Poor performance and the effect of diseases such as Aids are two major challenges facing the African transport industry, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said on Monday. Radebe said the cost of border-post delays to the Southern African Development Community region is estimated at -million annually.
The recently announced review of regulations hampering small business must include input from business, the Centre for Development Enterprise (CDE) said on Monday. The organisation said a new CDE report confirms that the government’s support for entrepreneurship in South Africa has been largely misdirected
It is time the African National Congress clarifies the real nature of its relationship with Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF, the Democratic Alliance’s acting leader, Douglas Gibson, said in a statement on Sunday. Weekend newspaper reports said ANC officials had met with Zanu-PF officials in Johannesburg to forge closer political ties.
The South African Communist Party in Gauteng has elected a new leadership at its eighth congress, which ended on Sunday. The congress started on Friday in Johnnesburg. SACP spokesperson Kaizer Mohau said Vishwa Satgar maintains his position as provincial secretary. Bob Mabaso was re-elected chairperson.
There is enormous potential for shark eco-tourism in the Eastern Cape, according to British shark researcher Matt Dicken. A marine biologist based at Bayworld at present, Dicken was speaking at an international marine seminar and expo at the University of Port Elizabeth last week.
By Monday morning there was still no news of Leigh Matthews who was kidnapped on Friday, the day before her 21st birthday, police said. ”We heard nothing over the night,” said police Superintendent Chris Wilken. Matthews’ parents, Rob and Sharon, have appealed to her kidnappers to release her safely.
Dramatic Jo’burg kidnapping case
The government has shocked public service unions by declaring a dispute following two months of wage negotiations in Centurion, unions said on Friday. A Department of Public Service and Administration spokesperson said the government feels there has been no ”movement” since the start of negotiations.
Prison warders will be back at work nationwide this weekend after a last-minute resolution to the staffing crisis, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said on Friday. The Department of Correctional Services has agreed to increase the weekend staff component back to 46% of weekday numbers.
Aids activists in South Africa hope that the inclusion of sex workers in an HIV research project will draw attention to the need for outreach programmes targeting this often marginalised group. About 600 female sex workers in and around Durban in KwaZulu-Natal are expected to participate in the study.
Telkom claimed victory on Friday in its dispute with Transtel regarding the provision of international landline telephone links and threatened to sue the Transnet division for damages. The dispute arose after Transtel filed a complaint against the former state utility at the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.
The African National Congress has blamed its local leaders and those of the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) for the violent protests in Diepsloot earlier this week. ”They allowed the situation to get out of control,” Pule Buthelezi, the general secretary of the ANC in the greater Johannesburg region, said on Friday.
The Democratic Alliance on Friday renewed its call for South African Airways (SAA) to be privatised. ”Transnet has provided the Public Investment Corporation with a very sweet deal by issuing a secret corporate bond this week,” DA public enterprises spokesperson Ian Davidson said in a statement.
The Democratic Alliance has asked the auditor general to investigate the case of a battling self-help dairy project near Hartebeesfontein in the North West. ”The destruction of a top Holstein stud on a top milk-producing farm within two years is indicative of the status of land reform,” the DA said on Friday.
The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project and 18 other applicants on Thursday filed an application in the Johannesburg High Court challenging the laws that prevent two people of the same sex from entering into a legally recognised marriage. The Equality Project’s Wendy Isaacks said such acknowledgement is long overdue.
The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday released a statement objecting to a report in the Mail & Guardian saying that Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma backed Zimbabwean government moves to stifle an explosive report on human rights abuses in Zimbabwe at this week’s African Union summit.
How SA backed Zimbabwe lie
A multimillion-dollar project aimed at cutting pollution in the western Indian Ocean was launched in Madagascar this week, South Africa’s deputy minister of environment said on Friday. The three-year project is expected to help eight countries devise plans to curb pollutants entering the region’s rivers and coastal waters.
Two trade unions have rejected a guaranteed 5% pay hike offer by steel manufacturer Iscor, setting the stage for a strike. Solidarity and the United Association of South Africa said on Friday they have declared a dispute with Iscor. ”Any talk of industrial action is premature,” Iscor said.
The African National Congress is playing a ”cat and mouse” game with minority groups, and in the process making young people despondent, according to Freedom Front Plus labour spokesperson Willie Spies. The FF+ endeavours to free young people of the limitations of affirmative action.
A group of retail pharmacies may not boycott medical schemes who refuse to accept its trading conditions, the Competition Commission said on Thursday.
The commission ruled that United South African Pharmacies had contravened the Competition Act in boycotting the Anglo American Corporation Medical Scheme and the Engen Medical Fund.
Leading media and entertainment group Johnnic Communications will contribute R4,6-million towards a new teaching facility for the Rhodes University school of journalism in Grahamstown, group CEO Connie Molusi has announced. The grant comes as part of a long-standing partnership between the company and Rhodes University.
Seven soccer officials appeared in courts in Polokwane and Bloemfontein on Thursday after being arrested during the police crackdown on football match-fixing. Twenty-nine soccer officials have been arrested so far in the investigation into match-fixing and corruption requested by the South African Football Association.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118388">Soccer refs ‘didn’t sleep at home'</a>
Tax returns can still be handed in on Saturday, the South African Revenue Services (Sars) announced on Thursday. Sars offices throughout the country will remain open on Saturday to accommodate taxpayers who are unable to file their tax returns during the week.
Three people, including a 13-year-old girl, were injured when a light aircraft crashed in Syferfontein near Lenasia on Thursday, police said. Captain Mbazima Shiburi said the 49-year-old pilot, who had broken both his legs and one arm, was airlifted to Milpark hospital. His condition was serious but stable.
The South African Parliament has welcomed the decision by the African Union to make South Africa the permanent seat of the Pan-African Parliament. ”We shall work hard to make the institution serve its purposes as a true African Parliament,” Speaker Baleka Mbete said in a statement on Thursday.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board has again denied reports that it is putting pressure on chief executive Peter Matlare to resign and disputed that there is a rift between him and the head of news, chairperson Eddie Funde said on Wednesday. ”We reject with contempt sloppy journalism,” Funde said.
Tourism authorities have embarked on an aggressive registration drive to flush out fly-by-night establishments, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal said on Wednesday. ”Tourism establishments that fail to register … face stiff penalties of up to R10 000”, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal official James Seymour said in a statement.
Two days is ample time for people to get their tax returns in order, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Wednesday, in advance of Friday’s deadline. ”Sars offices around the country are also extending their office hours,” Sars spokesperson Sechaba Nkosi said in a statement.
In what will be the first major inner-city development in South Africa for a black economic empowerment group, South Africa’s Coessa Holdings — acting in partnership with a Johannesburg businessman — plans to develop a new, R390-million residential, commercial and retail lifestyle centre in Cape Town, to be known as Icon.
Medical doctors are to seek leave to appeal against the Pretoria High Court’s dismissal of their constitutional challenge to regulations obliging them to acquire special licences to dispense medicine. The Department of Health said it will defend the legislation. It believes provisions for dispensing licences are legitimate.
The Catholic Church is planning a further roll-out of its anti-retroviral (ARV) programme for HIV and Aids patients in South Africa, the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference said on Tuesday. In February this year the church started rolling out its programme to provide HIV and Aids ARV therapy at 22 of its facilities.
The defence counsel for four young men accused of killing a black man and assaulting another in 2001 dismissed a state witness’s version as ”physically impossible” on Tuesday. Advocate Jaap Cilliers pointed out inconsistencies arising from cellphone records obtained for the day in question.
Authorities were on Tuesday busy with negotiations as day two of unrest in the Diepsloot community north-west of Johannesburg played out. Residents of Diepsloot took to the streets on Monday in a violent protest against an alleged move to relocate them from Diepsloot to Brits.