No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Measures mooted to stem food price crisis

Measures to stem the looming food price crisis in South Africa will be put before the Cabinet next week, the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) said on Friday. A short-term solution is likely to involve more funds for the government’s social programmes to protect the poorest of the poor from the price hikes, NAMC chief executive Ronald Ramabulana said.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Dancer murder accused denied bail

A Pretoria magistrate on Friday denied bail to the security guard accused of murdering city dancer Estee van Rensburg. It also emerged on Friday that the guard, Aaron Mashishi, will go on trial in the Pretoria High Court on October 20. The 26-year-old is being charged with murder, robbery with aggravated circumstances and two counts of theft.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Manganese smelter did not insist on masks

A ferromanganese smelter near Durban did not insist its workers wear protective dust masks, even though dust levels were sometimes three times more than national legislative limits, a Labour Department inquiry heard on Thursday. The inquiry is investigating 40 alleged cases of manganism that have resulted from workers breathing in fumes.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Significant coal discovery made in Mozambique

Central African Mining and Exploration, which owns interests in fluorspar and PGM projects in South Africa, on Friday said it had made a significant coal discovery in Mozambique. The company said in a statement that the discovery was made during the ongoing systematic exploration programme covering the 21 licence areas in the Tete province.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Winners and losers in land of starving billionaires

Each day, Edwin Makotore’s wife and children hit the streets to earn cash so he can pay for the privilege of working. The 38-year-old father-of-two is the only one in the family with a full-time job, but by the time he has met the soaring cost of travelling to work in a small Harare supermarket, paid out of wages wildly out of step with the 165 000% inflation rate, Makotore is out of pocket.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Case of former Oprah school matron delayed

The Sebokeng Magistrate’s Court on Friday postponed until July the trial of a former dormitory matron of United States talk-show host Oprah Winfrey’s girls academy, who has been charged with abusing minors. Virginia Makgobo (27)appeared court to face charges of indecent and common assault, and soliciting a minor to perform indecent acts.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

JSE mixed in quiet trade, but MTN jumps

South African stocks were mixed in a thin-volume session by noon on Friday, with MTN in focus on vague newspaper reports that an Indian firm might launch a takeover bid for the local mobile telecoms firm, traders said. By midday the JSE’s broader all-share index was down 0,14%. Resources fell 1,27%.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

‘Not fair’ that govt taxes Eskom

The huge increase in the electricity price was the result of poor planning and management on the government’s part, so it should not be allowed to get tax income from that, a media report said on Friday. The government would get a R4-billion boost in taxes if Eskom was allowed to increase its prices by a nominal 60%.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Joost pays price after face-off with boom guard

Former Springbok rugby player Joost van der Westhuizen has paid R15 000 to avoid prosecution on charges of malicious damage to property for breaking a security boom, a media report said on Friday. The father of two was to have handed himself over at Douglasdale Police Station on Thursday where he would have been formally charged.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Zuma sees light at the end of the tunnel

The energy crisis gripping South Africa this year is a turning point, an adversity presenting opportunity, African National Congress president Jacob Zuma said on Thursday. Addressing a business breakfast at the Royal Africa Society and Commonwealth in London, Zuma said business leaders he met had raised concerns over the issue.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Judges should have wisdom, wit and courage

Recently Chief Justice Pius Langa gave an address on the relationship between the media and the judiciary in which he said he hoped one day it might be possible for our judges to be ”ordinary” men and women. To be fair, he was responding to a question raising concern about the extraordinary pressure our transition is placing on judge.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Zim protesters arrested outside Chinese embassy

Dozens of Zimbabweans were arrested on Friday outside the Chinese embassy in Pretoria during a protest over a ship that attempted to offload weapons destined for Zimbabwe, police said. "A total of 129 protesters were arrested staging an illegal protest. The police asked them to disperse and they refused so, they were arrested," a police spokesperson said.

No image available
/ 25 April 2008

Less conversation, more action

While delegates at last week’s Southern African Development Community (SADC) conference on poverty and development pulled up in taxis and luxury cars to the Mauritian conference centre, Linda Marie L’Acariate took a bus to work at the canteen of the Sacota textile mill, just outside the town of Rose Hill.

No image available
/ 24 April 2008

UJ has new plan to counter ‘racist’ attacks

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) will deploy a new security plan after a number of alleged racist attacks on campus in the last week, university management said on Thursday. Last week, local South African Students Congress chairperson Xolani Mkhwemnte said there had been an outbreak of ”racially motivated incidents” on the Kingsway campus.

No image available
/ 24 April 2008

SA sticks to growth rate of 6% by 2010

South Africa is sticking to its target growth rate of 6% by 2010 despite a chronic power crisis and slower global growth, a government official said on Thursday. Alan Hirsch, deputy head of the policy unit in the Presidency, said the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa is unchanged.

No image available
/ 24 April 2008

Fidentia case postponed in Brown’s absence

Fidentia chief executive J Arthur Brown was on Thursday late for a scheduled appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, on charges that include fraud involving the Transport, Education and Training Authority (Teta). In the dock without him were co-accused Dr Piet Bothma, Teta’s chief executive, and Jacobus Theart.

No image available
/ 24 April 2008

Power failure hits electricity briefing

A power cut disrupted proceedings at a briefing in Pretoria on Thursday involving possible class action against Eskom. Lights went off at the briefing hosted by trade union Solidarity shortly before 12.30pm. The briefing discussed the possibility of class action against Eskom over possible job losses as a result of the power crisis.

No image available
/ 24 April 2008

DA proposes six steps to weather economic storm

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Thursday proposed six steps to help the economy weather the current storm. ”Overall, sustainable and consistent policy is required,” DA spokesperson Kobus Marais told a media briefing at Parliament. ”Reverting to knee-jerk, short-term and populist measures will do more harm than ever before,” he said.

No image available
/ 24 April 2008

Kempton Park CBD without power until Sunday

Areas in and around the Kempton Park CBD will be without power until Sunday, the Ekurhuleni municipality said on Thursday, following a fire at a substation in Spartan on Monday. The crisis has left one resident dead and residential and business areas without electricity. Meanwhile, South Africans will be free of scheduled power cuts next week, Eskom said on Thursday.

No image available
/ 24 April 2008

Probe under way into E Cape child deaths

An intensive investigation is under way to establish whether contaminated water in the Eastern Cape caused the death of nearly 80 children, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Thursday. Earlier this week, media reports said nearly 80 children from the towns of Barkly East, Maclear, Sterkspruit and Elliot had died from diarrhoea and other complications.