A R2,2-billion water pipeline from the Vaal River to Sasol and Eskom operations near Secunda has to be completed by July 2007, the project’s funders said on Wednesday. Work on the pipeline — that will provide about 160-million cubic metres of water — was to begin later this year.
The case against former deputy president Jacob Zuma was postponed to October 11 by the Durban Magistrate’s court on Wednesday. He was granted bail of R1Â 000. Zuma will not have to hand in his passport but will have to inform the prosecution every time he leaves the country.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who was appointed as the new deputy president on Wednesday, is known as the architect of the empowerment charter that is transforming South Africa’s mining industry. But opposition parties say there are serious — and unanswered — questions hanging over her head.
President Thabo Mbeki has appointed Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as deputy president to replace Jacob Zuma, who was sacked last week. Mbeki made the announcement during a press conference following the Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting at Tuynhuys on Wednesday.
Ahead of their opening Absa Currie Cup match against the Cavaliers on Friday, the Sharks team has unearthed some exciting new talent from the ranks of clubs in KwaZulu-Natal. Coach Dick Muir said on Tuesday he was very bullish about the team after some hard preparatory work. ”We have been working very hard on our explosive power,” said Muir.
A strike by taxi drivers in KwaZulu-Natal entered its second day on Tuesday with more reports of intimidation and violence. Provincial transport MEC Bheki Cele said he had received reports from various officials that strikers had resumed their strategy of stoning buses and non-striking taxis.
A Durban schoolgirl has made her mark on the medical world by becoming the youngest ever contributor to the internationally respected South African Medical Journal. Thirteen-year-old Safura Abdool Karim’s contribution was a study of ”Playstation thumb” among a sample of her former schoolmates at Crawford Preparatory.
England captain Michael Vaughan was full of admiration for Kevin Pietersen after the Hampshire batsman added to his growing list of breathtaking one-day innings with a commanding 91 not out in Sunday’s triangular series victory against world champions Australia. England was faltering in their pursuit of 253 but Pietersen saw them home at the County Ground.
Reports of intimidation and violence related to the one-day strike by taxi owners and drivers in KwaZulu-Natal have been received from around the province, traffic officials said on Monday. Thousands of commuters were stranded in the morning as taxi drivers embarked on a protest against the government’s taxi recapitalisation programme.
The African National Congress (ANC) will have to ”look after” Jacob Zuma as long as he remains its deputy president, ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said on Sunday. Zuma lost his salary of about R800Â 000 and perks when President Thabo Mbeki sacked him as the country’s deputy president on Tuesday.
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The KwaZulu-Natal branch of the African National Congress plans to invite former deputy president Jacob Zuma to its Freedom Charter celebrations on June 26, a spokesperson for the party said on Saturday. Zuma was fired by Mbeki after the Durban High Court found that he had a ”generally corrupt” relationship with his financial advisor Schabir Shaik.
Two KwaZulu-Natal girls have been left traumatised after witnessing their father eat the flesh off their dead mother’s face on Friday morning. One of the girls, a seven year old, had also been stabbed in the head by the father. As police apprehended the father, he suddenly choked, became unconscious and died.
The SABC will be allowed to broadcast regional television programmes on two stations in official languages other than English, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) announced on Wednesday. Icasa chairman Mandla Langa said SABC 4 would broadcast in Setswana, Sesotho, Sepedi and TshiVenda, Xitsonga and Afrikaans.
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A decision to sack Deputy President Jacob Zuma after he was implicated in alleged corruption in the trial of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik could have dire consequences for the government and the African National Congress, said a political analyst on Monday.
Participants at the second national Aids conference that ended in Durban on Friday have hailed the event as a huge success. Professor Jerry Coovadia, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said the conference was proof that South Africa was really a democracy because of the solidarity between academics, non-governmental organisations as well as the young and old.
Blue tents with sunshine posters are starting to become a familiar sight in townships near South Africa’s major cities, inviting locals to come in for free HIV testing and counselling. A new programme is providing free, anonymous testing in poor areas on the outskirts of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
I am so disappointed with the Congress of South African Trade Unions this week. The federation, which projects itself as the nation’s moral torch-bearer since 1994, has fallen on its sword in its response to the political future of Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Two babies are critically ill with the Klebsiella infection that has killed 11 babies in the past two weeks, the KwaZulu-Natal health department said on Wednesday. One is at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial hospital and the other has been transferred to the Mt Edgecombe hospital.
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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.
A pastoral delegation from the South African Council of Churches met Deputy President Jacob Zuma in Midrand on Monday evening to discuss the implications of his financial adviser being found guilty of fraud and corruption.
There should be no rejoicing over the guilty judgement in the trial of businessman Schabir Shaik, despite its vindication of South Africa’s prosecutorial and judicial systems. Deputy President Jacob Zuma may not have been in the dock, but the judgement indirectly indicts him in such a devastating way that it is hard to see how his political career can survive it.
Police and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals (SPCA) were on Monday investigating an incident in which a cat was strangled and thrown into a garden at the Bluff yacht club in Durban. Meanwhile, there is still no progress in the search for those who microwaved a live cat at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Pinewood residence.
Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Buyelwa Sonjica has a tricky job. She needs to manage the implementation of the 1998 water Act, and try to ensure that black farmers gain access to water resources without cutting into the productivity of commercial farms. All of this work overlaps the responsibilities of other Cabinet portfolios, but Sonjica manages almost no implementation budget.
It is possible that the market is transferring as much or more land between whites and blacks than state land reform, according to research released this week by the Centre for Development and Enterprise. It poses a challenge to the notion that only the state can lead land reform. It suggests the current approach to land reform is too narrow and does not take into account important new realities.
The person responsible for microwaving a live cat at the University of KwaZulu-Natal could be slapped with a fine of up to R20 000 or a prison sentence of up to four years, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said on Thursday. R31 700 has been pledged for information leading to the arrest and conviction of this person.
Most of the major players in South African rugby were present when the crisis meeting of the South African Rugby Union (Saru) president’s council kicked off at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Thursday. Saru president Brian van Rooyen is expected to respond to allegations of mismanagement.
The African National Congress tried to swat away the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s Oilgate revelations last week like some pesky insect. But like the persistent gadflies that we are, we won’t disappear that easily. Hiding behind a paper-thin set of excuses, the party has argued that there is nothing wrong with a private company making donations to a political party.
A recent imbizo (meeting) to discuss the future of the Zulu nation had been unnecessary, Deputy President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. ”I am a Zulu. You didn’t see me at the imbizo,” Zuma told the South African Broadcasting Corporation at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
On March 19, 750 people from the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Clare Estate, Durban, blockaded Kennedy Road with burning tyres and mattresses for four hours. Residents in the informal settlement had been promised for more than a decade that a small spit of land in nearby Elf Road would be made available to them for the development of housing.
South African Rugby Union president Brian van Rooyen on Monday made overwhelming strides over his deputy, Andre Markgraaff, in the spiteful race for control of the sport in this country. Eleven of the 14 provincial union presidents — all those present at a hastily convened meeting — declared their support of the embattled rugby boss.
Most of South Africa’s 14 provincial rugby presidents jetted into Johannesburg International airport on Monday to attend an urgent meeting at Ellis Park stadium as a cloud of uncertainty decended over the whole power-struggle saga. The meeting was hastily called by South African Rugby Union president Brian van Rooyen late on Sunday.
The search for the Mpumalanga pupil feared drowned in the sea at Richards Bay resumed early on Monday morning, KwaZulu-Natal police said. Seven other pupils drowned after the group decided to go for an early-morning swim at Richards Bay on Sunday. All were between 16 and 17 years old and in grades 10, 11 and 12.