My always reliable mole in high places has told me that South African Airways is about to introduce what is described as an ”unavoidable” 10% levy on all air tickets. This levy has become necessary in order to fund the lifestyle and management needs of SAA’s chief executive officer, Khaya Ngqula, and also to pay for all future enormous double-page SAA apologies in the Sunday newspapers.
A Cape Town magistrate on Thursday authorised a warrant of arrest for Pan Africanist Congress leader Motsoko Pheko. The move followed a request by Bernhard Kurz, the attorney acting for the liquidators of Star Travel, one of the companies involved in the parliamentary travelgate saga.
About 125 Gauteng bus operators refused to run their buses on Wednesday, leaving thousands of pupils stranded, the South African Bus Operators’ Association said. The operators demand 35c/km for each child transported, while the Gauteng education department is offering 25c/km per child.
About 200 residents from various communities on Saturday protested at a Pikitup information day against the company’s proposed landfill site between Dainfern and Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg. Johannesburg’s waste-management company, Pikitup, held the open day in Fourways.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) on Wednesday said thousands of municipal workers were beginning to gather in different cities across the country in preparation for their three-day wage strike. The union expects between 150 000 and 200 000 workers to heed the strike call across the country.
South Africa’s municipal debt jumped about R4-billion from R31,8-billion in 2002 to R35,9-billion in 2003, while figures for 2004 are not yet available, said Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi. The figures show that Durban/eThekwini — once a shining light of budgetary prudence — has grown its debt from R2,8-billion to R3,2-billion.
A driver’s assistant was hit by a bullet and 16 commuters were injured on Wednesday morning when a truck driver committed suicide while driving in Randfontein, Gauteng. West Rand police spokesperson Sergeant Katlego Mogale said witnesses saw a 24-wheeler truck approaching a T-junction at high speed and collide with the packed taxi in Rand Street, Randfontein.
Opposition parties have strongly criticised President Thabo Mbeki’s announcement that the government is considering bringing in skilled foreigners to help get South Africa’s moribund municipalities up and running. In separate statements, three opposition parties blamed affirmative-action policies for the lack of skills at local government level.
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on Monday said in a statement that it has offered to intervene in the Pick ‘n Pay strike under Section 150 of the Labour Relations Act. The strike will continue until a settlement has been reached, the South African Catering, Commercial and Allied Workers’ Union said on Monday.
Trading at Pick ‘n Pay’s stores across the country was normal on Monday and the strike action was ”far more orderly”, the retail chain company said in a statement. The group, however, still appealed to the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers’ Union to ensure that its members obey the law.
Johannesburg is expected to be the 12th-largest city in the world by 2015, Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu said on Thursday. ”Paradoxically, Gauteng is known to be the smallest province geographically,” Sisulu said in a speech prepared for delivery at a Gauteng housing summit.
A significant proportion of the planned R180-billion in South African government and parastatal spending on infrastructure projects over the next five years is destined to go overseas due to the lack of workers qualified to implement these projects, according to Frater Asset Management analyst Matthew Kreeve.
A syndicate dealing illegally in semi-precious stones and diamonds has been uncovered by the public in South Africa’s big centres, Gauteng police said on Wednesday. The syndicate operated in the Johannesburg area, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and other major centres, Superintendent Chris Wilken said.
The clothing sector is sometimes called the rag trade. Rags and riches may be more apt. If you work, for instance, as a machinist in the rag trade in a KwaZulu-Natal area such as Newcastle, you can expect to earn a union-sanctioned wage of just R228 a week. The same industry, though, paid R10-million to Edcon chief executive Steve Ross last year, nearly 1 000 times that of the machinist’s annual wages.
Although the business confidence index of the South African Chamber of Business increased in June to its highest level so far this year, there are economic developments that could adversely affect future confidence, the chamber said. The index increased to 128,2 in June this year from 127 in May.
Rand Water has managed to stop the water flow that flooded parts of Meredale in Johannesburg after a pipe burst early on Tuesday. Assessors are examining the extent of the problem and damage to surrounding houses. Emergency services have rescued 18 people, including a six-month-old baby, from about 50 houses.
Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa at the weekend announced that the Bombela Consortium has been appointed as the preferred bidder for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link. Shilowa said it is "the biggest public-private-partnership project yet tackled in the country and indeed in Africa".
Construction of the high-speed train connecting Johannesburg, Pretoria and Johannesburg International airport will begin ”today”, Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa said on Saturday. He also announced Bombela, a French-Canadian-South African consortium, as the preferred bidder for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link Project (Gautrain).
Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa will announce the successful bidder for the R8-billion Gautrain rapid rail link in Pretoria on Saturday. Shilowa failed to meet three announcement deadlines; the first in April, the second in May and a third at the end of June, to announce which of the two consortia — Bombela and Gauliwe — had won the bid.
Zanu not our ally I thought it was glib of some of my friends to describe the South African government as playing a ”sub-imperial” role in Africa. But with reports of a loan to Zim-babwe worth maybe $1-billion (phew, if it’s even half that!) I begin to wonder. The United States, as world imperial power, […]
The power Shaiks Now that the high court has pronounced on Schabir Shaik and President Thabo Mbeki has done the country proud in axing Jacob Zuma, one remains puzzled at the role the Shaik brothers appear to play in the contention for influence and power, without visibly being representative of anyone or anything except themselves. […]
Church’s Chicken, the world’s second largest fried chicken franchise, will soon be spreading its wings over the Western Cape. This follows the acquisition by a Stellenbosch-based company, Inkuku Holdings Ltd, of the American rights to establish a minimum of 50 Church’s Chicken outlets over the next five years.
Thousands of workers protested against unemployment and poverty around South Africa on Monday in a nationwide strike that business says was poorly attended and unnecessary. The SA Chamber of Business said that only 10% of workers took part in the strike, which cost the economy an estimated R500-million.
President Thabo Mbeki paid tribute on Sunday to the ”mighty legions of the freedom fighters” who sacrificed their lives to free South Africans from apartheid. Mbeki said it would take time to see the demands contained in the Freedom Charter become fully realised in the same way as it took a long time to achieve liberation.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions’ general strike on Monday could be politically damaging for the federation while offering workers no tangible benefits, say analysts. ”Cosatu might be left with egg on its face if the strike is not well supported, and it could lose further support,” said Dr Azar Jammine, chief economist at Econometrix.
Some three billion years ago, planetary explosions saw stars fall from the sky into the oceans that flanked Godwanaland, the great land mass of our infant planet. Deep below the waves, the carbon of shattered stars merged with the Earth’s mantle to form hard crystalline diamonds.
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism will — by the end of July — appoint a service provider to identify the top 50 air polluting industries or sectors in South Africa, said Minister Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Monday. "The web of life is more than just a poetic idea, it is a reality that defines our biggest social, economic and developmental challenges," he said.
The Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum in Soweto is busier than it has ever been, with people turning out to celebrate Youth Day, its chief curator said on Thursday. The museum preserves the memories of events surrounding the fateful march from the Morris Isaacson school in Orlando on June 16 1976.
The SABC will be allowed to broadcast regional television programmes on two stations in official languages other than English, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) announced on Wednesday. Icasa chairman Mandla Langa said SABC 4 would broadcast in Setswana, Sesotho, Sepedi and TshiVenda, Xitsonga and Afrikaans.
A group of gun owners and gun shop owners are demanding that police grant them firearm licences in a memorandum handed to the office of Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa on Tuesday. The statement read that black gun owners were ”sick and tired of the lies” from Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula.
Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats (ID) party announced on Monday that Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Mervyn Cirota had resigned from the official opposition to join the ID. Cirota said the DA had created the perception that its policies were ”separate and contrary to the ideals of the majority of South Africans”.
The fight is not over in the Metrorail workers’ dispute, the United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu) said on Friday. ”We did not suspend the strike notice or sign an agreement,” said Chris de Vos, Utatu general secretary. ”We are still going to try to get the CCMA [Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration] involved … and continue the battle,” he said.