Transport was the area of highest growth in the South African economy between 2004 and 2006, a Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) survey has found. This was a result of accelerated purchases of motor vehicles, Stats SA said on Tuesday in releasing its Income and Expenditure Survey for 2005/2006.
Hundreds of South African women demonstrated at a commuter taxi rank on Tuesday, calling for an end to harassment for wearing miniskirts. The protesters, wearing miniskirts themselves, marched to the central Johannesburg taxi rank where a young woman wearing a miniskirt was attacked and sexually assaulted last month by taxi drivers.
South Africa’s advanced nuclear reactor technology programme will include United States-based Westinghouse Electric as a partner and a new shareholders’ contract is expected by the end of the month, an official said on Tuesday. South Africa is currently testing elements of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor and wants to build 24 to 30 reactors for its own energy needs.
Thirteen students were arrested at the University of the Free State (UFS) on Tuesday for contravening a court order. Police spokesperson Captain Chaka Marope said they were taken into custody on the Bloemfontein campus at about 8am after they disrupted classes.
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Johannesburg Metro police said on Tuesday they had not tested Kwaito star Mandoza for driving under the influence of alcohol after an accident on Saturday because he was being treated at the scene by paramedics. Two people were killed when Mandoza smashed into the back of their car.
A memorial service is expected to be held for the more than 30 people who died in separate accidents in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Monday, provincial minister for safety and security Bheki Cele said on Tuesday. KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sbu Ndebele declared Thursday as a day of mourning for the victims.
No one in South Africa has been trained to tune a piano for nearly a decade — leaving only about 50 ageing piano tuners in the country. The South African Association of Professional Piano Tuners is now concerned that unqualified people could damage the industry as well as the piano in the corner of your living room.
South Africa was not swayed by any major power to vote in favour of a new United Nations Security Council resolution imposing further sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. The resolution was approved on Monday by a vote of 14-0, with Indonesia abstaining.
New vehicles sales are continuing to decline, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) reported on Tuesday. New vehicle sales fell by 12% to 46 248 units in February compared with the same month last year, Naamsa said.
The Germiston Regional Court has postponed until October the trial of three men against whom Glenn Agliotti is expected to testify. In an appearance on Tuesday, the case was postponed for trial until October 14, 15 and 16 and October 28, 29 and 30. Stephan Paparos, his father, Dimitrio, and Stanley Poonin stand accused of dealing in hashish.
Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri has criticised the Treasury for failing to finance state-owned signal carrier Sentech, Business Day reported on Tuesday. Treasury officials ”just don’t understand” the vital role Sentech could play in lowering South Africa’s exorbitant cost of communications, the newspaper quoted the minister as saying.
The JSE was up 0,82% at midday on Tuesday as advances in the platinum and resource sectors added support. However, financial and bank stocks had started to weigh. By noon, the JSE’s platinum mining index advanced 2,14%, resources gained 1,75% and the gold mining index edged up 0,08%.
South Africa’s FirstRand said on Tuesday that first-half diluted normalised headline earnings per share rose 12% to 105,6 cents, at the lower end of its forecasts, despite tough market conditions. The group said it was unlikely to meet its long-term targeted growth in earnings of 10% above inflation in the current financial year.
The death toll in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) from Monday’s accidents has risen, the province’s transport department said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Rajen Chinnaboo said a fifth accident was reported in KwaZulu-Natal at 8pm, bringing the total number of deaths in the province on Monday to 32.
Bulls prop Jaco Engels received a three-week suspension and centre JP Nel a one-week ban on Monday following incidents in the weekend’s Super 14 loss to the Sharks. Cited after the 29-15 defeat at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s final, the pair fronted up to a judiciary at the stadium.
Struggling Premier Soccer League (PSL) club Bloemfontein Celtic said on Monday that they had fired coach Khabo Zondo. Zondo, who also assists national coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, was axed a day after mid-table Celtic conceded three late goals to lose 3-1 at Moroka Swallows.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso Ndebele on Monday condemned a surge in cash-in-transit heists in the province. ”This renewed spate of heists in the province is something we condemn in the strongest terms, for such criminality results in a number of people … being inconvenienced by the delays in getting their money,” he said.
The government’s failure to extend the child-support grant to all vulnerable children under the age of 18 will leave about two million children without social support for the foreseeable future. Last month’s budget, which capped the age for children on the grant at 15 from January next year, was severely criticised by civil society.
Johannesburg road speed cameras will be up and running this week, the Johannesburg metro police department said on Monday. ”There was a growing concern for human life as motorists began using roads as racing tracks when the cameras were not working,” said Senior Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.
Lawyers for the University of the Free State (UFS) and two white male students who made a racist video involving black university workers were still discussing details of possible disciplinary action on Monday. UFS spokesperson Lacea Loader said the process of disciplinary action was still ongoing on Monday as ”the legally correct processes were continuing”.
Senior Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) officials who are supporters of President Thabo Mbeki are not facing the axe, the trade-unionfederation said on Monday. Cosatu dismissed reports that three senior officials were in the firing line as ”totally untrue”.
Four accidents on Monday claimed the lives of 31 people in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), prompting the province’s premier to declare this coming Thursday a day of mourning. KwaZulu-Natal health spokesperson Leon Mbangwa said a collision between a coal truck and a minibus taxi near Dundee claimed the lives of 15 people, while another 12 were killed on the outskirts of Durban.
The man accused of setting fire to the African National Congress Luthuli House headquarters last week will appear in court again on March 10. Magistrate Steff Bezuidenhout on Monday said the case would be postponed so that the man’s particulars could be verified.
South Africa’s January producer price index (PPI) data will be released at 11.30am on Thursday March 6, Statistics South Africa said on Monday. The data, which will include changed weightings and new products in the PPI basket, was initially scheduled for release on February 28. It was delayed twice on problems related to the introduction of the new structure.
A defence request on Monday for a two-month postponement in Najwa Petersen’s trial for the alleged murder of her husband led to acrimonious exchanges between her new senior counsel and Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai. Senior counsel Klaus von Lieres und Wilkau told the court he had only been approached late last Friday by new attorney Joshua Greeff.
No power cuts are foreseen for the rest of this week, Eskom said on Monday. ”The situation is tight at the moment, but we don’t anticipate load shedding to occur for the rest of this week,” said spokesperson Tony Stott. Last week Eskom and City Power-Johannesburg launched a timetable of power cuts to help industry and residents plan ahead.
South Africa’s rating of 63,2% ranks it 52nd globally on the Heritage Foundation 2008 Index of Economic Freedom. In a statement released on Monday, Century 21 South Africa — the local chapter of the world’s largest real-estate brand — said the index, which covers 162 countries, took 10 specific freedoms into account.
South Africa’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to a four-and-a-half year low of 46,4 in February, knocked by slowing demand and a crippling power shortage. The fall in the index, a measure of manufacturing activity, from 52,1 in January reflected lower new sales orders and marked the first decline below the 50 mark, which separates expansion from contraction, since 2003.
Standard Bank has received a R16-billion boost to its capital base after completion of a deal in which China’s biggest lender ICBC took a 20% stake, it said on Monday. International and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s biggest lender by assets, said in October last year it would pay ,5-billion for the stake in Standard Bank.
Sixty-one percent of all Gauteng policing precincts recorded a decrease in the total amount of violent crimes between July and December 2007, compared with the same period the previous year. Addressing the, Gauteng minister for community safety Firoz Cachalia said violent contact-crime categories decreased within the target range of between 7% and 10%.
Copper cable theft between April last year and the end of January has cost Telkom R863-million, the telecommunications provider said on Monday. In a statement, Telkom said the ”alarming surge” in copper cable theft was the biggest inhibitor in its capability to improve service levels.
The rand and bond market in South Africa are at one that the indefinite delay in South Africa’s producer price index (PPI) is causing the country’s reputation harm on the global stage. Dealers and portfolio managers in the rand and bond markets on Monday said that the untimely delays were causing damage.