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/ 9 September 2004
When examining the Fair Trade movement it is important first to understand the concept of social consciousness. Becoming socially conscious does not require a paradigm shift in lifestyle — joining a commune, hugging trees or lying down in front of bulldozers. What it does require is lateral thinking and that you ask a few earnest questions about the products you buy, and, in this case, the places you go to on holiday.
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/ 7 September 2004
The operating profit of petrochemical giant Sasol fell by 22% owing to the strength of the rand, the company said at its annual results presentation on Tuesday. The negative effect of the rand was cushioned by the beneficial high oil prices and management initiatives to streamline the business, Sasol chief executive Pieter Cox said.
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/ 6 September 2004
The death toll in an explosion at Sasol’s ethylene plant in Secunda, Mpumalanga, has climbed to seven, company spokesperson Johann van Rheede said on Monday. The explosion, which occurred last Wednesday, claimed the lives of four contractors and two Sasol employees. More than 100 people were injured.
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/ 2 September 2004
South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (Sadtu) members turned out in full force around the country to demonstrate their frustration with the government’s offer of a 5,5% salary increase. Sadtu spokesperson Jon Lewis said an estimated 30Â 000 people marched through the streets of Johannesburg.
Minister: Teachers’ strike ‘ill-timed’
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/ 1 September 2004
Unjustified complaints about delays in the approval process of the controversial Roodefontein golf estate development made former Western Cape environmental director Ingrid Coetzee feel like she was being blackmailed, she told the Bellville Regional Court on Wednesday where she was under cross-examination for a second day.
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/ 1 September 2004
Nine people were still not accounted for by Wednesday afternoon after a gas explosion that claimed six lives at Sasol’s Secunda plant, police said. A spokesperson for the petrochemical company, Johann van Rheede, told reporters on the scene that more than 100 people were injured in the blast in Sasol’s ethylene plant.
On a national tour ahead of the floor-crossing window for councillors, Inkatha Freedom Party national chairperson Ziba Jiyane is stressing its ”centre-right” position and its standpoint on family values. He also criticised the appointment of women with wealthy husbands in jobs above breadwinners.
Police were preparing on Friday to exhume the body of a six-year-old boy whose head was found in a man’s refrigerator at Ntunda Trust near Tonga, Mpumalanga, on Thursday. Police spokesperson Inspector Leonard Hlathi said a 32-year-old man had been arrested and was going to show police where the boy’s body was buried.
Mining magnate Patrice Motsepe this week unveiled the first full-year results of his new company African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) while revealing the next, and probably most interesting, chapter in his career. The results show how far Motsepe has come as a mining entrepreneur — and the hard work that lies ahead in turning ARM into a world-class diversified resources company.
A total of 118 South African women have discovered since the beginning of the month that they had been married without their knowledge, the Home Affairs Department said on Wednesday. This emerged from a campaign urging women to check their marital status on the department’s records in a bid to curb the problem of fraudulent marriages, the department said in a statement.
More than 40 South African women have discovered that they had been married without their knowledge, the Home Affairs Department said on Thursday. They were among about 2 000 women checking their marital status on the department’s records, as part of a campaign to curb the problem of women being unknowingly married to foreigners.
The author Frederick Forsythe observed recently that if a train driver made a grievous error that cost lives, he would not walk away grinning. If an airline pilot did the same he’d probably never fly again. If the driver of a train fell asleep and caused a smash he’d end up in jail. But, considering recent events, it appears that politicians and their manadarins are exempt from all such responsibility.
Former housing minister Sankie Mthemba-Mahanyele is to ask the Constitutional Court for special leave to appeal a court ruling that she may not sue the Mail & Guardian for publishing a defamatory story about her. In a statement on Wednesday, Mthemba-Mahanyele welcomed a decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal that politicians did have standing to sue for defamation.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled on Monday that a news story published by the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> newspaper about former housing minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele was defamatory, but not actionable. The SCA in Bloemfontein dismissed an appeal by Mthembi-Mahanyele against a decision of the Johannesburg High Court in the newspaper’s favour.
The assets of Gauteng deputy director of public prosecutions Cornwell Tshavhungwa were attached by his own colleagues at the Assets Forfeiture Unit on Thursday. Tshavhungwa is currently in custody following his arrest on June 7 on fraud and corruption charges involving an amount of R1-million.
Although the economic powerhouse of Gauteng has only 1,4% of South Africa’s land area of 1,219-million square kilometres, it has 24% of the population aged between 25 and 59 years, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. It also announced that the life expectancy at birth in South Africa is forecast to be only 50,7 years next year.
The Mpumalanga Parks Board has won a court judgement against the owners of a wildlife sanctuary who imported eight lions into the province illegally. The conservation authority removed the lions from Enkosini Wildlife Sanctuary in January 2003 after it was discovered they had been imported without a permit.
Nine municipal by-elections will take place in South Africa this Wednesday, but the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has already won another five wards uncontested. Trends indicate that the ANC could win all but two of the contested by-elections.
Give recognition where it’s due: Mike van Graan thinks it’s time to pay tribute to the public representative that demonstrates the most support for arts and culture.
A team from the national Department of Social Development is visiting the Western Cape to outline the processes of the establishment of the South African Social Security Agency, the government news agency said on Monday. The agency will ultimately take over from provinces the payment of social welfare grants.
In November 2003 the Cabinet approved a national plan for HIV/ Aids prevention, care and treatment. The plan estimated that 53 000 people would be placed on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment by the end of March this year. Eight months on, fewer than 10 000 people with HIV/Aids are receiving anti-retrovirals through the public health system.
Second-hand book dealers, old-age homes and a whole assortment of so-called ”secondary merchants” are all eagerly awaiting the forthcoming Government Publications Warehouse Sales. As each fulfilling decade of the South African rainbow democracy comes to an end, government storage houses will be kicking off the next 10 years with a major clean-out. I managed to get a look at some.
The Scorpions have refuted a Sunday newspaper report claiming the elite investigating unit was probing three government ministers and a provincial premier for fraud. The report said the Scorpions were probing the four for fraud and corruption relating to travel vouchers.
Warders at the medium-security prison and the C-Max prison in Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal, as well as warders at St Alban’s prison outside Port Elizabeth, have embarked on a strike, SABC Radio News reported on Saturday. The warders were reportedly demonstrating outside the prisons.
The South African Police Service will launch a crime prevention programme in the 63 areas of South Africa identified as experiencing the most contact crimes, Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula said on Tuesday. Nqakula also touched on the Firearms Control Act that comes into effect on Thursday.
<i>Iphepha elisematheni lesiZulu, Isolezwe, seliyatholakala kwi-Internet</i>. Yes, <i>Isolezwe (Eye of the Nation)</i>, the KwaZulu-Natal-based, Zulu-language daily newspaper, is now available on the web. This makes the site the first Zulu news website. This is a bold step for the cheeky, two-year-old, ground-breaking newspaper, founded by well-known journalist Cyril Madlala.
Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka was misinformed if she believed nuclear power had a future as an energy source, Earthlife Africa said on Wednesday. ”Nuclear energy is not an option for South Africa,” said Sibusiso Mimi, a campaigner for the organisation in Cape Town.
SA ‘cannot avoid nuclear energy’
The Gauteng deputy director of public prosecutions, (Scorpions) Cornwell Tshavhungwa, had his R100 000 bail on corruption charges cancelled by a Pretoria magistrate on Wednesday. Specialised Commercial Crimes Court magistrate Desmond Nair found that Tshavhungwa had breached his bail conditions by contacting a witness.
South Africa needs to wake up to the fact that its coal reserves are not infinite, and the use of nuclear power to produce electricity in the future is unavoidable, Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Tuesday. ”In addition to coal, nuclear energy will increase as an energy option for South Africa for the foreseeable future,” she told MPs during her Budget vote.
Power station ‘will inject R10bn into SA’
Mpumalanga police rounded up a gang of foreign drug dealers plying narcotics at local night spots in a major operation on Saturday morning, police said. Police, assisted by soldiers and officials from the departments of justice, health and home affairs, arrested 22 foreign nationals for dealing in drugs, among others.
The Department of Public Works did not get enough money in this year’s Budget to carry out all its appointed tasks, including tackling a maintenance backlog at government buildings, says Minister of Public Works Stella Sigcau. In February this year, her department was allocated more than R4,8-billion.
The South African Cabinet has approved a programme to develop human capital and improve research and innovation in relation to the pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) project, which has been called the world’s sexiest baby nuclear reactor by its proponents.