Professional and volunteer rescue services worked together to rescue dozens of people across flooded Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage on Thursday. At least two people died, scores were evacuated and dozens rescued, said exhausted emergency workers. Emergency services were swamped with calls for help.
The United Cricket Board of South Africa voted unanimously at their annual general meeting on Thursday afternoon to change their name to Cricket South Africa. ”This doesn’t mean that there will be less focus on unity in cricket,” said CSA chief executive Gerald Majola.
The City of Cape Town on Thursday signed a 20-year contract to buy wind energy from a yet-to-be-built generating farm at Darling on the West Coast. ”Ultimately we would like to see Cape Town become one of the world’s leaders in sustainable energy,” said city mayor Helen Zille in a statement issued at the signing ceremony.
Criminals have become so determined that they have resorted to blowing up ATMs with explosives believed to have been stolen from mines. In the last two months, seven ATMS have been blown up, and the police believe that the explosives were stolen from mines. Three of the affected ATMs belong to Standard Bank while four belong to Absa Bank.
Luxury, a homeless man, sits on the corner of a street in Rosettenville with only a torn blanket for shelter. He came from the Transkei in search of a better life in Johannesburg, but is now unemployed and is one of many battling the extreme winter conditions, relying only on donations given to him by the public.
More than 100Â 000 copies of a CD containing a song about Jacob Zuma have been sold legally, and more have been pirated, music-industry insiders said on Thursday. Eric Majola, promoter of the band Izingane Zoma, said the pirating of the popular album, with the catchy Msholozi title track, is ”really bad”.
Six-time Grammy Award-winner Billy Joel will be bringing his world tour to South Africa in October, Big Concerts said on Thursday. The tour by Joel and his eight-piece band — including a four-piece horn section — will start on October 26 at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg. It then moves on to Cape Town’s Bellville Velodrome.
The elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were conducted in a peaceful, democratic and credible manner, the South African observer mission said on Thursday. All but a few voting stations opened on time on election day. Problems included lack of electricity and late delivery of election material.
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The South African Presidency said on Thursday that it would not discuss the details of the deliberations about funding the legal costs of former deputy president Jacob Zuma — until an agreement is reached. In a statement the Presidency said it had ”noted media reports to the effect that it is considering funding [the] legal costs of … Jacob Zuma in his forthcoming corruption trial”.
Labour union Solidarity welcomed on Thursday a pay offer made by Kumba resources as a ”fair step in the right direction” but was still awaiting a mandate from its members. Spokesperson Reint Dykema said: ”The 7,75% pay hike increase for higher earners and 8,75% for lower categories made on Wednesday would simply maintain employees at the level at which they were before.
Fraud and theft made up the bulk of financial misconduct cases reported in the 2004/2005 financial year, the Public Service Commission said on Thursday. The highest number of cases were reported by national departments, which had 39% of the 513 cases of financial misconduct. The Free State and Eastern Cape reported 10% each.
Unless alternative sources of funding are found, the high demands on the National Skills Fund are threatening the future of small, micro and medium enterprises in need of skills and employment-creating mechanisms, said Minister Labour Membathisi Mdladlana.
Emergency services are mopping up after the floods in George, the municipality said on Thursday. Acting George municipal manager Godfrey Louw said damage to infrastructure was estimated at between R11-million and R12-million. Four people died when their vehicle was swept away on Tuesday when a bridge collapsed in Conville and a fifth person was still missing.
Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu had a penchant for the "phantom openings" of non-existent projects and for ignoring the fundamental problems facing housing in the Western Cape, said official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon at the Delft settlement on Thursday.
Media and entertainment group Primedia has acquired a 50,05% shareholding in Exactmobile, a wireless application service provider and the leading mobile content provider in South Africa. Primedia said on Thursday that Exactmobile had a strong brand with high recognition amongst the 13-24 demographic and a large national footprint.
KwaZulu-Natal Aquatics president Peter Thompson has confirmed that eThekwini Municipality was among the six cities announced by the world governing body of swimming, Fina, bidding to stage the 14th Fina World Aquatic Championships in 2011.
Rescuers trying to save a woman who got stuck in a tree after her house was flooded were hampered by snakes making for their jet ski, the National Sea Rescue Institute said on Thursday. ”There were lots of snakes in the flood waters. They were using the rescue gear and the jetski for floatation,” spokesperson Craig Lambinon said.
Billionaire Dave King had already spent over R68,8-million on lawyers and there was more where that came from, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday. King faces 322 charges of tax fraud, racketeering and foreign exchange contraventions laid out in an indictment of 200 000 pages.
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The Presidency is considering a request from Jacob Zuma for financial assistance in his corruption trial, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Thursday. It quoted chief operations officer Trevor Fowler as saying the matter was being discussed by lawyers.
A woman jumped off a Durban beach pier with her three-year-old son strapped to her back in an apparent suicide bid on Wednesday night. Inspector Tray Allison of the police search and rescue unit said fishermen on the Wedge Beach Pier saw the woman climb over the railings and jump into the water.
The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) is consulting the public on changing the apartheid-era names of some streets in Randburg, JDA head Lael Bethlehem said on Wednesday. She said Randburg was dominated by apartheid-era names and, in particular, Hendrik Verwoerd and Hans Strijdom drives had to be renamed.
During his address at the launch of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors on Wednesday, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel highlighted the need for a better life, free of fraud and corruption for men and women and the role a truly independent auditor’s board will play in this regard.
Four thousand train commuters were arrested for various offences during a month-long operation, mainly by police reservists in the Gauteng Metrorail system, police said on Wednesday. Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said: ”Several people were arrested for possession and dealing in drugs …”
A joint South African-Lesotho police operation resulted in 264 people being arrested, Free State police said on Wednesday. ”The aim of the bilateral operation was to combat the flow of illicit firearms, ammunition, drugs and vehicles between the borders,” Superintendent Sam Sesing said.
South Africans must teach their young sons not to feel threatened by assertive girls. If they are threatened, it could lead to aggression. This was one of the suggestions given on how to promote gender equity by Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula at the official launch of Women’s Month on Wednesday.
Fourteen people were rescued from a truck in a flooded river in Plettenberg Bay using a front-end loader, the National Sea Rescue Institute said on Wednesday. A massive cold front has brought freezing conditions and flooding to the country. Four bodies were recovered after a car was washed away in floods in George.
AfriForum will monitor the execution of the country’s latest crime-fighting plan to determine its success scientifically, the organisation said on Wednesday. AfriForum is a civil rights initiative of the trade union Solidarity. Solidarity boss Kallie Kriel said the government’s new strategy against violent crime is a step in the right direction, if it is followed by actual results.
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The defence in the corruption trial of South Africa’s former deputy president Jacob Zuma is seeking to turn the focus in the sensational case on to President Thabo Mbeki, according to published court papers. Zuma appeared in court on Monday for the first hearing on corruption charges that were at the root of Mbeki’s decision to fire the hugely popular politician last year.
The question over who should give the go-ahead for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link was argued on Wednesday in the Pretoria High Court. Pretoria residents argue that neither the provincial environment minister nor the head of the Gauteng agriculture, conservation and environment department had the right to approve the Gautrain.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) has rejected as ”unjust” a government statement condemning Israeli military actions in Lebanon and Gaza. ”The SAJBD regards this statement as unjust, highly partisan and wholly unreflective of the realities of the current conflict in the Middle East,” said national chairperson Michael Bagraim.
South African officials set fire to a 34-ton whale carcass on Wednesday, sending white smoke into the air near Cape Town as spectators clambered over blubber-strewn rocks for a closer look. The dead southern right whale washed up onto the quiet Kommetjie beach, 40km south of the country’s top tourist city, nearly two weeks ago.
The Automobile Association (AA) has warned that another fuel-price increase should be expected in September. ”With tensions in the Middle East and the approach of winter in the northern hemisphere, it is expected that crude oil prices will remain high for the months ahead,” said AA spokesperson Petro Kruger.