As they embark on a process to broaden relations with the People’s Republic of China, South African politicians and officials would do well to consider the advice of China’s reformist leader, Deng Xiaoping: ”Seek truth from facts.” China’s attraction as an ideological and strategic counterweight to the dominance of the West has led to a desire to cosy up to the Asian dragon.
Emfuleni local municipality mayor Johnny Thabane and two other senior officials will be replaced by a ”political collective”, the African National Congress in Gauteng said on Tuesday. ”We did not — yesterday, or today — fire the mayor. He is still the mayor. We will introduce changes and redeploy the mayor,” said the provincial premier, Mbhazima Shilowa.
Comrades Marathon Association chairperson Dave Dixon on Tuesday announced the appointment of Renee Smith to the position of race manager, with effect from May 3. She will start her duties alongside acting CEO Cheryl Winn, with just six weeks to go until the 80th running of the Comrades Marathon on June 16.
People arrested for petty crimes in the Vaal area will in future be punished with menial tasks such as sweeping streets, picking weeds and mowing lawns, police said on Monday. Police spokesperson Superintendent Maria Mazibuko said the aim of the project, launched in Vanderbijlpark on Monday, is to clean up the area.
The South African Super 14 rugby franchises are to be reconsidered at a meeting to be held on May 7, rugby boss Brian van Rooyen revealed on Saturday. He was addressing journalists after an emergency meeting with members of the South African Rugby Union’s president’s council.
A ”black box” to assist motorists involved in accidents was unveiled in Johannesburg on Friday. The accident recorder kit is assembled and packaged by the workers of two NGOs. It contains first-aid accessories, two emergency blankets, gloves and a yellow ”light stick”.
The share price of gaming and hospitality group Peermont Global jumped 4,26% or 30 cents in early trade on Friday after the group revealed it had made it to the next stage in the process of selecting a successful candidate to introduce and operate the first casinos in Singapore.
The official opposition Democratic Alliance on Friday threw its support behind "the pyjama protest" action taken by South African nurses over their uniform allowances. DA spokesperson Diane Kohler Barnard said that the allowances in all provinces are far too low to actually buy uniforms.
South Africa’s High Commissioner to Uganda, Bavumile Vilakazi, died of a heart attack in Kampala on Thursday, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said. The heart attack occured just after Vilakazi had picked up Deputy President Jacob Zuma from the Kampala airport.
Children want to see more drama on television, they are interested in news and current affairs and watch television at times when only soap operas are broadcast. These are some of the findings from a study called What Children Want, conducted by the Media Monitoring Project in South Africa.
Petrol, already topping a record R5 a litre in Gauteng and set to increase again next month, is widely seen as the main inflationary risk in South Africa today. However, a revision in the formula by which the fuel is calculated, could result in a small reduction in the fuel price, an economist says.
The financial performance of the Clicks chain of health and beauty stores, owned by New Clicks Holdings, has been dented for the six months to the end of February by continued "shrinkage" — the retail industry’s term for theft — and losses in its pharmacy operations.
An HIV/Aids housing policy launched by the Department of Housing in Pretoria on Tuesday is meant to assist those with the illness and the families and people around them affected by it. With 15% of the Gauteng population HIV-positive, the provincial housing department said it is critical to form a housing-sector response to HIV/Aids.
A task team has been set up to find — within two months — ways to speed up the provision of classrooms, the education and public works departments said on Monday. The team will report by June with concrete plans to end the practice of teaching children outdoors, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor told reporters in Pretoria.
Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) on Thursday said the planned strike action by a group of workers at its parts warehouse in Gauteng will have no effect on the main manufacturing plant in Uitenhage, where more than 6 000 people are employed. The workers want outsourced packing activities to be performed by VWSA employees.
Teachers at a Pretoria high school were on strike over a staff shortage and unfavourable working conditions, a member of the school’s governing body said on Wednesday. ”There are 15 teachers to 1 050 pupils at Lotus Gardens Secondary school and the working conditions there are unacceptable,” said governing body member Marti Benolio.
Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo complained on Tuesday that she has been the victim of racial profiling by immigration officers at the city’s international airport. She made the claim at the launch in Cape Town of the Department of Home Affairs’ immigration branch, an upgrading of what was previously only a chief directorate.
Most Gauteng school buses were running again on Tuesday after a one-day strike left 66 000 children stranded on Monday. Only the Diepsloot-Honeydew-Zandspruit area was still affected, with the bus operator there continuing to refuse to ferry children, said Gauteng education department spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi.
Ryk Neethling claimed his second gold of the competition on the final evening of the Telkom National Swimming Championships in East London on Saturday night. Fresh from his 100m freestyle victory on Friday night, the Olympic gold medallist surprised even himself with a speedy victory in the 50m butterfly in 23,89.
The Pan African Parliament (PAP) has thrown its weight behind moves to secure two permanent seats with veto rights for Africa in the United Nations Security Council. International parliamentary institutions will be lobbied to support proposals for a further four non-permanent seats for the continent. The PAP adopted a report on reform of multilateral institutions by the standing committee.
South Africa’s Finance Minister Trevor Manuel should cut the fuel levy, which is not a specific targeted tax used for road maintenance, but is a general revenue raising levy, by 50 cents per litre (c/l) on 6 April. In the February 2005 Budget, Manuel raised the fuel levy by 5c/l to 116c/l for petrol and 100c/l for diesel.
Another six children were removed from an unregistered Soweto orphanage this weekend after 27 were taken last week, the Gauteng social development department said on Monday. ”On Sunday night we were tipped [off] that there were children in the house … we found six children, three boys and three girls,” a departmental spokesperson said.
Solutions to Africa’s problems will work only if they reflect the will of the continent’s people, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. Writing in the African National Congress’s online publication, ANC Today, Mbeki said the Pan African Parliament confirms the determination of the peoples of Africa to promote and achieve continental unity.
South Africa’s petrol price for all grades will rise by 40c a litre from April 6, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. This brings the price of a litre of petrol to a record R5,02 in Gauteng and R4,89 at the coast. The wholesale price of diesel 0,3% sulphur will rise by 56,4 cents per litre and that of diesel 0,05% sulphur by 65,4c per litre.
The looming indemnity deadline for those fraudulently receiving social grants has resulted in a last-minute rush of people queuing to apply, officials said on Thursday. Almost 6 000 people have applied for indemnity in the various provinces since the indemnity was offered on December 12 last year.
Trainer Jabulani Malinga and his sons Vus’Umuzi and Patrick are back in the professional boxing game after serving their suspension. Jabulani said their suspension ended last week. Vusi and Patrick both failed four drug tests after fights in April, and tested positive for anabolic steroids.
South Africa’s robust economic growth made a small, hardly noticeable dent in the country’s massive unemployment rate. Yet those who are lucky enough to be employed in the formal sector saw earnings increase faster than the number of their peers. The latest figures show youth unemployment remains chronically high, while 60% of discouraged work seekers are female.
The price of petrol will rise by 38 cents next week, bringing the Gauteng price to R5 a litre — its highest to date. The Department of Minerals and Energy said on Tuesday the price of all categories of fuel will rise. Departmental spokesperson Yvonne Mfolo said the announced prices are projections, which will be finalised on Friday or Monday.
Department of Home Affairs offices will be open on the weekend starting from April 1, the department said on Saturday. ”This is to accommodate those who cannot visit our offices during the normal office hours by providing them with extra opportunities to access our services,” said a departmental spokesperson.
The Gautrain Rapid Rail Link will be ready for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the project leader said on Tuesday. ”It’s a brave man who says it straight like that but the answer is yes, we will commission the whole system in time for the World Cup,” said Jack van der Merwe, chief executive of the Gautrain project.
Listed South African hotel and gaming group Peermont Global continues to look at further acquisitions to boost its growth in 2005, and is currently examining "alternative methods" for funding this investment since the company has reached its maximum level of gearing, according to CEO Ernie Joubert.
The former acting vice-chancellor of Vista University, Professor Sipho Seepe, has accepted responsibility for ”sloppiness” in an essay he wrote after it was pointed out that certain passages are identical to those on a number of websites. The essay was published in the book Towards an African Identity in Higher Education.