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/ 2 February 2008
A change in baggage-handling companies led to long delays at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport on Friday, with some passengers having to wait up to three hours for their baggage, according to media reports. Among the flights affected were Swiss Air, Iberia and Air France, the Saturday Star reported.
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/ 2 February 2008
An African National Congress (ANC) MP on Friday apologised to women for his comments that prostitution be legalised ahead of the Soccer World Cup. ”I wish to submit my profound and unreserved apology to all women of South Africa for the manner in which these comments in the portfolio committee were attributed,” said George Lekgetho.
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/ 2 February 2008
The lights were on again in Cape Town by Saturday morning after most of the Mother City was plunged into darkness on Friday night. "Most parts of the city were without power from 9pm on Friday after a technical fault at a local substation feeding into the service," Eskom said.
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/ 1 February 2008
A doctor who spoke out about medical conditions at Pollsmoor Prison while working there has been redeployed to another clinic, the South African Broadcasting Corporation said on Friday. Paul Theron withdrew his court application to return to the correctional facility on Friday.
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/ 1 February 2008
Dealing with poor attendance by African National Congress (ANC) members at parliamentary and caucus meetings would be one of the year’s priorities, the party’s chief whip said on Friday. Nathi Mthethwa said: ”Inculcating a culture of discipline among some of the organisation’s public representatives in this institution will form part of the priorities.”
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/ 1 February 2008
The financial director of Fidentia, Graham Maddock, was on Friday effectively jailed for seven years on 54 counts involving fraud, theft, money laundering, contraventions of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act and the reckless or fraudulent conduct of business. Maddock appeared in court in Belville.
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/ 1 February 2008
More than 200 students at Durban’s University of Technology protested over registration fees at the institution’s Steve Biko campus on Friday. Police said the protests at the institution started at about 10am and that the situation at the campus was ”very tense”.
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/ 1 February 2008
South African petrol prices will increase by 17 cents, or 2,3%, to R7,64 a litre for all grades next Wednesday, the government said on Friday. A statement from the Department of Minerals and Energy said the wholesale price of diesel would go up by 7 cents to R7,32. High fuel and food prices have been the main driver for consumer inflation.
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/ 1 February 2008
Prominent South African businessman Cyril Ramaphosa was expected in Kenya later on Friday to help mediate in talks between the government and the opposition aimed at ending a month of post-election violence. Ramaphosa led the African National Congress in negotiations with the National Party to end apartheid in the early 1990s.
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/ 1 February 2008
South African mines made slow progress in bringing back production on Friday after Eskom allowed them to make only limited increases to their electricity consumption. The power cuts that shut the mines a week ago have helped push global precious metals prices to record highs and stoked concerns about a slowdown of growth.
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/ 1 February 2008
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A host of defamation claims lodged by the African National Congress president Jacob Zuma against several publications were on Friday slashed to ”approximately R12-million”, a spokesperson for Zuma said. Liesl Göttert said: ”Mr Jacob Zuma will instruct his media legal team to drop the defamation component of all media claims that he instituted against some media.”
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/ 1 February 2008
Value-Added Tax (VAT) registration would be easier from this month, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Friday. Sars said the new VAT-registration process reduced the paperwork required for registration and provided for the instant issuing of VAT registration numbers over the counter at Sars branches.
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/ 1 February 2008
Church leaders expressed shock and outrage on Friday at a police raid this week on the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg, during which hundreds of immigrants were arrested. Eddie Makue, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, said for many years the Church had welcomed those who had been displaced.
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/ 1 February 2008
South Africa batsman Boeta Dippenaar has announced his retirement from international cricket to pursue other interests. Dippenaar, who made his debut in 1999, played in 38 Tests and 107 one-day internationals and will continue playing for the Diamond Eagles and Leicestershire in England.
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/ 1 February 2008
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi was charged with three counts of corruption and one of defeating the ends of justice in the Randburg Regional Court on Friday. He also faced an alternate charge of receiving an unauthorised gratification ”by a person who is party to an employment relation”. The case was postponed to June 26.
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/ 1 February 2008
The Department of Health has introduced a new anti-tetanus vaccine for children, it was announced on Friday. The department’s Fidel Hadebe said the vaccine was introduced to clinics and hospitals as of February 1. ”Diftavax Td is to be administered to children at the age of six and 12 years.”
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/ 1 February 2008
The Polly Parade reaches its climax this weekend when veteran all-rounder Shaun Pollock plays his last matches for South Africa at Kingsmead on Friday and at the Wanderers on Sunday. With an unassailable three-nil lead over the West Indies in the five-match one-day international series, the Proteas will be looking for a series whitewash.
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/ 1 February 2008
Mines had their power levels increased from 80% to 90% on Friday but they still needed a guarantee of a reliable power supply, the Gold Fields mining company said on Friday. On Thursday, Eskom backtracked on an undertaking when it promised to provide 90% of its normal power supplies to mining companies.
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/ 1 February 2008
Zimbabwe’s inflation hit a record 26 470,8% in November 2007, Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono said in a monetary policy statement on Thursday. The figure rose from 7 982,1% in September. Zimbabwe’s Central Bank produced no inflation data for October.
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/ 31 January 2008
Free State farmers were on Thursday asked by Eskom to cut their power consumption by 10%, mainly during the ”red periods” of between 6pm and 7pm every day. ”This is with immediate effect,” Free State Agriculture president Louw Steytler told journalists in Bloemfontein.
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/ 31 January 2008
The African National Congress Youth League should act to stop the possibility of an ANC president running for a third term, ANC president Jacob Zuma said on Thursday. Zuma, speaking at the league’s national executive committee meeting in Vanderbijlpark, said the first president of the ANC after apartheid, Nelson Mandela, had only served one term.
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/ 31 January 2008
Press photographers were again barred from attending a press conference where South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Tito Mboweni announced the latest repo-rate decision on Thursday. It is the second time that photographers have been barred from taking pictures of Mboweni at the SARB press conference.
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/ 31 January 2008
Understandably, in a time of crisis someone has to carry the blame.
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/ 31 January 2008
Central Methodist Church Bishop Paul Verryn has condemned the heavy-handed way in which police arrested up to 1Â 500 refugees housed at his church in the Johannesburg CBD. The arrests were made during a late-night raid on Wednesday. The church is seen as a sanctuary for Zimbabwean refugees.
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/ 31 January 2008
The government is looking at the possibility of introducing roadworthiness tests for private vehicles every two years, a senior traffic official said at the launch of a national road safety campaign in Durban on Thursday. Thabo Tsholetsane said government was ”doing a study” to see how often roadworthiness tests could be carried out.
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/ 31 January 2008
An Eastern Cape man accused of three counts of rape and two of attempted rape is to be referred to a doctor specialising in erectile dysfunction. Mcebesi Noji (28) of Nkululeko, Barkly East, has pleaded not guilty to the five charges before judge Elna Revelas.
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/ 31 January 2008
It will likely be a short first appearance for police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi in the Randburg Regional Court on Friday, a member of his legal team said. Selebi would be present at the court but it was likely that his case was going to be postponed, advocate Fanus Coetzee said on Thursday.
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/ 31 January 2008
Counsel for the defence in the Jeppestown murder and robbery trial on Thursday objected to what it termed a ”hybrid identification procedure” that it believed could prejudice the 13 accused. ”This is a hybrid procedure that buttresses the memory of the witness,” said Sidwell Ford in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday.
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/ 31 January 2008
A one-month delay to consider a new United Nations Security Council draft resolution that would punish Iran for moving ahead with its nuclear programme would not be a disaster, a South African official said on Thursday. The Security Council’s five permanent members, along with Germany, have circulated a draft that would toughen existing sanctions on Iran.
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/ 31 January 2008
A multiparty committee has been set up to investigate allegations involving the mayor of Rustenburg, Matthew Wolmarans, the municipality said on Thursday. Municipal manager Andries Boschoff said a motion of no confidence was passed against the mayor on Tuesday during a council meeting.
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/ 31 January 2008
In a surprise move, South African electricity utility Eskom has withdrawn its authorisation for the mining industry to increase its electricity use from 80% to 90% on Thursday. News of the decision came from Gold Fields, the world’s fourth-largest gold producer, which informed the media in a statement.
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/ 31 January 2008
A weaker rand drove mining shares higher on the JSE by midday on Thursday, lifting the bourse 0,88% into the black. By noon, the platinum-mining index was 2,74% higher, while the gold-mining index advanced 2,36% and resources were up 2,04%. Industrials edged up 0,16%, but financials and banks were off 0,66% and 1,24% respectively.