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/ 19 September 2007
"Let’s stop meaningless journalism." That was the cry from new South African press ombudsman Joe Nong Thloloe at a forum, themed Leading Conversations, held on Tuesday. Thloloe, a former South African Broadcasting Corporation and e.tv news editor-in-chief, was appointed to the position at the launch of the new Press Council of South Africa on Friday August 3.
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/ 19 September 2007
Too much ambition might leave a politician without a seat on a council — this was the lesson that some councillors learned the hard way during the recent floor-crossing period. Figures released by the Independent Electoral Commission on Wednesday showed that 30 councillors would have no seats on individual municipal councils.
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/ 19 September 2007
Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa needs to explain the ”confusion” between his department and the National Lotteries Board (NLB), the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. While the department denied involvement in the 42,4% increase in performance bonuses at the NLB, board spokesperson Sershan Naidoo had contended Mpahlwa authorised the bonuses himself.
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/ 19 September 2007
The growing number of violent incidents in schools stems from problems within society and parents being too lenient, the Gauteng African National Congress’s education sub-committee said on Wednesday. ”We need good role models in society to be able to influence children,” said sub-committee chairperson Amon Msane.
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/ 19 September 2007
Delegations from the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) met in Johannesburg on Monday. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the contents of a letter SABC group CEO Dali Mpofu sent to Sanef on August 31, announcing that the broadcaster had broken ties with the editors’ forum.
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/ 19 September 2007
Judge Jeanette Traverso, hearing FirstRand’s urgent application for an interdict against the satirical magazine <i>NoseWeek</i> in the Cape High Court, said on Wednesday that there seemed to be little doubt that the tax-avoidance scheme at the heart of the case "is suspect".
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/ 19 September 2007
The JSE extended its gains by midday on Wednesday following the rally in world markets that was driven by a strong performance on Wall Street overnight. Wall Street surged on news that the United States Federal Reserve had cut interest rates by 50 basis points, creating a positive sentiment for investors for bargain-hunting.
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/ 19 September 2007
Having for the first time in a decade halted the draining away of freight transportation from the railways to the roads, Maria Ramos, the chief executive of Transnet, is aiming to win back a large slice of the business. "Not all cargo on the roads is suitable for rail," Ramos explained in Cape Town on Wednesday, "but we are targeting the container traffic aggressively."
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/ 19 September 2007
Some of South Africa’s most famous artists, including singer Johnny Clegg, have accused the country’s public broadcaster of demanding bribes if they want to be heard on air. ”It’s a very crazy situation … that we local musicians have to pay to get airplay on radio stations,” said Clegg, who is nicknamed the White Zulu.
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/ 19 September 2007
Firefighters battled for more than four hours on Tuesday evening to control a blaze at Durban’s Island View chemical storage depot. The inferno erupted when three tanks containing highly flammable chemicals exploded at 7pm. Hundreds of residents on the Bluff flocked to view the flames shooting high into the night sky.
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/ 18 September 2007
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Bangladesh were dumped out of the Twenty20 World Championship on Tuesday after slumping to a 64-run defeat to Sri Lanka, whose miserly attack quashed early fears of an upset. Veteran seamer Chaminda Vaas, who took 2-14 off his four overs, and Dilhara Fernando were the stars for Sri Lanka.
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/ 18 September 2007
Durban’s Island View oil depot was ablaze on Tuesday night after three tanks exploded. Hundreds of residents on the Bluff flocked to various streets and points to view flames shooting high into the night sky. A Bluff resident, Ivan Raimbault, said there was an explosion at about 7pm. Ten minutes later the second tank blew. The third one exploded five minutes later.
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/ 18 September 2007
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England captain Paul Collingwood apologised on Tuesday for visiting a lap-dancing club one day before playing South Africa in Twenty20 World Championship. ”It’s obviously unacceptable and I’ll have to learn from that,” Collingwood said. ”I made a mistake.” Collingwood visited the club in Cape Town after England had lost to Australia on Friday by eight wickets.
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/ 18 September 2007
The African National Congress (ANC) is not attacking the labour movement when it says it needs to be strengthened, the organisation said on Tuesday. ”Comments suggesting that the ANC is trying to belittle, abuse, ridicule or undermine the contribution of workers in the fight for freedom are wrong and misplaced,” said the ANC in a statement.
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/ 18 September 2007
Media personality Stan Katz’s ex-wife, Philippa Sklaar, on Tuesday denied that she had exaggerated an assault on her to gain publicity for her new cookbook. Sklaar, a professional chef who now lives in America, was being cross-examined in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court where Talk Radio 702’s former chief executive, Katz, is facing two charges of having assaulted her in 2000.
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/ 18 September 2007
There is a ”massive” service crisis within rail-passenger company Metrorail, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. There are also concerns about the Transnet division’s readiness for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, DA MP Mpowele Swath said in a statement. Responding, Metrorail on Tuesday denied the claims that it was experiencing a service crisis.
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/ 18 September 2007
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Captain Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul Haq put on a century partnership as Pakistan stunned Australia by six wickets in a Twenty20 World Championship match at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The pair put on 119 off 78 balls for the unbroken fifth wicket to help their team recover from 46-4 and surpass Australia’s 164-7 with five balls to spare.
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/ 18 September 2007
The mother of a schoolboy who was stabbed to death on the weekend is a senior Gauteng education official, the department confirmed on Tuesday. Mfundo Ntshangase, a grade 11 pupil at King Edward VII high school, was stabbed seven times by pupils from another school at a party on Sunday.
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/ 18 September 2007
The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) profits have dropped by R200-million in the past financial year, the public broadcaster reported on Tuesday. The decrease was from R382-million in the 2005/06 financial year to R182-million in the past year.
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/ 18 September 2007
Despite the Western Cape having scored the highest matric pass rate in the country last year, only half of its learners reach matric, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Tuesday. Addressing a sitting of the provincial parliament on expenditure trends and service delivery, Manuel said the high number of learners who dropped out of school was a cause for concern.
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/ 18 September 2007
A distraught Randburg mother determined to meet the teenagers arrested after her son was stabbed to death was advised against it by police on Tuesday. ”I want to see for myself that the culprits … were arrested and are behind bars,” Nonhlanhla Ntshangase said. Her 18-year-old son, Mfundo, was stabbed seven times by pupils from another school at a party on Sunday.
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/ 18 September 2007
A disciplinary committee has found Frere Hospital whistleblower Dr Nokuzola Ntshona guilty of speaking to the media, Dispatch Online reported on Tuesday. She was found guilty on Monday on three of four charges of speaking out against the government’s reaction to a Daily Dispatch probe of Frere Hospital’s maternity section.
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/ 18 September 2007
Christian parents are required by God to use a rod on their children if they are defiant or rebellious, MPs heard on Tuesday. ”We do not have the option … this is a command of God,” George Raath of Life Enrichment Ministries told members of Parliament’s social development portfolio committee on Tuesday. The committee is holding public hearings on the Children’s Amendment Bill.
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/ 18 September 2007
South African President Thabo Mbeki and his Mozambican counterpart Armando Guebuza reached agreement Tuesday on moves aimed at increasing access and levels of trade across their common border. In a briefing to reporters after the meeting in Pretoria, senior ministers said the main crossing between the neighbours would soon undergo a major revamp.
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/ 18 September 2007
Four Athlone Boys’ High pupils were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the stabbing of two pupils, and other suspects are being sought, Johannesburg police said. Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht said the boys would face charges of murder and attempted murder.
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/ 18 September 2007
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New Zealand beat England by five runs to squeak home in their Twenty20 World Championship Super Eight match at Kingsmead in Durban on Tuesday. It was more a case of England throwing away a probable victory — crazy run outs and some reckless batting cost England important wickets — and a possible place in the semifinals.
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/ 18 September 2007
South African Airways (SAA) is to increase capacity on more than half its routes in Africa as part of a bid to reverse its flagging fortunes, the national carrier announced on Tuesday. General commercial manager Rushj Lehutso said SAA would either increase the number of flights or the size of its aircraft serving 11 of its 19 African destinations.
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/ 18 September 2007
Escalating violent crime could reduce an already weak skills base in the country, an economic consultancy company said on Tuesday. ”Every effort should be made to contain negative influences like crime, especially since the South African economy is currently experiencing its most exciting growth phase since the 1960s,” the chief economist at Econometrix said.
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/ 18 September 2007
”Palace politics” are the biggest threat facing the national democratic revolution, South African Communist Party secretary general Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday. ”Like all palace politics, it is the politics of backstabbing, the pursuit of individual wealth,” he told delegates at the Congress of South African Trade Unions central committee meeting.
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/ 18 September 2007
The difficulty in implementing policies designed to protect the interests of farm workers and farmers has prompted the South African Human Rights Commission to conduct an inquiry into conditions on farms. SAHRC spokesperson Vincent Moaga said on Tuesday that public hearings would look into three issues: land-tenure security, labour relations and safety on farms.
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/ 18 September 2007
South African tobacco farmers should plant more in the coming season to benefit from soaring cigarette prices and fulfil expected orders from China. Louis Smit, CEO of agribusiness group Afgri’s producer services division, said farmers could increase the size of their crop from 12-million kilograms to at least 20-million kilograms.
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/ 18 September 2007
The JSE’s all-share index came out of the morose state it was in earlier, edging up into positive territory by midday on Tuesday driven by the turnaround in the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100. Shortly before midday, the FTSE 100 was at 6 224,10 points, 0,67% better than Monday’s close as the Bank of England added liquidity to the United Kingdom market,