No image available
/ 6 September 2004
Eastern Cape finance minister Enoch Godongwana was fired on Monday, Premier Nosimo Balindlela’s office said. ”Both the suspension of the finance superintendent general, Monde Tom, and Godongwana’s dismissal come after a probe into financial irregularities in that department,” a spokesperson said.
No image available
/ 6 September 2004
Former Gauteng finance minister Jabu Moleketi was not involved in finalising the details of a contract that allegedly contravenes the Public Finance Management Act, the province’s current finance minister said on Monday. ”The former MEC was briefed, but not involved in the final shareholders’ agreement that established the company [Capstone 518],” he said.
No image available
/ 6 September 2004
The death toll in an explosion at Sasol’s ethylene plant in Secunda, Mpumalanga, has climbed to seven, company spokesperson Johann van Rheede said on Monday. The explosion, which occurred last Wednesday, claimed the lives of four contractors and two Sasol employees. More than 100 people were injured.
No image available
/ 6 September 2004
South Africa’s online publishing industry is attracting millions of highly educated, high-earning users, mostly from Johannesburg and under 34 years old, the Online Publishers’ Association announced on Monday. More than 3,5-million users supported the industry in August, clocking up 106-million page impressions.
No image available
/ 3 September 2004
Film-industry worker Ronald Charles Grimsley, on trial for the murder of an 18-year-old woman, told the Johannesburg High Court on Friday he is not a violent person. Grimsley, from Fontainebleau, has admitted to having come around after a blackout to find his hands around the throat of Flowerday, who was not breathing.
No image available
/ 3 September 2004
Police were mopping up streets in Intabazwe at Harrismith on Friday after three days of rioting that claimed the life of a teenager. Municipal workers helped to clear away burnt tyres, car wrecks and rocks left behind by demonstrators. The protests were sparked by what was termed poor service delivery.
No image available
/ 3 September 2004
The Boeremag treason trial on Friday stopped unexpectedly when a state witness claimed he has proof that Boeremag leader Tom Vorster was a CIA and military intelligence agent. A defence advocate said the claims might result in the defence demanding a trial-within-a-trial to establish the truth of the claims.
No image available
/ 3 September 2004
South Africa’s official opposition leader, Tony Leon, says that Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats and Pieter Mulder’s Freedom Front Plus are the handmaidens of one-party dominance by the African National Congress and accuses the two opposition parties of existing only through ”cannibalising the opposition”.
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
The publication by ThisDay newspaper of a list of 136 MPs ”fingered” in the travel voucher investigation adds nothing of value to the public’s understanding of the issues involved, said South Africa’s ruling African National Congress on Thursday. ”The report borders on being malicious and slanderous,” said an ANC spokesperson.
Travelgate: R17m now owed
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
The Department of Health is willing to negotiate its controversial dispensing fee regulations but will only do so if pharmacists withdraw their court action, the department’s Humphrey Zokufa said on Thursday. ”Yes, we will negotiate, but only if they withdraw their court action,” said Zokufa.
Cape pharmacies open after protest
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (Sadtu) members turned out in full force around the country to demonstrate their frustration with the government’s offer of a 5,5% salary increase. Sadtu spokesperson Jon Lewis said an estimated 30Â 000 people marched through the streets of Johannesburg.
Minister: Teachers’ strike ‘ill-timed’
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
The strike by some South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) members is ill-timed and has the potential of disrupting learning and teaching in schools, Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Thursday. Sadtu planned protest marches on Thursday in all nine provinces.
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
More than 900 Spoornet employees may face retrenchment in the next 60 days, the company said in Johannesburg on Thursday. Spoornet acting general manager Vusi Mncube said the possible retrenchments are part of an effort to improve operational efficiency. Spoornet has started consulting unions on the possible retrenchments.
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
South African media and entertainment group Primedia on Wednesday announced it has received regulatory approval for its proposed acquisition of 100% of the issued share capital of New Africa Media Holdings and, as a result, the acquisition of 66,5% of the entire issued share capital of KFM.
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
Convicted serial child rapist Fanwell Khumalo failed on Thursday in his bid to have his conviction and jail sentence overturned. Khumalo unsuccessfully applied for leave to appeal in the Johannesburg High Court against his conviction and sentence of 42 life terms and more than 270 years in jail.
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
A man shot dead his girlfriend, a 31-year-old schoolteacher, before committing suicide at the Newlands East Secondary School in Durban on Thursday. Police said the 35-year-old man went to the teacher’s classroom on Thursday morning, called her outside and shot her in the head before turning the gun on himself.
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
A special initiative to rid Africa of vast stockpiles of poisonous, obsolete chemical pesticides posing serious health risks has been launched by the African Stockpiles Programme (ASP). ASP plans to get rid of an estimated 50 000 tons of toxic pesticides and waste, as well as tens of thousands of tons of contaminated soil.
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
A 25-year-old construction worker was killed when the roof of Centurion Mall in Pretoria collapsed on Wednesday night, Pretoria police said on Thursday. Police spokesperson Captain Piletji Sebola said the man’s body was discovered in the rubble at about 10pm on Wednesday and retrieved at 1.30am.
No image available
/ 2 September 2004
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel on Thursday launched the Large Business Centre (LBC), which will cover 9 000 companies with a minimum annual turnover of R250-million. Manuel said that the LBC has been established to make it easier for large companies to comply with the law.
No image available
/ 1 September 2004
The Democratic Alliance has welcomed the appointment of Silas Ramaite as the new acting National Director of Public Prosecutions, saying he has a tough crime-busting profile. Ramaite was formerly deputy to Bulelani Ngcuka, who vacated the national director post on Tuesday.
No image available
/ 1 September 2004
Unjustified complaints about delays in the approval process of the controversial Roodefontein golf estate development made former Western Cape environmental director Ingrid Coetzee feel like she was being blackmailed, she told the Bellville Regional Court on Wednesday where she was under cross-examination for a second day.
No image available
/ 1 September 2004
National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, speaking to the Cape Town Press Club on Wednesday, said the amount owed to Parliament through the irregular use of parliamentary travel vouchers has risen to R17-million. Previous figures provided by Parliament amounted to between R13-million and R14-million.
No image available
/ 1 September 2004
Pharmacists on the Cape Peninsula closed shop on Wednesday following threats of arrest from customers angry that they are not charging prices laid down by law, following last week’s reintroduction of medicine-pricing regulations, a pharmacist said. ”We will stay closed until we get leave to appeal,” said one pharmacist.
No image available
/ 1 September 2004
The Independent Democrats welcomed 18 municipal councillors — mainly from the New National Party — to its ranks on Wednesday, the first day of the two-week period for councillors to change parties without losing their seats. Former NNP Cape Town councillor David Sassman said the NNP ”sold out to the highest bidder”.
No image available
/ 1 September 2004
Ten local councillors from various parties crossed over to the Freedom Front Plus within hours of the floor-crossing window period coming into effect, party leader Pieter Mulder said on Wednesday. Included in the crossings was former chairperson of the New National Party caucus Wrentia Landman.
No image available
/ 1 September 2004
Nine people were still not accounted for by Wednesday afternoon after a gas explosion that claimed six lives at Sasol’s Secunda plant, police said. A spokesperson for the petrochemical company, Johann van Rheede, told reporters on the scene that more than 100 people were injured in the blast in Sasol’s ethylene plant.
No image available
/ 1 September 2004
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille has sent out 6Â 500 SMSes to councillors across the country urging them to defect to her party, according to one of her MPs, Avril Harding. The defection window starts for municipal councillors runs until September 15.
No image available
/ 1 September 2004
The African National Congress has snatched an overall majority in the 200-member Cape Town Unicity Council following the defections of 23 of the 32 New National Party councillors. Among the councillors to cross was Cape Town deputy mayor Gawa Samuels.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=121445">Freedom Front Plus scoops 10</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=121453">De Lille welcomes floor-crossers</a>
A legal battle looms between the army and four South Africans who claim they have been shut out of the military because they tested HIV-positive. The South African National Defence Force has embarked on research with the United States Department of Defence on the effect of the pandemic on the South African military.
Local councillors in the Western Cape claim they are victims of ”widescale intimidation” as the opportunity for them to cross the floor without losing their seats approaches. A Democratic Alliance councillor ”has 24-hour protection following [unspecified] threats. He is not sleeping at his own place.”
No words can fully describe the contribution women have made to ensure freedom in South Africa, Deputy President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. In a speech to commemorate the 1956 women’s march, he paid special tribute to those women involved in one way or another in the struggle against apartheid.