While large industry has met its 10% power-reduction commitments, the rest of South Africa is lagging behind, saving less than 5% on its electricity consumption. The continued strain on the national grid has meant that there remains the threat of load-shedding for South Africans.
Incandescent lamps will be exchanged for energy-saving lamps in all provinces from April onwards, Eskom said on Wednesday. The exchange programme for compact fluorescent lamps is already under way in several of the country’s provinces and has seen more than 12-million lamps distributed in three years.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called for police to investigate circumstances surrounding an unmarked grave near a mine clinic in the Northern Cape. Spokesperson Tshepo Motsumi said in a statement that construction workers found the remains of a mineworker on Wednesday near the PrimCure Clinic in Kuruman.
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/ 25 February 2008
Stretched-out plains with dust devils and the hot, unrelenting sun are the trademarks of the Northern Cape. Every year the province records some of the highest aggregates of sunny days a year worldwide and rainy days are as rare as hen’s teeth. This is bad news if you’re a farmer, but great news if you plan to build one of the world’s biggest solar plants.
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/ 22 February 2008
Controversial businessman Charles Modise was denied bail in the Kimberly Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Modise is being investigated by the Scorpions and faces various charges, including fraud, forgery and corruption in the Northern Cape. Magistrate Andre Williams postponed the matter to July 9 for further investigations.
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/ 22 February 2008
Provinces will receive R238-billion this year, a whopping 16% higher than last year’s allocation. By 2010/11, provincial budgets will have doubled on their 2004/05 levels. All increases to key portfolios outstrip inflation by significant margins. But will they spend it well?
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/ 13 February 2008
At least 830 of KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) law-enforcement officers are under investigation for a host of crimes ranging from assault through to rape and murder, figures released by the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) revealed on Wednesday.
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/ 30 January 2008
South African mining companies were set to resume production this week after power failures brought the industry to a halt last Friday. Anglogold Ashanti said it expected all its mines would be in full production by the end of the week. Gold Fields spokesperson Willie Jacobsz said: ”All our mines are busy mobilising as the power flow is being restored.”
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/ 25 January 2008
Investigations into the incident at the South African Army Combat Training Centre in Lohatla in which nine soldiers were killed have revealed that the tragedy was caused by a mechanical failure, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Friday. The nine soldiers died when a 35mm Oerlikon GDF MK-5 gun malfunctioned at the training centre on October 12 last year.
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/ 25 January 2008
The Nigerian method of low-budget movie-making is set to take off in South Africa if an upcoming producer has his way, writes Percy Zvomuya.
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/ 17 January 2008
A row is brewing over a report on the military investigation into an incident last year in which nine soldiers were killed at Lohatla in the Northern Cape when an artillery gun apparently went haywire. The report has been completed but not made public.
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/ 17 January 2008
If the South African Reserve Bank needs further evidence of the dampening effect of higher rates on real economic activity, recent building data has been just that, according to independent economic analysts. A major challenge facing the government is also the extreme escalation in building costs.
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/ 14 January 2008
Lesser flamingos have started breeding on a specially constructed artificial island at the Kamfers Dam, the Northern Cape department of tourism, environment and conservation said on Monday. The birds at Kamfers Dam are of historic significance because it is only the sixth breeding locality in the world for the near-threatened species.
The number of fatalities on South African roads over the festive season decreased by 13,26%, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Tuesday. He was releasing the Arrive Alive campaign’s figures for the holiday season from December 1 to January 6. The number of people killed on the roads had declined to 1Â 419.
The ANC’s national executive committee elected its 28-member national working committee (NWC) on Monday. Get the complete list of NWC members here, as well as the names of the eight ANC members who will form part of the ad hoc committee to draw up a report on the arms deal.
Strict security measures will remain in force as South Africans celebrate New Year’s Day on Tuesday, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. Police and traffic officials were out in force on Monday night as people saw in 2008 with carnivals, concerts and private parties.
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/ 24 December 2007
A national plan is in place to give thousands of matriculants who are not expected to pass this year a second chance, a newspaper reported on Monday. ”Education departments confirmed on Sunday that the plan was being finalised at provincial level,” the report in Beeld said.
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/ 19 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>Did the ANC fatten up for the slaughter in Polokwane? An audit of membership statistics suggests the wholesale recruitment of new members to boost the girth of provincial delegations has played — and will play — a role in the outcomes at Limpopo.
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/ 18 December 2007
More than 560 people have died on South African roads since the beginning of December, the Department of Transport said on Tuesday. At least 119 people were killed in accidents in Gauteng, 86 in KwaZulu-Natal, 58 in the Western Cape, 70 in the Eastern Cape, 52 in the Free State, 74 in Mpumalanga, 51 in Limpopo and seven in the Northern Cape.
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/ 18 December 2007
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Secretary-general of the ANC Kgalema Motlanthe spared no punches when he presented his organisational report to the national conference this week. Mandy Rossouw looks at which provinces came out tops and which need to take a long hard look at themselves.
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/ 18 December 2007
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President Thabo Mbeki’s team fought back after a first day of humiliation at the ANC’s 52nd national conference at Polokwane, holding an unprecedented rally at lunchtime. Jacob Zuma’s people responded with an even bigger rally. The Mbeki rally was part of a package of measures to turn back the voting gains of deputy president Jacob Zuma, who is set to take the top job.
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/ 17 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>President Thabo Mbeki’s team fought back after a first day of humiliation at the African National Congress’s (ANC) 52nd national conference at Polokwane, holding an unprecedented rally at lunchtime on Monday. Jacob Zuma’s people responded with an even bigger rally.
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/ 15 December 2007
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Delegates to the African National Congress’s Polokwane conference, some of them weary after driving through the night from other parts of the country, began registering shortly after 10am on Saturday. Registration is taking place in a cavernous and hot aircraft hangar at the Gateway Airport north of Polokwane.
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/ 12 December 2007
The motorist who was caught doing 257km/h in his silver Audi TT on Sunday night has been named as Ukhozi FM’s DJ Sbu, Talk Radio 702 reported on Wednesday. DJ Sbu, or Sbusiso Leope, appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. He was released on R1 000 bail, Johannesburg metro police said on Wednesday.
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/ 10 December 2007
More than 250 people have been killed on South African roads since the beginning of the festive season, the Department of Transport said on Monday. Spokesperson Ntau Letebele said 275 people were killed in 230 crashes — 65 drivers, 84 passengers and 126 pedestrians.
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/ 10 December 2007
De Beers Consolidated Mines’s R1-billion sale of its Cullinan diamond mine in Pretoria to the Petra Diamonds Cullinan Consortium has taken an important step forward with Monday’s announcement that the Department of Minerals and Energy has agreed to convert the old-order mining right held by De Beers into a new-order mining right.
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/ 6 December 2007
House robbery, business robbery and truck hijacking increased between April and September this year, the police announced in Pretoria on Thursday. House robbery rose by 7%, business robbery by 29,3%, and truck hijacking by 53,3%. There were 6Â 711 house robberies in the six months from April to September, up from 6Â 271 over the same period last year.
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/ 6 December 2007
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Some of the most respected figures in the African National Congress (ANC) could be excluded from the party’s national executive committee should deputy president Jacob Zuma win the race for the ANC presidency, a media report said on Thursday.
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/ 4 December 2007
The predominantly Afrikaner settlement of Orania in the Northern Cape has been granted a community broadcast licence by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa). The licence is valid from December 1 this year to November 30 2011, after which the community can apply for an extension.
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/ 1 December 2007
The Richtersveld community in the Northern Cape celebrated on Saturday after regaining land taken from them in the 1920s. Spokesperson for the Department of Public Enterprises Lulu Bam said ten years of court battles saw state-owned diamond mining assets, held by the Alexkor mining company, being granted to the community.
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/ 29 November 2007
An extra R87-million has been allocated to help people living in extreme poverty, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said on Thursday. The money was in addition to funds already given to provinces for relief, he told reporters after meeting provincial ministers of social development in Durban.
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/ 28 November 2007
The South African National Defence Force Union on Wednesday threatened to lay a criminal charge against Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota for contravening the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The union also wants the Labour Department to take action against the South African National Defence Force for non-compliance with health and safety legislation.