A court case opening on Tuesday is expected to expose the conflict within the South African government as it battles to balance the demands of mining expansion and environmental protection. Billions of rands are at stake as the government awards huge mining licences while it is accused of putting several animal species and ecosystems under threat.
In the same week that a major climate conference said that gas-emission cuts need to be both drastic and urgent, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk gave his go-ahead for a giant new Eskom coal-fired power station. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that the world has just 10 years to implement new strategies to combat global warming.
A 45-year-old man has appeared in a South African court for allegedly arranging three strippers for his son’s 16th birthday party attended by up to 20 teenagers, media reports said on Thursday. Prosecutors claim the teenagers were drinking alcohol at the celebrations at the boy’s parental home in March.
M&G Media, which publishes the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> newspaper in Johannesburg, has been contracted by Mafube Publishing to take over its key management functions, it was announced on Monday. M&G Media will market and distribute all magazine titles published by Mafube — including <i>Enterprise</i> magazine — and assist with advertising sales.
South Africa’s drive to abolish colonial and apartheid-era place names has met resistance in parts of the black community, where activists accuse the ruling African National Congress of honouring only its own heroes. Thousands of demonstrators thronged the streets of Durban on May Day to protest proposals to rename close to 200 buildings, roads and other landmarks.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Wednesday added more than 1 000 new applications to the small-business tax-amnesty process through an extensive registration campaign across the country. Several thousand Sars and police officials visited 4 160 small businesses in 30 towns and cities.
A slippery 11-year-old boy is terrorising a luxury Durban suburb, entering homes through burglar bars too narrow for adults, the Daily News reported on Wednesday. Once inside, his light footfall is barely heard as he robs his unsuspecting victims, leaving via the same route.
A Sunday tabloid aimed at the ”new, modern Afrikaner” is to be launched in May, its editor said on Tuesday. Sondag’s Mike Vink said it would offer less sleaze than weekly Afrikaans tabloid Son. This will entail, among others, a page three pin-up girl, who will not be topless. ”It’s not going to be sleazy, but a genuine Sunday newspaper with a sports, news and business section.”
President Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, the African National Congress deputy president, and other top ANC leaders are expected to meet the party’s KwaZulu-Natal leadership on Monday. This followed newspaper reports that some ANC leaders in KwaZulu-Natal were plotting to make the province a no-go area for the president.
Sasol and Engen’s proposed merger received an unprecedented amount of attention last year from the competition authorities and was eventually rejected, despite initial recommendations that it go ahead. Government has been trying to ensure prices are competitive by increasing pressure, particularly on dominant suppliers
Labour offices in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga were shut down by their own inspectors after being found to pose a serious health hazard to workers, the Department of Labour said on Thursday. A notice halting all the activities was issued on Tuesday. A department spokesperson said inspectors found that the building had a water leak in the ceiling.
The Afrikanerbond on Wednesday welcomed the National African National Congress’s (ANC) stance against the damage to the Great Trek memorial in Standerton, Mpumalanga. ”The Afrikanerbond is heartened by ANC national spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama’s unequivocal message …,” said Afrikanerbond spokesperson Jan Bosman in a statement.
Both the number of malaria cases and deaths caused by it have decreased in Mpumalanga over the past seven years, the provincial health department said on Tuesday. There has been a steady drop in cases and a ”pleasing decline” in deaths since 2000/01, according to statistics released by the department.
A father was arrested for allegedly bombing a shack and killing his two-year-old son in Embalenhle in Secunda, Mpumalanga police said on Monday. Inspector Thabiso Ncongwane said the baby had been sleeping along with his mother and her partner when their shack was bombed with mining explosives.
South Africa’s upgraded transport information system was off to a shaky start on Monday, with some testing stations failing to reopen. Authorities in most provinces reported hiccups and constant technical failures. Testing stations in Midrand, Randburg, Sandton, Langlaagte and Pretoria were still closed due to technical glitches.
The Freedom Front+ has laid a formal complaint over the destruction of a Great Trek memorial at Standerton, party leader Dr Pieter Mulder said on Sunday. Mayor Queen Radebe-Khumalo ordered the destruction of the memorial, which was in front of the municipal offices, apparently with the approval of the Mpumalanga African National Congress.
The destruction of a Great Trek memorial stone in Standerton should be condemned, the Afrikanerbond said on Friday. The destruction was apparently ordered by the mayor of Standerton and approved by the African National Congress in Mpumalanga, which told the Mail & Guardian Online on Friday there was ”nothing wrong” with the destruction.
A Johannesburg metro cop who was caught in a hijacked truck in De Deur on Thursday was already under suspension for taking a bribe, it emerged on Thursday night. Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said the 40-year-old police officer took a R230 bribe from a motorist in February.
A 40-year-old Johannesburg metro police officer and a 43-year-old man were arrested when they were found driving a hijacked goods truck in Gauteng on Thursday, said Vaal Rand police. Captain William Mcera said the truck, carrying canned foods, was hijacked in Mpumalanga by three men on Wednesday morning.
Sixteen members of the People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo) in Swaziland were arrested on Thursday morning during a picket at Mananga border post, said Pudemo treasurer Vusi Mnisi. South Africa’s Congress of South African Trade Unions held a simultaneous picket on its side of the border post.
A Soweto man is due to appear in the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday after his teenage girlfriend was found dead in his fridge, Gauteng police said on Saturday. The body of the 17-year-old, from Ermelo in Mpumalanga, was found crouched in the fridge on Friday morning, said Superintendent Thembi Nkhwashu.
The Transport Ministry on Wednesday called on motorists to drive carefully over the Easter weekend. Among others, main routes out of Gauteng are expected to carry heavy traffic from noon until 10pm on Thursday and from 6am to noon on Friday, said ministry spokesperson Ntau Letebele.
This week saw the official launch and installation of Parliament’s new emblem, a design created by the people as a cornerstone for South Africa’s new democracy. ”A new emblem was an important step in establishing an identity for Parliament, one that represents its values, vision and mission,” Parliament said in a statement.
The JSE was higher at midday on Monday on the back of cheerful sentiment on Asian markets in the absence of market-moving news on the local front. By 11.57am, the all-share index was up 0,37% at 27 013,630 thanks to a 0,86% rise in resources. The platinum-mining index was up 0,36%, while the gold-mining index was flat (-0,04%).
Most people believe that corruption occurs to speed up approvals to which people are legally entitled, a survey has found. The number of people who believe this roughly equals the number of people who think that corruption is a means to ill-gotten gains. Business Against Crime and the German Technical Cooperation Agency commissioned the survey as part of business’s contribution to the South African National Anti-Corruption Forum.
R1-billion has been allocated this year to eradicate bucket toilets in established settlements by December, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Friday. ”All bucket systems that exist in formal establishments and townships will be completely removed by December 2007,” said a departmental spokesperson.
South Africa is investigating two main sources of biofuel, maize and sugar, and already proponents are starting to square off. The windfalls task team has recommended investment incentives for the manufacture of biofuels, or liquid fuels from indigenous raw materials, excluding crude oil and natural gas.
Disintegrating boxes of medical waste left out in the rain and rotting waste from abattoirs dumped in ditches in the veld were among the environmental hazards discovered by the ”Green Scorpions” during a nation-wide blitz this week. Inspectors from the environmental police force this week carried out a series of countrywide enforcement inspections.
South Africa’s environmental police force, the ”Green Scorpions,” will be out in strength around the country on Thursday in a massive crackdown on polluters and poachers. The Department of Environmental Affairs is to crack down on illegal fishing, the disposal of hazardous waste and the activities of at least one chemical plant.
The South African government was set on Saturday to take possession of the first farm to be expropriated in a move designed to silence criticism that it is dragging its feet over land reform. Land commission agents, along with chief claims commissioner Thozi Gwanya, will descend on Pniel Farm near the diamond mining town of Kimberley to meet with the outgoing owners.
Crime is an ”illness” that affects all and makes the population live in fear, businessman and former premier of Mpumalanga Mathews Phosa said on Wednesday. He was speaking at a symposium at the University of the Free State on the effect of serious crime and violent crime in South Africa.
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) needs a proactive networked response particularly when it appears together with HIV infection, an international discussion on MDR-TB heard in Johannesburg on Monday. ”It is one disease where there are more questions than answers,” said Dr Norbert Ndjeka from Limpopo.