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%.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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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%.
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The African National Congress (ANC) has come out in defence of its president, Jacob Zuma, after scathing criticism of him by University of South Africa rector Barney Pityana on Monday. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe described Pityana’s statements as ”spurious” and a reflection of ”intellectual bankruptcy”.
The establishment of a media appeals tribunal as proposed by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) threatens the right to press freedom, the press ombudsman said in Durban on Monday. Ombudsman Joe Thloloe warned that ”once media freedom is threatened, it is an individual’s freedom of expression that is threatened”.
In the latest blow to South Africans already reeling from scheduled load-shedding, entire cities will now be plunged into darkness as Eskom institutes even more extreme power cuts. The shock development, which will be known as sector-sharing, will see the country divided into four vertical zones, each spanning many thousands of square kilometres.
Zimbabwe’s opposition claimed a clear lead over President Robert Mugabe and his party as pressure mounted on Monday evening for the swift announcement of full results from presidential and parliamentary polls. Earlier on Monday, the United Kingdom-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting said that Mugabe was to announce victory.
The person allegedly responsible for sending a letter suspected to be laced with poison to the office of National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) acting head Mokotedi Mpshe has been identified. NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Monday that the authority’s security and risk unit had made ”significant headway” relating to the letter.
Four boys died after they were rescued from initiation schools in the Eastern Cape, the provincial health department said on Monday. Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said that in a joint ongoing operation, which started on Friday, 87 boys were rescued from illegal initiation schools.
South Africans will be able to watch the 2010 Soccer World Cup for free on South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) television or at public viewing events, Fifa announced on Monday. Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said the SABC did not need a licence to broadcast the Fifa Confederations Cup in 2009 or the 2010 World Cup.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma has failed to inspire confidence during his first few months at the party’s helm, says University of South Africa rector Barney Pityana. ”We now enter a new era. It is a time shrouded in anxiety and uncertainty with the looming presidency of Jacob Zuma and a new assertive leadership of the ANC,” he said on Monday.
Siyabonga Nqakula was on Monday effectively given a sentence of a R10Â 000 fine or six months in prison on a charge of drunken driving. Nqakula’s father is Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula and his mother Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
The Department of Education is to investigate the extent of racism and other forms of discrimination in higher education, it said on Monday. A ministerial committee is expected to look into discrimination based on gender, ethnicity and disability, with a particular focus on university residences, said spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele in a statement.
The African National Congress (ANC) Youth League on Monday called for the immediate closure of Johannesburg’s Noord Street taxi rank after a second woman was assaulted. Spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the continued abuse and harassment of women by taxi operators at the rank undermined the dignity and freedom of women.