No image available
/ 21 November 2007

Delmas water investigation focuses on chlorine levels

Failure by authorities to properly treat drinking water supplied to residents of Delmas may have triggered the recent mass outbreak of diarrhoea in the Mpumalanga town. Tests by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry have shown ”insufficient levels” of chlorine were added to the water supply between September 11 and October 14, MPs heard on Wednesday.

No image available
/ 12 November 2007

Runaway lions killed in Mpumalanga

Two lions — thought to have escaped from the Kruger National Park in September — were shot and killed near the park’s Numbi gate, the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks agency said on Monday. Officials tracked down the lions after a community member reported that five of his cattle had been killed by them.

No image available
/ 6 November 2007

Battle TB, Aids as one, says TB expert

South African medical authorities need to start thinking about tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/Aids as a single epidemic, rather than treating them separately, a TB expert said on Tuesday at a media briefing ahead of a major international conference on lung health, which begins in Cape Town on Thursday.

No image available
/ 6 November 2007

Passion in print

Every province deserves one, but thus far only Mpumalanga is so blessed. Deeply researched, written and edited with admirable clarity, and attractively presented, Mpumalanga: History and Heritage (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press) is the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s choice for non-fiction book of the year, writes Darryl Accone.

No image available
/ 2 November 2007

Diarrhoea in Delmas affects 150 people

One hundred and fifty people were treated for diarrhoea in the Nkangala area in Delmas since the outbreak last week, Mpumalanga provincial minister of health and social services Sipho Lubisi said on Friday. ”A hundred and fifty cases have been reported to outpatient facilities for treatment. At this point in time, no deaths linked to diarrhoea have been reported.”

No image available
/ 31 October 2007

Male ARV recipient develops breasts

A 42-year-old Mpumalanga man has developed breasts after he was enrolled in the government’s antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programme, a media report said on Wednesday. The resident of Standerton’s Sakhile township said doctors and nurses at Standerton’s TB hospital had refused to listen to him.

No image available
/ 30 October 2007

Delmas hit by diarrhoea outbreak

The Nkangala area of Delmas has been hit by an outbreak of diarrhoea, the provincial health department in Mpumalanga said on Tuesday. ”Under normal circumstances 10 cases of diarrhoea are reported in a week, but we treated 47 people last week and 26 yesterday [Monday],” said spokesperson Mpho Gabashane.

No image available
/ 25 October 2007

Rand Water to spend R4bn on infrastructure

Rand Water intends spending R4-billion on upgrading and refurbishing its distribution infrastructure in the next five years, the company announced in releasing its results on Thursday. Of this, 57% would be allocated to augmentation projects and the rest to the renovation and upgrading of existing infrastructure, said Rand Water acting chief executive Zvinaiye Manyere.

No image available
/ 23 October 2007

Green Scorpions crack down on ArcelorMittal

The Green Scorpions have shut down ArcelorMittal operations at its Vaal waste site over its dumping of hazardous waste and air and water pollution, it was announced on Tuesday. The move followed numerous ”futile attempts” at getting the steel company to clean up its act, Gauteng’s department of agriculture, conservation and environment said in a statement.

No image available
/ 22 October 2007

Stock theft in SA amounts to nearly R330m

Stock theft in South Africa has amounted to R327 676 500 in the past year, the National Stock Theft Forum said on Monday. ”At the moment, stock theft is hampering the profitability of the stock farmers and it is also interfering with the government’s land-reform process, as well as the empowering of the emerging farmers,” the forum said in a statement.

No image available
/ 19 October 2007

Who killed Samora Machel?

Mozambican authorities need to continue to seek the truth on who killed Samora Machel, the country’s first president, almost 21 years ago. The call was made by Feliciano Gundana, Minister for the Affairs of Former Combatants on Friday when he was speaking on Radio Mozambique’s Café da Manha.

No image available
/ 17 October 2007

Ermelo school loses language battle

A ruling by a full bench of the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday put another nail in the coffin of Afrikaans-only education in state schools. The court dismissed with costs a review application by Hoërskool Ermelo to set aside a decision forcing it to admit English-speaking pupils and become a parallel-medium school.

No image available
/ 15 October 2007

Workers down tools at Sasol

About a third of the workforce at Sasol Mining near Secunda have begun a protected strike over wage increases, Sasol said on Monday. Sasol spokesperson Johann van Rheede said workers downed tools at Sasol’s five mines in Mpumalanga last Friday, continuing on Monday. The workers are members of the United People’s Union of South Africa.

No image available
/ 11 October 2007

ANC meet: No room at the inn

Polokwane will be a busy town come December with an expected 4 500 delegates, both voting and non-voting, attending the African National Congress’s (ANC) 52nd national conference. Smuts Ngonyama, head of the presidency of the ANC, on Thursday updated the media in Johannesburg on preparations for the conference.

No image available
/ 4 October 2007

Shock pollution findings at Highveld Steel

A swoop by environmental inspectors on the giant Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation’s Vanchem plant outside Witbank in Mpumalanga has uncovered shocking levels of air, ground and water pollution. Environmental management inspectors, better known as the Green Scorpions, carried out a compliance inspection at the plant at the end of August this year.

No image available
/ 27 September 2007

Motata trial focuses on audio recordings

It was a day of wrangling over evidence in the drunken-driving trial of Judge Nkola Motata at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. The court adjourned on Thursday afternoon after prosecutor Zaais van Zyl attempted to enter five recordings made by Baird on his cellphone, allegedly of Motata using derogatory language.