The South African Municipal Workers’ Union warned on Wednesday that a strike by
about 8 000 workers on the East Rand was set to continue. This comes after Ekurhuleni mayor Duma Nkosi refused to accept a memorandum from protesters outside his office in Germiston on Tuesday, saying their strike action was illegal.
Africa’s future economic growth should happen through trade and not aid, said President Thabo Mbeki in Japan on Wednesday. ”Without discounting the importance of aid, improved terms of trade for Africa is critical to ensure its full integration into the global economy,” said Mbeki at the international conference on African development summit at Yokohama.
Jimmy Malish huddles under a blanket, looks at the darkening sky and prays that it doesn’t rain again on him and the hundreds of other African migrants camped in the courtyard of a Johannesburg police station. Although President Thabo Mbeki has condemned the violence, on the ground there are few signs the government has stepped in with significant aid for victims.
At least 24 people were killed and scores more injured in the Eastern Cape when a bus careened down a 200m embankment into a river near the town of Cedarville. Police spokesperson Superintendent Zandra Wiid said it was not known how many people were in the bus. Unconfirmed reports said there were as many as 80.
Foreign children have the same right as their South African counterparts to be protected, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said on Tuesday. He said it was sad that children were once again bearing the brunt of xenophobic violence, losing parents and loved ones, as well as their homes.
Sports and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile on Tuesday voiced his concern over the slow pace of transformation in South African rugby. Stofile said appeals to officials to use the recent success of the Springboks in France as a catalyst for transformation had fallen on deaf ears.
The seven students expelled from the Mafikeng Campus of the North-West University (NWU) have been granted permission to continue with studies and examinations. Spokesperson Lester Mpolokeng said the seven students either expelled or suspended from the university would remain provisionally suspended.
Several institutions, including the Development Bank of Southern Africa, and national carrier South African Airways, offered funding totalling more than R20-million to xenophobia victims on Tuesday. SAA chief executive Khaya Ngqula said the airline would donate about R750Â 000 to the Red Cross.
Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown is suffering from acute stress and deep depression, according to his psychiatrist. This emerged on Tuesday when Brown appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court in a bid to secure bail after his latest arrest. The application was postponed to Thursday.
Opening South Africa’s borders to facilitate the entrance and exit of Southern African Development Community residents would be disastrous, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Tuesday. ”This ‘come one, come all’ approach is likely to dramatically increase the number of people entering our borders and exacerbate existing tensions,” she said.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota on Tuesday rejected claims that the South African Navy only had enough qualified crew to operate one of its new state-of-the-art submarines. ”I don’t know what the source of the information is that we can only operate one submarine … that is absolutely fallacious,” he told a media briefing at Parliament.
Murder accused Andrew Jordaan told the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday that he wept at the manhole near which the body of seven-year-old Sheldean Human was found because he ”felt sorry” for her. Jordaan again insisted he was innocent and knew nothing about the little blonde girl’s murder at Pretoria Gardens in February last year.
Labour and business agreed on Tuesday that Eskom’s proposed 53% tariff increase would have a severe impact on the economy. ”Pricing is not the only solution; effective leadership and strategic appropriation of management is important,” said Business Unity South Africa.
Japanese engineering and heavy machinery maker Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is reportedly considering a ¥10-billion (R746,5-million) investment in South Africa’s Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR). The investment would buy the Japanese company a stake of about 10% in PBMR.
An agency that sold tickets for a Celine Dion concert in March and a cancelled Josh Grobin concert in April was on Tuesday placed under final liquidation. An application for the liquidation of Ticket Connection was brought before Judge P Burton-Fourie by the agency itself, which said it was unable to pay debts.
South Africa’s economic growth rate slowed to 2,1% in the first quarter of 2008 on a seasonally adjusted and annualised basis, official data showed on Tuesday, citing a sharp drop in mining due to a power crisis. Statistics South Africa said Q1 GDP slowed from 5,3% in the fourth quarter of 2007.
At least 30 people are believed to have died when their bus left the road and went over a cliff into a river near Cedarville in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday. Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said paramedics had told him that the bus went off an 80m embankment and landed upside-down in the river.
A South African university residence where a racist video degrading black workers was filmed earlier this year is being closed down, a spokesperson said on Monday. The homemade video, filmed by students of the Reitz residence at the University of the Free State, caused outrage when it was leaked in February.
Eskom’s proposed 53% tariff increase will have a negative effect on the economy, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said on Tuesday. Speaking at the second day of public hearings of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, Busa’s Roger Baxter said studies had shown the economic impact of the hike would lead to about 55Â 000 job losses.
South African stocks were lower at midday on Tuesday, pressured by below-forecast gross domestic product (GDP) data, which showed that the quarterly economic growth rate slowed to 2,1%, traders said. At 12.02pm, the all-share index was down 0,71%. Resources fell 1,01%, while the gold- and platinum-mining indices were off 0,42% and 0,72% respectively.
Bafana Bafana’s hard-tackling midfielder, Lance Davids, will not be star-struck when he lines up against Nigeria in what could be the biggest match of his career in Abuja on Sunday. Kick-off is at 5pm South African time. The 23-year-old Cape Town-born Davids is one of the promising stars who local fans are hoping will set the 2010 World Cup finals alight.
On a vast rubbish-strewn field in a mining area east of Johannesburg, hundreds of destitute Africans who have fled their makeshift homes in nearby slums shiver in the morning cold. The land, covered in white tents donated by aid groups, resembles the all-too-familiar refugee camps seen across this violence-hit continent.
The University of the Free State’s handling of the Reitz saga has not contributed to reconciliation, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Tuesday. FF Plus leader in the Free State Abrie Oosthuizen said the decision by the university to close the Reitz residence was an act of subservience to the African National Congress.
Eskom has no power cuts planned, the power utility said on Monday. However, demand and supply remained tight and any technical difficulties could result in emergency cuts, said spokesperson Fani Zulu. ”One you have technical problems, they quickly take you to load-shedding,” he said.
South Africa’s biggest cellphone operator, Vodacom, reported a rise in annual profit as it boosted subscriber numbers, parent company Telkom said on Tuesday. Telkom, Africa’s largest fixed-line telephone operator, said Vodacom had increased its total subscribers by 12,7% to 34-million in the year ended March.
Springbok captain John Smit joined the Springbok training session in Stellenbosch on Monday morning just hours after stepping off the plane from France, where he had been playing for Top 14 club Clermont. The arrival of Smit was greeted with great relief by Springbok coach Peter de Villiers. ”We could not do our planning fully without him,” De Villiers explained.
Fraud convict Schabir Shaik has been admitted to the critical care unit of Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital, his brother, Mo, said on Monday. Mo said this was because of fears that his high blood pressure could lead to heart problems. chabir was first admitted to the hospital on April 1 and has been there ever since.
President Thabo Mbeki faces an uphill battle to remain politically relevant in his last year in office after his failure to contain an eruption of violence that has killed dozens of foreign workers in South Africa. Mbeki was already under fire for failing to prevent a crippling power shortage when mobs went on the rampage this month.
Xenophobic violence against foreign nationals has been brought under control, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Monday. ”I do believe the situation is under control … the violence has subsided,” he said at a briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria following an inter-governmental task team meeting with President Thabo Mbeki.
Having indicated in previous answers to parliamentary questions that the Department of Minerals and Energy was considering the possible impact of introducing daylight-savings time, Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica has now said that it is not on the agenda.
Bafana Bafana’s technical and communications staff were seemingly in a tizzy on Monday after confirmation that Benson Mhlongo had smashed his ankle and petulant Benni McCarthy had broken his word to arrive at the training camp on Monday prior to Sunday’s crucial African Nations qualifier against Nigeria.
The University of the Free State (UFS) is expected to announce its decision on the future of its Reitz men’s hostel on Tuesday. The hostel was the centre of a racial storm in February this year after a video, made by residents, sparked a national outcry. The council of the UFS has mandated management to consider the possibility of closing down the hostel.