The number of man days lost in South Africa due to strike action fell from 945Â 000 in 2002 to 700Â 000 in 2003, according to labour analyst’s Andrew Levy strike report for 2003. The report says strike action in the country has levelled off significantly since the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Former security policeman Gideon Nieuwoudt on Tuesday faces interrogation by Advocate Kessie Naidu, the man who had South Africans glued to their television screens as leader of evidence in the recent Hefer commission hearings. Naidu was appointed at short notice to replace advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=33347">Nieuwoudt mum on ‘interrogation'</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=33337">Nieuwoudt sorry for saying ‘terrorist'</a>
Veteran journalist, author and artist Hans Strydom (68) died in Pretoria on Sunday, his family confirmed on Monday. He had been ill for a long time. Strydom was a doyen of South African journalists and was the chairperson of the Southern African Society of Journalists. He also chaired the Johannesburg and Durban press clubs.
The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) said on Monday it would present a possible new settlement option to striking airport baggage handlers. A Satawu spokesperson said the possible settlement would be put to striking members before the employer, Equity Aviation Services, would be approached.
![]()
The United Democratic Movement on Monday lodged a formal complaint with the Independent Electoral Commission against an African National Congress Cape Town city councillor, following a weekend incident in the city. The incident happened during a UDM election rally in Philippi on Sunday.
Special Report: Elections 2004
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>The African National Congress is demanding a public apology from the <i>City Press</i> newspaper following what the party calls "false" reporting of its campaigning in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal, at the weekend. The ANC said the newspaper had reported that the ANC campaign there had "ended in disarray".
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
Former security policeman Gideon Nieuwoudt said on Monday he did not remember how he persuaded a trained freedom fighter to cooperate with him after being arrested. Nieuwoudt is applying for amnesty for the 1989 car bomb murders of three black colleagues and an informer at Motherwell.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=33337">Nieuwoudt sorry for saying ‘terrorist'</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=33325">Motherwell bombing hearings resume</a>
![]()
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille says that the 500 members who allegedly left her party at the weekend had not been members of the party and she intended to take legal action against at least one defector. She was responding to an announcement on Sunday by Charles Golding, who claimed to be from the Welcome Estate branch.
Special Report: Elections 2004
The amnesty application by three former security policemen for their part in the 1989 Motherwell car bombing murders has resumed at the Port Elizabeth High Court on Monday. The hearing was aborted last Tuesday when the lawyer representing the four victims’ families withdrew at the last minute.
Former security policeman Gideon Nieuwoudt apologised on Monday for using the word "terrorist" to describe trained guerrillas who infiltrated apartheid-era South Africa. His application for amnesty for the 1989 car bomb murders of three black colleagues and an informer at Motherwell is being heard afresh in Port Elizabeth.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=33325">Motherwell bombing hearings resume</a>
The Department of Labour has set aside nearly R450-million from the National Skills Fund to be channelled towards skills grants for employers participating in the recruitment of young unemployed learners, Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana said on Saturday.
![]()
It appears it will be a while before the African National Congress is welcomed with open arms into Ulundi, the traditional stronghold of the Inkatha Freedom Party, if Saturday’s response to an ANC election campaign is anything to go by. A large group of IFP supporters attempted to disrupt an ANC meeting in the KwaZulu-Natal town.
Special Report: Elections 2004
As a group of academics discovered, it takes just a quick trip to Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg to be confronted with the problems that still plague South Africa. The group of about 200 had been invited to review the first decade of democracy under the auspices of a conference entitled <i>South Africa: Ten Years after Apartheid</i>.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>President Thabo Mbeki announced at two rallies in Limpopo on Saturday that he is going to deploy Limpopo Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi to parliament next month, to represent the people of the province. Ramatlhodi’s replacement will come from within the African National Congress, Mbeki said.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
Norway will give South Africa about R235-million under a five-year bilateral cooperation agreement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. The two countries’ foreign affairs ministers met on Friday for the annual consultations that were set out in the memorandum of understanding of 1996 between the two countries.
![]()
The battle between the official opposition Democratic Alliance and the fledgling Independent Democrats took on a new election campaign spin with a battle of wills between veteran liberal politician Helen Suzman and ID leader Patricia de Lille.
Suzman versus De Lille
Special Report: Elections 2004
The victory of African slaves over French rule in Haiti in the 1800s should be used by Africans to inspire them to address successfully the challenges facing them across the world, South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. He was spreaking at the Sixth African Renaissance Conference in Durban.
There has been a strengthening of businesses in townships across South Africa over the past decade, Minister of Trade and Industry Alec Erwin said during a small-business breakfast meeting in Langa on Friday. He urged Langa business people to come together to help establish a business centre.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>President Thabo Mbeki launched a scathing attack on the Democratic Alliance and Inkatha Freedom Party on Friday, saying voters will decide the fate of this "right-wing coalition". He accused the IFP of siding with various right-wing groupings to protect "white interests" since 1992.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=33240">Haiti inspires Africans, says Mbeki</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
Following this week’s approval by South Africa’s competition authorities, global energy group ExxonMobil and South Africa’s Engen Petroleum will be teaming up in a lubricants deal, under which Engen becomes the sole marketer and distributor of a range of ExxonMobil’s lubricants in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Academics and political analysts from around the world have gathered in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, for a conference on the achievements of the first decade of democracy in the country. "Post-apartheid South Africa has taught all of us that even those who are made into the worst enemies can overcome the trauma of such a tragedy," said Salim Ahmed Salim.
A pharmacy assistant’s dirty hands were the main reason why six babies died earlier this month in the Pelonomi hospital in Bloemfontein. Dr Victor Litlhakanyane, head of the Free State health department, told a news conference on Thursday that the assistant who prepared foodstuffs for the babies had washed his hands in a dirty basin.
![]()
In a protest on Thursday against the unequal donation policies of big business during the elections, the Freedom Front Plus handed back R10Â 000 to Sanlam at its head offices in Bellville, near Cape Town. ”We don’t want this donation … it is humiliation,” FF+ leader Dr Pieter Mulder told journalists.
Special Report: Elections 2004
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said on Thursday it was shocked by the announcement of further job cuts by Telkom at a time when parties were still negotiating alternatives. The CWU was reacting to a news report stating that Telkom planned to cut its workforce by between 7% and 10% a year over the next three years.
![]()
South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande says the alliance of the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party represents the most backward elements created by apartheid. ”These two parties represent not only the interests of beneficiaries of apartheid but are reluctantly part of the new order,” he said.
Special Report: Elections 2004
![]()
Western Cape Premier and New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk has emerged as the most popular premier candidate in that province in a Markinor poll conducted in January/February. In KwaZulu-Natal, the African National Congress’s top-ranking candidate for the legislature, S’bu Ndebele, won the popularity stake in the poll.
Special Report: Elections 2004
Caxton’s urgent interdict application against Naspers was dismissed with costs by the Competition Tribunal on Wednesday. The media group had hoped to prevent Naspers from buying out the minority shareholding in Electronic Media Network (M-Net) and Supersport International Holdings (Supersport).
Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Wednesday responded to the Treatment Action Campaign’s call last week for her to authorise the immediate procurement of anti-retroviral drugs. The minister said a meeting agreed there should be an urgent accreditation of facilities that meet the requirements to provide quality care.
South Africa’s inflation outlook remains favourable for the next two years, South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni told investors on Wednesday. ”Most analysts … expect CPIX inflation to remain within the inflation target range over the next two years,” he said.
Wesbank CEO Ronnie Watson on Tuesday announced a joint venture between the South African National Taxi Council and WesBank, to be called the South African National Taxi Finance Company. The primary aim of the joint venture is to facilitate the financing of new taxis under the government’s taxi recapitalisation plan.
![]()
Ten percent to 12% of the vote — that is what Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille predicts her party will get in next month’s general election. The fiery party leader, called the one-woman-show by many of her opponents, on Tuesday introduced her provincial leaders and premier’s candidates to the media.
Special Report: Elections 2004