The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has recommended that procurement of new private electricity generation be managed by a professional entity independent from power utility Eskom, a report showed on Monday. Eskom has struggled to satisfy rising demand for electricity in Africa’s biggest economy, resulting in power cuts.
Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on Friday lambasted United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa for ”exploiting” the concerns of Joe Slovo residents. The residents are facing eviction to make way for the flagship N2 Gateway housing project. ”It is unfortunate that far from offering sound advice, he sought to exploit the people’s concerns,” she said.
The Indian Ocean archipelago nation of Comoros said it had captured the capital and airport of the rebel island of Anjouan on Tuesday in a African Union-backed seaborne assault. ”Our troops have their feet on the ground … The assault has started well and good,” Mohamed Bacar Dossar, a presidential official in charge of defence, said.
South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki said he opposed a threatened African Union-backed assault by the Comoros archipelago’s troops against the rebel island of Anjouan, saying it should be given time for a poll. Hundreds of federal troops have amassed on nearby Moheli island vowing an imminent assault on hilly, wooded Anjouan.
A project to remove the remnants of apartheid laws from statute books was launched by the South African Law Commission on Friday. It hoped to review about 2 800 statutes that had been placed on the law books since 1910 within the next 18 months, modernising and simplifying the statute book.
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/ 28 February 2008
Legsaan Levember can only pray for better days as he huddles with 12 family members in a roadside tent, another victim of South Africa’s spiralling housing backlog. The family uses a plastic sheet to extend their tiny tent, which perches precariously on the slope of a small dune and is regularly blown away by Cape Town’s relentless south-easterly winds.
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/ 27 November 2007
Progress was being made in strengthening Gauteng’s economy but unemployment was still a concern, Gauteng minister of finance Paul Mashatile said on Tuesday. ”[W]hen we report back to the people of Gauteng [in 2009] we will be able to say boldly and without fear of contradiction that we have successfully completed our five-year mandate,” he said.
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/ 10 November 2007
The threat of serious flooding along England’s east coast receded on Friday after officials said the main tidal peak had passed, although storms were still causing problems elsewhere in Europe. High seas still threatened The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Norway and Sweden.
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/ 11 October 2007
The main party in southern Sudan has suspended its participation in the national government until its northern partners reignite a stalled peace process, the secretary general of the party said on Thursday. Pagan Amum of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said: ”The SPLM has recalled all ministers and presidential advisers.”
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/ 6 September 2007
Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi is waiting for more technical information before deciding on action on Khutsong’s sinkholes, his ministry said on Thursday. The minister was waiting for more detailed information on Khutsong, said the minister’s acting spokesperson, Thokozani Mtshali, when asked about the government’s position on the situation.