African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Gwede Mantashe has agreed to meet the Democratic Alliance (DA) to discuss the future of the Scorpions, DA leader Helen Zille said on Wednesday. ”Unfortunately, Mr Mantashe’s letter indicates that [ANC president] Jacob Zuma will not be attending the meeting, as I originally requested,” she said in a statement.
The building industry should not be excluded from discussions with the government and Eskom regarding the current electricity crisis, Master Builders South Africa (MBSA) said on Wednesday. MBSA met Eskom in Midrand on Wednesday and it was decided that a forum would be established to open the communication channels.
The rights of about 300 Free State farmers along the Lesotho border to a ”functional society” will be tested in court, Free State Agriculture said on Wednesday. Free State Agriculture’s president, Louw Steytler, said the organisation had given its lawyers the go-ahead to draw up legal papers to take nine government departments to court.
South Africa’s power crisis may last many years unless there is a drop in demand for electricity, utility Eskom said on Wednesday. A reduction in consumption should not damage the economy, it added. Eskom is rationing power to households and reduced supply to big industrial customers from January after the energy grid came close to collapse.
Should South African pilot Brent Smyth be convicted of immigration transgressions in Zimbabwe, he may have to pay a fine of only R53, his employer, Wessel van den Bergh, said on Wednesday. Briefing the media, ATS Helicopters CEO Van den Bergh said according to Smyth a fine of Z 000 — roughly R53 — was ”the worst-case scenario”.
A 44-year-old pilot who died in a light aircraft crash in the Krugersdorp Game Reserve on Tuesday had requested to make an emergency landing at Lanseria Airport, Gauteng police said on Wednesday. Captain Jacob Raboroko said that the pilot, Trevor Emmanuel, was flying from Durban to an unknown destination when his aircraft ran low on fuel.
Shortages of steel and massive price hikes mean that there will be a delay in moving thousands of Delft evictees to temporary homes, Cape Town mayoral committee member for housing Dan Plato said on Wednesday. He said the ”three- or four-week” time frame that the city originally set for the move had already lapsed, and that it could now take months.
Aggregate industry new vehicle sales totalled 47 778 units for March, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa said on Wednesday. This was a decline of 10 103 units, or 17,5%, compared with the 57 881 vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year.
Police were searching for three men — one of whom raped a 35-year-old woman in front of her six-year-old child in their house in Leeufontein in the Roodeplaat area. Captain Jan Sepato said the woman and her husband were asleep on Monday night in their house in the Pebble Rock complex in Leeufontein when the gang struck.
About 74% of privately owned businesses in South Africa are more focused on attracting and retaining staff than a year ago, Grant Thornton’s International Business Report released on Wednesday showed. ”This places South Africa high out of the 34 countries participating in the survey and considerably higher than the global average of +59%,” the company said.
Bulls loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg will become the most capped Bulls player in Super rugby when he takes the field against the Western Force in Perth on Friday. Wannenburg, who was selected as flank alongside Wikus van Heerden, will surpass Victor Matfield’s record of 77 matches for the franchise.
Strong closes on Wall Street overnight and on Asian markets on Wednesday morning, led by financial stocks, have inspired similar local counters to extend earlier gains. By noon on Wednesday, the JSE’s broader all-share index had gained 1,14%, as banks advanced 3,4%.
The national Education Department is proposing a five-week long school break during the 2010 Soccer World Cup to avoid pupil and teacher absenteeism and a chaotic transport system, a media report said on Wednesday. A proposed school calendar for South African public schools has been gazetted and posted on the department’s website.
Growth in demand for credit from South Africa’s private sector slowed to 20,79% year-on-year in February, lower than expectations and easing pressure for an interest-rate hike next week. The central bank said on Wednesday private sector credit extension slowed from a revised 23,06% year-on-year in January.
At least 2 100 volunteers will be recruited and trained in KwaZulu-Natal by police officers from the United Kingdom to build up a front against crime before the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Project coordinator Nhlakanipho Mahlaba said that R35-million had been allocated for the ”volunteer social crime prevention project”.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the Zimbabwe government both denied on Tuesday that they were in talks to arrange the resignation of President Robert Mugabe. At a news conference on Tuesday evening, Tsvangirai confirmed, however, for the first time personally that his party had won the elections.
Nineteen boys were rescued from an Eastern Cape initiation school on Tuesday, police said. Captain Mduduzi Godlwana said the 19 boys at an initiation school in Mgodini were found to be in a serious condition.
South African helicopter pilot Brent Smyth, who was arrested in Zimbabwe last week, will appear again in court on Thursday, said his employer ATS aviation services. Smyth arrived at the court in Harare on Tuesday but was sent away after the magistrate said he needed two days to prepare his findings.
A Cape Town councillor who allegedly encouraged the invasion of new homes at Delft on the Cape Flats is to go before a disciplinary committee, city speaker Dirk Smit said on Tuesday. Smit said in a statement that he had completed his own probe into whether the councillor, Frank Martin, had breached the councillors’ code of conduct.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) expressed disappointment on Tuesday over Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa’s decision not to hold a commission of inquiry into the affairs of the department of agriculture, conservation and environment. DA spokesperson Jack Bloom said it was ”discourteous” to hear of the decision through the media.
A 27-year-old man accused of killing and robbing a Barkly East petrol attendant claimed on Tuesday that he was forced to commit the murder by two other men. This was heard in the Grahamstown High Court where Katiso Mapeyi and his nephew Ayanda Mapeyi are on trial for the murder and robbery of Johannes Mokoko.
The University of South Africa (Unisa) is to adopt an anti-racism policy, it said on Tuesday. ”The renewal of Unisa must and will be built on a fully representative body of staff, academic and non-academic, at all levels,” said vice-chancellor Barney Pityana.
Poverty mostly affects women, Tshwane mayor Gwen Ramakgopa said on Tuesday at a two-day conference on poverty reduction and community development in Pretoria. ”Poverty involves not only the lack of necessities of material well-being, but the denial of opportunities to lead a tolerable life,” said Ramakgopa.
A scanner costing R43-million — the first of 18 — has been put into operation at Durban harbour’s container terminal, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Tuesday. Leonard Radebe, head of customs at Sars, said the scanner would improve turnaround times at the congested Durban terminal.
South Africa’s manufacturing sector contracted in March at the sharpest pace in nearly five years, knocked by slowing economic growth and high costs, a survey showed on Tuesday. The overall index from the purchasing managers’ survey dropped further below the 50 divide between growth and contraction to 43,7 in March.
South Africa exceeded its tax-revenue target by more than R800-million in the 2007/08 financial year due to strong economic growth and efficient collections. The Treasury said the South African Revenue Service (Sars) revenue service collected ,807-billion in taxes.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s allies have rallied to his defence in the wake of University of South Africa rector Barney Pityana’s indictment of his character on Monday. The Young Communist League said it had noted the ”disrespectful and dastardly remarks made by the deplorable” rector.
South African average house prices fell for the first time in eight years, pushing the March year-on-year inflation to a negative 5,2%, new data showed on Tuesday. The negative growth recorded for the month follows three straight months of flat growth and pushed the average house price to R550 000 from R570 000 last month.
Black South Africans are still optimistic about the country and its future, according to research conducted by TNS Research Surveys, which was released on Tuesday. TNS — which has conducted surveys since 2004 — also said that people in metro areas had reached the lowest point in terms of their optimism in the recent survey.
You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Bleary-eyed readers of the <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i> on Tuesday April 1 could be forgiven for falling for Eskom’s bold new "sector-sharing plan" to save electricity. We round up some of the day’s best pranks.
Rugby body Sanzar will investigate an official Queensland Reds complaint that the Sharks fielded an extra man for more than two minutes in their Super 14 clash in Durban last weekend. But Sanzar’s Peter Rowles does not expect Queensland to receive a bonus point if a teleconference on Wednesday confirms the Sharks used a 16th man.
The JSE was looking lifeless at midday on Tuesday, as there was no real driver to push the market in either direction, traders said. By 11.59am, the JSE’s broader all-share index had shed 0,1%. The gold mining index dropped 3,14%, resources fell 1,48% and the platinum mining index declined 0,55%.