South African journalist Mark Klusener was expected to appear in court in Jerusalem on Tuesday following his arrest, his wife Peroshni Govender said. She had been told that he and other staff members were arrested for operating a pirate radio station. Klusener is news director of 93.6 Ram FM, based in Jerusalem.
Consumer confidence in South Africa has fallen to a four-year low, according to the latest consumer confidence index by First National Bank and Stellenbosch University’s Bureau for Economic Research (FNB/BER), released on Tuesday. According to FNB/BER index, consumer confidence declined by 10 index points.
Abbey Makoe, chairperson of the Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ), has lashed out at a South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) finding regarding a controversial FBJ meeting where white journalists were barred based on the colour of their skin, calling it "nothing more than a judicial ambush" and a "banning order".
Eskom’s bid to have parts of its 53% tariff-increase application withheld from the public is to protect its position in ”hardcore” coal sales deals, the company said on Tuesday. Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said that without this stance, the company might have to pay more for coal, pushing the price of electricity up even more.
The three trade unions deadlocked in a wage dispute with Telkom have been invited to a meeting with the telecommunications company on Thursday in the hopes of avoiding a strike, the South African Communications Union (Sacu) said on Tuesday. ”Yesterday [Monday] the company said it would meet all the unions on Thursday to discuss the dispute,” said Sacu.
South African journalist Mark Klusener has been arrested in Jerusalem by Israeli police, the Foreign Affairs Department said on Monday. ”A South African journalist, Mark Klusener, was arrested along with seven other media workers, according to the South African embassy in Tel Aviv,” said department spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
The national congress of the African National Congress Youth League was indefinitely postponed on Monday evening after being unable to finish its work or confirm the results of its leadership election. Electoral commission member Malusi Gigaba told journalists in Bloemfontein that the League would ask the ANC to help solve its differences.
A man has been arrested for allegedly trying to set fire to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) building in Auckland Park on Monday, the public broadcaster said. It is alleged that the suspect poured petrol around the entrance of the building and tried to set it alight. He was immediately arrested, the report said.
Eskom has been given permission to have ”commercially sensitive” information on its proposed 53% tariff increase withheld from publication, the National Electricity Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) said on Monday. ”It is information that Eskom feels is commercially sensitive — just a paragraph here and there,” said Nersa spokesperson Charles Hlebela.
Opposition parties on Monday criticised President Thabo Mbeki’s assessment of Zimbabwe’s elections. Mbeki’s remarks, made in Britain on Sunday, indicated he was either woefully out of touch with reality in Zimbabwe or he was attempting to ”deliberately mislead the world’s media”, the Democratic Alliance’s Dianne Kohler-Barnard said.
Eight ATMs have been bombed in South Africa in less than a week, an escalating trend that has become a nearly daily offence in the crime-ridden country, police said on Monday. Three police officers and two civilians appeared in court on Monday in connection with the bombing of a cash machine last week, said police spokesperson Louis Jacobs.
Seven Durban men who allegedly stabbed a 20-year-old petrol attendant to death were taking revenge and mistook their victim for a robber, police said on Monday The seven — aged between 17 and 20 — were due to face a murder charge in the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Weather-pattern changes are expected to have a negative effect on health and quality of life, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Monday. ”We need to take actions aimed at strengthening our infectious-diseases control, ensure safe use of water supplies and coordinate health actions in order to respond,” she said.
The trial of Najwa Petersen, accused of murdering her entertainer husband, Taliep, has been delayed yet again — this time by a clash over how much information she needs about the charges she faces. The case got under way in the Cape High Court on Monday, but Judge Siraj Desai sat for less than two hours before postponing it to Wednesday.
![]()
Political leaders should never stay in power for over a decade, South Africa’s ruling party president Jacob Zuma has said, making clear his opposition to the path taken by some African rulers. Zuma spoke to the Wall Street Journal in an interview before neighbouring Zimbabwe held elections last month.
Eskom has signed a five-year agreement to import an additional 250MW of power from Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam, the company announced on Monday. ”We are trying to squeeze as much capacity out of every resource,” said Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger. The agreement was signed on Thursday April 3.
Julius Malema has been elected as African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president at the league’s national conference at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. Malema received 1Â 883 votes, it was announced on Monday, while the other candidate, Saki Mofokeng, received 1Â 696.
The murder trial of Najwa Petersen started in Cape Town on Monday with her advocate demanding that the state provide more details of the allegations against her. Klaus von Lieres und Wilkau brought the application before Petersen and her three co-accused were asked to plead in the Cape High Court.
An Egyptian diplomat’s family living in Groenkloof was held up at gunpoint and robbed over the weekend, Pretoria police said on Monday. ”Four suspects entered the house after they held up the guard. They then held up the family and robbed them of household goods and jewellery, then fled the scene.
Passengers jumped from a burning bus on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast on Monday, a provincial transport official said. Zinhle Mngomezulu said the Olympic bus was hired by the family of provincial agriculture minister Mtolephi Mthimkulu for his daughter’s wedding and reception.
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai visited South Africa on Monday for private meetings in his first foreign trip since the March 29 presidential election, a party official said. Meanwhile, about 200 Zimbabwean exiles gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Monday to hand over a petition to President Thabo Mbeki.
Resources continued to gain momentum from the morning trade session, driving the JSE further into positive territory by midday on Monday. By noon the JSE’s broader all-share index had advanced 1,72% as resources were up 2,92%. The platinum-mining index climbed 0,94% while the gold-mining index edged up 0,04%.
Eskom was to ask the National Energy Regulator of South Africa to withhold sections of its tariff-increase application from the public at a meeting on Monday on the grounds that the information was ”business sensitive”, the regulator said. Eskom, which was granted a 14,2% increase at the end of last year, is now seeking a 53% hike.
The Telkom South African National Aquatic Championships came to a thrilling climax at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre in Durban on Sunday evening with an unprecedented 20 swimmers posting Olympic ”A” qualifying times. It was a fitting ending to a sensational Olympic trial for the country’s swimmers.
Current South African road cycling champion Malcolm Lange continued to fine-tune his form in preparation of the defence of his Elite national title in East London next month when he won the Maluti Challenge in Bethlehem at the weekend. The seasoned MTN Energade professional outsprinted a strong field.
The interest-rate decision due on Thursday is not as straightforward as some hawks would proclaim, says Johan Rossouw, chief economist at Vunani. "In fact, understanding the monetary policy committee’s [MPC] interpretation of its mandate is of critical importance," he says.
Kgalema Motlanthe, deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC), on Sunday criticised the ”state of disorder” that characterised the ANC Youth League’s (ANCYL) national conference in Bloemfontein. Outgoing ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula said that ”forces” had tried to disrupt the congress but that they had failed.
A Lenasia man was arrested after he allegedly shot dead his wife, sister-in-law and brother-in-law on Sunday afternoon, Johannesburg police said. ”The middle-aged man, who was intoxicated at the time of the shooting, had been recently separated from his wife,” said Constable Edwin Ntsheo.
Schools ranked "the poorest of the poor" will be bolstered by an increase in support staff to free teachers from administrative duties so that they can spend more time on teaching and delivering quality Âeducation. The government has allocated just less than R1-billion that will provide for an extra 14 000 support staff posts.
A bumper maize crop this year could see food prices fall, offering welcome relief to consumers facing rising interest rates and fuel costs. With this large crop South Africans can expect to see the maize price move closer to export parity prices, which should offer consumers some relief.
State secrecy is an important issue in a democracy, especially given our past, but is the draft Protection of Information Bill the answer? Its stated aim is to ”promote the free flow of information within an open and democratic society without compromising the security of the Republic”.
Kaizer Chiefs moved into the top half of the Absa Premiership table after walloping Moroka Swallows 3-1 in a league match at a packed Olympia Park Stadium in Rustenburg on Sunday. Mabhuti Khenyeza, Jonathan Quartey and Thuso Phala scored for Chiefs, while Swallows’ lone goal came from the boot of James Chamanga.