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.
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.
The Springbok team kicked off their preparations for the Vodacom Tri-Nations home leg in Johannesburg on Monday in high spirits, as they took the field to do light training exercises at Randburg’s St Stithians School. Coach Jake White said during the open session his charges are looking forward to the next half of the series.
An astute betting man would have had his money firmly on Monday’s chances of Bafana Bafana stars Benni McCarthy, Quinton Fortune and Macbeth Sibaya materialising from the very outset. McCarthy, Fortune and Sibaya have all pulled out of the South African squad for the friendly international against Namibia.
North Rand police on Monday arrested a man after they found human organs in a bag he was carrying at a taxi rank in Etwatwa, Benoni. ”Police officers from the Etwatwa police station … confronted a man at a taxi rank carrying a black bag,” a police spokesperson said. ”Inside they found human lungs, intestines … a brain.”
An administrator is set to take control of the troubled Durban University of Technology on Wednesday, the national Department of Education said in a statement. The current dean of the faculty of education of the University of Pretoria, Professor Jonathan Jansen, will be the administrator for the next six months.
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) KwaZulu-Natal leader, Roger Burrows, will step down when the party holds its provincial congress on Saturday. ”I decided to step down to let a new party leader take over as we head towards 2009,” said Burrows on Monday night.
The South African government has no plans to change its policy of allowing the market to determine the level of the exchange rate, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Monday. She said that currency volatility "tends to occur when inflows and outflows are large and one-way".
The development of a massive dam in water-scarce Limpopo province raises concerns the government is compromising principles of sustainable development for economic progress. And while the construction of large dams has undoubtedly fuelled industrial growth, it has come at a cost to the environment and taxpayers, displacing communities and even changing local climates.
People flying to London will be limited to one piece of carry-on luggage of a limited size, South African Airways (SAA) said on Monday. ”SAA advises passengers to carry single bags that may not exceed 45cm length, width of 35cm and depth of 16cm,” said SAA spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan.
![]()
The state will file about 500 pages of papers in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday evening in response to submissions by Jacob Zuma in his corruption trial. National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said that seven senior current and former officials had made affidavits on behalf of the state in the corruption case against the former deputy president.
Former joint chief executive of the defunct LeisureNet group Peter Gardener on Monday defended his non-disclosure of a substantial interest in an offshore company that the group entered into multimillion-rand deals with. He has taken the stand in the Cape High Court to rebut multiple charges of fraud, money laundering and contraventions of the Companies Act.
Farmers’ unions on Monday said they want Minister of Land Affairs Lulu Xingwana to clarify remarks that farmers had six months to agree on a selling price before their farms would be seized. Xingwana’s statements seem to be in conflict with land-reform laws that set out procedures for expropriation, said Hans Van der Merwe, executive director of AgriSA.
South Africa has urged all parties to the Middle East conflict to ”maintain the cessation of hostilities” and work towards a solution. In a statement on Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs welcomed the United Nations Security Council resolution adopted on Friday, which called for an immediate end to hostilities between Israel and Lebanon.
A KwaZulu-Natal man was jailed for 18 years for killing a three-year-old girl and eating parts of her body, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Monday. Eric Delani Chala (29) was sentenced by the high court sitting at Ramsgate on the South Coast.
The Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday reserved judgement in an application by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to broadcast the upcoming appeal hearing of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik on television and radio. The public broadcaster seeks to record and broadcast the five-day appeal hearing with live visuals and sound for television and radio.
Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan welcomed a new board — nine women and 15 men — to the National Arts Council (NAC) at a ceremony in Newtown in Johannesburg on Monday. ”We see the appointment of the new board as a significant development in creating a stronger NAC that will make it easier for our artists to pursue their chosen professions,” said the minister.
A growing number of HIV-positive people in South Africa are living normal lives in one of the countries worst hit by Aids. But this maturing stage in the epidemic brings new policy dilemmas for officials seeking to track Africa’s expanding Aids crisis and to make long-term plans to treat millions of infected people.
South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance has welcomed the indication from the South African Communist Party (SACP) that it may go it alone in the next election. DA finance spokesperson Ian Davidson was reacting to reports following the 17th plenary session of the SACP’s central committee held in Johannesburg at the weekend.
Management of the University of Pretoria are to meet student leaders on Monday afternoon to try resolve the impasse over the future of the university’s Mamelodi campus, vice-chancellor Calie Pistorius said. Students have damaged property in protests against the announcement, at the end of last month, that the university planned to phase out undergraduate programmes at the campus.
The Lowveld is playing host to the first South African animated feature film, a R15-million production based on Sir Percy Fitzpatrick’s classic tale Jock of the Bushveld. Film producer and director Duncan MacNellie originally adapted the story to film back in 1986 in a version that featured Gordon Mulholland and Jonathan Rands.
Shoprite on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" incidents of violence and vandalism allegedly involving striking members of the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union at some of its stores in the Eastern and Western Cape over the last 48 hours.
Southern Africa’s Aids pandemic, the world’s worst, is being fuelled primarily by low condom use among people with multiple concurrent sexual partners and low levels of male circumcision, a study said on Monday. The report said men’s sexual attitudes and behaviours, intergenerational sex and high levels of gender and sexual violence were also to blame for the rapid spread of the disease.
Pilot error caused the air crash that claimed the life of former South Africa cricket captain Hansie Cronje, an inquest unanimously concluded on Monday. The presiding officer, Judge Siraj Desai, said it was the court’s view that the death of Cronje was brought about ”by an act or omission prima facie amounting to an offence” on the part of pilots.
Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin "must apologise publicly" for misleading the South African public about sabotage at Koeberg power station, says the official opposition Democratic Alliance. Minerals and energy spokesperson Hendrik Schmidt said in a statement on Monday that this week he would introduce a motion in Parliament to censure Erwin "for this gross lack of discretion".
She considers herself lucky to be alive, says Patricia Mbiza, who was seriously wounded in last week’s boardroom shooting in Pretoria. The Pretoria News on Monday quoted her as saying: ”He wanted to kill us, and he killed my colleagues and friends.” Mbiza recounted how a colleague at a Sunnyside engineering firm, Happy Nkosi, pulled out a firearm at a board meeting on Friday.
South Africa is sure to break into the top 10 international conference destinations by 2010, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Monday. Speaking at the national conference of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry, he said conferencing and its allied products continue to thrive.
A Randfontein butcher and two employees were locked in a freezer in an armed robbery on Monday, West Rand police said. Inspector Solomon Sibiya said Fat Belly butchery had just opened when three armed men entered. The three men locked the owner and two employees in a freezer at the back of the shop.
Zimbabwe has splashed -million (about R24-million) on buying 320 luxury vehicles for middle-ranking police officers, Zim Online reported on Monday. It quoted ”authoritative” sources as saying the government was planning to spend another 10-million (about R60-million) on cars for military and secret-service officers.
Empirical evidence suggests that gun control is a ”total failure” in curbing crime, the organisation Gun Owners of South Africa (Gosa) said on Monday. ”It creates a community where only the government, which is then free to abuse its power … and criminals own firearms,” said Gosa coordinator Charl van Wyk.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was mum on Monday morning about weekend media reports that its president and general secretary were ”at war”. Cosatu president Willie Madisha refused to comment on the reported strife between him and general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
Roland Schoeman was to leave Hamburg on Monday with a brand-new car and 000 in his pocket after his world-record-breaking exploits over the weekend. The 26-year-old star was selected as the swimmer of the meet at the Deutscher Ring Aquatics short-course competition in Hamburg.