10 membership fee was on Friday postponed to next Wednesday. Friday’s court proceedings against Sono follow a gruelling legal battle with ID dissident Lennit Max.
No image available
/ 2 September 2005
At least four municipal managers received remuneration packages exceeding R1-million last year — closely matching or exceeding that of President Thabo Mbeki, according to Treasury statistics released on Friday. The municipal manager of eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal received a package of R1,091-million in the 2004/05 financial year.
No image available
/ 1 September 2005
The 15-day floor-crossing window for MPs and MPLs to change parties without losing their seats got under way on Thursday and brought some surprise defections. Among these were African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) MP and Chief Whip in the National Assembly Louis Green, and ACDP KwaZulu-Natal MPL and leader Reverend Hawu Mbatha.
No image available
/ 1 September 2005
The National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) on Thursday confirmed it has approached Inkatha Freedom Party MPL Jabulani Maphalala to join its ranks. Maphalala, who is based at the University of Zululand, was fired by the IFP on Wednesday — apparently after allegations that he was going to defect to Nadeco.
No image available
/ 1 September 2005
Four New National Party MPLs have crossed the floor to the African National Congress, giving the ANC an outright majority in the Western Cape legislature, while former Western Cape police commissioner and member of the Western Cape legislature Lennit Max has crossed the floor to the DA.
No image available
/ 1 September 2005
Cape High Court judges worked overtime on Wednesday to deal with a barrage of legal action ahead of the midnight opening of the political floor-crossing window. The United Democratic Movement on Wednesday expelled six MPs and MPLs from the party, and the Independent Democrats gave the boot to its deputy leader and Gauteng MPL Themba Sono.
High-level expulsions rocked the United Democratic Movement on Wednesday, just hours before the doors were to open for South African politicians to switch parties. The floor-crossing window is open from September 1 to 15, and South African politicians spoke to the Mail & Guardian Online about its pros and cons.
The United Democratic Movement has expelled six of its senior members, including deputy leader Malizole Diko, with immediate effect. On Tuesday, Cape High Court Judge Basheer Waglay reversed the suspensions of the six, saying the party had not followed its own constitution in suspending them.
Floor-crossing battles kept two Cape High Court judges busy for the better part of the day on Monday. At stake in two cases involving the United Democratic Movement and the Independent Democrats are two seats in the National Assembly, one in the National Council of Provinces and five in various provincial legislatures.
The Dutch Reformed Church is unlikely to find a mutually agreeable solution to the ideological divide over membership for practising gays, experts said this week. But while some expect the church to split on the issue, others predict a mere glossing-over to the detriment of gay congregants.
The Gauteng department of public transport, roads and works announced on Monday that it will be increasing the pace of conversion of minibus taxi permits to operating licences. In the next few months, it plans to convert 40 000 permits to operating licences in the province.
Climate change is a ”very powerful and threatening reality”, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in Port Elizabeth on Monday. ”It could have a direct cost to our economy,” he told the congress of the Institute of Environment and Recreation Management.
The United Democratic Movement hatched a deplorable scheme to oust six of its public representatives before the floor-crossing window opens, the Cape High Court heard on Monday. Advocate Jan Heunis was arguing on behalf of the six, who include UDM deputy president Malizole Diko.
Despite international oil prices having surged to fresh record highs on Monday, the situation is not yet a cause for panic, according to Absa industry analyst John Loos. He said petrol prices in Gauteng could reach R6 per litre by October, thus pushing CPIX inflation higher to around 5% in October.
The Cape High Court was set to be busy on Monday dealing with a wave of legal action ahead of the floor-crossing window that opens on Thursday. The court will hear argument on a bid by United Democratic Movement deputy president Malizole Diko and five other party officials to have their suspension from the party reversed.
A 50-year-old tree tumbled across a road in Newlands, Cape Town, on Friday as gale-force winds, driving rain and bitter cold hit the city in the early hours of the morning. The Elsieskraal River flowing through Pinelands had apparently burst its banks, but there was no major flooding reported so far, said senior traffic officer Lyndon Herbert.
About R1,2-billion of public hospital fees are still outstanding from the 2004/05 financial year, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday. ”An astonishing 68% of fees billed for the 2004/05 financial year were not paid,” said DA health spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard. The DA found that only R560-million (32%) was paid.
Suspended United Democratic Movement deputy president Malizole Diko plans to form a new party, according to affidavits filed this week in the Cape High Court. The documents are part of the UDM’s bundle of papers in reply to a bid by Diko and five other party officials for an interdict lifting their suspension from the party.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it remains committed to pursue its rolling mass action in support of the jobs and poverty campaign, which runs until February next year and includes periodic national stayaways as well as sectoral action.
Condemning the Scorpions’ raid on the office of the attorney of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, the General Council of the Bar of South Africa on Friday called on them to return everything they had seized as soon as possible. The raid appeared to violate the principle of attorney-client privilege, the GCB charged.
The Tshwane Metro Council has been ordered to issue and pay for advertisements admitting that its marketing campaign referring to Tshwane as ”capital” was misleading. This was the effect of a judgement by the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa after a hearing on the matter by its Advertising Standards Committee.
South Africa is often considered to be in the unfortunate position of having some of the world’s best laws and poli-cies to protect women and children but an inability to implement them. Take the roll-out of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for rape survivors to prevent HIV infection, a lot of dissatisfaction with the programme has been widespread.
Old Mutual Healthcare’s deal with Kwacha announced recently is about improving their equity standings before they bid on the government’s civil service medical aid scheme, say analysts. The spokesperson for the Medical Schemes Council, described the deal as ”part of the mad scrambling to get BEE administration companies in place” to tender for the government medical aid scheme.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>There were no sinister motives behind the Scorpions’ swoop on the Johannesburg home of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, that of his financial adviser Schabir Shaik and other residences and offices on Thursday, said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), also denying the raids were conducted in response to Congress of South African Trade Unions statements on Zuma.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille says the Democratic Alliance is a small white boys’ club.
One in every five ambulances will in future be dedicated for people in life threatening emergencies, the Gauteng health department said on Tuesday. This decision was taken on Monday at a meeting of health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa and councillors responsible for health in the province, said spokesperson Simon Zwane.
Old Mutual Healthcare and Kwacha, the holding company of 100% black-owned Sizwe Medical Services, have announced the proposed merger of their businesses that will result in the health-care subsidiary of Old Mutual being 36% black-owned, after taking into account its black economic empowerment (BEE) deal announced in April this year.