The City of Johannesburg does not have a billing crisis, but a service crisis, its finance department said on Thursday. ”It is not really accurate to say we have a billing crisis, but rather to say we have a customer-service crisis,” said Roland Hunter, acting head of the city’s revenue shared services centre.
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Durban businessman Schabir Shaik said he would resign as director and chief executive officer of his Nkobi group of companies immediately after he was sentenced to 15 years in jail for fraud and corruption in the Durban High Court on Wednesday.
Lifestyle diseases are placing an increasing burden on the health system, Gauteng health minister Gwen Ramokgopa said on Monday. She was to tell the provincial legislature later on Monday that people needing treatment for strokes, diabetes and hypertension made more than a million hospital and clinic visits in the past financial year.
Members of a labour union taking part in strike action against Metrorail will march to the train operator’s head office in Johannesburg on Monday. Chris de Vos, the general secretary of the United Transport and Allied Trade Unions, said no Metrorail trains were running in Cape Town.
Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu said on Friday that 1,6-million houses have been built since 1994, but admitted the housing backlog is still enormous and her department can only do so much. She said poor communication with the public is the likely cause of protests about the pace of housing delivery.
It is possible that Pretoria will not be renamed Tshwane, Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan said in Cape Town on Thursday. He said he was still awaiting a recommendation in favour of the re-naming from the South African Geographical Names Council.
The curtain has fallen on the Premier Soccer League (PSL), but for the four teams in the promotion-Ârelegation play-offs, the season has just intensified. Manning Rangers, who averted automatic relegation from the premiership, this weekend enter the first round of their quest to retain a place in the top flight against aspirants from the Mvela Golden League teams (Hellenic, Classic and Durban Stars).
The trade union Solidarity will meet Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan in Cape Town on Thursday afternoon in a last effort to prevent the change of Pretoria’s name to Tshwane. The South African Geographical Names Council has recommended that Jordan approve the registration of the name Tshwane.
The medical community was relieved on Tuesday as the influenza vaccine was back in pharmacies, following a two-month delay in its release. The medical community has ”heaved a sigh of relief” with the release, said the medical director of SAA-Netcare travel clinics, Dr Andrew Jamieson.
South Africa’s retail petrol price for all grades will drop by only 16 cents a litre (c/l) from June 1, as an extra 6c/l levy for the reduction of the slate with oil companies was added, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. This reduces the price of a litre of petrol to R5,06 from a record R5,22 in Gauteng.
Cigarette breaks at the office could be a thing of the past with the introduction of a new smokeless tobacco product — a discreet, miniature ”tea bag”. An alternative to cigarettes, Snus is a small bag placed under the user’s upper lip, said British American Tobacco South Africa MD David Crow.
Hundreds of disabled, destitute and elderly people, children and volunteer welfare workers marched through the streets of Pretoria on Wednesday to press for increased government subsidies. Chanting ”Welfare is bleeding, the nation is dying”, the protesters made their way along a few blocks to Strijdom Square in the city centre.
The spiralling use of the drug ”tik” in South Africa, especially among the youth, came under the spotlight in Parliament on Tuesday, with Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour vowing to ”break the back” of those peddling the deadly substance. He also spoke about the issues of prison gangs and overcrowding.
Unbearable smells and huge rats raiding their houses will soon be history for a community living near an illegal waste site in Alexandra, which was closed down on Tuesday. Gauteng environment minister Khabisi Mosunkutu visited the site to issue a final warning to SA Waste company management for operating an illegal waste site.
The price of petrol will drop to below R5 a litre from Wednesday next week, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Tuesday. The department said the price of petrol of all grades will decrease by 24c a litre. That means motorists in Gauteng using 93 octane petrol will pay R4,98 per litre, effective from June 1.
It was a simple question to a senior Cabinet member and head of the South African observer mission to the Zimbabwean election: "Why are you ignoring the custom of addressing whether elections were free and fair by only pronouncing on the freeness and being silent on the fairness of the election?"
It was good cheer, rugby and music in Pretoria’s Church Square on Saturday after a group of about 500 protesters submitted petitions to the Department of Arts and Culture against renaming the city Tshwane. A handful of black participants took part in the march, which was attended by the young, old and disabled.
The last surviving member of the Stander gang of bank robbers, who was released from Krugersdorp prison on Wednesday, has asked not to speak to the media, the Department of Correctional Services said. ”The general rule is that offenders who are released on parole are not allowed to speak to the media,” a departmental spokesperson said.
The low-income national banking account Mzansi exceeded one million accounts by May 15, Colin Donian, the Banking Council director responsible for the Mzansi initiative, said on Wednesday. Launched less than seven months ago, the Mzansi account provides account-holders with entry-level banking services.
Allan Heyl, the last surviving member of the Stander gang — a gang that grabbed headlines and was the subject of a Hollywood movie for committing a string of robberies in and around Johannesburg in the 1980s — was released from Krugersdorp Prison on Wednesday. He is to spend the remaining 10 years of his sentence on parole.
A body of African municipal structures was launched in Pretoria on Monday with calls for a renewed focus at the lowest level of government on improving the lives of indigent Africans. African Union chairperson Olusegun Obasanjo said he hopes the congress marks the beginning of strong local governance structures.
An initiative that will see 20 old townships in Gauteng upgraded was launched by the provincial housing department on Sunday. Acting provincial housing minister Dorothy Mahlangu said specific attention will be given to so-called backyard dwellers. Ten townships are targeted for the current financial year.
The court case against vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath is a distraction from the real work of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), its national chairperson Zackie Achmat, said on Friday. Earlier, Rath’s lawyer argued Rath should have a chance to reply to ”vilifying statements” Achmat and the TAC made against him in their papers.
A waste-recycling plant in Johannesburg — described as a danger to the health of employees and the environment — was ordered on Thursday to comply with new regulations or face closure. ”You are in deep trouble. My advice to you is no smart talk,” said Gauteng’s environment minister, Khabisa Mosunkutu.
Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) beneficiaries are to have their grants paid directly into their bank accounts in future, in terms of an initiative launched by the fund and First National Bank on Thursday. ”This is the second phase of our struggle — to liberate people from queues,” UIF commissioner Shadrack Mkhonto said.
Volkswagen cannot understand the rationale for a strike at a Gauteng parts depot because nobody has lost jobs. ”Volkswagen of South Africa cannot understand the reasoning behind this unnecessary strike which will lead to great financial hardship for the 62 employees involved who are losing money every day they remain on strike,” a statement from the company read.
Gautrain CEO Jack van der Merwe is optimistic that the R8-billion Gautrain project will be completed in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. ”How do you eat an elephant? Bite by bite,” Van der Merwe said at a meeting of the SA Association of Consulting Engineers.
Tshwane mayor Smangaliso Mkhatshwa and senior city officials should be held personally liable for the costs of an advertisement labelling Tshwane — rather than Pretoria — ”Africa’s leading capital city”, a lobby group said on Tuesday. According to the group, the metro council budgeted R24-million for the marketing campaign.
South Africa will pay dearly for global industrialisation and other activities that generate greenhouse gases, a new study revealed on Thursday. A report by the South African National Biodiversity Institute, released in Cape Town, warns that rising temperatures will change the face of the country by 2050.
Two unrelated shootings at schools in Gauteng on Tuesday claimed the lives of a principal and a teenager. The woman principal was shot dead in Soweto and a pupil was arrested for allegedly killing a teenager in Pretoria. Nthabiseng Nkoni, the 49-year-old principal of Asha Pre-School in Mapetla, Soweto, was shot and killed in her office, said police spokesperson Sergeant Richard Munyai.
South African nurses have been showing up at work in pyjamas in recent weeks to press demands for uniform allowances — the latest sign of malaise in the health care system wracked by an exodus of medical staff. The pyjama protest comes amid unease in the health care profession as it grapples with a ”brain drain”.
A name change from Pretoria to Tshwane will increase alienation among Afrikaners, the Freedom Front Plus said on Friday. ”We have determined through research that a name change of the capital will continue to increase alienation among the Afrikaner minority,” FF+ MP Willie Spies said in a statement.