There are strong signs indicating a prolonged period of high fixed investment in South African commercial property in the coming years, according to FNB property economist John Loos. Real non-residential property fixed-investment growth is forecast to accelerate to 9% in 2006.
The cause of Sunday night’s power failure that left at least 14 Johannesburg suburbs in the dark is not yet known, City Power said on Monday morning. Longdale, Emmerentia, Parktown, Parktown North, Northcliff, Forest Town, Linden, Parkview and other suburbs were without electricity for about an hour.
The wet weather experienced over most of the interior is likely to continue for another two days before starting to clear up, Weather SA said on Monday. Forecaster Siyabonga Mphethwa said the rain is caused by a tropical low that moved in over the northern part of South Africa on Friday from Mozambique.
Bafana Bafana coach Ted Dumitru sprung a few surprises this weekend when he named his 23-strong squad for the upcoming African Cup of Nations. He has included lesser-known Benoni Premier United defender Tsepo Masilela, midfielder Mlungisi Gumede, Simphiwe Tshabalala and evergreen Pirates midfielder-cum-defender Daniel ”Sailor” Tshabalala.
A record 218-run opening partnership between AB de Villiers and Gulam Bodi saw the Titans cruise to a convincing 10-wicket victory over the Dolphins in their Standard Bank Cup semifinal cricket match at Supersport Park in Centurion on Sunday. The Dolphins scored 212 for five wickets in their 45 overs.
Momentum, the health insurance arm of listed financial services group FirstRand, has appealed to the Competition Appeal Court regarding the Competition Tribunal’s decision to impose a condition on the merger between Momentum and African Life Health, the tribunal confirmed on Monday.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has committed the second 10 years of democracy to the achievement of high rates of economic growth and development. The ANC, which came to power in 1994, has targeted the advancement of skills among blacks and the beneficiation of South Africa’s raw materials as key elements of its 10-year economic transformation plan.
The fuel crisis which has hit South Africa in recent weeks seemed to afflict a powder-puff Amaglug-glug at Orlando Stadium on Sunday afternoon as South Africa’s under-23 team gained an embarrassing 1-1 draw with a Chinese team made up of under-19 players.
Doctor Fareed Abdullah on Monday denied he had been forced by the African National Congress to resign from one of the Western Cape’s top Aids-fighting posts, as alleged by the Democratic Alliance. Abdullah was responding to a statement by Robin Carlisle, DA spokesperson on Aids and opposition representative on the Provincial Aids Council.
President Thabo Mbeki launched the African National Congress’s election campaign in Cape Town on Sunday with promises of cleaner, more responsive and effective local government. The president repeated the promises in the ANC’s election manifesto, which was also launched at the rally attended by about 25 000 people.
In a match filled with many nostalgic moments, illustrious former soccer stars playing for a European combination gained a 3-1 win over the African XI in what was billed as ”The Battle of the Legends” at a rain-swept Ellis Park on Saturday night. And no one demonstrated the ingrained skills any better than Italy’s Roberto di Matteo.
President Thabo Mbeki and other members of the African National Congress leadership — including Jacob Zuma — were gathering in Cape Town on Sunday for the launch of the party’s local government election campaign. The launch coincides with the 94th anniversary of the ANC’s founding on January 8 1912.
A Tygerberg hospital minibus used to transport patients has been hijacked, Cape Town police said on Saturday. The Toyota Hi-Ace minibus, fitted to transport outpatients, was on its way from Tygerberg hospital to Eersteriver hospital with a passenger just after noon.
A Democratic Alliance election candidate was shot during an armed robbery while erecting party posters in Mamelodi, the party said on Sunday. Doulien van der Merwe was sitting in her car in Mamelodi on Saturday afternoon talking with DA MP Les Labuschagne when they were approached by at least four assailants, the DA said.
A group of 24 contracted Springbok players underwent a thorough medical and conditioning assessment in Bloemfontein on Friday. The testing was overseen by Springbok coach Jake White and his medical and conditioning team. Andy Marinos, manager of national teams at SA Rugby, was also present.
George Weah, Roger Milla, Abedi Pele and Tony Yeboah, four of the brightest luminaries in the African soccer firmament, were nowhere in sight on Friday only 24 hours before they were due to play against a team of former European stars in ”The Battle of the Legends” at Ellis Park.
Reigning Standard Bank Cup champions the Eagles went one step closer to retaining their title when they beat the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers by 34 runs on Friday night. The Lions, chasing 264 for victory, started off briskly enough with a first-wicket partnership of 76 between Adam Bacher and Stephen Cook
The unsuspecting might have imagined this was the African Nations Cup itself as Bafana Bafana secured a 2-1 win over a Premier Soccer League (PSL) XI in a hammer-and-tongs dress rehearsal at King’s Park in Durban on Friday night. Calvin Marlin in the Bafana goal gave a characteristically flawless performance.
The City of Johannesburg removed 441 shacks from the Jukskei River banks on Friday following this week’s floods in Diepsloot. ”Temporary accommodation has been provided to the victims while the clean-up process is happening,” said city spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane.
The Inkatha Freedom Party on Friday promised an ”exciting” local government election campaign, saying it intends to take full advantage of the African National Congress’s troubles regarding former deputy president Jacob Zuma. ”The political situation in the ruling party is creating space for expansion in others,” secretary general Musa Zondi said.
A case of public violence brought against 23 Olievenhoutbosch residents after xenophobic clashes this week was postponed until January 13 in Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Two people died and 19 were injured in the clashes between South Africans, Mozambicans and Zimbabweans on Wednesday.
Just more than 21-million of a ”debatable” 27-million eligible voters are registered to vote in the coming local government polls, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula said on Friday. Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi formally gazetted March 1 for the election.
The number of shack dwellings in South Africa rose from 1,45-million in 1996 to 2,14-million in 2003, according to Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu. That was 417 new shacks a day on average between 2001 and 2003 and 210 shacks per day on average in the five years between 1996 and 2001.
Eighty-one residents of Ezibeleni near Queenstown were to appear in the local magistrate’s court on Friday following an outbreak of vigilante action in which buildings were torched and one person died. They would face charges of public violence, murder, attempted murder and assault, police said.
In the latest flare-up of what has become a minefield of Bafana Bafana confrontations on the eve of the African Nations Cup, deposed captain and Blackburn United defender Aaron Mokoena on Thursday ”walked out” of the forthcoming tournament in Egypt.
The Democratic Alliance on Friday warned that the ”unfair” allocation of houses to locals and foreigners could exacerbate the situation in Olivienhoutbosch south of Pretoria. Violent clashes broke out between South Africans and foreign nationals from Mozambique and Zimbabwe at the informal settlement on Wednesday after a South African was killed, allegedly by a Zimbabwean.
The circumcision season death toll in the Eastern Cape has risen to 22 with the news that a would-be initiate had apparently hanged himself at Bholothwa in the Queenstown area. Provincial health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said on Thursday that Mzwanele Diniso (24) was found hanging from a tree on New Year’s Day after going missing from the illegal initiation school he was attending.
As many as 4 000 people were still being registered by the City of Cape Town’s human-settlement unit on Thursday afternoon, following an early-morning fire that destroyed about 800 shacks in the Joe Slovo informal settlement near Langa. The people were registering for aid and new accommodation.
South Africa’s Under-23 coach, Steve Komphela, is hoping to unearth future stars from the 23 men he has selected to represent South Africa at the Sasol Under-23 Nations Tournament. They will find themselves up against stiff competition from seven strong teams when the tournament starts on Sunday January 8.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>The decision to allow former deputy president Jacob Zuma to campaign for the African National Congress in the upcoming local government poll is "deeply hypocritical", said the Democratic Alliance on Thursday. It "confirms once again that the governing party has thrown away its moral compass," the DA said.
Elephants roaming the parched plains of Africa’s national parks can get up to half their food by risky midnight raids into crop fields, according to scientists who tracked a herd by satellite monitoring in Kenya’s Samburu national reserve. It is a problem that also occurs in South Africa.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress is ”confident” of winning the metropolitan city of Cape Town in March, the only metropolitan area in the country that eluded it electorally in the last municipal poll in 2000, says the party’s deputy secretary general, Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele.