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/ 20 February 2008
South Africa is sitting on gold, platinum and other minerals that are selling at record prices on world markets, yet its economy is, quite literally, underpowered. The rand, the worst performing currency this year, has lost 12% against the dollar in the past month since the country was hit with electricity shortages that kept mines from working.
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/ 20 February 2008
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has delivered what he terms a "can do" budget that aims to put the doomsayers and naysayers at rest by boosting infrastructure and people. Manuel noted that this was important or else the doomsayers and naysayers would simply "take control".
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/ 19 February 2008
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has wished Fidel Castro a long and happy retirement following the Cuban leader’s decision not to return to office as president. ”Comrade Fidel holds a special place in South African hearts because of his decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to help our African liberation struggles,” sais the trade union.
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/ 19 February 2008
Outrage mounted on Tuesday over an attack on a young woman at the Noord Street taxi rank in Johannesburg for wearing a miniskirt. Nwabisa Ngcukana (25) was humiliated when taxi drivers and hawkers at the rank tore off her clothes and said she was being taught a lesson for wearing a miniskirt.
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/ 19 February 2008
The Annestacia Wiese murder trial was postponed on Tuesday for the Cape High Court to rule on an application that the Department of Health provide an expert to testify about the accused’s state of mind. Murder accused Richard Engelbrecht has pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of the 11-year-old Wiese.
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/ 19 February 2008
The National Lotteries Board has ordered Vodacom to stop its win-a-BMW competition. ”The board is satisfied that it has done its duty in policing and stopping the illegal lottery,” the board said in a statement on Tuesday. It said Vodacom was instructed on Monday to cease the competition.
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/ 19 February 2008
Seven people were injured on Tuesday when riot-squad officers fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at squatters resisting eviction from a housing project in Delft near Cape Town, South African police said. The violence erupted as several hundred squatters tried to prevent contractors from loading their scant belongings on to removal trucks.
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/ 19 February 2008
Geraldine Pillay, who appeared to be in prime condition, and some of South Africa’s other top athletes were visibly excited and more than happy on Tuesday to share their goals and expectations ahead of the fourth Yellow Pages Series meeting at Germiston on Friday night.
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/ 19 February 2008
The African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday congratulated the Springboks for winning the Laureus World Team of the Year award. ”With this prestigious award, they have once more shown that South Africa is a force to be reckoned with, and that we can take on the best of what the sporting world has to offer and come out on top,” the ANC said.
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/ 19 February 2008
The application of fuel-cell systems is an exciting emerging trend that may offer future solutions to the world’s energy problems, a conference heard on Tuesday. This is according to Vladimir Linkov of the University of the Western Cape, who addressed the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers’ power-generation conference.
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/ 19 February 2008
Media reports of a row over an ”inferior” contract the South African Rugby Union purportedly offered new Springbok coach Peter de Villiers were unfounded, his agent said on Tuesday. Rian Oberholzer said his client’s contract is still being negotiated. ”There is no sensational new development,” he said.
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/ 19 February 2008
The City of Johannesburg cannot evict inner-city tenants living in central Johannesburg unless adequate alternative accommodation is provided, the Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday. ”Potential homelessness must be considered by a city when it decides whether to evict people from buildings,” said the court.
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/ 19 February 2008
Tourists spent an estimated R2,5-billion in KwaZulu-Natal during the festive season, while more than 1,4-million foreign tourists visited the province during 2007, the province’s arts, culture and tourism minister said on Tuesday. During the year, hotels in the province reported an average occupancy rate of 71,3%.
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/ 19 February 2008
Classes at all the Tshwane University of Technology’s campuses were suspended amid student protests on Tuesday, authorities said. ”The decision was taken due to the prevailing atmosphere on campus and the potential for violent clashes between striking and non-striking students,” vice-chancellor Errol Tyobeka said.
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/ 19 February 2008
Persian Gulf countries may enlist South African expertise in their plans to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, Kuwait’s Foreign Minister said on Tuesday. Mohamed Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah was speaking after talks in Cape Town with his South African counterpart, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
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/ 19 February 2008
The South African Communist Party (SACP) bade Cuban President Fidel Castro farewell after he left office on Tuesday. The ailing Cuban leader said he will not return to lead the country as president or commander-in-chief, retiring as head of state 49 years after he seized power in an armed revolution.
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/ 19 February 2008
Looking at the options available to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel when he delivers his national budget in the National Assembly on Wednesday, the experts of the Old Mutual Investment Group reckon that he could have as much as R25-billion to play with. But how would he spend it?
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/ 19 February 2008
The first of South Africa’s long-planned "new generation" prisons should be completed by February next year, MPs heard on Tuesday. The R662-million Kimberley Correctional Centre was more than one-third completed by the end of last month, prisons commissioner Vernie Petersen said.
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/ 19 February 2008
Two South African men were arrested while trying to smuggle nearly R750-million worth of heroin into the country at the Beit Bridge border post from Zimbabwe, Limpopo police said on Tuesday. Police said the heroin was found in a secret compartment at the base of the truck.
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/ 19 February 2008
Recent cases of spying involving the mayor of Cape Town and a report alleging a conspiracy to bring down the government are part of apartheid ”baggage”, Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils said in Cape Town on Tuesday. He said it is a ”knee-jerk reaction” to assume that the National Intelligence Agency is behind such cases.
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/ 19 February 2008
A man and a woman travelling in a white BMW were critically injured outside Hillary Primary School in Durban on Tuesday morning after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle, which had stopped near the school. Donovan Pillay (26) was seated in the car with Leanne Armugam — the wife of his cousin, local taxi boss Duncan Armugam.
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/ 19 February 2008
The disbanding of the Scorpions is still only a ”proposal” and will go to Parliament and include public participation, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said in Cape Town on Tuesday. The unit will also stay on the high-profile cases on which it is currently working, he told a media briefing on the future of the criminal justice system.
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/ 19 February 2008
The People’s Budget Coalition has reiterated its call for a basic income grant as part of its national budget wish list. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel tables the national budget on Wednesday. The coalition comprises the Congress of South African Trade Unions, South African National NGO Coalition and the South African Council of Churches.
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/ 19 February 2008
Light is all its going to take to connect South Africans and the rest of Africa to Europe and Asia via the Middle East by 2010. International contractor Seacom is building and will own and operate a high-capacity undersea cable that will stretch over approximately 17 000km, providing cheap bandwidth at high volumes.
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/ 19 February 2008
Brait economist Colen Garrow says that while the government’s inflation-targeting and exchange-control policies are overdue to be fine-tuned, it is unlikely that any tangible announcement will be made on Wednesday in Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s budget speech.
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/ 19 February 2008
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is expected to announce the usual sin-tax increases on alcohol and tobacco when he makes his national budget speech on Wednesday. Economists said on Tuesday that they wouldn’t be surprised to hear Manuel announce an increase in taxes on these products.
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/ 19 February 2008
The bank and resources indices kept the JSE in positive territory on Tuesday, lifting the bourse 0,7% higher by midday. Banks advanced 2,14% and financials collected 1,14%. The gold mining index added 1,46%, resources lifted 1,11% and the platinum mining index was up 0,58%. However, industrials were down 0,12%.
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/ 19 February 2008
South Africans will be able to see a total eclipse of the moon just before sunrise on Thursday. ”South Africans out [very] early on Thursday morning are in for a treat — an eclipsed Moon with Saturn over in the west, and a line of three planets over in the east above the rising sun,” said Claire Flanagan, Planetarium director.
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/ 19 February 2008
Chiefs are thirteen points behind log leaders Ajax Cape Town and are occupying 12th position in the Premier League log. Now, with a bitter attack from chairperson Kaizer Motaung on the tactics of coach Muhsin Ertugral, can things get any worse for the tottering PSL giants?
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/ 19 February 2008
Evictions have begun at the housing development in Delft illegally occupied by backyard dwellers, the Western Cape Anti-Eviction campaign said on Tuesday morning. A Cape High Court judge on Monday refused the more than 1Â 000 squatters leave to appeal against an earlier eviction order.
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/ 19 February 2008
South African retailer Shoprite reported a 55,1% rise in half-year headline earnings per share, as an emerging black middle class spent freely, but said it faced tougher times in the year ahead. Diluted headline earnings per share — the main profit measure in South Africa — rose to 128,4 cents, while revenue climbed 21,7% to R19,105-billion.
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/ 19 February 2008
The Annestacia murder trial, involving accused Richard Engelbrecht, proceeded behind closed doors on Tuesday as the prosecutor presented the testimony of a pathologist. Prosecutor Mornay Julius was also to present the testimony of a six-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by Engelbrecht at the age of three.