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/ 21 October 2005
Hospital managers will ensure in future that their facilities are clean and tidy at all times, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Friday. This was one of the outcomes of a two-day workshop in Pretoria between managers and government officials to find ways of improving service delivery.
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/ 21 October 2005
President Thabo Mbeki himself is to blame for the destructive power struggle that is going on in the ruling African National Congress, says official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. He says South Africa is facing a potential constitutional crisis because of the struggle for power within the ANC itself.
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/ 21 October 2005
For all the achievements of the past decade, the struggle for a free media continues, the African National Congress said on Friday. The country marked Media Freedom Day this week, and the challenge is to build a robust, free and diverse media at a time when the market, not the state, is posing the greatest threat to media freedom, the party said.
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/ 21 October 2005
National Intelligence Agency (NIA) director general Billy Masetlha has been suspended by Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils pending the outcome of an inquiry. Kasrils has also suspended two other senior NIA officials for allegedly placing businessman Saki Macozoma under illegal surveillance.
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/ 21 October 2005
A baby elephant was euthanised in Hammanskraal on Thursday when its organs failed almost a month after it was severely burnt in a wildfire at the Pilanesberg National Park in September. The elephant was the fourth put down because of the severity of its injuries. Two burnt elephants died shortly after being taken to the trauma centre.
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/ 21 October 2005
Retailers Pick ‘n Pay and Woolworths have come out against the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) planned pickets, part of Cosatu’s campaign against casualising, retrenchments and foreign goods. ”It seems that Cosatu does not have the facts about Pick ‘n Pay correct,” Pick ‘n Pay personnel director Frans van der Walt said.
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/ 21 October 2005
Africa’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, South Africa, this week unveiled plans for a research and development strategy to address climate change at a national conference in Midrand. However, some local scientists were unimpressed with the conference.
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/ 21 October 2005
South African National Assembly minerals and energy portfolio committee has given the Diamonds Amendment Bill — which will set up a state diamond-trading system — the nod. The Diamonds Amendment Bill will also pave the way for a tax on exports of rough diamonds.
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/ 21 October 2005
More than 3 000 Stilfontein families will begin to receive an income again from Friday, the trade union Solidarity said on Thursday afternoon. This follows a Pretoria High Court ruling enabling the takeover of Buffelsfontein and Hartebeesfontein mines by Simmer and Jack (Simmers), according to Simmers and Solidarity.
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/ 21 October 2005
A KwaZulu-Natal magistrate on Thursday called for four of South Africa’s high-profile lawyers who are current and former top officials in the Scorpions to be struck off the roll of advocates, according to South African Broadcasting Corporation television news.
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/ 21 October 2005
A 12m catamaran missing for two days was found on Thursday after sparking concern when a life jacket was spotted floating near the Plettenberg Bay coastline, said the National Sea Rescue Institute. The catamaran is a commercial fishing craft from Mossel Bay and was carrying a crew of eight.
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/ 21 October 2005
Saturday provides Kaizer Chiefs fans with what has become a rare opportunity: knowing their team will not play to a draw. It is Coca-Cola Cup weekend and the rules of the competition insist on a result from all matches. If the teams are tied at the end of normal time, then it will be settled on penalties.
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/ 21 October 2005
It is the first time in Steve Basson’s career that he has shot 79 to lead a tournament. And after surviving the brutal conditions in the second round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Championship at the Links at Fancourt on Thursday, the slightly built golfer declared, ”I don’t weigh enough to play in wind like this”.
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/ 21 October 2005
South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni has cautioned that the long period of lower interest rates (monetary policy accommodation) may be coming to an end, despite the current level of inflation being within the target range. He was addressing Parliament’s portfolio committee on finance on Friday.
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/ 21 October 2005
The African National Congress ruling party has welcomed the resolution of a race row that erupted in the Cape High Court in the past two weeks. In a statement on Thursday, parliamentary caucus spokesperson Mpho Lekgoro said the caucus had confidence in the judiciary’s ability to deal with the matter competently.
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/ 21 October 2005
While the game’s administrators appear to want the Currie Cup to go away, the paying public has other ideas — or certain sections of the paying public, anyway. Early on Monday morning the crowds were already snaking out into the street outside Loftus Versfeld and tickets for Saturday’s Currie Cup final between the Blue Bulls and the Cheetahs were sold out in six hours.
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/ 21 October 2005
African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma did just enough this week to comply formally with his party-imposed ceasefire agreement with President Thabo Mbeki — while signalling his intention to rally the whole country behind his campaign for the presidency.
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/ 21 October 2005
Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils has moved to suspend National Intelligence Agency boss Billy Masetlha and two of his most senior managers, as the bitter succession battle in the African National Congress reaches into the highest levels of the country’s security apparatus. Masetlha, head of operations Gibson Njenje and counter-intelligence chief Bob Mhlanga received letters from Kasrils on Monday asking them to give reasons why they should not be fired.
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/ 21 October 2005
Two senior intelligence officials, accused of having placed African National Congress businessman Saki Macozoma under surveillance, have been suspended, media reports said on Friday. Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils suspended National Intelligence Agency deputy director-general Gibson Njenje and the agency’s general manager for counter intelligence, Bob Mhlanga.
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/ 20 October 2005
More than 3 000 Stilfontein families will begin to receive an income again from Friday, the trade union Solidarity said on Thursday afternoon. This follows a Pretoria High Court ruling enabling the takeover of Buffelsfontein and Hartebeesfontein mines by Simmer and Jack, according to Simmers and Solidarity.
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/ 20 October 2005
Parliamentary discussions deadlocked on Thursday over the proposed composition of the board of regulators for the diamond and precious metals industry. Minerals and energy portfolio committee members disagreed with proposals in the draft Diamond Bill suggesting the board only have one representative from organised labour on it.
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/ 20 October 2005
South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni sent a strong signal on Thursday that the next move in interest rates would be upwards, the Reuters website reported. Mboweni said he had jokingly told the monetary policy committee last week that if anyone argued for a rate cut, he would strip.
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/ 20 October 2005
Johannesburg police do not want to comment on claims that slain mining entrepreneur Brett Kebble’s car was taken to panel beaters and cleaned before forensic tests had been carried out. Sources close to the investigation said that Kebble’s Mercedes was out of police control or custody for ”a significant period of time” after the murder.
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/ 20 October 2005
Taxi operators told Transport Minister Jeff Radebe on Thursday that they would accept the taxi recapitalisation programme if they were given subsidies on top of the R50 000 scrapping allowance for their unroadworthy taxis. ”If we get rid of our taxis and get the R50 000 scrapping allowance which we can spend as a deposit for a new taxi, we won’t be able to make ends meet,” said Tom Muofhe, president of the SA National Taxi Council.
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/ 20 October 2005
Human rights activist group Khulumani International is to appeal against a New York court judgement dismissing an application for reparations from international companies that did business in South Africa during the apartheid era. The appeal will be heard in the Second Circuit Court of Appeal in New York on November 5.
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/ 20 October 2005
Only a small number of Gauteng motorists on Thursday appeared to have heeded the government’s call to participate in Car-Free Day. Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe was walking and taking taxis in the Pretoria city centre on Thursday, raising awareness of Car-Free Day.
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/ 20 October 2005
Supersport United have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Coca-Cola Cup with a 2-1 win over Free State Stars at the Super Stadium in Atteridgeville on Wednesday night. The hosts deserved more goals than the score line reflected, but fluffed many golden opportunities throughout the match.
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/ 20 October 2005
Whatever else Benedict Vilakazi might be, he is a competitor — and it was this fiercely competitive instinct that enabled the diminutive midfielder to score the all-important 79th-minute goal that gave Premier Soccer League leaders Orlando Pirates a closely contested 1-0 victory over Moroka Swallows on Wednesday night.
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/ 20 October 2005
Like an ailing share on the stock market, Bafana Bafana on Wednesday slipped to 46th place in the Fifa world rankings — the most dire position in the past 10 years. South Africa had already touched a 10-year low in September, and a nightmare sequence of defeats has resulted in a further drop of four places in the past month.
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/ 20 October 2005
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African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma on Wednesday condemned party members for the first time for burning T-shirts bearing the face of President Thabo Mbeki, South African Broadcasting Corporation television news reported.
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/ 20 October 2005
A strike by workers at the University of Limpopo will continue until management makes a new wage offer, their union said on Wednesday. The week-long strike by about 450 National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union members came after their demands for a 12% wage increase were not met.
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/ 20 October 2005
Clicks and the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union on Wednesday settled their wage dispute, the retail store said. The settlement ended a 13-day strike, which was called off immediately on Wednesday, at Clicks’s 290 stores in South Africa.