Police have made more arrests in connection with violent organised crime in Gauteng in the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year, provincial community safety minister Firoz Cachalia said on Tuesday. Cachalia said arrests for residential and business robberies, and vehicle hijackings had increased compared to last year.
A doctor who supported former deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge’s view that the health situation at Frere Hospital constituted a crisis has been suspended. Dr Nokuzola Ntshona on Tuesday said that Luvuyo Mosana, the CEO of the East London Hospital Complex which includes Frere and Cecilia Makiwane hospitals, had suspended her on Monday.
President Thabo Mbeki’s dismissal of his respected deputy health minister has handed political ammunition to critics who accuse him of purging opponents as he tries to hold on to political power. Mbeki, facing a fierce battle to maintain leadership of his ruling party, sacked Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge for insubordination, sparking a public outcry.
On what was deemed a ”champagne occasion”, Bidvest Wits University on Monday launched a new team emblem as well as the arrival of five new players for the coming Premier Soccer League season. ”All five have been training with the squad for some time,” said coach Roger de Sa.
Springbok coach Jake White will get his first opportunity to see his World Cup side in action when South Africa face lowly Namibia in a warm-up match in Cape Town on Wednesday. It will also be the first match the Springboks play after former Australia coach Eddie Jones joined the squad a few weeks ago.
Six people were injured and 30 were arrested during a protest over housing delivery in Sebokeng on Tuesday morning, Vaal Rand police said. Captain William Mcera said about 800 protesters burned tyres and stoned vehicles from about 4am, opposite the Sebokeng Hospital in Zone 14.
Twenty-three Vodacom employees were suspended on Monday in a sequel to a month-long strike, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said. The employees were a part of a strike in July and August, in which the CWU demanded recognition from Vodacom.
The Mpumalanga man who decapitated his Siberian Husky puppy with a chainsaw earlier this year has died in a car accident, according to newspaper reports. Phillip Matthysen (31) was thrown from his black Toyota Land Cruiser when it rolled several times on the R50 to Delmas in the early hours on Sunday.
Jacques Kallis has resigned as South Africa’s vice-captain following his omission from the country’s Twenty20 world championship squad. He also said on Monday he was considering his playing future in the wake of his non-selection. Selection convenor Joubert Strydom said Kallis was being rested for the tournament, which will be played in South Africa in September.
Mzamo Xala disavows the term ”black diamond” — conferred on members of South Africa’s booming black middle class who now hold nearly a third of the country’s buying power. The expression implies superiority, he protested, which offends the collective-mindedness of his cultural background.
The African National Congress (ANC) on Monday condemned what it said was ”abusive ranting” by union leader Zwelinzima Vavi on Cabinet ministers. Vavi, who is the general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, said at the weekend that some ministers were ”deadwoods who remain untouchable”, and that some were ”dying on duty”.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Monday demanded action against Limpopo farmers who arrest Zimbabwean border-crossers, but the farmers said they were merely protecting private property. The rounding up of Zimbabwean migrants by farm patrols was reminiscent of apartheid-era white farm commandos, Cosatu said.
Gauteng’s public works department denied a Democratic Alliance (DA) claim that hospital generators were no longer being tested weekly after maintenance contracts had been cancelled in June. Spokesperson Alfred Nhlapo said the system that had replaced the contracts, involving a pool of contractors, was better than what had been available under the previous system.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is demanding the Sunday Times retract ”malicious, untrue and injurious statements” made about her. This follows a weekend front-page report, under the headline ”Manto’s Hospital Booze Binge”, in which it is alleged the minister consumed excessive amounts of alcohol while in hospital.
The Presidency has dismissed newspaper allegations concerning Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, saying they do not warrant President Thabo Mbeki taking action against her. Earlier, it was reported Tshabalala-Msimang was to seek legal advice about a Sunday Times report alleging she went on a ”hospital booze binge”.
About 3 500 mine workers will continue their strike over low salaries on Tuesday, trade union Solidarity said. Spokesperson Reint Dykema said Solidarity members started striking at coal mines around the country on Monday over an inadequate pay offer, particularly for artisans.
An American fingerprint expert on Monday accused South African police of fabricating fingerprint evidence to secure a conviction in the Inge Lotz hammer murder. The expert, Pat Wertheim, was the first witness called in defence of accused Fred van der Vyver, who has elected not to testify himself.
Springbok coach Jake White has named a near full-strength side for South Africa’s first World Cup warm-up match against Namibia at Newlands on Wednesday. The match will see the return to action for the Springboks of scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, who’s recovered from injury that kept him out of action during the Boks’ other Tests this year.
Former Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) leader Motsoko Pheko is an opportunist who wants his dismissal from the party postponed forever, the Cape High Court heard on Monday. Opposing Pheko’s court bid to stop the PAC replacing him as an MP, PAC legal representative advocate Thami Ncoagwane said Pheko had been making contradictory requests to various courts.
The 24-hour power failure at Johannesburg’s Coronation Hospital on the weekend should serve as a wake-up call on maintenance work, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday. Jack Bloom, Gauteng health spokesperson for the party, warned that hospitals in the province were at dire risk because maintenance contracts had been cancelled.
The Department of Minerals and Energy said on Monday that it wants to create a new industry around nuclear energy. Speaking at the release of the draft Nuclear Energy Policy and Strategy for public comment, the department’s director general, Sandile Noxina, said such a new industry would lead to the creation of jobs.
As an Anglican row over gay clergy deepens, growing numbers of conservative American priests are abandoning the liberal United States church and pledging allegiance to traditionalist African bishops instead. Africans, who take a tough line on homosexuality, are keen to recruit the dissident priests as bishops under their own authority.
About 3 500 mine workers downed tools on Monday over low salaries, trade union Solidarity said. Spokesperson Reint Dykema said Solidarity members were striking at coal mines around the country over an inadequate pay offer, particularly for artisans.
Vosloorus police said on Monday they knew nothing about a man who claimed his group of disgruntled unemployed people were behind a spate of ATM bombings. The Sowetan newspaper reported on Monday that Plaatjie Mashego, said to be a former Umkhonto weSizwe operative, had claimed responsibility for recent ATM blasts across the country.
Two speeding motorists caught with laser jammers in their cars have been charged with exceeding the speed limit and defeating the ends of justice, Johannesburg metro police said on Sunday. The two were among 37 motorists arrested for speeding in the city over the weekend.
A motorist was slightly injured when her car was stoned, then overturned by a rioting mob just off the R511, in Diepsloot, on Sunday night, said Netcare 911. She was taken to hospital with a laceration to her head, said Netcare 911 spokesperson Mark Stokoe.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is consulting her lawyers over a Sunday Times article alleging she demanded alcohol while she was being treated at the Cape Town Medi-Clinic in 2005. In a brief statement released on Sunday the ministry labelled the article ”false”.
The unveiling by the Department of Home Affairs of a resurrected plan for refugees has come too late for thousands of Zimbabweans, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Sunday. DA spokesperson for home affairs Mark Lowe said the failure of the department to admit to a refugee crisis was a reflection of ”incompetence and ignorance”.
The debate on a United States of Africa is set to continue at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting scheduled to begin in Lusaka, Zambia, on Tuesday. In a statement released on Sunday, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said the SADC Council of Ministers would discuss a report on regional economic integration.
The deputy manager at the East London Hospital Complex, known for its high infant mortality rates, is a fraud convict who has served time in a United States prison, the Independent Online reported on Sunday. Dr Nokuzola Ntshona was convicted in 1996 by a New York court for fraudulent healthcare claims in the early 1990s.
About 3 500 Solidarity mine workers will down tools on Sunday over low salaries, the trade union said. Plans for the strike ”are on track”, said spokesperson Reint Dykema. The union is to go on strike at coal mines around the country over an inadequate pay offer, particularly for artisans.
The Blue Bulls played better than the scoreline of 44-18 in favour of the Free State Cheetahs indicated in Bloemfontein on Saturday. Free State led 10-6 at half-time. The difference between the two sides was the impact the replacements made for the home team.