The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday dismissed a special task team’s report on conditions at East London’s Frere Hospital as a ”whitewash”. ”There are several problems with the methodology of the task team that make the conclusions entirely superficial and very difficult to take seriously,” DA spokesperson Mike Waters said in a statement.
A dispute with the Legal Aid Board (LAB) has once again delayed the Boeremag treason trial. Provisionally postponing the trial to Thursday this week, trial Judge Eben Jordaan said it was alarming that the LAB had, more than five weeks on, still not provided some of the defence advocates with an answer to their request for funding.
Fuel supplies may come under pressure because of a strike in the petroleum, glass and pharmaceutical sector, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers’ Union (Ceppwawu) said on Monday. About 280 workers affiliated to Ceppwawu downed tools on Monday after a wage dispute was declared against their employer, said the union’s deputy general secretary.
Angloplat, the world’s biggest platinum producer, posted an expected 47% jump in interim profit on Monday, but higher costs and a cut in forecast output due to labour and safety issues cast a shadow. Angloplat shares rose 1,1% to R1 011 by 8.25am GMT, underperforming a 2,64% gain in rival Implats.
The South African government has tabled six new pieces of legislation to greet MPs as they return from their month-long winter break to start the new term on Tuesday. The Bills, with one exception, are all amendment Bills tidying up earlier legislation or making arrangements to deal with problems that have arisen since the original laws were passed.
An alleged Cape Town burglar, using a stolen police uniform, apparently worked in a police station for seven months, a media report said on Tuesday. Ricardo Voight (24) arrived at the Ocean View police station in November last year, dressed in a full police uniform allegedly stolen a few days before.
Only the over-zealous supporters of Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates will say that their teams can challenge for the league, or anything else, after their disappointing displays in the Vodacom Challenge in which both Soweto clubs lost to English Premiership club Tottenham Hotspur.
Six firemen died on Sunday while trying to bring raging fires in Mpumalanga under control, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Monday. The department’s commercial manager Kim Weir said five firefighters died after they could not get their vehicle away from the front of the fire.
South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday his government may cut tariffs on some imported equipment and goods in a bid to boost the manufacturing sector. Mbeki said a healthier manufacturing sector was critical to the government’s efforts to narrow the country’s trade deficit.
Nkosi Johnson, the South African child who melted the hearts of millions when he spelt out the reality of living with Aids, is to be immortalised in a movie that producers hope will help once again raise awareness about the syndrome. The film is to be shot in South Africa at a date still to be set.
His name is ”Average” and the story of his desperate flight from the wreckage of President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is an increasingly common one. The tall 34-year-old, slouching exhausted in a Johannesburg church that has become a de facto transit camp, is one man in a tide of migrants washing up in South Africa.
Zimbabwe’s elections must be free and fair next year and economic recovery in the troubled country will only be achieved by a government viewed as legitimate by all its citizens, South Africa’s president said on Sunday. Thabo Mbeki heads the regional mediation process between Zimbabwe’s government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Former president FW de Klerk on Sunday defended his decision to authorise a raid in Mthatha in 1993 in which five teenagers were killed. ”Although the operation was tragically botched, Mr De Klerk himself acted in his capacity as head of government with due deliberation and care and in complete compliance with national and international law,” said a statement from his foundation.
The Gauteng provincial housing department has pledged R85-million towards the development of four hostels in the province. Provincial housing minister Nomvula Mokonyane held talks with African National Congress and Inkatha Freedom Party supporters who lived in hostels where a number of protests took place earlier this month.
South African publishers have placed restrictions on the comic book Tintin in the Congo following complaints of racism in Britain. The illustrated work by Belgian author-cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under a pen name, is the second in a series of 23 tracing the adventures of Tintin and his dog, Snowy.
People who take the law into their own hands will have to face the consequences, Western Cape minister of community safety Leonard Ramatlakane warned on Saturday. ”The government has proven it will not tolerate lawlessness. There have been a number of arrests related to recent vigilante activity,” he said.
Bekkersdal community leaders were urged by Gauteng housing minister Nomvula Mokonyane on Saturday to support the government’s planned relocation of 14 000 families from the informal settlement. Eighty percent of Bekkersdal residents will be relocated.
The City of Cape Town’s major storms and flooding plan has been stepped up, authorities said on Saturday after a massive cold front brought heavy rain to Cape Town and surrounding areas on Thursday night, followed by a second, weaker cold front on Saturday. Unofficial reports indicated that more than 30Â 000 people may have been affected by the floods.
The young Sharks earned their spurs in no uncertain manner at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday evening. They attacked with gusto in a rousing first half and defended like demons in the second to secure a valuable bonus point in an emphatic, 29-10 Absa Currie Cup rugby victory over the Blue Bulls.
The national executive committee of the African National Congress (ANC) on Saturday reviewed the deliberations and outcomes of the party’s recent policy conference, and debate focused on the policy challenges towards 2012. Guidelines and a timeframe for anaudit of ANC membership were discussed.
A bemused and bewildered Orlando Pirates were all at sea as record R190-million signing Darren Bent ran riot and virtually assured a 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur victory after 22 minutes of a one-sided Vodacom Challenge final at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon. The rest of the game on a sun-soaked but somewhat chilly winter afternoon was little more than an exhibition match.
Eleven people were reported by police to have burnt to death in fires that engulfed parts of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal on Friday. In Mpumalanga, a holidaying Johannesburg couple were burnt beyond recognition after trying to escape an enormous fire that ripped through a tourist lodge on Friday night.
An announcement on the country’s suspended National Lottery is expected within days, according to Department of Trade and Industry insiders, media reports said on Saturday. According to sources, the National Lotteries Board has recommended that the government stick with the initial winning bidder, the Gidani Consortium.
Former members of South Africa’s current intelligence services who were once part of apartheid secret services were behind the ”special browse” report about an alleged plot to overthrow the government, said Director General in the Presidency Frank Chikane on Saturday at a press conference at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
A penalty by centre Oliver Fowles five minutes into referee’s optional time earned the Border Bulldogs a dramatic 19-19 draw against the Pumas at a wet East London’s Absa Stadium on Friday night. It was a game of two halves with the visitors doing the bulk of their scoring in the first and the Bulldogs in the second.
The Golden Lions massacred the Valke 62-5 in an Absa Currie Cup fixture at a chilly Bosman Stadium in Brakpan on Friday evening. The Lions jumped to fourth place on the Currie Cup log with only their second win from five games, while their opponents remain rooted to the bottom.
A Bellville medical doctor who refused to pay ”excessive” legal fees on Friday won the first round of his Cape High Court battle against his own lawyers. In court papers, Dr Ben Broens said he requested a detailed account after being billed R204 135 by his divorce lawyers, advocate Andre Ferreira and attorney Johannes Brink.
Eight community halls have been opened for people forced out of their homes by flood waters after a massive cold front brought heavy rain to Cape Town and surrounding areas on Thursday night. About 15 000 people have been displaced by heavy rains in the Cape peninsula, reports said on Saturday.
Flowers for Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba’s wife were wrongfully bought from the department’s budget, a preliminary investigation into a newspaper’s allegations of corruption has found. On other allegations in the report, published on Friday, the investigation did not find wrongdoing on the part of the minister.
The death rate among newborn babies at East London’s main public hospital does not differ significantly from the national norm, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. In his weekly newsletter, he said ”neonatal mortality at Frere Hospital is not significantly different from the national incidence of such mortality”.
A court action opposing the construction of the new Green Point Stadium for the 2010 Soccer World Cup was postponed to an unspecified date by the Cape High Court on Friday. The action was brought by an environmental group, the Cape Town Environmental Protection Association.
The police believe they have struck a blow against ATM bombers following arrests in the North West and KwaZulu-Natal, police said on Friday. Police spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said that on Wednesday North West police arrested six men who were linked to four cases involving explosions at ATMs in the province during July.