Media24, publisher of City Press, was on Monday ordered to pay prominent African National Congress politician and medical doctor Zweli Mkhize R150 000 in damages for a defaming him in a report in March 2007. Mkhize is chairperson of finance and economic development in the KwaZulu-Natal Cabinet.
The Department of Education criticised the KwaZulu-Natal branch of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) on Friday for holding a meeting at 10am on a school day, leaving children unattended. Director general Duncan Hindle said a principal had expressed his concern that at least 10 classes at his school were affected.
An armed gang stormed into a Durban bank on Friday, holding staff and customers at gunpoint, KwaZulu-Natal police said. ”Five armed suspects entered, took cash and a customer’s vehicle and fled,” said Superintendent Willie Olivier of Durban’s Organised Crime Unit
Search-and-rescue workers saved 20 people trapped in cars and homes by rising water in a heavy overnight downpour in Durban. ”We used a police boat to move many people away from the Island Hotel in Isipingo and we assisted several others who were stuck in cars due to rising flood water,” said Captain Troy Alison.
Bestselling author Eoin Colfer, whose Artemis Fowl series of action-fantasy novels has sold more than nine million copies worldwide, may well wish to operate under a cloak of secrecy — as his famous teenaged creation does — when he arrives in South Africa this week.
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There is no statute determining exactly what provisions should be in a search warrant, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday as African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thint began a last-ditch bid to prevent key documents from being used against them.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma arrived at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday amid a heavy security presence and the sound of camera shutters as photographers attempted to shoot pictures. A heavy police presence was visible around the court buildings while journalists packed the press gallery trying to get a view of Zuma.
If you’re worried about rocketing petrol prices — which hit R8,25 a litre in Gauteng last week and are set to increase further — you can take some comfort from the fact that reform of the fuel sector is finally under way, with the promise of a freer, more efficient fuel market kicking in early next year.
While large industry has met its 10% power-reduction commitments, the rest of South Africa is lagging behind, saving less than 5% on its electricity consumption. The continued strain on the national grid has meant that there remains the threat of load-shedding for South Africans.
Ask anyone in India who Virat Kohli is and they will surely tell you he’s the captain of their under-19 cricket team. Try that with Wayne Parnell and you’re likely to get a few puzzled responses on the streets of South Africa. Yet both led their teams with equal aplomb to reach the final of the recent International Cricket Council Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia.
Rural areas are seen as a disaster. Every time there is a need to motivate for more money, more support and additional resources, the poor rural areas are dragged in to justify whatever is needed. Sadly, after the funding is allocated, often very little ends up actually improving the situation in rural areas.
Incandescent lamps will be exchanged for energy-saving lamps in all provinces from April onwards, Eskom said on Wednesday. The exchange programme for compact fluorescent lamps is already under way in several of the country’s provinces and has seen more than 12-million lamps distributed in three years.
Ferial Haffajee’s article ”In office, but not in power” (February 1) was a response to an earlier article by African staff and student leaders at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (”Selective outrage: on racism and rape at UKZN”, January 25). Her response is disappointing.
A memorial service is expected to be held for the more than 30 people who died in separate accidents in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Monday, provincial minister for safety and security Bheki Cele said on Tuesday. KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sbu Ndebele declared Thursday as a day of mourning for the victims.
The death toll in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) from Monday’s accidents has risen, the province’s transport department said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Rajen Chinnaboo said a fifth accident was reported in KwaZulu-Natal at 8pm, bringing the total number of deaths in the province on Monday to 32.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso Ndebele on Monday condemned a surge in cash-in-transit heists in the province. ”This renewed spate of heists in the province is something we condemn in the strongest terms, for such criminality results in a number of people … being inconvenienced by the delays in getting their money,” he said.
Four accidents on Monday claimed the lives of 31 people in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), prompting the province’s premier to declare this coming Thursday a day of mourning. KwaZulu-Natal health spokesperson Leon Mbangwa said a collision between a coal truck and a minibus taxi near Dundee claimed the lives of 15 people, while another 12 were killed on the outskirts of Durban.
Ten people were killed on Monday morning in an accident on the N3 highway near Pietermaritzburg, transport officials said. Rajen Chinnaboo, spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal transport department said the accident took place on the N3 Durban-bound highway before the Shongweni offramp at 7:30am.
Shamim ”Chippy” Shaik has been stripped of his doctorate degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal without reason, his brother and lawyer Yunis Shaik said on Sunday. Last year, media reports said that ”more than two-thirds” of Shaik’s 2003 PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the then-University of Natal had been plagiarised
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/ 29 February 2008
JZ no friend of the poor Jacob Zuma’s claim in his affidavit to the Mauritius Supreme Court that he has been victimised by the [Thabo] Mbeki camp because of his ‘passion†for the ‘masses and the poor†is a big lie. Out of desperation and ignorance, many people have swallowed it. Despite serious contradictions between […]
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/ 29 February 2008
Wednesday afternoon and the sun beats down on a tattered strip of grass surrounded by embattled homes in the centre of KwaMashu township, north of Durban. Boy-men in excruciatingly tight shorts and sleeveless tops do violent pirouettes in the air — usually because someone else is clobbering them.
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/ 26 February 2008
The confiscation of ”R30-million to R40-million”-worth of assets from Schabir Shaik following his fraud and corruption conviction was out of proportion to his ”friend” Jacob Zuma’s intervention in one arms-deal dispute, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday.
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/ 26 February 2008
KwaZulu-Natal has been able to show the world that when power is contested, people do not have to die, Dr Brigalia Bam, chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, said on Tuesday. She was speaking at the KwaZulu-Natal legislature in Pietermaritzburg on preparations for the 2009 election.
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/ 25 February 2008
No life could be ”sacrificed” in the name of profits, mining magnate and businessman Patrice Motsepe told protesting workers at a ferromanganese smelter near Durban on Monday. He was speaking to workers who on Monday staged a protest at the Assmang smelter following Sunday’s blast, which claimed the lives of five people.
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/ 25 February 2008
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Sunday accused the government of failing all South Africans in the battle against crime, with suspended police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi being ”a symbol of that failure”. Zille spoke to about 3 000 people in Durban’s Phoenix area following a tour through the area.
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/ 23 February 2008
Western Province teenage swimming sensation Jessica Pengelly battled to contain her surprise after smashing her national 400m individual medley record in front of a vocal crowd at the Samsung Swimming Grand Prix series at the University of the Western Cape on Saturday.
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/ 22 February 2008
The assault of a woman at a taxi rank for wearing a miniskirt indicates just how necessary it is for the taxi industry to transform, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Friday. ”Unfortunately, this very sad incident has reinforced the view that taxi drivers are a law unto themselves,” said Radebe in Durban.
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/ 22 February 2008
The government has promised Anglo American that its mining rights will be renewed under new rules governing the industry — even as data summarised in the budget shows just how badly regulatory barriers continue to limit South Africa’s ability to cash in on the biggest commodities boom in living memory.
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/ 22 February 2008
This budget was expected to deliver solutions that would put at bay fears of slower GDP growth because of inadequate energy resources. However, the budget proposals fell short of providing incentives that will lead to the behaviour changes needed to make South Africa more energy efficient, writes Réjane Woodroffe.
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/ 22 February 2008
Provinces will receive R238-billion this year, a whopping 16% higher than last year’s allocation. By 2010/11, provincial budgets will have doubled on their 2004/05 levels. All increases to key portfolios outstrip inflation by significant margins. But will they spend it well?
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/ 21 February 2008
The KwaZulu-Natal health department has dropped a misconduct charge against rural doctor Colin Pfaff, following a storm of protest, the doctor confirmed on Thursday. Pfaff faced the charge for administering dual therapy — two antiretroviral drugs — to prevent the infection of babies born to HIV-positive mothers.
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/ 20 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s 2008/09 national budget tabled in Parliament on Wednesday brings tax relief, reduced corporate taxes, financial support for Eskom’s programme to build power stations, a new electricity levy, more social spending and a boost for job creation.