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.
South Africa’s Parliament said on Wednesday that it would be unwise and "incorrect" to comment on the court processes concerning MPs charged in the Travelgate scam. In a statement Parliament said: "Parliament … notes the Democratic Alliance’s concerns in their recently published media release."
South Africa’s retail sales quickened in May, adding to the case for higher interest rates, but the figures were seen as too dated to have much impact on the outcome of the central bank’s policy meeting on Thursday. Retail sales leapt by 10,6% in the year to May at constant prices, accelerating from an unrevised increase of 9,7% in April, Statistics South Africa said.
A South African Law Reform Commission report has proposed that legislation should be adopted to deal with victims of crime. Official opposition Democratic Alliance safety and security spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard said on Wednesday that it appeared that Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla was sitting on the report.
Three members of the Tshwane City Council were among seven people charged with fraud, Pretoria police said on Wednesday. They were arrested in stages late last month for selling vacant land, belonging to the council, to community members from Mamelodi, Inspector Paul Ramaloko said.
The decision on whether the name of Johannesburg International airport will change to OR Tambo International airport will be announced later this month, the Ministry of Arts and Culture said on Wednesday. ”Minister [of Arts and Culture Pallo] Jordan will make an official statement on the status of the … name change … in mid-August,” it said in a statement.
Free State farmers are to take the government to court over safety concerns along the Lesotho border, their union said on Wednesday. ”The research has been done and the economic impact has been quantified,” said Free State agriculture president Louw Steytler.
Parliament’s planned discussion on floor-crossing, called for by President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation address earlier this year, will take place from September 19. The chairperson of Parliament’s standing committee on private members’ legislative proposals and special petitions, Vytjie Mentor, said there was no way discussions could take place without public hearings on the matter.
A massive cold front sweeping across South Africa has brought freezing conditions to much of the country, with snow reported as far north as Bloemfontein in the Free State and parts of Gauteng, as well as reports of serious flooding in the southern Cape and a tornado in Dullstroom in Mpumalanga.
South Africa’s Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) reported on Wednesday that a raid took place last week by four Zimbabwe police officers on the office of its counterpart, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Cosatu said the policemen confiscated over 2 000 flyers which contained information about the ZCTU’s campaign against high taxation.
Rape charges against a Durban Roman Catholic priest have been withdrawn on humanitarian grounds, media reports said on Wednesday. His doctor told the Durban Regional Court on Tuesday that the 75-year-old cleric was very ill, suffered from dementia and could not appear, let alone defend himself against the charges.
Relations between Springbok rugby coach Jake White and the South African Rugby Union (Saru) had worsened over issues of team selection and transformation, media reports said on Wednesday. It emerged on Monday that White had sent a letter to Saru, asking it to clarify its transformation objectives.
South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance is holding simultaneous public events outside five South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) provincial offices as part of its nationwide campaign to highlight what it views as television-news reporting bias. In a statement, spokesperson and MP Donald Lee said on Tuesday: ”The DA will erect posters and distribute stickers outside each provincial SABC office.”
The state had not filed all its papers at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein on Tuesday in connection with Durban businessman Schabir Shaik’s asset-forfeiture appeal. According to records already filed at the court the state has until August 11 to file its head of argument on the matter.
Municipal managers could soon be forced to sign performance agreements to improve service delivery, Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi said on Tuesday. ”Now there will be a direct relation between what managers do and what the community expects of them,” Mufamadi said.
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Fund-raising efforts to ensure that Zuma’s legal fees are paid will be ”doubled”, as more than the previously estimated R12-million may be needed. In a personal affidavit filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday, Zuma said he was ”effectively unemployed and quite unemployable”.
Former magistrate Ian Yuill is to investigate allegations of poor management, negligence and transgressions of the law by metro police members serving Cape Town’s Helderberg region. ”Yes, [the brief] is fairly far-reaching, but it’s important to be as wide as possible,” said Yuill on Tuesday.
South Africa’s population was estimated at approximately 47,4-million at mid-year 2006, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Tuesday. In addition, Stats SA said the estimated overall HIV-prevalence rate is approximately 11%, from less than 9% in 2001, with the HIV-positive population estimated at approximately 5,2-million.
Television news groups have received the go-ahead from the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein to capture court footage during the upcoming appeal hearing of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik, a court official said on Tuesday. ”The president of the Supreme Court of Appeal decided that media coverage will be allowed in court during the matter,” he said.
The biggest population of foreign nationals engaged in crime in South Africa hailed from neighbouring Zimbabwe and Mozambique, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told journalists on Tuesday. He also said the violent nature of crime in the country is to be investigated as part of a revamped crime-fighting plan.
Whip out your winter woollies, put on thick socks and boots and stock up on firewood — it is going to be cold and wet in the entire country this week. The South African Weather Service said on Tuesday a strong cold front was moving in over the interior with snow already being reported in the Western Cape.
There was panic in Zimbabwe on Monday as people rushed to deposit old bearer cheques to beat a deadline set by the central bank, Harare’s Herald newspaper reported. Its website said some people arrived with trunks full of bearer cheques at banks ahead of Tuesday’s deadline to freely deposit a maximum of Z-million.
Watch your back in South Africa. They kill folks here. Murder them at a bewildering rate. Robbers kill their victims, bystanders kill criminals, and family members kill each other. Gun battles erupt on streets or in shopping malls. Passers-by whip out pistols and join in firefights between criminals and police or security guards.
A 3m-long crocodile gave bathers at Cape Vidal beach in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park the surprise of their lives this week, media reports said on Tuesday. The reptile wandered down in the surf on Sunday, possibly from nearby Lake Bhangazi and ended up in the main rockpool.
The silence on the full reasons for the axing of Johnnic Communications CEO Connie Molusi has been questioned by shareholder Coronation Fund Managers. Media reports on Tuesday quoted Coronation as saying Johncom’s lack of disclosure on the matter was ”unacceptable” for a publicly listed company.
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Jacob Zuma has acknowledged that he is running out of money, media reports said on Tuesday. Zuma said he was unemployed and struggling to pay his legal representatives. Zuma has one junior and two senior advocates appearing for him in his corruption trial — the same legal team that handled his rape trial.
Labour unions embroiled in a wage dispute with mining company Kumba will continue strike action until their demands are met, the unions said on Tuesday. The workers are demanding a 9% wage increase for higher earners and 10,5% for lower earners. Kumba has countered with an offer of 7% for higher earners and 8% for lower earners.
South Africa welcomes a European Union proposal to boost diplomatic ties but a closer relationship with the EU must benefit Africa, a senior official said on Monday. The EU’s European Commission has urged the 25-country bloc to upgrade links with Pretoria to a ”strategic partnership”, putting relations on the same footing as those between the EU and the United States, Japan, Russia, India and China.
Israel’s attack on Qana in Lebanon on Sunday, which killed 52 people, more than half of them children, was ”humanity gone mad”, South African Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Monday. Meanwhile, Israel has rejected mounting international pressure to end its 20-day-old war against Hezbollah guerrillas.
Charges of assault, resisting arrest and impeding a police officer in performing his duties were withdrawn against the Free State chairperson of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) on Monday, the party said. Hendrik Minnie, a Mangaung Local Municipality councillor, was arrested on Friday night at Heidedal in Bloemfontein and spent the weekend in police custody.
The Department of Arts and Culture has received ”hundreds” of submissions on the proposed renaming of Johannesburg International airport to OR Tambo International airport, the department reported on Monday. The deadline for submissions is at midnight on Monday. Ministry spokesperson Sandile Memela said that submissions were streaming in ”every moment of every hour”.
Legal representation and a mooted separation of trials both need to be finalised before Parliament’s so-called ”Travelgate” saga can proceed to trial, the Cape High Court heard on Monday. Cape Judge President John Hlophe acceded to a defence proposal to postpone the matter to October 17, granting the 28 accused an ephemeral reprieve.