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/ 19 September 2005
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.
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/ 19 September 2005
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.
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/ 19 September 2005
Lesotho and South Africa will sign an agreement for the feasibility study of the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project at the Mohale Dam this week. The feasibility study of the second phase is expected to start in October 2005 and will take two years.
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/ 19 September 2005
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.
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/ 14 September 2005
Another person has died as a result of the typhoid outbreak in Delmas in Mpumalanga, government officials said on Wednesday. Two people have so far died and 51 cases of typhoid have been confirmed. The number of the people presenting symptoms of typhoid had risen to 408 by 1pm on Wednesday.
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/ 14 September 2005
The Independent Democrats suffered a setback on Wednesday with the defection of two of its seven MPs, Cecil Burgess and Chris Wang, to the African National Congress. Western Cape MPL Mzwandile Manjiya also defected to the ANC along with Burgess and Wang.
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/ 14 September 2005
The typhoid outbreak at Delmas in Mpumalanga is a clear reminder of the importance of environmental epidemiology, a senior health official said on Wednesday. Deputy Director General of Health Kamy Chetty said: ”It very clearly brings out issues of environmental health and its health impact on people.”
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/ 14 September 2005
South Africa’s chief rabbi emeritus Cyril Harris succumbed to cancer on Tuesday in Hermanus in the Western Cape, a Jewish Board of Deputies spokesperson said on Tuesday. ”His body will be taken to Jerusalem and buried either on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning,” Zev Krengel said on Tuesday night.
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/ 12 September 2005
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.
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/ 12 September 2005
Subaru has a reputation for building quick cars that are fun to drive, while looking very ordinary. All of their offerings are fitted with horizontally opposed four or six-cylinder engines to provide a low centre of gravity, and all deliver power to all four wheels. Until a year or two back the cars were somewhat marred by relatively low luxury specifications.
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/ 10 September 2005
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.
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/ 9 September 2005
The deputy leader of the Independent Democrats, Themba Sono, crossed the floor to a fledgling party just hours after the Cape High Court reversed his expulsion from the ID on Friday. The ID had feared that Sono would defect. ”I have joined the Alliance of Free Democrats,” said Sono in a media statement.
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/ 9 September 2005
The number of confirmed typhoid cases in Delmas, Mpumalanga, rose to 100 on Friday, but the situation is gradually being brought under control, health officials said. Up to 700 people are now suffering from diarrhoea, but proper management and precautions should see the outbreak in Delmas brought under control.
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/ 9 September 2005
Six police officers implicated in taking bribes from illegal immigrants at Booysens police station, in Johannesburg, in a recent television documentary have finally been suspended — five days after Gauteng police management were alerted to the alleged corruption.
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/ 9 September 2005
The Cape High Court on Friday set aside the Independent Democrats’ expulsion of its deputy leader Themba Sono, paving the way for him to cross the floor to another party. The ID terminated Sono’s membership in August, saying he had not paid a R10 membership fee and that he ceased to be an ID member when he joined another political party.
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/ 8 September 2005
The Booysens policemen who were filmed accepting bribes from alleged illegal immigrants were still on the beat on Thursday, four days after Gauteng police management were alerted to the alleged corruption. And while two of the policeman were clearly shown accepting bribes in the Special Assignment programme, Gauteng police say this may not be enough to secure their successful prosecution.
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/ 8 September 2005
The economic growth of Gauteng through city regeneration, black economic empowerment and capacity development were priorities at a three-day retreat attended by Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa. ”Once the strategy is implemented, companies that are not empowered should not bother tendering,” said Shilowa.
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/ 7 September 2005
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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.