Further work is required on the accrual accounting format that is being adopted by the South African government, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. He was replying to a question from official opposition Democratic Alliance finance spokesperson Ian Davidson.
Final argument over Botswana Bushmen’s rights to ancestral land will be presented in court later in August, Survival International said on Wednesday. The organisation, which has been helping the Bushmen to fight for their rights to hunt and gather in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, said in a statement that the last evidence was heard in May.
Prominent Eastern Cape politicians and officials believe their cellphone conversations are being tapped or intercepted, Dispatch Online reported on Wednesday. It said at least one has made a formal complaint on the matter to the police. So nervous are senior officials that many now use code names to disguise their conversations when discussing political affairs on their cellphones.
A decision to seize white-owned land if negotiations linger or end in deadlock is paying off with more and more farmers accepting the price offered by the state, a top land official said on Wednesday. ”These farmers have become more supportive because we are cracking the whip,” chief land claims commissioner Tozi Gwanya said in an interview.
Negotiations to end a pay strike by workers at Shoprite Checkers will begin in Johannesburg on Friday, the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) said on Wednesday. ”Shoprite requested the CCMA [Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration] to intervene and a meeting has been set up for August 18,” said Saccawu negotiator Thoko Mchunu.
Springbok coach Jake White has sent Enrico Januarie, JP Pietersen, Pierre Spies and Lawrence Sephaka back to their respective unions to get some much needed mileage in their legs and shred off a few kilograms. Meanwhile, former Western Province and Eastern Province coach Alan Zondagh is helping the team train.
South Africa’s Parliament approved legislation on Tuesday for the 2010 World Cup, with lawmakers showing rare unanimity that South Africa will be ready to host soccer’s biggest event. ”The World Cup offers us an opportunity to present ourselves to the world for what we really can be,” Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile said.
The South African Rugby Union (Saru) and private broadcast channel Supersport on Tuesday launched a high-performance academy for rugby that will be based in Alicedale, near Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. The institute will house 30 players from across the country between the ages of 17 and 20 years.
The Coega Development Corporation may be forced to award an R82-million contract to a white-owned family firm, media reports said on Wednesday. This would happen if the Port Elizabeth High Court ruled in favour of Scribante Construction, which is disputing the awarding of the contract to an empowerment consortium.
Two young baboons from Kommetjie in the Western Cape have died of suspected poisoning and a third is being treated at a veterinary clinic, the Cape Times reported on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear whether the animals were deliberately poisoned.
A Kempton Park salesman suffered serious burn wounds in a roadside acid attack between Johannesburg and Nelspruit, media reports said on Wednesday. Henk Griesel (33) stopped on Tuesday to investigate a noise in his car. A ”Samaritan” stopped behind him and offered to help, but instead poured a brown-coloured acid over Griesel.
The trial of sex crimes accused Cezanne Visser, alias ”Advocate Barbie”, might only continue in March next year if she has her way. Visser’s legal representatives on Tuesday withdrew from the trial after she terminated their services and appointed a private attorney and experienced senior criminal advocate to defend her.
Roofs of houses and businesses were in danger of collapsing under the weight of snow in Barkly East and Elliot in the Eastern Cape, Arrive Alive said on Wednesday. Disaster teams and traffic authorities were using graders to clear snow off the road. ”But it is very, very cold and the snow is very thick,” said an Arrive Alive spokesperson.
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The former head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Bulelani Ngcuka, did everything in his power to protect the reputation of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, according to an affidavit filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. In the document, Ngcuka denies allegations of involvement in any political conspiracy against Zuma.
The University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi campus will re-open on Wednesday, university management announced on Tuesday. This is after two weeks of sometimes violent protests by students and the temporary closure of the campus by management.
The South African Observer Mission (SAOM) to the July 30 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) presidential and parliamentary elections says it is happy with progress made in capturing the results, despite difficulties at the start of the process. The 108-member SAOM to the DRC elections was the largest ever to be dispatched by the South African government.
Former LeisureNet boss Peter Gardener on Tuesday denied that the purchase of a R7-million home at Hermanus by an offshore trust he set up was an attempt to launder money. In the witness box in the Cape High Court for the second day in succession, Gardener also denied that he was dishonest with his tax return in concealing a R6-million payment into the trust.
A contentious South African draft Bill to prevent nationals from working as hired guns abroad on Tuesday came a step closer to being promulgated into law after its approval by a parliamentary committee. The draft law was approved by Parliament’s defence portfolio committee with a majority vote by members of the ruling African National Congress. But opposition lawmakers called it flawed, sloppy and unconstitutional.
Security for the South African cricket team has been upgraded and the team will stay in Sri Lanka for now. Cricket South Africa (CSA) general manager, cricket affairs, Brian Basson, said on Tuesday that CSA had appointed a top independent security consultant to evaluate the security situation in Sri Lanka after a bomb blast close to the team’s hotel in the capital, Colombo.
Sex-crimes accused Cezanne Visser has told the Pretoria High court she has appointed a new legal team to handle her future defence, South African Broadcasting Commission radio news reported on Tuesday. Visser, an advocate herself, said she fired her former legal representative because she was not satisfied with the way he was handling her defence.
The Western Cape is losing its tag as the murder capital of the country, provincial minister of community safety Leonard Ramatlakane said on Tuesday when announcing the intensification of a provincial crime-combating strategy. ”We are making a dent, an impact … We are winning the battle,” an upbeat Ramatlakane told reporters. He said Capetonians could look forward to the release of crime statistics in September.
This week’s Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state summit will have to look at how to revitalise the implementation of the economic-integration agenda of the region, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. South Africa’s predominant position in intra-regional trade will also have to be a matter of discussion, he said.
A strike at Shoprite stores around South Africa enjoyed widespread public support and is impacting on the company, the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) said on Tuesday. ”The strike is continuing today [Tuesday] and the fact that Shoprite are closing some stores is proof that the strike is having an impact,” said Saccawu negotiator Thoko Mchunu.
A jubilant South African athletics team arrived home on Tuesday from the 15th African Athletics Championships in Mauritius where they retained their number-one spot in Africa and increased their medals tally, against a stronger field, compared with Brazzaville two years ago.
Eskom on Tuesday disputed the findings of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa that the energy supplier’s negligence and breaches of licence conditions were causes of power outages in the Western Cape. Eskom CEO Thulani Gcabashe said it accepted certain shortcomings on its part but that these did not amount to a breach of licence conditions or negligence.
South African economic relations with Iran were "on the increase", but peace and stability in the Middle East was key to the relationship, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. Addressing a media conference in Cape Town, he said that a joint commission would be held in Pretoria on Monday and Tuesday next week.
Developments for the 2010 Soccer World Cup will continue to benefit South Africans after the tournament is over, the South African Football Association’s boss Danny Jordaan said on Tuesday. ”There will be an impact on tourism, transport, sports facilities and on the economy that will benefit the country even after the World Cup,” Jordaan said.
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The South African Congress of Trade Unions (Cosatu) has admitted it cannot ”produce conclusive proof of a conspiracy” within the National Prosecuting Authority against former deputy president Jacob Zuma. On Tuesday Cosatu’s national spokesperson Patrick Craven said: ”The kind of proof that would have names dates, places [of meetings] … that’s what we can’t produce. But the evidence is all there.”
The Addo Elephant National Park is set to become the third-largest national park in the country, according to South African National Parks. The park’s new southern access road was officially opened by the minister of environmental affairs and tourism on Tuesday, coinciding with the park’s 75th-anniversary celebrations.
A probe by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa into the recent power outages in the Western Cape has found electricity provider Eskom guilty of transgressing its licensing conditions as well as negligence. As a consequence, the regulator said it will impose punitive sanctions against Eskom.
The City of Cape Town will take new safety precautions after a shark attack on a 24-year-old lifeguard, a city councillor said on Tuesday. Councillor Marian Niewoudt, mayoral committee member for planning and environment, said the city had been working with Marine Coastal Management and other specialists since May on measures to curb shark attacks.
A Pretoria judge has ruled that a top military spy — fired for reasons so classified not even he knows why — must get his job back, the Pretoria News reported on Tuesday. Colonel GJM Badenhorst was the head of covert information for West Africa in defence intelligence when he was fired in 2004.