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/ 26 January 2005
The implementation of regional electricity distributors (REDs) should not lead to price shocks, but the economies of scale should result in more competitive power prices in the longer term, Western Cape regional general manager of the planned first RED Leon Louw said last Tuesday.
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/ 17 January 2005
Firearms handed in to police in three provinces in the first two weeks of a three-month amnesty period were mostly legal weapons. On Monday, about 560 firearms had been already been handed over to police in Gauteng, who also received more than 21 000 rounds of ammunition, of which most were handed in voluntarily.
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/ 17 January 2005
The ruling African National Congress’s Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu has been elected unopposed as the new chairperson of the second chamber of South Africa’s Parliament, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). Mahlangu was first elected to the National Assembly in 1994 but became deputy chairperson of the NCOP in 2002.
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/ 15 January 2005
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Friday came out in support for prison warders in their dispute with the Department of Correctional Services. Cosatu said a meeting of its public-sector affiliates on Thursday agreed on a programme of action to rally support for the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union.
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/ 14 January 2005
Tom Eaton has met the brain drain. "He’s ghastly. He doesn’t challenge his world-view by reading newspapers (or reading anything, for that matter), so I could name him with impunity, but his real name doesn’t quite convey the flaccid provincialism that infects one’s first impression of him. He could be Shane or Chad or Brad or Steve, but for now let him remain Josh, perky and noxious".
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/ 14 January 2005
Diamond miner De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) could cut 1Â 400 jobs in its South African operations, the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> has learnt from senior industry sources. Sources have also indicated a strong possibility of closure of some of De Beers’s unprofitable mines as the company faces difficulty brought about by the strong rand.
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/ 13 January 2005
The bodies of Australian diver Dave Shaw and South African Deon Dreyer were recovered from the world’s third-deepest freshwater cave, Boesmansgat, in the Northern Cape on Wednesday. Shaw went missing on Saturday while trying to recover the remains of Dreyer, a diver who blacked out and drowned in the cave while diving there in 1994.
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/ 12 January 2005
The Northern Cape will immediately start applying its latest R26-million drought relief scheme, agriculture MEC Tina Joemat-Pettersson said on Wednesday. ”The funds would mainly be used for the purchasing of fodder, fodder transportation and drilling of boreholes to allow commercial and communal farmers to maintain their flock.”
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/ 12 January 2005
The Northern Cape will immediately start applying its latest R26-million drought relief scheme, agriculture MEC Tina Joemat-Pettersson said on Wednesday. ”The funds would mainly be used for the purchasing of fodder, fodder transportation and drilling of boreholes to allow commercial and communal farmers to maintain their flock.”
A team of divers, police and paramedics has descended on the small town of Daniëlskuil in the Northern Cape to recover a body. Located 30km from Daniëlskuil is Boesmansgat — the world’s third-deepest freshwater cave. In 1994, while diving in the cave with his father, Deon Dreyer, then 20, blacked out and sank to the bottom.
Which four Southern Africa countries held elections this year? Who won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize? Who provides the donkey’s voice in the film <i>Shrek</i>? Name the Jewish architect of Polish extraction who won the bid to design a memorial for New York’s Twin Towers. How many of the year’s events can you recall? Put yourself to the test …
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/ 29 December 2004
The 2004 matric class has achieved a pass rate of more than 70% for the third year in a row, says Education Minister Naledi Pandor. The official results in eight provinces were released during a media briefing at Parliament, but the results in Mpumalanga have been withheld because some are under investigation.
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/ 9 December 2004
If the power station at Koeberg in the Western Cape were coal-fired and not nuclear, it would have needed to burn more than 105-million tonnes of the black stuff over the past two decades to equal the power it has produced from just 621 tonnes of uranium, says Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
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/ 8 December 2004
Five police officers are among 48 people arrested for dealing in drugs on Wednesday, after a year-long investigation in the Northern Cape. The inspector, two sergeants and two constables were arrested with the other suspects in pre-dawn raids. A female civilian employee of the police was also taken into custody.
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/ 30 November 2004
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/142915/aids_icon.gif" align=left>A year ago the government approved a national plan for the management, care and treatment of HIV/Aids. Its aim was to provide free anti-retroviral drugs in the public health sector. The HIV prevalence rates range from an estimated 13,1% in the Western Cape to a very high 37,5% of adults in KwaZulu-Natal. A <i>M&G</i> assessment as World Aids Day approaches reveals the leaders and laggards.
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/ 26 November 2004
”President Mbeki explains to European leaders why Nepad is succeeding beyond all expectations.” ”The government reveals how the arms deal has brought billion of rands in foreign investment and created thousands of jobs.” Then comes the ”ag shame” touch, delivered with a helping of devastating SABC wordplay to get the nation hosing itself. Does that menu smell familiar? Of course it does.
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/ 23 November 2004
The Independent Democrats (ID) on Monday accused Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon of lying, saying his attack on the ID was made up of lies and that the DA’s ”so-called scorecard reads like a right-wing intelligence report”. Leon said earlier on Monday that the ID had ”few principles and limited prospects” and it was spending its meagre resources opposing the opposition.
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/ 18 November 2004
A South African soldier taking part in a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Burundi has been shot dead, apparently by a colleague, the South African National Defence Force said on Thursday. Gunner Elvin Mopani Hendricks (24) died in a shooting incident on Wednesday night in a military camp in Bujumbura.
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/ 16 November 2004
A decade into democracy in South Africa, visitor figures for the country’s national parks still reflect a legacy of racial exclusion. Officials say up to 18 months ago, less than 4% of visitors were black. Although statistics for November show higher figures, perceptions remain of conservation as an elitist pastime confined to a white minority.
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/ 8 November 2004
Sun International has consolidated its leading position in South Africa’s R7,34-billion casino industry over the past year, and is now ready to pursue regional and international opportunities in the gaming, hotel and resort sectors, according to CEO Peter Bacon.
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/ 5 November 2004
There is no need to panic about drought — unless the rain stays away for another two months, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said in Pretoria on Friday. The department is reviewing the state of the Vaal River system to see if water restrictions in Gauteng — now South Africa’s driest province — will be necessary.
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/ 30 October 2004
An Australian deep-water diver has discovered the 10-year-old remains of a fellow diver while setting a new world record, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Friday. The skeletal remains of Deon Dreyer, who died in 1994 inside Boesmansgat in the Northern Cape, were found at a depth of 271m.
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/ 27 October 2004
De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM), the South African division of global diamond giant De Beers, has concluded the sale of Dancarl Diamonds, a mine in the Northern Cape, to a black-owned partnership consisting of Sedibeng Mining and Meepong, a women’s grouping, together with Australia’s Crown Diamonds NL.
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/ 29 September 2004
Either 4,6-million or 8,4-million people had no jobs in South Africa in March this year — depending on whether one used official or expanded unemployment figures released on Tuesday. This translated into an unemployment rate of either 27,8% or 41,2%, according to the results of Statistics SA’s latest Labour Force Survey.
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/ 21 September 2004
Aggravated robbery was the only violent crime to show an increase over the past two financial years, national police commissioner Jackie Selebi announced on Monday. Murders dropped by 9,9%, attempted murder by 17,8%, serious assault by 4,3%, common assault by 2,6% and common robbery by 7,8%, he told reporters in
Pretoria.
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/ 9 September 2004
Women in labour so intoxicated they do not know they are giving birth, children fed alcohol to keep them quiet, and low grade wine cheaper than bread. These are realities in South Africa, the country with the worst foetal alcohol syndrome in the world.
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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
The Independent Democrats welcomed 18 municipal councillors — mainly from the New National Party — to its ranks on Wednesday, the first day of the two-week period for councillors to change parties without losing their seats. Former NNP Cape Town councillor David Sassman said the NNP ”sold out to the highest bidder”.
Deputy president Jacob Zuma on Saturday launched the extended public works programme, and said the greatest challenge was to mobilise all municipalities, provincial departments and other public sector bodies to implement the programme. After the Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal is the second province to launch the programme.
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.