President Thabo Mbeki has questioned the figures produced by official data capturer Statistics South Africa on unemployment figures and says it is "quite unlikely" that its figures are correct — otherwise people would have seen millions of people in the streets looking for work. There are even millionaires who are deemed "unemployed", he argued on Friday.
The Kruger National Park (KNP) has fired four of its employees for beating to death and slaughtering at least six impala in February, a park spokesperson said on Friday. ”The intense cruelty of the incident horrified us,” KNP executive director Bandile Mkhize said in a statement on Friday.
”The DA is alarmed at the allegations made in the M&G that the ANC funded its 2004 election campaign using millions of rands of taxpayers’ money.”
The ”racist tantrum” thrown by Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy Lulu Xingwana in Parliament will hurt black South Africans as much as whites by discouraging investor confidence in the country, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday. He said it is necessary for all to raise their voices against what Xingwana said.
The Cabinet will finalise the roll-out plan of the taxi-recapitalisation process by the end of next month — but the transport minister has promised that the much-delayed scrapping of currently ageing vehicles ”will commence this financial year”. He was speaking in his Budget vote in an extended public committee on Friday.
The Johannesburg High Court ruled on Friday that mining company Harmony’s multibillion-rand hostile takeover bid for Gold Fields lapsed on December 18 last year, effectively ending the bid seven months after it started. A Gold Fields spokesperson said the company feels vindicated by the court’s decision.
A South African peacekeeping soldier shot dead a comrade and wounded four others before killing himself in Burundi on Friday, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said. ”The reason for the shooting incident is unclear at this stage and the United Nations and the SANDF are investigating the incident,” a statement said.
Mining company Harmony will retrench 11 780 workers by the end of July, Harmony’s marketing director said on Friday. Responding to the retrenchments, Solidarity spokesperson Dirk Hermann said: ”The workers are now on the receiving end of an unsuccessful bid by Harmony to take over Gold Fields.”
A mother whose children died in a blaze while she was out drinking has been jailed for five years by the Viljoenskroon Magistrate’s Court, police said on Friday. A police spokesperson said the woman had left her three children inside a locked shack with a candle burning while she was out drinking with her boyfriend.
Legal experts must decide if Saturday’s imbizo (meeting) of the Zulu nation in Durban is traditional or political before police decide whether traditional weapons will be allowed at the gathering. On Thursday, a spokesperson said Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has distanced himself from the imbizo.
Insurance group Momentum, part of the listed FirstRand group, has made an offer of 175 cents per share to acquire all of rival insurer Sage, in a transaction worth R634-million, the companies announced on Friday. If the offer is successful, Sage will be delisted from the JSE Securities Exchange.
More than R130-million will be made available for housing in the Nelson Mandela metropolis following four days of protests over slow housing delivery. Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela announced this on Thursday while appealing for calm. ”We shall not abandon the poor,” said Balindlela.
In a week in which Tony Leon came out with guns blazing because the African National Congress seemed, in his view, bent on dividing and ruling the white population, South Africa was pondering yet another great gulf in the populace.
This weekend, the national question will be answered: Who will be South Africa’s football champions?
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Dialogue across political extremes continued on Thursday between the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurverenigings and the African National Congress Youth League. The two bodies agreed in Johannesburg to focus future talks on the economy and language issues, said FAK spokesperson Johann Rossouw.
Kaizer Chiefs is ending the season the way Orlando Pirates started it. On Wednesday night, Supersport United inflicted the most pain on Orlando Pirates after they lost 1-0 to Kaizer Chiefs. This was the second time United denied Pirates happiness. The first time was when Supersport United came back from a 4-1 drubbing to beat Pirates 4-3.
United Cricket Board chief executive Gerald Majola confirmed on Thursday what has been an open secret for several days — that Warriors coach Mickey Arthur has been appointed coach of the South African national team until after the World Cup in the West Indies in 2007. Arthur said he feels honoured and privileged to become coach.
Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini on Thursday said the drafting of a constitution for KwaZulu-Natal is intended to ”culminate in the restoration of the monarch to its [sic] rightful position and status”. He was speaking to members of a constitutional ad hoc committee in Durban.
Absa joined other major banks on Thursday in warning its clients against an internet ”phishing” scam. The phishing (fishing for information) scam entails an e-mail, with an internet link to a lookalike bank website, being sent to clients, prompting them to reveal personal information.
Sanlam on Thursday announced it has entered into a joint venture agreement with the India-based Shriram Group to form a new life-insurance business, the Shriram Life Insurance Company. Sanlam and the Shriram Group will hold 26% and 74% share of the company respectively.
The goal of reducing electricity consumption by 153 megawatts yearly in a bid to conserve dwindling resources was exceeded by about 30% last year, Eskom said on Thursday. Eskom MD Johnny Dladla was speaking at a function in Pretoria to showcase energy-savings efforts undertaken at the 1 Military hospital.
More roads were blocked in Port Elizabeth on Thursday as angry residents ignored the Eastern Cape premier’s call for calm, taking to the streets for the fourth day this week to protest against slow housing delivery, police said. A police spokesperson said the main roads in the suburb of New Brighton have been blocked.
Dynamos made certain of keeping their place in the Premier Soccer League when they beat Ajax Cape Town by 3-0 at Newlands Stadium on Wednesday night.
The visitors from Giyani, who were placed 14th before the game, led 2-0 at the interval. Their victory catapults them to 10th spot, with 32 points from 29 matches.
A cat was killed by being cooked alive in a microwave oven belonging to students at a men’s residence at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, reports said on Thursday. The cat reportedly died an ”extremely painful” death. Provincial education minister Ina Cronje has condemned the act as ”barbaric” and ”shocking”.
Global brewing giant SABMiller on Thursday reported basic earnings per share of 94,1 United States cents for the year ended March 31 2005, from 54,1 cents a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were up 33% to 103,2 US cents, while in sterling terms, earnings per share were up 22% to 55,9 pence, from 45,8 pence a year ago.
The release of global brewing giant SABMiller’s final 2005 results on Thursday have highlighted the continued robust growth in its South African beer business, with Beer South Africa recording a 20% rise in its earnings before interest, tax and amortisation in rand (constant currency) terms.
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Absa on Wednesday warned job seekers against a ”malicious” hoax e-mail advertising 600 positions at the banking group. Hundreds of jobless people reportedly converged on the Absa branch on the corner of Kruis and Market streets, Johannesburg, with their CVs at 9am on Wednesday to apply for the posts.
South Africa’s proposed ”smart” identity-card plan will receive about R270-million this year, Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told parliamentarians on Wednesday. The card is now ”at the final stages for Cabinet’s approval of such a procurement model”, the minister reported.
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) criticised South Africa’s cricket authorities on Wednesday over the way it awards franchises, saying the system was ”elitist” and ”retrogressive”. An ANCYL spokesperson said South Africa’s cricket authorities are not interested in a programme of transformation.
An apartheid-era law is causing headaches for a committee set up to investigate the underlying reasons for instability and conflict in the Western Cape minibus taxi industry. The ”problematic area” relates to Ordinance 13 of 1978, which stipulates that the proceedings of such committees should not be open to the public.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has told African transport ministers that he is "concerned" about the high concentration of air-traffic accidents on the continent. He was speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday of a summit of African Union ministers responsible for air transport and aviation being held in South Africa.