The Mpumalanga provincial government has suspended Riena Charles, the former health departmental head, from her post with the premier’s office, SABC news reported on Thursday. This follows the auditor general’s report on her activities while she still headed the health department.
South African media group Kagiso has been given the go-ahead to increase its stake in Gauteng radio station Jacaranda FM. The Competition Commission has unconditionally approved a merger in which Kagiso Media sought to increase its stake from 42,5% to 65% in Jacaranda FM.
South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has launched the government’s Domestic Tourism Growth Strategy, a three-year plan aimed at encouraging South Africans to travel more frequently in their own country. The strategy was unveiled at the Tourism Indaba 2004 in Durban this week.
Inkatha Freedom Party national chairperson Lionel Mtshali denied on Wednesday having ”begged” for a post in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial cabinet. Mtshali denied what he called ”malicious” newspaper reports that he had asked Premier S’bu Ndebele for a post in his African National Congress-led provincial government.
The draft information communications technology (ICT) empowerment charter needs substantial changes to prevent significant additional costs to foreign investments in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. Stakeholders are to meet on Friday to finalise black empowerment goals in the ICT sector.
Three Cape Flats community leaders, including former gangster Rashied Staggie, were effectively jailed for 13 years on Wednesday for a burglary at the Faure police armoury six years ago. Staggie’s sentence will run concurrently with the 15 years he got last year in the Cape High Court for rape.
The Food and Allied Workers Union will meet Parmalat South Africa management next week to get clarity on a plan designed to restructure the Italian diary giant, brought to the brink of liquidation by allegations of fraud and corruption. Parmalat was last year declared insolvent and placed under supervision of turnaround expert Enrico Bondi.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) editorial policies compare favourably with the rest of the world, SABC board chairperson Eddie Funde said on Wednesday. Funde denied rumours that senior staff at the SABC are threatening to leave because of the recent appointment of Snuki Zikalala as head of news.
South African Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin has been urged by the official opposition to break his silence on the government’s privatisation plans. A Democratic Alliance spokesperson said: "Too many contradictory messages have been sent into the market place and investors are rightly feeling confused and uncertain."
The Electoral Court presided over a tug of war on Tuesday over 2 666 votes that could give the African Christian Democratic Party a seventh National Assembly seat but leave the Azanian People’s Organisation with one. The ACDP claims the votes, cast in Khayelitsha on April 14, were wrongly credited to Azapo.
Self-confessed Boeremag coup plotter Lourens du Plessis on Tuesday told the treason trial in Pretoria of plans to involve members of the police’s disbanded Civil Cooperation Bureau in the coup. According to Du Plessis, he had a meeting with an alleged former bureau member who said he could get a missile — but nothing came of the plan.
An appeal by former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni against a four-year prison sentence for fraud was postponed in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday to July. Yengeni sought the delay to enable him to obtain a full copy of the record of his trial on charges related to his acceptance of a discount on a luxury 4X4.
About 150 family members and friends of alleged mercenaries held in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea handed over a memorandum addressed to President Thabo Mbeki at the Union Buildings on Tuesday, calling for government intervention. ”I believe my brother is innocent and does not belong there,” said one of the family members.
Aggrieved banking clients received R11,1-million back from banks in 2003, the ombudsman for banking services said on Tuesday. This was an increase of R2,3-million over 2002, banking ombudsman Neville Melville said at the release in Johannesburg of his office’s fourth annual report.
Almost half of African countries do not execute convicted prisoners, Amnesty International said in a statement on Monday. The statement was issued while government officials from the continent converged for a two-day meeting in Entebbe, Uganda, to discuss the matter.
The health-care industry in South Africa is in a similar position to commercial farming in Zimbabwe, the Board of Healthcare Funders conference was told on Monday. Sunter said private health care in South Africa is at present ”exclusive and efficient”, meaning that only a small percentage of the population receives efficient health care.
Rightwingers plotting to overthrow the government had brief intentions of assassinating businessman and former politician Cyril Ramaphosa, the Boeremag treason trial was told on Monday. Coup plotter turned state witness Lourens du Plessis said he had dissuaded two accomplices who had ideas of killing President Thabo Mbeki.
Boeremag plotted to replace Parliament
The province of KwaZulu-Natal is considering introducing tourism police to make sure that each visitor to KwaZulu-Natal has a safe and crime-free visit, newly appointed KwaZulu-Natal provincial minister for arts, culture and tourism Narend Singh told delegates at the 2004 Tourism Indaba in Durban.
South African National Parks (Sanparks) announced on Monday the launch of the organisation’s newest park — the Mapungubwe National Park. Previously known as Vhembe Dongola National Park, the Mapungubwe National Park is situated in Musina, north-east of Polokwane, the capital of the Limpopo province.
A parliament had been identified to replace the existing one to have been ousted in a rightwing coup d’état, the Boeremag treason trial heard on Monday. State witness Lourens du Plessis told the Pretoria High Court he had been informed of the existence of such a body by accused number one Mike du Toit.
Newly appointed South African Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk opened the 2004 Tourism Indaba in Durban on Saturday in his first official act since being appointed minister. Indaba visitor applications have increased to more than 3Â 500 visitors from 93 countries.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66098">KwaZulu-Natal mulling tourism police</a>
The Board of Healthcare Funders on Friday urged medical aid schemes not to pass on temporary price increases of medication to their customers. The introduction last week of the Medicines and Related Substances Act, which abolishes discounts on medicines, has led to an increase in the price of medication.
A heavy swell of about 4m, predicted for Saturday as well, hampered salvage efforts on Friday to start a ship-to-ship oil transfer from the stricken bulk carrier Cape Africa off the coast of Cape Town. Earlier the day, salvage personnel prepared for the transfer to start during the daylight hours of Friday or Saturday.
South African pop icon Brenda Fassie’s condition has become worse since her admission at the Sunninghill hospital late last month, her family said on Friday. ”The family is saddened to inform fellow South Africans that Brenda’s general medical condition is now deteriorating rapidly,” the Fassie family said in a statement.
Newspaper reports on Thursday said Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Namibian President Sam Nujoma have joined hands to start a new regional newspaper called the ”New Sunday Times” to ”counter the threat from the global media to African values”.
The senior Department of Correctional Services employee who refused to appear before the Jali Commission of Inquiry on irregularities within the service said on Thursday he was being ”hounded by top management”. ”I am fed up with it. What am I meant to do, commit suicide?” Winston Naidoo asked.
Former state president PW Botha has rejected a claim that he encouraged a right-wing coup plotter to leave politics and "get a movement with an iron fist". State witness Lourens du Plessis earlier testified at the Boeremag treason trial in Pretoria that he had visited Botha in 2001 to discuss the political situation in the country.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=65906">PW Botha ‘advised right-wingers'</a>
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has appointed a member from its own ranks to fill the post of chairperson of the key parliamentary watchdog committee, the standing committee on public accounts. Traditionally the public accounts committee has been chaired by a member of an opposition party.
The National Union of Mineworkers should use its structures to help further the government’s poverty reduction goals, African National Congress secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said on Thursday at the union’s three-day conference being held in Midrand.
Unless it gets more funding, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will not meet its aim to provide food to thousands of Angolan refugees returning home this year, the organisation said on Thursday. ”The food component of the repatriation exercise is essential,” said James Morris, executive director of the WFP.
South Africa’s Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, approved a revised levy on plastic bags this week, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The revised levy was finalised with due consideration to the objectives of the levy and concerns raised by all the relevant stakeholders, the ministry said.
African National Congress secretary general Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele is to pursue a defamation claim against the Mail & Guardian in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Thursday. It relates to printed allegations that Mthembi-Mahanyele, while housing minister, had awarded a building contract to a close friend.