In a restructuring of senior management after poor results, two executives at Transnet have announced their departure from the parastatal, the company said on Tuesday. Transnet’s entire board — except for newly appointed chief executive Maria Ramos — resigned last week.
A 17-year-old boy, hospitalised after police used rubber bullets to disperse a protesting crowd on the N3 near Harrismith on Monday, died in hospital on Tuesday. The teenager died from internal bleeding, a Free State police spokesperson said.
Twenty children shot in Harrismith
Malawi has formulated a plan to clear abandoned landmines and other unexploded ordnance from areas along its border with Mozambique. The National Mine Action office said on Monday that authorities have finalised a plan to conduct ”a detailed survey and map areas that are dangerous [infested with mines]”.
Preparations are under way for the estimated 10Â 000 people expected to descend on Pretoria on Tuesday in celebration of the 1956 Women’s Day march. Tshwane metro police said on Monday large parts of the city around the Union Buildings will be closed from early on Tuesday morning to facilitate the crowds.
Shocking new research exposes some of the South Africa’s drug rehabilitation centres as poorly run institutions where physical and psychological ill treatment of patients is rife. ”The government needs to take responsibility. They need to pay attention to the programmes that are offered at the centres and not just concentrate on clean kitchens and toilets as some of the main criteria,” says a researcher.
A senior health official welcomed the Cape High Court’s decision on Friday to dismiss an application aimed at overturning the medicine-pricing regulations, saying it will benefit the South African consumer. He said the judgement means that savings realised from the manufacturing side will now be passed on to the consumer.
On a national tour ahead of the floor-crossing window for councillors, Inkatha Freedom Party national chairperson Ziba Jiyane is stressing its ”centre-right” position and its standpoint on family values. He also criticised the appointment of women with wealthy husbands in jobs above breadwinners.
The minister of communications has announced that the licence to provide public switched telecommunications services — the second national operator (SNO) — will be granted on September 17. WIP Investments Nine and Two Telecom Consortium will each hold 24,5% of a new company, SepCo, which will hold 51% of the equity share capital of the SNO.
South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has been urged not to wait until the medium-term budget policy statement in October to announce a relaxation of exchange controls. Democratic Alliance finance spokesperson Raenette Taljaard said important initiatives "should be announced when the market is ready for them".
The official opposition Democratic Alliance has been defeated in Vanderbiljpark — until now regarded as a safe seat — where it put up a ”test case” black candidate in a overwhelmingly white municipal ward. The seat — fought in a by-election on Wednesday — was won by Cobus Cato of the conservative Freedom Front Plus.
Plans to establish a Great Limpopo Transfrontier Area — almost trebling the area of land currently protected by the transfrontier park of the same name — are moving ahead, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Thursday. He was speaking at the launch of this year’s National Tourism Month.
The Gauteng Taxi Council on Thursday embarked on a march around Johannesburg demanding the Gauteng government recognise its members and deal with problems facing the industry. In seven days the organisation plans a countrywide march if the provincial government does not meet certain demands.
The minister of health has played down the target of rolling out anti-retroviral treatment for HIV victims by the end of the year — saying most South Africans prefer to consult traditional healers first before going to a Western health facility. The government had set itself a target of treating 53 000 Aids patients this year.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which has been meeting with African National Congress representatives in Cape Town, says it virulently opposes relaxation of exchange controls — and "speed bumps" should be put in place to protect the economy.
Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, was released on R2-million bail in the Wynberg Regional Court on Wednesday. Thatcher was arrested earlier on Wednesday by the Scorpions in connection with his alleged role in an alleged aborted coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea.
After successfully campaigning to have an ”immoral” Axe deodorant advert banned from television because it was too risqué, a Christian lobby group has now set its sights on an Elastoplast advertisement. According to ChristianView Network, a new Elastoplast advert promotes adultery and/or infidelity.
Deputy President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday called for swift remedial action from the governments and business in Angola and South Africa to strengthen bilateral economic ties. He was addressing the Angolan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the South African business community of Luanda.
The number of schoolchildren bunking from 15 Johannesburg schools for drinking sessions has doubled in recent months, police said on Wednesday. The head of Johannesburg’s Adopt-a-Cop programme, Inspector Alpheus Matsaba, said Gandhi Square has become a hotbed of drugs, rape and alcohol misuse, despite frequent arrests.
South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says the burden of the funding for the African Union — including the Pan African Parliament — will fall on the biggest economy in Africa, South Africa. Asked about funding problems for the Pan African Parliament, she said there is "always a shortage of funds".
The Pietermaritzburg High Court has reserved judgement in an urgent application by French arms dealer Thint for the withdrawal of criminal charges linked to South Africa’s multibillion-rand arms deal. After hearing legal argument on Tuesday, Judge Nick van der Reyden said he will make a decision as soon as possible.
Parliament started to suspect that something was wrong with the travel-voucher system at the end of 2002 when its finance staff realised that one MP, whose home was in Vrede, was "supposedly" repeatedly travelling to Umtata, said Speaker Baleka Mbete on Tuesday during the debate on the so-called Travelgate scam.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=121014">Scam probe ‘taking too long'</a>
Judgement was reserved on Tuesday in an urgent High Court application by Disney Enterprises to set aside an attachment order against more than 240 of its trademarks registered in South Africa. The trademarks include well-known images such as Donald Duck and Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
South African courts should not decide whether a South African-born fugitive from justice had received a fair trial in Canada, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday. The court is hearing a case that is considered crucial to whether people sentenced in their absence in other countries will be able to find sanctuary in South Africa.
Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour has ordered steps be taken to minimise the risk of a repeat of Monday’s fatal cell blaze at Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town. He visited the prison on Tuesday morning to inspect the cells where six awaiting-trial inmates set fire to mattresses and bedding on Monday afternoon.
The continued and broad-based weakness of the United States dollar in the international currency markets was one of the major factors that caused the rand to appreciate on a trade-weighted basis by 16% during 2003 and by 9% in the first seven months of 2004, said South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni on Tuesday.
Non-performing loans (NPLs) — loans that are more than 180 days overdue or considered irrecoverable — amount to 2% of the total loan book of South African commercial banks, South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni said in his inaugural address of his second five-year term on Tuesday.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) denied on Monday allegations of financial irregularities made by the head of its finance and administration department. A report in the Sunday Independent newspaper claimed the commission ”suspended a whistle-blower within its own ranks”.
The Pretoria High Court has — with ”no hesitation” — set aside rightwinger Eugene Terre’Blanche’s warrant of arrest and has told the Department of Correctional Services to release him from Potchefstroom prison immediately, following his arrest on Saturday for an alleged parole violation.
The Constitutional Court will start hearing a case on Tuesday that could determine whether South Africa becomes a haven for people sentenced in absentia in other countries. It centres on a South African who fled Canada in 1996 after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl over a nine-month period.
Gay and lesbian people should be given their full rights in terms of marriage, the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein heard on Monday. ”Marriage is a mechanism through which heterosexuals automatically get certain rights and privileges,” senior council Pieter Oosthuizen said.
Lazarus Baloyi, in custody for six months on a charge of murdering Mafikizolo vocalist Tebogo Madingoane, walked free from the Johannesburg High Court on Monday. The prosecutor asked the court to withdraw charges against Baloyi on the grounds that an inquest with formal evidence will be held ”in a lower court”.
The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania has appointed a committee to find inactive members of the party and to examine perceived disunity, president Motsoko Pheko said on Monday. In a statement on Monday, Pheko said inactive members will be invited to become active and to assist with tasks suited to their skills and influence.