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/ 5 September 2007
The latest spending patterns by provincial departments show a measurable improvement, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. Although provinces still face capacity challenges, there is improvement, he told journalists during the Treasury’s tabling of provincial budgets and expenditure review in Parliament.
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/ 5 September 2007
Soweto residents who protested violently over housing earlier this week should not be misinformed and misled, Gauteng housing minister Nomvula Mokonyane warned on Wednesday. The Anti-Privatisation Forum claims that the government had promised residents in 1994 that houses would be built in the Protea South area.
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/ 5 September 2007
The Pan African Congress (PAC) on Wednesday became the first casualty of the floor-crossing season as its former deputy president launched a new party. Themba Godi announced the launch of the African People’s Convention (APC) at a hotel near Kempton Park. APC spokesperson Mafemane Maringa said the party had been joined by 40 councillors.
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/ 5 September 2007
African National Congress national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota has defended his negative remarks about people singing freedom songs such as Umshini Wami, saying the issue was not about ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, but about policy. ”These liberation and freedom songs are not pop songs … which we sing for personal entertainment here and there,” he said.
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/ 5 September 2007
The Cape High Court on Wednesday confirmed an earlier ruling to refuse bail for Najwa Petersen, who is charged with the murder of her celebrity husband, Taliep. Her appeal was launched before acting Judge John Whitehead.
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/ 5 September 2007
South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock believes the start of the Rugby World Cup in France on Friday has taken some of the pressure off the cricket team ahead of the ICC Twenty20 tournament. ”We’re a sports mad country, but I think a lot of the expectations are focussed on the Springboks,” Pollock said at a press conference on Wednesday.
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/ 5 September 2007
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape suffered a further blow on Wednesday with the defection of two of its senior MPLs to the African National Congress (ANC). The defecting members are DA provincial chairperson Kent Morkel and Kobus Brynard, who is a member of the provincial executive.
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/ 5 September 2007
Reformed Hard Livings gang leader Rashied Staggie was on Wednesday found not guilty of the revenge murder of taxi driver Mogamat Ryklief. Staggie appeared in the Cape High Court before Judge Nathan Erasmus, who labelled the only state witness, Donavan Richards, as a ”good liar who manipulated words to suit himself”.
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/ 5 September 2007
South Africa’s most wanted ATM suspect has been linked to nine ATM bombings across the country so far, police said on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Captain Thulani Zwane said he had been linked to nine bombings in areas including Vereeniging and Soweto in Gauteng and northern KwaZulu-Natal.
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/ 5 September 2007
South Africa’s business confidence slipped further in August to its lowest level in 2007, affected by global financial market turbulence, the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) said on Wednesday. The Sacob Business Confidence Index declined to 98,1 from 99,6 in July, confirming a downward trend as most of the indicator’s sub-indices deteriorated during the month.
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/ 5 September 2007
With the stealth of a covert James Bond operation, the South African Football Association on Tuesday successfully ”smuggled” Benni McCarthy into the country for his first game for Bafana Bafana in 19 months. He will play in the African Nations Cup qualifier against Zambia at Newlands Stadium on Sunday.
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/ 5 September 2007
The JSE was in the red at midday on Wednesday after vacillating between positive and negative territory during early trade as investors took profits on stocks that have recovered from last month’s losses. The JSE’s all-share started in the red, but inched into positive territory within the first 15 minutes of trade, and by midday it had fallen back into the red.
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/ 5 September 2007
Shares in South African black-owned mining group Exxaro slid on Wednesday after mining group Anglo American said it would sell 19-million Exxaro shares, nearly halving its stake. Exxaro shares were 4,5% lower at R74,50 by 8.10am GMT, having pared losses after earlier tumbling 6,4%.
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/ 5 September 2007
The KwaZulu-Natal department of education has sent a ward manager to Manhlenga High School to investigate a report that its pupils were suspected of setting two women alight over a witchcraft claim. Police spokesperson Captain Jabulani Mdletshe said a huge group of youths had dragged the women from their home to a sports field.
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/ 5 September 2007
The judge in the Boeremag treason trial on Wednesday ruled that enough evidence had been presented by the state on which a reasonable person might convict the 21 accused on charges of high treason, terrorism and sabotage. Judge Eben Jordaan dismissed applications by nine of the accused for their discharge on all of the 42 charges against them.
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/ 5 September 2007
For his first real taste of paid football, Gift Leremi, who was killed in a car accident on September 3, came on as a late substitute in a charity match against Kaizer Chiefs. Orlando Pirates, who had in the off-season promoted him to their first team, were trailing by a goal.
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/ 5 September 2007
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has been accused of systematic pro-government bias after taking a different stance from most fellow journalists in coverage of the controversial health minister. Allegations against the SABC mounted after its executive chief, Dali Mpofu, sent a resignation letter to the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef).
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/ 5 September 2007
In the wake of soccer player Gift Leremi’s death, the Department of Transport said the number of fatalities on the roads needed to be addressed. ”The department is very concerned about the high number of crashes and the resultant fatalities experienced lately on our roads,” it said in a statement.
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/ 5 September 2007
The Banking Association of South Africa is trying to have money it accidentally paid to a lobby group led by South African Communist Party head Blade Nzimande returned. The managing director of the Banking Association of South Africa, Cas Coovadia, confirmed that the industry body had accidentally paid its quarterly fees of R360Â 000 in June last year to the Financial Sector Campaign Coalition.
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/ 5 September 2007
South Africa’s largely coal-driven power utility Eskom has hit the limits of its capacity and aims to double output by 2025, with nuclear plants supplying more than a quarter of future energy compared with 6% now. Eskom’s chief executive Jacob Maroga told a coal conference on Tuesday the state-owned firm would cut back on polluting coal-fired plants.
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/ 5 September 2007
"I know this might sound corny, but the sound of the Aston Martin Vantage Roadster’s V8 engine gave me indescribable pleasure. Yes, I’ve driven V8s, V10s and even a V12-engined vehicle before, but none has ever sounded as viciously sweet as this," writes Sukasha Singh.
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/ 4 September 2007
South Africa has been placed 60th in the latest international economic-freedom rankings, down six places on last year and 24 since 2004, the Free Market Foundation of Southern Africa said on Tuesday. ”After impressive gains … after 1994, South Africa’s overall economic freedom score has stagnated during recent years,” executive director Leon Louw said in a statement.
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/ 4 September 2007
Mamelodi Sundowns player Mpho Gift Leremi, who died in a car accident on Monday night, would have been a star in 2010, the minister of sport said on Tuesday. ”There is no doubt that Gift formed part of a nucleus of the Bafana Bafana plans for the 2010 Fifa World Cup establishment,” Makhenkesi Stofile said in a statement.
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/ 4 September 2007
South Africa’s Constitutional Court convened on Tuesday to examine the right of a woman to be the chief of her tribe, a position formerly held by her father. Tinyiko Nwamitwa-Shilubana is claiming the position of chief, or hosi, of the Valoyi in Limpopo, currently held by her cousin, Sidwell Nwamitwa.
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/ 4 September 2007
Government incompetence and not apartheid is to blame for the Land Bank’s woes, says the Freedom Front Plus (FF+). ”Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Lulama Xingwana’s accusation that the current problems of the Land Bank are the direct result of apartheid is a lame excuse,” FF+ agriculture and land affairs spokesperson Pieter Groenewald said on Tuesday.
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/ 4 September 2007
The proposed compulsory disclosure of race and nationality for all property registrations is re-racialisation and bad for the economy, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. ”Re-racialising land ownership will hamper investment and misses the point,” DA spokesperson on land affairs Maans Nel said in a statement.
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/ 4 September 2007
The SAS Manthatisi has become the first naval submarine in the world to be brought into a new class by the International Classification Society, Germanischer Lloyd, the South African Navy said on Tuesday. ”Through the certification of SAS Manthatisi, the SA Navy adds another ”world first” to its long list of achievements,” Captain Digby Thomson said.
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/ 4 September 2007
Members of the Vukuzenzele Crisis Committee in Alexandra on Tuesday occupied a construction site in the northern Johannesburg township to protest against a lack of service delivery and housing. The committee’s chairperson, Frieda Dlamini, told the Mail & Guardian Online that people are desperate for houses.
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/ 4 September 2007
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has ruled out fixing the price of bread in South Africa. ”If we try and cap prices here we will create all manner of difficulties for ourselves,” he told MPs in the National Assembly on Tuesday. Manuel was responding to a call from Pan Africanist Congress MP Motsoko Pheko to fix the bread price.
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/ 4 September 2007
The South Africa National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has expressed ”alarm” at the apparent attempted assassination of a newspaper editor last month. ”Though it has no evidence that this was an assassination attempt, the fact that Media24 has taken precautions based on that assumption requires the media industry to sound a stern warning,” Sanef said on Tuesday.
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/ 4 September 2007
A divorced father of four was sent to jail for 25 years by the Grahamstown High Court on Tuesday for raping and sodomising a mentally-ill girl of 13. ”The crimes were as bestial as they were heinous,” Judge Andre Erasmus told 44-year-old Mlandeli Mvandaba, of Zola township, Bathurst.
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/ 4 September 2007
Corruption continues to be a serious problem at the Department of Home Affairs, its director general said on Tuesday. Speaking after his first 100 days in office, Mavuso Msimang said he hopes to root this out by motivating staff, putting in place better technology and improved facilities. He conceded that the department continues to be ”sick”.