The South African Towing and Recovery Association (Satra) will no longer pay spotting fees to people at traffic lights for accident tip-offs, its chairperson announced on Wednesday. A Roodepoort man was caught allegedly tampering with robots at a busy intersection, trying to cause accidents to increase his tip-off fees.
About 100 000 mineworkers are to strike at Harmony and Gold Fields gold mines, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Wednesday. ”Gold Fields workers will this evening [Wednesday] begin with strike action following their dispute with the company on the matter of the living out allowance,” an NUM spokesperson said.
A string of cellphone messages on a purported hijacking this week turned out to be smokescreen for partying with prostitutes, News24 reported on Thursday. It said a KwaZulu-Natal technician had police on a national alert after unleashing a series of SMSes on Tuesday, saying he had been hijacked.
Research will be done into the demand for Afrikaans as a medium of school instruction, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said after talks on Wednesday with a group of Afrikaner representatives. The meeting, in Pretoria, was arranged at the request of the FW de Klerk Foundation, and facilitated by the former president.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/199502/Zim_icon.GIF" align=left>The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) expressed alarm on the eve of parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe that the country’s government "has failed to lift all restrictions on journalists and media, especially foreign media", adding that "these actions do not bode well for free and fair parliamentary elections".
The reinstatement of an African National Congress official recently implicated in a television documentary on child prostitution has been met with howls of outrage.
Political parties have strongly condemned the move by the ANC council, saying it amounted to condoning the actions of those who abuse children.
Protesters from the Young Communist League and the Swaziland Solidarity Movement have called for sanctions against the Swazi king and his government in a demonstration outside the Swaziland embassy on Wednesday. The monarch has come under scrutiny for the expensive purchase of a number of luxury vehicles while his country is beset by poverty and HIV/Aids.
Massive restructuring in South African prisons will result in the abolition of weekend overtime for warders, and the creation of 8Â 311 new jobs, the minister of correctional services said on Wednesday. The department will be phasing in a seven-day working week, which will save millions of rands in overtime payouts each year.
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Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has accused South Africa’s government-aligned observers to Zimbabwe’s elections of wanting to ”rubber-stamp” the outcome. It said it has lost faith in Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s capacity to act impartially.
The Limpopo provincial government has placed a moratorium on hunting in the private nature reserves that border the Kruger National Park (KNP). The moratorium concerns private reserves that are not separated from the KNP by a fence. However, the chairperson of the Timbavati Association has called the moratorium ”totally illegal”.
The police have offered a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the killers of a senior Free State government official. ”No arrests had yet been made in the investigation into the murder of [Noby] Ngombane,” police spokesperson Superintendent Annelie Wrench said on Wednesday.
Absa, South Africa’s largest retail bank in terms of customers at 6,96-million, has announced bank-fee increases of between 4% and 7% for 2005, which will become effective from April 1. "These fees were determined in response to the additional needs of our customers," Absa said.
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Limpopo police have heightened security near the Beit Bridge border post ahead of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) demonstration scheduled for Wednesday. Cosatu expects thousands of marchers to participate in the march in solidarity with Zimbabwean trade unions.
Amid a backdrop of buoyant consumer and government spending, higher international commodity prices, lower inflation and stable interest rates in 2004, the South African Reserve Bank quarterly bulletin reviewing macroeconomic activity in 2004 paints a very positive picture of an economy experiencing accelerating growth.
The government will continue to consult with business and labour to overcome unemployment and increase investment in spite of a threat by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to strike against unemployment and the strong rand. Cosatu has warned of a ”job-loss bloodbath”.
Listed sugar, aluminium and property development group Tongaat-Hulett is expected to accelerate its earnings growth in 2005 through both incremental growth and investment opportunities, after posting a turnaround in 2004.
A South African shark expert has condemned as ”sensational” foreign media coverage of a recent attack by a great white shark during a shark-diving excursion. ”One must not lose track of the fact that shark diving is an adrenaline sport,” said Mariette Hopley, chairperson of the Great White Shark Protection Foundation.
At first it appears as though the seriously ill Zimbabwean is speaking about someone else’s ordeal at the hands of the notorious Central Intelligence Organisation. Propped up in a hospital bed in South Africa two weeks after her release from Chikurubi Maximum Prison, it becomes apparent that the woman who wants to be known only as ”Itaai” is expressing her own traumatic experience.
The murder of a Free State government official and ANC member should be solved as a matter of urgency, the ANC in the province said on Tuesday. Noby Ngombane, an official in the premier’s office, was shot dead at his home in Bloemfontein last week.
No written complaint has been laid against a South African police officer accused of sexually harassing another officer in Sudan, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. She was responding to media reports that a complaint has been laid against a South African police officer by a female officer, while stationed at El Fashir in Darfur.
Three nurses were hijacked with their mobile clinic between Tsolo and Maclear on Tuesday, the Eastern Cape health department said. Their assailants crashed the vehicle shortly after they hijacked it at about 4pm, health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said.
The price of petrol will rise by 38 cents next week, bringing the Gauteng price to R5 a litre — its highest to date. The Department of Minerals and Energy said on Tuesday the price of all categories of fuel will rise. Departmental spokesperson Yvonne Mfolo said the announced prices are projections, which will be finalised on Friday or Monday.
Domestic employers, seasonal employers, farmers and their workers contributed R40,9-million to the Unemployment Insurance Fund during the 2003/04 financial year, according to Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana. This figure has already jumped to R68-million for the categories of employers and workers in the period from April 1 2004 to January 31 2005.
When a small piece of South African history was made recently in the coastal city of Cape Town, it looked as if the boys would have the last laugh. ”Girls can’t play! Girls can’t play!” several onlookers roared after every goal. But by the end of the game on Rocklands sports field the smirks were gone.
Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff distanced herself on Tuesday from allegations that the murder of provincial official Noby Ngombane was politically motivated. Nokwanda Ngombane, speaking at her husband’s funeral on Monday, said the murder was political and that her husband’s enemies were present at the service.
The South African cricket team to play the West Indies has improved by about 40% since the series against Sri Lanka in August last year, says Mike Haysman. The SuperSport commentator and presenter expects Graeme Smith’s side to do well in the West Indies.
Emphatic victories by Australia and India saw them to the top of the league table after the fourth round of matches in the Women’s Cricket World Cup on Monday. Tournament favourites and four-times world champions Australia head the table after their 97-run win over South Africa at the LC de Villiers Oval.
Allan Gray Limited, one of South Africa’s top unlisted asset-management groups, has announced a series of transactions and initiatives that will result in a 25% black empowerment (BEE) shareholding in the company, the launch of a focused effort to encourage black entrepreneurship and the acceleration of the internal transformation of the company.
A shark-attack victim is recovering well in the Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic after four hours of surgery to his right leg and foot. Chris Sullivan (32), a British tourist on holiday in Cape Town, was attacked, presumably by a great white shark, at Noordhoek beach on Monday.
The South African Towing and Recovery Association (Satra) launched a probe on Monday into allegations that a man, who has been arrested, was disconnecting traffic lights to drum up business for West Rand tow-truck drivers. Satra chairperson Andre van der Merwe said the man was part of an information network used by towers.
An African National Congress branch chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal was shot and wounded on Thursday night, the party said. ANC provincial spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu said Nqobizwe Magwaza, chairperson of one of the Ulundi branches, ”miraculously escaped death” when he was attacked by two gunmen.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) on Thursday condemned the unilateral decision by its employers to terminate the union’s ”organisational rights”.
The decision by the South African Local Government Association (Salga) affects the right of the union to meet with members during working hours, among others.