No image available
/ 20 December 2007
Who said comedy was dead? It was alive and well at Durban’s King Zwelethini Stadium on Wednesday night as SuperSport secured a 91st minute goal to beat Golden Arrows 1-0 in what turned out to be a comedy of errors. In the end it was left to Lithe Mozambican midfielder Elias Pelembe to cannon a 20m shot in additional time into the roof of the net.
No image available
/ 20 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>In the aftermath of Tuesday’s top six election, several senior Cabinet ministers and their aides are now getting their CVs together and are suddenly looking forward to the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> jobs section on Friday — they realise their future in a Zuma government and ANC is not looking very bright.
No image available
/ 20 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>A vision to link social grant users with access to the economy appears one of the "stronger resolutions" emanating from the ANC’s social transformation commissions. Vusi Madonsela, director general of the Department of Social Development, said that one of the two commissions had deliberated on the issue of ensuring that people did not become dependent on social grants.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
![]()
While welcoming the outcome of Tuesday night’s election of Jacob Zuma as African National Congress leader, the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has come out against the notion of President Thabo Mbeki stepping down as the country’s president before 2009. Zuma’s victory should not be a signal for revenge or retribution, the ANC’s alliance partners said.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
Gold is on course to close 2007 at least $100 higher, setting the yellow metal up for its seventh consecutive year of gains in 2008. An ounce of gold cost $629,80 at the start of 2007 and was trading close to $800 an ounce by mid-December after touching $841,10 in November –- its highest level since 1980.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
A KwaZulu-Natal street child — who allegedly stole money, clothing and jewellery from a car — was picked up, thrown into the boot of the car and then assaulted, police said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Captain Edmund Singh said the incident took place in Chatsworth’s Crofdene area in Durban at about 9.15pm.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
South African consumer inflation raced further away from the central bank’s band in November, backing the case for another interest rate rise, despite a slowdown in retail sales. The targeted CPIX gauge — which strips out mortgage costs — jumped to 7,9% year-on-year from 7,3% in October.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
A mother and her 19-month-old baby were dumped on the side of a road in Pietermaritzburg after being hijacked, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Superintendent Henry Budhram said the father was dropped off at a different location.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
World number 19 Trevor Immelman faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after having surgery to remove a growth on his diaphragm. The growth was about the size of a golf ball. The 28-year-old South African, who won the Sun City Challenge earlier this month, is expected to be out of action for between four and eight weeks.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
![]()
The African National Congress’s 52nd national conference got down on Wednesday to the nitty-gritty work of the commission that discusses the party’s policies in an atmosphere that one delegate described as the ”cessation of hostilities” over its new president Jacob Zuma.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
5FM radio station DJ Gareth Cliff did not make ”petty” remarks about God, said the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA). On Wednesday the BCCSA released the findings of some of its recent tribunals, including a judgement handed down about remarks the morning DJ had made about God.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
South Africa’s targeted CPIX inflation rate quickened to 7,9% year-on-year in November from 7,3% in October, official data showed on Wednesday. Statistics South Africa also said that the all-items consumer price index increased by an annual rate of 8,4%, compared to 7,9% in October.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
Aquarius Platinum lost an attributable 250 ounces of platinum group metals per day due to a strike at its Marikana mine in South Africa, the company said on Wednesday. Marikana is a pool-and-share venture with Anglo Platinum, the world’s biggest platinum producer.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
South African retail sales growth slowed to 1,5% year-on-year in October at constant prices, compared to a downwardly revised 1,7% growth in September. In the three months to the end of October, retail sales increased by 3,2% compared to the same period the previous year, also at constant prices.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
![]()
An attempt to get the principle of gender parity elevated to the top structures of the ANC was trounced on Monday night, the Mail & Guardian has learned.
The policy, also known as the 50/50 principle, is a steep change in empowerment in the ANC and requires that every alternative position available for leadership be reserved for a female candidate.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
It was the Big Easy of Old who blitzed round the Outeniqua course in 62 strokes in today’s first round of his own Ernie Els Invitational, which is being played at Fancourt Hotel and Country Club Estate. Eight seemingly effortless birdies and an eagle on the par-five 17th saw Els finish three ahead of compatriot Retief Goosen.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
![]()
Jacob Zuma, the populist politician, humiliated President Thabo Mbeki with a sweeping victory in the election for leader of the African National Congress on Tuesday night. Zuma, who survived a rape trial and his dismissal as the country’s deputy president by Mbeki over corruption allegations, took 60% of the nearly 4Â 000 votes at the party’s national conference.
No image available
/ 19 December 2007
Gauteng’s economy remained under pressure in November although strong performances were reported in several sectors. The Gauteng business barometer decreased by 2,7% to 142 index points, compared with November last year. However, it is 1% higher than the level of one month ago.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
![]()
Jacob Zuma is the new president of the African National Congress. The announcement was greeted by an outpouring of joy and ecstatic cheering by ANC delegates at the party’s conference in Polokwane shortly before 9pm on Tuesday. Thabo Mbeki received 1 505 votes and Zuma received 2 329.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
![]()
Sanele ”Shanee” Moroka was a girl trapped in a boy’s body with feet trapped in too tight pumps in the voting queue in Polokwane. She doesn’t believe the ANC should remain a multi-class organisation and is wondering what will happen to her poor calloused palms after having tugged the comrades ”forward towards enlightenment”.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
![]()
ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe has reiterated that policy would not change under a Zuma-led presidency and fears that the left tripartite alliance partners would force change were unfounded. Motlanthe said spontaneous policy change was not possible given the specific processes the ANC follow in formulating and adopting its policies.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
![]()
The ANC has apologised for the ”unfortunate” way in which members of the media have been treated at its national conference in Polokwane. The apology followed three days of stand-offs between journalists and security marshals — and a Cabinet minister swiping at a reporter with his umbrella on Tuesday.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>The ANC has resolved to increase its national executive committee from 60 to 86 members to ensure greater representation of the party’s motive forces. The decision came amid concern from some members of the ANC and its alliance partners that the executive no longer represents the party’s core constituency.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>Money, members, veterans and Jacob Zuma: at a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon at the African National Congress’s (ANC) national conference in Polokwane, secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe discussed his organisational report, delivered two days before, as well as several other issues concerning the ruling party.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
Witwatersrand University has recently been accredited as a Fifa Centre of Medical Excellence to cater for soccer players in need of medical care, the university said on Tuesday. The Centre for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the university would ensure that players received expert medical care and advice.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
Eastern Cape authorities were still searching for 29 tuberculosis (TB) patients who escaped from the Jose Pearson Hospital in the Nelson Mandela municipality, after twenty returned on Tuesday. The patients escaped through holes they had cut through the hospital’s perimeter fences.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
The two co-accused of former bouncer Gary Beuthin were denied bail in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. Magistrate Fatima Khan found they had not satisfied the court that there were exceptional circumstances for them to be granted bail.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
The doctor who is alleged to have falsified a medical certificate for Ekurhuleni police chief Robert McBride was granted bail on Tuesday, after handing himself over to the investigating officer in the case, police said. Dr Joseph Moratioa gave himself up and appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
Charges of cruelty to animals and of being in possession of dagga were on Tuesday withdrawn in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court against a teenager who earlier this year cut off a dog’s head. The court heard that Jacques Wensel (18) of Pretoria West, had successfully completed a diversion programme.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
![]()
With 1,5 tonnes of meat and 3Â 500 litres of ice cream consumed daily at the African National Congress’s conference in Limpopo, it came as no surprise that provisions had to be ”imported”. There was not enough meat in Polokwane, so it had to be shipped in from Johannesburg and kept in cold storage near the venue.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
![]()
A third day of cool, rainy weather in Polokwane did little to quench the fiery support for the front-runners in the ANC presidential race: Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. Voting for the party’s top six officials started later than the scheduled time of 6am on Tuesday morning due to computer-related delays.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
The Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs has been allocated Z-trillion in the 2008 national budget for the construction of the new Parliament building, the Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday. The contractor — Chinese company Nantong International — is already on site, the report said.