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/ 17 October 2007
The cost of broadband internet access is set to drop significantly with the adoption in the National Assembly on Wednesday of the Broadband Infraco Bill. The Bill provides mainly for transferring Broadband Infraco to the state from Eskom Holdings. Broadband costs in South Africa are considerably higher than the country’s international counterparts.
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/ 17 October 2007
Transformation and community engagement in the mining industry is a painful but crucial process, the Chamber of Mines sustainable development conference was told on Wednesday. Richards Bay Minerals’ strategic manager, Thabi Shange, said: ”Transformation is painful, cumbersome … It does not imply an easy ride of free will.”
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/ 17 October 2007
At the end of an emotional day of testimony, murder accused Fred van der Vyver on Wednesday formally denied that he killed his student girlfriend Inge Lotz. Van der Vyver was in the witness box for the second day, following a successful application by his defence team to reopen its case to hear his testimony.
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/ 17 October 2007
The elderly victims of an alleged rapist recounted their ordeals in the Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday. ”He grabbed me and pushed me into the bedroom and hit me with his fists, and with a bottle of brandy in his left hand,” one of the women told the court. ”I struggled but because of my age, I got tired. Then he raped me.”
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/ 17 October 2007
The National Empowerment Fund (NEF) has approved expansion capital funding of R7,2-million to Iglhaut-Allrad SA, a black economic empowerment (BEE) company in the automotive industry. The NEF’s chief investment officer, Frencel Gillion, announced the initiative in Pretoria on Wednesday.
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/ 17 October 2007
Najwa Petersen, widow of slain entertainer Taliep, has a ”unique” voice that family friend Waleed Ajoubaar instantly recognised when he heard it on tape, the Wynberg Regional Court heard on Wednesday. Ajoubaar was questioned by prosecutor Shireen Riley, defence counsel Herbert Raubenheimer and Magistrate Robert Henny about the taped voice and his reaction to it.
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/ 17 October 2007
An elderly Durban couple is in a critical condition in hospital after being drugged and robbed on Wednesday by men claiming to be traditional healers. Police said the man and woman were with their son at the time. The family had entered a Standard Bank branch in Amanzimtoti and withdrawn a large sum of money.
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/ 17 October 2007
The Public Servants’ Association of South Africa said on Wednesday that it foresaw chaos in the country’s prisons on weekends following failure of the Department of Correctional Services to compensate its employees who work on Saturdays and Sundays. Correctional services spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said the matter was still under discussion.
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/ 17 October 2007
The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa on Wednesday vowed to push the interests of poor nations in stalled international trade talks and said any agreement would have to benefit the developing world. Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Thabo Mbeki met at a summit in Pretoria.
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/ 17 October 2007
A military board of inquiry into an accident in which nine soldiers were killed has begun its work, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Wednesday. Lekota was visiting seven troopers in various Bloemfontein hospitals, who were injured in the anti-aircraft gun accident at the Lohatla training area in the Northern Cape last Friday.
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/ 17 October 2007
At least 14 Durban school pupils were injured on Wednesday when a tipper lorry crashed into a school in the Lindelani area, north of Durban, police said. Police spokesperson Inspector Michael Read said a truck ploughed into a high school, injuring pupils. ER24 spokesperson Derrick Banks said they had transported 14 school pupils to hospital.
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/ 17 October 2007
South Africa’s Northam Platinum said on Wednesday it expected to lose about 1 000 ounces per day of output after shutting its mine early on Tuesday when a worker was killed in a rockfall. The mine — the world’s deepest platinum mine — produces about 325 000 PGM ounces of platinum a year.
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/ 17 October 2007
The Home Affairs Department’s refugee office in Cape Town was a ”chaotic” place at which refugees were treated like animals, a parliamentary committee said on Wednesday. The MPs, on an unannounced visit, also discovered that refugees were being illegally detained by officials.
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/ 17 October 2007
There has been an ”alarming” increase over the past year in the deadly dust disease silicosis among workers on South Africa’s gold and platinum mines, MPs heard on Wednesday. Mine doctors submitted 1 031 cases of silicosis to the Medical Bureau of Occupational Diseases in 2005.
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/ 17 October 2007
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Churches should encourage a diversity of opinions and frank debate in the run-up up to the African National Congress’s election of its new leadership in December, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) said on Wednesday. ”Processes relating to elections are critical for the strength of democracy in our country,” said the SACC.
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/ 17 October 2007
South Africa has been voted the best and most interesting African travel destination in an annual Dutch online travel survey, SA Tourism said on Wednesday. ”We know that the Dutch are enthusiastic safari-goers and that they also enjoy nature and outdoor activities,” said Annemarie Ferns, SA Tourism’s country manager in The Netherlands.
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/ 17 October 2007
A scathing document detailing in the strongest terms South Africa’s inability to stage the 2010 Soccer World Cup, which supposedly emanated from the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa), was on Tuesday denounced as a forgery by local organising committee CEO Danny Jordaan. ”We have written confirmation of this from Uefa itself,” said Jordaan.
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/ 17 October 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng on Wednesday criticised Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang for threatening to take action against nurses who placed babies in a cardboard box at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, the party said. DA spokesperson Jack Bloom accused Tshabalala-Msimang of a display of ”arrogance and an evasion of blame”.
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/ 17 October 2007
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Wednesday that it had struck a double-digit wage deal with platinum miner Lonmin. The trade union said it had signed a new two-year wage agreement with Lonmin that would see workers getting 10% in the first year and 8% in the second year.
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/ 17 October 2007
South Africa’s retail trade sales picked up again in August, increasing by 6,9% year-on-year, in comparison to July’s 4,9% year-on-year rise, according to data released by Statistics SA on Wednesday. Total retail sales at constant 2000 prices reached R24,5-billion in August, up from R24,1-billion in July 2007.
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/ 17 October 2007
The JSE was over 200 points in the red by midday on Wednesday, as the United States consumer slowdown continued to weigh on Wall Street and the weakness spilled over onto global markets. However, some indices posted gains, even though the broader all-share index was down.
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/ 17 October 2007
A strike by 2 000 workers at Sasol, the world’s biggest maker of fuel from coal, entered its fourth day on Wednesday, reducing coal output at its mines, but fuel production was unaffected. The workers, a third of the workforce at the mines, downed their tools on Friday at the five coal mines in Secunda.
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/ 17 October 2007
Toxicity results from the United States have raised concerns over last month’s explosion in the Durban Bluff area, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday. The containers in the Island View Storage facility possibly contained paraffin, alcohol, solvents and cresol.
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/ 17 October 2007
The struggling global trade negotiations are looming large over a South Africa-India-Brazil summit this week, after the United States said the developing countries were putting the talks in peril by refusing to open up their manufacturing markets. The three countries came together around 2000 to strengthen ties between developing countries.
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/ 16 October 2007
Western Cape police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Tuesday scoffed at claims that police are about to arrest Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya and deputy managing editor Jocelyn Maker. ”We wish to state that there is no truth in reports that [they] will be arrested and/or be brought before court this week,” NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said.
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/ 16 October 2007
A senior Fifa official gave his seal of approval on Tuesday to South Africa’s preparations for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, playing down concerns about stadium construction after a recent strike. ”I am satisfied with the general preparations,” Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said.
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/ 16 October 2007
The ”crisis” caused by proposed fee hikes at two Johannesburg universities this month should be handled by the Ministry of Education, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday. ”We urge the Ministry of Education to intervene in the current negotiations at the University of Johannesburg and Wits,” Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said.
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/ 16 October 2007
Despite having a battalion of 43 players at his disposal, Orlando Pirates coach Owen da Gama faces a dilemma as his team prepare for a Premier Soccer League game against Bloemfontein Celtic on Friday night. Pirates captain Lehlohonolo Seema, Lebohang Mokoena, Kelebogile Mabe and Bheki Khumalo could miss Friday’s clash.
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/ 16 October 2007
Political parties on Tuesday paid tribute to outgoing Democratic Party MP Douglas Gibson, who is leaving Parliament to take up a post as South Africa’s ambassador to Thailand. The African National Congress said despite the fact that Gibson had previously said things that offended its MPs, it would always respect his courage.
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/ 16 October 2007
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A candidate to succeed Thabo Mbeki as African National Congress (ANC) president has not yet been selected by the ruling party’s Women’s League. The ANC Women’s League on Tuesday condemned media reports indicating that it had thrown its weight behind Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in the presidential race.
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/ 16 October 2007
The National Union of Mineworkers has approached the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to arbitrate in a wage dispute with Bombela Civils Joint Venture, the principal contractor on the Gautrain project. NUM spokesperson Bhekani Ngcobo said the union lodged papers with the CCMA on Monday.
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/ 16 October 2007
African National Congress chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota in the National Assembly on Tuesday defended the decision to suspend National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli, as well as the police probe into the alleged theft of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s health records.