The Erasmus commission, set up to probe Cape Town’s ”spy” saga, has extended the deadline for submissions to the end of this month. Announcing this on Wednesday, commission secretary Zithulele Twala said the extension had been requested by the City of Cape Town and private investigators George Fivaz and Associates.
The African National Congress (ANC) needs to assure South Africans it will not follow the path that has led to chaos in Kenya, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Monday. ”Events in Kenya have shown us how quickly a combination of cronyism, populism and ethnic mobilisation can destroy a country’s democratic prospects,” she said.
South African HIV/Aids activist Zackie Achmat got married to his co-campaigner boyfriend at a ceremony attended by hundreds of guests, newspapers reported on Sunday. Achmat (45), founder and chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the country’s main Aids lobby, married Dalli Weyers on Saturday at a colourful occasion near Cape Town.
The people of Cape Town should bury their differences and build bridges between communities in 2008, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Wednesday. Addressing thousands who gathered to celebrate the minstrel carnival, Rasool said 2008 should be the year in which the Cape took greater strides in realising the vision of a ”home for all”.
No image available
/ 29 December 2007
![]()
Supporters of Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the African National Congress, protested on Saturday that new corruption charges against him were part of a politically inspired vendetta. Zuma’s supporters have cried foul over the timing of the charges, a little over a week since he was elected leader of the ANC.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
![]()
Jacob Zuma is the new president of the African National Congress. The announcement was greeted by an outpouring of joy and ecstatic cheering by ANC delegates at the party’s conference in Polokwane shortly before 9pm on Tuesday. Thabo Mbeki received 1 505 votes and Zuma received 2 329.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille has extended by a month the deadline for the independent investigation into various allegations surrounding the city’s so-called spy saga. Zille has appointed Advocate Josie Jordaan of the Cape Bar to lead the investigation into allegations surrounding the George Fivaz and Associates investigation of Councillor Badih Chaaban.
No image available
/ 17 December 2007
![]()
The African National Congress’s Polokwane conference may deal with nominations for the party’s presidency late on Monday, according to a senior party official. The nomination process is expected to result in a head-to-head clash for the top post between party president Thabo Mbeki and his deputy, Jacob Zuma.
No image available
/ 16 December 2007
![]()
Ministers and aides in President Thabo Mbeki’s government were heckled by delegates on Sunday when the African National Congress opened a conference that could see Mbeki losing control over the party. Some of the delegates booed Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and Essop Pahad, a top aide to Mbeki, as they arrived.
No image available
/ 14 December 2007
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool says he was ”disinvited” to speak at Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane’s farewell dinner on Thursday. ”I was most astounded when my office was informed that, under instruction from the Mayor of Cape Town [Helen Zille], I had been disinvited to speak at your farewell,” Rasool wrote.
No image available
/ 10 December 2007
Is it just me, or has it become fashionable for people who hold official positions to speak or write in their personal capacities, even when they are expressing views about the things that are in their line of work? This is completely disingenuous. On the one hand it allows the beneficiaries of such talk to make whatever capital they can of the pronouncements, but disassociate themselves from them if they find infertile soil.
No image available
/ 5 December 2007
Political interference, red tape and legislation are among the factors slowing the City of Cape Town’s housing projects, mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. Delivery of housing opportunities had been delayed and several causes of this identified, she told the last full council meeting of the year. A shortage of project managers in the housing department was a major factor.
No image available
/ 2 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday that he would not rule out calling early general elections if he failed to win the leadership of the governing African National Congress (ANC) party. "I have not thought about that one [early poll]. We haven’t got there yet. I don’t know. It’s possible, it’s possible, yes indeed," he said in an interview.
No image available
/ 30 November 2007
The Aids crisis, already one of enormous proportions, is forecast to get even bigger, says Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille. ”Though a slight decline was experienced this year, analysts still predict South Africa’s HIV infection rate to increase from its current 10% to 18% by 2025,” she warned in her weekly online newsletter, SA Today, on Friday.
No image available
/ 29 November 2007
Controversial Cape Town councillor Badih Chaaban is adamant he will not relinquish control over Greenmarket Square without a fight. According to recent reports, Chaaban has held a lease on Greenmarket Square for 15 years. The Cape Town council took a decision at the end of June to terminate Chaaban’s lease and regain control over the square.
No image available
/ 27 November 2007
Western Cape provincial minister for local government Richard Dyantyi’s announcement that he intends to probe spy allegations against the City of Cape Town is an African National Congress (ANC) ploy to divert attention from Premier Ebrahim Rasool’s woes, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Tuesday.
No image available
/ 23 November 2007
![]()
African National Congress president Thabo Mbeki and his deputy, Jacob Zuma, are both unimpressive candidates for the ANC leadership, with a tendency to flout democratic principles, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said in her weekly online letter on Friday
No image available
/ 20 November 2007
The City of Cape Town’s spy saga took another turn on Tuesday with Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille deciding on legal action against controversial expelled councillor Badih Chaaban. De Lille met police on Tuesday afternoon in connection with the alleged illegal surveillance of politicians in the city.
No image available
/ 19 November 2007
Councillors other than Badih Chaaban may also have been under illegal surveillance in Cape Town’s spy scandal and police have ”a lot of information and detail” to back this up, Independent Democrats deputy leader Simon Grindrod was quoted as saying on Monday.
No image available
/ 16 November 2007
The increase in the number of cases where the Eastern Cape provincial government is contesting the right of poor citizens to access social grants suggests that the majority party is at war with the poor, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Friday, writing in her weekly newsletter.
No image available
/ 12 November 2007
![]()
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille should focus on her own party rather than concern herself with the African National Congress’s (ANC) business, Deputy Defence Minister Mluleki George said on Monday. He called Zille’s proposal to postpone the ANC conference in December ”ridiculous”.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
Mona Miller’s life will change this weekend. For the first time, she will have a real roof, solid walls and glass windows. Lights will come on at the flick of a switch, water will flow from the tap and she will enjoy the dignity of a toilet. Miller will move into her first proper home thanks to a building blitz by nearly 1Â 400 Irish volunteers.
No image available
/ 9 November 2007
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has named a replacement advocate to conduct an official probe into the city’s spy affair. The first person she chose for the job, advocate Geoff Budlender, withdrew over a possible conflict of interest. Zille has now asked advocate Josie Jordaan of the Cape Bar to lead the inquiry.
No image available
/ 8 November 2007
With just more than a month to the African National Congress presidential election, Jacob Zuma will be waiting to see whether the National Prosecuting Authority will recharge him for corruption. Court rulings on Thursday clarified the status of searches and documents related to the investigation against him concerning alleged corruption in the arms deal.
No image available
/ 5 November 2007
Advocate Geoff Budlender will not be conducting the investigation into the City of Cape Town’s ”spy” affair, mayor Helen Zille announced on Monday. ”It has come to my attention that advocate Geoffrey Budlender previously provided advice to the legal adviser of the speaker regarding a potential interdict of councillor [Badih] Chaaban,” she said.
No image available
/ 2 November 2007
There will be no cover-up in the alleged spy scandal involving the surveillance of Cape Town councillors, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille vowed on Friday. ”Let me be clear. There will be no cover-up in this matter. If anyone in the city or the DA has broken any law, the police must lay a charge and we will deal with it head-on,” she said.
No image available
/ 30 October 2007
A senior Cape Town advocate, Geoff Budlender, is to head the inquiry into the City of Cape Town’s ”spy” affair. The appointment was announced on Tuesday afternoon by mayor Helen Zille, who said she was taking out full-page advertisements in three local newspapers to explain her position on the matter.
No image available
/ 29 October 2007
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has asked the police to let her listen to tapes related to the city’s ”spy” affair. Her request, in a letter to provincial Commissioner Mzwandile Petros on Monday, comes after police played some of the tapes to journalists. She said in a statement that Petros had also ”presented” the tapes to Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool.
No image available
/ 29 October 2007
![]()
Capetonians turned out in their tens of thousands on Monday to salute the victorious Springboks on the final leg of their national victory tour. There were scenes of near-hysteria as the Boks made their way through the city centre in an open-top bus. Businesses shut down, and young and old lined the streets, crammed on to balconies.
No image available
/ 27 October 2007
New evidence in the Cape Town spy saga details secret meetings involving city-funded spies and wire-tapping, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Friday. This was before the city council entered into a binding contract with private investigators George Fivaz and Associates.
No image available
/ 26 October 2007
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille on Friday released the terms of reference of an investigation into claims that the city footed a Democratic Alliance bill for a probe into controversial councillor Badhi Chaaban. The inquiry is to be headed by a retired judge or senior advocate, who has yet to be named.
No image available
/ 26 October 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) called on Thursday for the head of opposition leader Helen Zille over claims that taxpayers were made to foot the bill for an investigation into a political opponent. In its latest attempt to unseat Zille as Cape Town mayor, the ANC tabled a statement in Parliament urging her to resign.