<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>Addressing an audience in London on Wednesday, Tony Leon — the former leader of the Democratic Alliance — expressed fears that under Jacob Zuma as president, South Africa could revert to a stereotype of "Big Man", African-style kleptocracy replete with redistributive and populist economics with lashings of demagoguery.
Metrorail has beefed up security in response to possible xenophobic attacks on train commuters, it said on Wednesday. ”Our own protection services, the South African railway police and contracted security staff have been beefed up in response to the perceived threat and in support of our security plan,” the company said in a statement.
The South African government is under growing pressure to send troops into Johannesburg’s townships for the first time since the apartheid era as African immigrants continued to flee a wave of killings and violence against foreigners. Several people were killed overnight including two men, believed to be Mozambican miners, who were beaten to death as mobs moved through townships.
Thousands of refugees in and around Johannesburg faced another night filled with anxiety on Tuesday evening as xenophobic tensions and violence continued to spread through the province. The violence has so far claimed 24 lives and left up to 10Â 000 people seeking refuge in shelters across Gauteng.
Ekurhuleni police chief Robert McBride returned to work on Tuesday amid an eruption of bloody xenophobic clashes throughout the province. ”All leave has been cancelled [under the circumstances],” McBride said. ”I’m working.” He would not answer any more questions, explaining: ”I’m really busy at the moment.”
The AfriForum group on Tuesday laid wreaths in Pretoria for the victims of the Church Street bomb blast during the apartheid era. ”The fact that the majority of the victims had been civilians means that the incident cannot be regarded as a military operation, but rather as an act of terror,” said AfriForum.
South Africa’s police and the African National Congress (ANC) intensified efforts on Tuesday to quell anti-foreigner violence that has killed at least 24 people and sent thousands of African immigrants into refugee shelters. Police have struggled for over a week to end the violent attacks on foreigners.
President Thabo Mbeki on Monday reiterated his call for an immediate end to attacks on foreign nationals in Gauteng, which have left 22 people dead and up to 10Â 000 seeking refuge in shelters. ”Citizens from other countries on the African continent and beyond are as human as we are and deserve to be treated with respect,” the president.
Two weeks after the start of the xenophobic attacks in Gauteng, the government and police are still at a loss on how to handle the escalating violence. "The attacks keep on taking us by surprise. When we think the situation is under control something erupts somewhere else," an official from the Department of Home Affairs told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> on Monday.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board said it disagreed with a Johannesburg High Court ruling on Monday, which set aside the suspension of CEO Dali Mpofu. Judge Moroa Tsoka said the entire matter was handled badly by board chairperson Khanyi Mkhonza.
His legs soaked in blood and with scorch marks running down his back, the young man is lifted on to a makeshift stretcher after another bout of deadly violence in South Africa’s so-called City of Gold. His eyes blink, filled with tears, as he shudders slightly and tries to move before police calm him down and say he is now out of danger.
Notwithstanding the strong demand for private healthcare, Netcare’s operations in South Africa are operating in an extremely challenging environment, the hospital group said on Monday. This environment was due to ”increased regulatory and cost pressures”, it said.
Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin would retire after the elections next year, a media report said on Monday. ”The minister would like to confirm that he would not be serving another term. His decision was taken long before the change in African National Congress leadership,” said his spokesperson Vimla Maistry.
Another foreigner has been killed in South Africa as a wave of xenophobic violence spreads across Johannesburg, bringing the weekend death toll to 13, police said on Monday. The violence against foreigners, who are accused by many South Africans of depriving locals of jobs and committing crime, has spread across townships since the beginning of last week.
As a fresh wave of severe xenophobic violence gripped Johannesburg on Sunday, with five people killed in the Cleveland area, hundreds fleeing to the safety of police stations and shops in the CBD looted, President Thabo Mbeki announced that a panel had been set up to look into the attacks.
About a hundred members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and other organisations picketed the gates of Parliament in Cape Town on Saturday morning to protest against rising food prices and call for freedom in Zimbabwe. The event was to have been a march through the city.
Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula said on Friday that those responsible for continuous xenophobic attacks in Gauteng townships will be ”severely dealt with”. He was responding to the violence in Alexandra and Diepsloot that erupted in the past week, in which three people were killed and dozens injured.
Any increase in electricity prices should occur gradually over five years, Eskom was told on Friday at a summit in Sandton on the electricity crisis, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported. The government, labour, the African National Congress and community forums were represented at the summit.
Former Goodwood police station commander Siphiwo Given Hewana is to go on trial in the Parow Regional Court in September for allegedly interfering in the drunken-driving case against former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni.
A full bench of judges on Friday reserved a ruling on the bid by the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance (DA) to quash the Erasmus commission. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool to probe the DA-led city’s investigation of renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.
The spate of xenophobic violence in Alexandra has to be contained or it will cause problems in the future, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said on Friday after visiting the troubled township. Meanwhile, the Gauteng African National Congress has compared the xenophobia that fuelled this week’s attacks to the racism of apartheid.
The African National Congress and its labour allies called on Friday for electricity prices to rise only gradually, rejecting the state power firm’s appeal for a sharp hike to solve a dire power crisis. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said it would be wrong for Eskom to use price rises to recover from past losses.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>Addressing the students and teachers at a University of Zululand graduation ceremony in Empangeni on Friday, African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma said that nation-building is not only about people’s attitudes. "We must understand that nation-building requires that we tackle the material differences between our people," he said.
South Africa’s economy cannot afford a sharp electricity price increase, a leader of the African National Congress (ANC) said on Friday, adding that Eskom should not be allowed to use pricing to make up past losses. As part of efforts to tackle power shortages and fund infrastructure expansion, Eskom has requested a 53% increase in electricity tariffs.
Having a judge head the politically loaded Erasmus commission undermined the principle of separation of powers, lawyers for the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance argued on Thursday. The city and the party have asked the court to quash the commission to probe the legality of the city’s spying on renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma will not stand trial on August 4, instead he will be seeking to have the decision to charge him declared unlawful. The legal teams of Zuma and his co-accused met the National Prosecuting Authority and the KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala on Thursday to finalise a court date.
A special task team will investigate the cause of the recent xenophobic attacks in Alexandra and elsewhere in the country, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday. The team will make recommendations about steps required to prevent a recurrence of this ”negative tendency”, he told a media briefing.
The African Christian Democratic Party, Democratic Alliance, Independent Democrats and United Democratic Movement have filed a joint submission in the Pretoria High Court as a friend of the court in support of Hugh Glenister’s bid to stop the disbanding of the Scorpions, the parties said on Thursday.
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Lawyers for African National Congress president Jacob Zuma will meet prosecutors on Thursday to decide whether his corruption case should begin on August 4, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said. ”It is only after the meeting today that we’ll know if the date we have proposed is confirmed,” NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said.
Johannesburg townships Alexandra and Diepsloot were tense on Thursday morning in the wake of xenophobic violence that has killed a number of people since the weekend, police said. Captain Louise Reed said one man was injured in a suspected mob attack in Diepsloot on Wednesday evening.
There is no campaign to drive foreigners out of Alexandra, said African National Congress provincial chairperson Paul Mashatile on Wednesday outside the home of a victim of this week’s alleged xenophobic attacks in the Johannesburg township that have claimed three lives. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela also visited the township on Wednesday.
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African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma’s rights to a fair and speedy trial have been violated with impunity, and the independence and credibility of organs of state have been severely compromised, the ANC Youth League said on Wednesday.