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.
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.
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.
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.
A weaker rand and higher commodity prices boosted mining stocks on the JSE by midday on Monday, but negative global sentiment still weighed on the bourse. By midday, the JSE’s broader all-share index was off 0,76%, dragged lower by a 4,42% dip in the bank index. Financials gave up 2,63% while industrials pulled back 1,07%.
Ten people were killed on Monday morning in an accident on the N3 highway near Pietermaritzburg, transport officials said. Rajen Chinnaboo, spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal transport department said the accident took place on the N3 Durban-bound highway before the Shongweni offramp at 7:30am.
The South African Communist Party has asked the South African Police Service to finalise its investigation into a donation scandal after an internal audit cleared their secretary general Blade Nzimande. The SACP audit was set up to investigate the whereabouts of R500 000 donated to the party by controversial businessman Charles Modise.
Kwaito star Mandoza is recovering at home following a car accident in the early hours of Saturday morning. Two people died and Mduduzi Tshabalala [Mandoza] was hospitalised after he crashed his DaimlerChrysler Crossfire into a VW Jetta along the N1 near the 14th Avenue offramp at about 1.23am.
Shamim ”Chippy” Shaik has been stripped of his doctorate degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal without reason, his brother and lawyer Yunis Shaik said on Sunday. Last year, media reports said that ”more than two-thirds” of Shaik’s 2003 PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the then-University of Natal had been plagiarised
The Birds left it late — then swooped to a scintillating 3-1 Absa Premiership win over Bloemfontein Celtic with three goals in the last ten minutes of play. After Malawian defender Patrick Mabedi had equalised for Moroka Swallows, with a superbly timed header in the 79th minute, the team completed their scoring spree with late goals from substitutes Sandile Ndlovu and Alfred Phiri.
A 30-year-old man was arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a two-year-old girl from Valhalla Park in Cape Town, police said on Saturday. Spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said that the child’s mother went to work at a nearby spaza-shop and left the child in the care of her sister on Thursday.
Locked together with 31 points each, Orlando Pirates and Golden Arrows were inseparable in an evenly-matched, engrossing 0-0 Absa Premiership draw at Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday night. Whoever said a goalless game cannot be entertaining could not have witnessed the clash between two teams who both look worthy of Top Eight finishes in the log.
South Africans should arm themselves to ward off criminals, regardless of government’s efforts to disarm citizens, Gun Owners South Africa (Gosa) said on Saturday. Gosa said South Africa’s justice system was ”on the verge of collapse” and that the police and security forces were ”in a state of total disarray”.
French Test flyhalf Frederick Michalak scored his first try in Super 14 rugby when the Sharks beat the Bulls 29-15 in an all-South African match on Saturday. Michalak scored the first of three Sharks tries in the final 10 minutes to help maintain his team’s unbeaten start to the season and settle a match in which the lead changed hands four times.
A glaring error by referee Kelvin Deaker cost the Lions seven points in the Super 14 match which they eventually lost 18-16 to the Western Force at Ellis Park on Friday night. The call forced the Lions to play catch-up after a Cameron Shepherd penalty had put the visitors ahead with a long-range penalty.
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As the National Prosecuting Authority was revealing in papers submitted to the Constitutional Court how African National Congress president Jacob Zuma allegedly failed to declare his income to the taxman, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Friday was keeping mum.
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/ 29 February 2008
Industrial users of electricity feel that they are bearing the brunt of electricity rationing, while more needs to be done to involve other sectors of society, an energy working group said in Cape Town on Friday. ”Busa [Business Unity South Africa] said that businesses are bearing the brunt of this and need the rest of the economy to come in,” Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said.
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/ 29 February 2008
Architect Luyanda Mpahlwa describes the process of creating and realising new housing solutions on Mitchells Plain.
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/ 29 February 2008
Media24 on Friday announced the closure of the Gauteng and Free State editions of its Afrikaans tabloid, Son, citing weak growth prospects. The Western Cape and Eastern Cape additions would continue to publish, a statement from Fergus Sampson, CEO of the emerging markets division, said.
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/ 29 February 2008
Police are investigating a case of crimen injuria in relation to a racist video made by students at the University of the Free State. The video, which caused national outrage, features black university employees on their knees eating food that had apparently been urinated upon by white students.
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With live video
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/ 29 February 2008
A Drum magazine journalist was beaten up in what is believed to have been a racial attack in a café in Bloemfontein on Thursday night, the magazine said. ”Drum condemns the incident and believes there is no place for such racist behaviour,” said deputy editor Elmari Rautenbach on Friday.