The Washington-based Centre for Public Integrity’s Global Integrity Report has listed South Africa’s electoral and political process as ”weak”, the Department of Public Service and Administration said in Pretoria on Tuesday. This was because of the African National Congress’s overwhelming majority at the April polls.
Abbey Mzayiya, better known as Happy Sindane, was expected to be discharged later this week, the Pretoria Academic hospital said on Tuesday. Mzayiya, who has been in hospital fighting for his life since he was run over by two cars on April 3, has been described as ”doing very well”.
Presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo confirmed on Thursday that President Thabo Mbeki has decided to replace the Inkatha Freedom Party members appointed as deputy ministers with new appointees. IFP leaders Reverend Musa Zondi and Vincent Ngema sent letters to President Mbeki on Thursday, saying they could not attend the swearing in of deputy ministers.
The leaders of the New National Party and Azanian People’s Organisation got senior posts in the new cabinet unveiled by President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday. New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk becomes Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism while Azanian People’s Organisation leader Mosibudi Mangena got the portfolio of Science and Technology.
South Africa’s first 10 years of democracy have paved the way for solving many of the country’s remaining problems in the next decade, President Thabo Mbeki said after his inauguration on Tuesday for a second term in office. He addressed thousands who had gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria for his induction.
Mbeki takes the oath
Mandela, Mugabe cheered
The South African Medical Association and the Hospital Association of South Africa (Hasa) agreed on Monday to stop participating in fixing the selling price of medical services in contravention of the Competition Act, the Competition Tribunal said. Hasa has also agreed to pay administrative penalties of R4,5-million.
Thabo Mbeki was inaugurated as South Africa’s President in a lavish ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday before an estimated 40 000 revellers and 6 000 invited guests, including presidents, royalty, prime ministers and Cabinet ministers from all over the world.
Mandela, Mugabe cheered
Pretoria was a hive of activity on Monday with last-minute preparations for Tuesday’s inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki at the Union Buildings and the celebration of South Africa’s 10th year of democracy. With security forces keeping an eye over the city, VIPs have started trickling into Gauteng from all over the world.
Inauguration ‘sullied’ by Mugabe
Ten members of the world football governing body, Fifa, are among more than 130 VIP visitors who have accepted invitations to attend President Thabo Mbeki’s inauguration as president in his second term of office, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said on Sunday.
The Inkatha Freedom Party and Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) have lodged founding papers with the Electoral Court on Wednesday contesting the declaration of last week’s elections as free and fair. The court says the papers will now be sent to court’s judges, who will decide on dates for the hearings, merit allowing.
IFP to stick with DA
The South Rugby Football Union said on Wednesday that they had no knowledge of the young SA footballer arrested in New Zealand on fraud charges. Felix Mkwanazi whom Radio New Zealand described as a professional South African footballer, was arrested along with Liberians, Oldba Makor a refugee, and Reginald Wilson, a student, for allegedly being in possession of forged US bank notes.
The National Prosecuting Authority would not stop hunting apartheid-era criminals unless asked to do so by Parliament, the NPA said on Tuesday. ”And as far as we are concerned no law on blanket amnesty is being considered,” said NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi.
A task team set up by three trade unions met on Monday to investigate the proposed retrenchment of over 5Â 000 mine workers. Solidarity, the National Union of Mineworkers and the United Association of South Africa met in Centurion, Pretoria, on Monday, to plan their response to the planned retrenchments.
Deputy President Jacob Zuma expressed regret on Monday at the choice of some to advance partisan political interests ahead of the national good. In an apparent reference to the Inkatha Freedom Party’s legal challenge against the election result, he said the Constitution requires respect for institutions that protect democracy, such as the Independent Electoral Commission.
Champagne corks popped, fireworks exploded and balloons dropped from the ceiling as this week’s general election was declared free and fair in Pretoria on Saturday and the ANC celebrated a hands-down victory. The party has for first time taken the majority of seats in all nine provincial legislatures.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Minutes after learning his party would have no representation in the National Assembly after a poor performance in Wednesday’s general election, National Action leader Cassie Aucamp quipped that he would have no choice but to stand on a street corner begging for money.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
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President Thabo Mbeki has again said the African National Congress will not seek to make any changes to the country’s Constitution. The ANC looks set to get a two-thirds majority, which has sparked fears in some quarters that the party may seek to change the Constitution.
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As the African National Congress passed the 10-million vote mark on Friday, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said that the turnout for the third democratic elections had been an impressive 76,9%. At present the ANC has 69,6% of the votes counted so far.
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The respective strong showings of the African National Congress and Democratic Alliance in Wednesday’s general election may sharpen the cold war between the two parties in future, independent analyst Aubrey Matshiqi said on Thursday evening. ”The question is what that kind of polarisation portends for the future of the country,” he said.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>With just over 88,2% of votes captured by early Friday morning, the African National Congress has nearly garnered 70% of the votes. With the preliminary count updated at 3am, the ruling party was heading the national race with 9,39-million of the votes counted, which translates into 69,67% — continuing to make gains on its apparent two-thirds majority.
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The leader of the Democratic Alliance, Tony Leon, was unperturbed by reporters’ questions about the apparent success of the Independent Democrats in the preliminary election results released on Thursday. ”If they [the ID] were expecting to be the official opposition, they won’t get that,” he said.
Special Report: Elections 2004
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>The African National Congress is expecting a "late surge" of ANC votes as the elections results stream in. ANC spokesperson Steyn Speed told the <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i> on Thursday that the ANC expected the results for the official opposition Democratic Alliance to decline further as the day goes by.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
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The Independent Democrats said on Thursday it went after South Africa’s youth vote by using innovations in technology to campaign to its voters, such as use of SMSes and the web. Speaking to the Mail & Guardian Online, ID leader Patricia de Lille claimed the party has a database of more than 90Â 000 cellphone numbers of its constituents.
DA ‘elated’ at turnout
The Independent Democrats, contesting its first election on Wednesday, surpassed the long-established New National Party in early poll counts on Thursday morning. By mid-morning, the ID had garnered 123 292 votes or 2,24% of the votes counted, putting them in fourth place. The NNP was in fifth place with 121 928 votes, or 2,21%.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>The Democratic Alliance says it is "elated" with the way the voting results have turned out so far and that the party is not surprised at the relative success of Patricia de Lille’s new Independent Democrats. Gibson said that the DA’s own internal polls predicted that the ID would in fact perform even better than they have so far performed.
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Police were investigating claims by the Inkatha Freedom Party that African National Congress supporters were seen pasting voter registration stickers into the identity documents of voters in KwaZulu-Natal, the Independent Electoral Commission said on Wednesday afternoon.
Special Report: Elections 2004
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The Pan Africanist Congress on Wednesday laughed off comments by African National Congress leader Thabo Mbeki that it was ”looking for other excuses” with its election complaints. Mbeki had said the Inkatha Freedom Party and the PAC were trying to discredit South Africa’s democracy because they knew they would not do well in the elections.
Special Report: Elections 2004
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>South Africa’s third democratic election was running smoothly late on Wednesday afternoon at the almost 17 000 voting stations around the country, despite long queues and some complaints from parties in the Western Cape, a bomb scare in Gauteng and allegations of fraud in KwaZulu-Natal. Read it all in our continually updated election event rundown.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=34154">Diepsloot, Alex residents make their mark</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=34151">Western Cape voters out in force</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=34145">PAC laughs off Mbeki’s comments</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=34148">ANC activists ‘caught red-handed'</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=34135">Queue talk: What voters are saying</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Although long queues were reported across the country on Wednesday morning, South Africa’s third general elections got off to a smooth start, with no major logistical problems reported, says Independent Electoral Commission chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam.
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While the media mayhem that attended South Africa’s first two democratic elections is undoubtedly a thing of the past, there was still a blizzard of flashlights when the country’s first citizen cast his ballot on Wednesday morning. Addressing journalsts after voting for the national and provincial legislatures, President Thabo Mbeki said, ”I think it’s now time for the people to speak.”
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday congratulated the Independent Electoral Commission on its readiness to hold Wednesday’s general election and urged political parties to do their part to ensure the poll is free and fair.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=34069">’No land, no vote'</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=34047">De Lille ‘more popular’ than Leon</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=34067">Tutu allays fears about ANC win</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=34055">Eastern Cape ANC apologises to DA</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>