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.
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.