Organisers at the World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town were tallying up on Friday morning the number of signatures of business leaders endorsing the recommendations of the Commission for Africa. "It’s looking good," said Africa Economic Summit spokesperson Matthias Luefkens.
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A fire injured four people at oil and chemicals group Sasol’s Sasolburg plant on Thursday morning. The four have since been treated at the group’s on-site medical centre and discharged, Sasol spokesperson Johann van Rheede said on Thursday. Earlier, trade union Solidarity claimed an explosion had caused the four people’s injuries.
M-Net’s open-time window will close in April 2007, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) ruled on Thursday. It ruled in favour of closing the open-time window, saying this is in line with a policy framework set out in its position paper on subscription services.
House prices increased by 22,5% for the 12 months to May this year, with the average home costing R678 800, Absa said on Thursday. Absa economist Jacques du Toit said Absa predicts growth in house prices of between 15% and 20% for 2005, compared with growth of about 32% in 2004.
Black economic empowerment company African Renaissance Holdings has joined forces with the South African Grand Prix Bid Company in its initiative to apply for a licence to stage the formula-one grand prix in South Africa. Bid company chief executive Dave Gant has recently returned from meetings with formula-one boss Bernie Ecclestone in London.
Police have warned bank customers on the East Rand to be cautious after two people were duped out of their cash by fake police officers on Wednesday. Superintendent Andy Pieke on Thursday said a man and a woman were approached outside banks in Alberton and Germiston by bogus police officers.
It is inevitable that poor countries will compete for donor aid, Tanzania’s President Benjamin Mkapa told delegates at the World Economic Forum’s Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town on Thursday. Steve Booysen, chief executive of Absa, said business has been slow to take advantage of the changing political landscape in Africa.
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Durban businessman Schabir Shaik was convicted in the Durban High Court on Thursday on two counts of corruption and one of fraud relating to alleged irregular financial dealings with Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
A group of alleged mercenaries, recently released from Zimbabwe, will most likely have to spend time behind bars in South Africa, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Thursday. Spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said the NPA wants the Regulation of the Foreign Military Assistance Act to be enforced.
Hundreds of squatters packed their bags, dismantled their houses and left the Angelo informal settlement in Lilianton, Boksburg, on Wednesday night after a day of evictions. At the start of operations on Thursday, there was none of the resistance offered at the start of the evictions on Wednesday.
Ockert Cilliers, one of the candidates for the third 400m hurdles spot in the South African team to the World Athletics Championships, continued his winning ways on Wednesday when he recorded an impressive win at the Regione Lombardia International Association of Athletics Federations Grand Prix 11 meeting in Milan.
Leading industrial countries should look at the positive examples elsewhere in Africa and not concentrate solely on the crisis in Zimbabwe, British high commissioner designate to South Africa Paul Boateng told the World Economic Forum’s Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town on Wednesday.
With Africa expecting $25-billion by 2010 if the Commission for Africa’s recommendations are implemented, Tanzania’s President Benjamin Mkapa said each country should be assessed individually to see if previous aid was misused. Mkapa was part of a panel that spoke on how aid can be allocated and used effectively.
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Judgment in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial in the
Durban High Court is expected to be completed by midday on Thursday. On Wednesday Judge Hillary Squires adjourned the delivery of his verdict for a second consecutive day.
In a bid to attract more direct foreign investment into Africa, the Nepad Business Foundation (NBF) has committed itself to two ”covenants” — anti-corruption and corporate governance. NBF chairperson Reuel Khoza was addressing the World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Opting for an outside field on neighbouring Kings Park instead of the main ground at the Kingsmead Soccer Stadium in Durban on Wednesday, Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter was able to get into the task in hand of preparing his side for the Cape Verde World Cup qualifier on Saturday without too much interference.
The trade union Solidarity will meet Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan in Cape Town on Thursday afternoon in a last effort to prevent the change of Pretoria’s name to Tshwane. The South African Geographical Names Council has recommended that Jordan approve the registration of the name Tshwane.
Squatters who protested their eviction from an illegal settlement by burning tyres and throwing stones early on Wednesday had calmed down and stopped offering resistance by mid-afternoon, said Ekurhuleni metro police. About 600 ”Red Ants” moved into the Angelo settlement in Boksburg, to demolish about 6Â 000 shacks.
International business and political leaders have a unique opportunity to recognise the ”moral reprehensibility” of what is allowed to happen in Africa, Reuters chairperson Niall FitzGerald said on Wednesday. He addressed media at the World Economic Forum’s Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town.
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Judge Hillary Squires questioned on Wednesday the true nature of fraud and corruption accused Schabir Shaik’s friendship with Deputy President Jacob Zuma. ”Genuine friendship would not have resorted to such blatant advertising,” the judge said during his second day of judgement.
The World Economic Forum’s 15th annual Africa Economic Summit has opened in Cape Town with a strong call by business to support the proposals contained in the recent Commission for Africa report for promoting economic growth and development across the continent.
The government is ”paranoid and overreacting” in enlisting the help of the National Intelligence Agency and bringing sedition charges against protesters trying to highlight their plight, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Wednesday. ”The government seems to want to criminalise them,” said a Cosatu spokesperson.
The Springbok coaching staff of Jake White, Gert Smal and Allister Coetzee declared themselves satisfied after the national squad had a good workout against the Shimlas rugby team of the University of the Free State on Tuesday. A few hundred rugby enthusiasts, including learners and students, turned to out to view the Boks in action.
South Africa’s Black Management Forum wants the government to set up a commission of enquiry into racism and unfair discrimination in the workplace. Such a commission should be given a one-year mandate "to review incidents and cases of racial discrimination in the workplace", it said.
AltX-listed branded food producer All Joy Foods has reported a dip in its headline earnings per share for the year to the end of February 2005 to 6,3 cents, from seven cents a year earlier. No dividend was declared for the year. At the same time, All Joy said it has agreed to acquire 100% of the operations of Retailer Brands.
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Judge Hillary Squires was preparing on Wednesday morning to deliver the last 114 pages of a 165-page judgement in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial in the Durban High Court. Squires’s secretary Margaret Parker said she was hoping the judge’s voice ”holds up”.
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The government will shortly start moving the community on Modderklip farm to give effect to a recent Constitutional Court judgement, the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs said on Tuesday. The department, which gave no date for when the 70Â 000-strong community is to be moved, said the matter is a ”priority”.
The Competition Commission’s statement that it has found evidence of anti-competitive practices by motor manufacturers, dealers, importers and distributors came as a surprise, Volkswagen South Africa’s general manager of communications, Bill Stephens, said on Tuesday.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) begins its 15th annual Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town on Wednesday with leaders from some of Africa’s top companies and multinationals calling for the strong voice of business to be heard in the flow of targeted aid and investment on the continent.
The medical community was relieved on Tuesday as the influenza vaccine was back in pharmacies, following a two-month delay in its release. The medical community has ”heaved a sigh of relief” with the release, said the medical director of SAA-Netcare travel clinics, Dr Andrew Jamieson.