Affirmative action is dead in many respects, says Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin. Beeld newspaper reported him on Friday as saying the policy was not being applied in South Africa because of skills shortages. Erwin was defending the government’s affirmative action policy on Thursday at the South African Business Club in London.
The Triangle Project said on Friday they were outraged by recent killings of two lesbian women in Soweto. ”We demand justice and immediate police action to incarcerate the monsters who killed these women,” said Vista Kalipa, spokesperson for Triangle Project — a Cape Town-based gay and lesbian advocacy organisation.
Employers must not cut worker salaries but should, instead, review them upwards despite the ongoing reduction of prices of goods and services, said the Zimbabwe chairperson of the Cabinet taskforce on price monitoring and stabilisation, Obert Mpofu. He said the government would assist companies that are facing viability problems.
The leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP) has called for the nationalisation of petrochemical firm Sasol and Mittal Steel South Africa to ensure energy security. The SACP is allied to the more centrist African National Congress but political analysts say it may decide to withdraw from the coalition.
Ah, the gutter. There’s plenty of mud down there — which is what it being used in the unseemly spat between Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride and some of his officers.
Former Golden Arrows striker Alton Meiring has joined Moroka Swallows at their pre-season camp and impressed coach Ian Gorowa so much that he will travel to Germany with the squad to play in the inaugural Volkswagen Cup. Swallows will face Vfl Wolfsburg next Wednesday in a tournament sponsored by the German car manufacturer.
Free State scored a hard-fought 18-3 win over the Pumas virtually to confirm their place in Saturday’s main match at the 44th annual Coca-Cola Craven Week at Paul Roos Gymnasium. Their likely opponents will be hosts Western Province, who won against the Lions on Wednesday.
In a weekend with only one Currie Cup game being played, there will also be two compulsory friendlies around the country. The Sharks will be hosting Griquas at the Absa Stadium in Durban in the only Currie Cup fixture. In East London, it’s the Bulldogs versus the Lions, and in George it’s Western Province versus South Western District.
The South African Communist Party (SACP), whose ultimate goal is achieving socialism, needs to decide on the question of political power, African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said on Thursday. He was addressing the SACP’s 12th national congress.
The North West owner of 10 lions that killed a boy has offered to sell two of the animals to compensate the child’s family, the province said on Thursday. The boy was killed by the lions on a farm near Vryburg. The lions apparently grabbed the boy and pulled him into their enclosure after he put his hand through a gap near the entrance gate.
In the third such accident this week, four people were injured when a train hit a car at a crossing in Welkom in the Free State, emergency services said on Thursday. Three adults and a young child were travelling between Welkom and Odendaalsrus at about 8.15pm on Wednesday when their car was hit by a train carrying mined rock.
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) says it cannot take action against German vitamin salesman Matthias Rath. This follows a complaint by the Democratic Alliance complaint on Thursday that Rath had reopened offices in Cape Town offering products promising the natural control of HIV/Aids.
The outcome of government departments’ annual financial reports paints a bleak picture, Auditor General Terence Nombembe told the Johannesburg Press Club on Thursday. In the 2005/06 report, only 12% of government departments have clean audit opinions. This figure shrinks to 4% at provincial level.
Hundreds of newborns are reportedly dying every year at Frere Hospital’s overburdened maternity section in East London — many because of negligence, a media report said on Thursday. The situation is so bad that a cleaner delivered a baby in front of shocked students, it said.
Najwa Petersen was refused bail by the Cape Town Regional Court on Thursday because her history of suicide attempts showed she was a danger to herself. She is to go on trial in February with Abdoer Emjedi, Waheed Hassen and Jefferson Snyders, charged with the murder of Petersen’s husband, internationally known entertainer Taliep.
South African technology firm Dimension Data has agreed to sell 60% of its Britehouse Group IT consulting and services business to black investors. Didata said on Thursday it had won approval to sell the stake to a consortium comprising black empowerment groups Convergence Partners Investments and Safika Holdings, and investment firm VenFin.
Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu handed over 10 houses at an ”innovation hub” in Soshanguve, Pretoria on Thursday. The project will afford people who have new innovations the opportunity to have their materials tested and, if approved, the materials are used to build dwellings.
South Africa’s manufacturing output rose by an unadjusted 6,6% in volume terms in the year to May, from a 3,8% rise in the previous month, data showed on Thursday. Compared with April, manufacturing production in volume terms increased by a seasonally adjusted 4,5%, Statistics South Africa said.
South African gold output rose by 1,3% year-on-year in May, the first increase in in nine months, while overall mining production rose by 0,8%, official data showed on Thursday. Gold output in South Africa, the world’s largest producer, showed an increase in volume terms for the first time since August 2006.
South Africa’s Finance Ministry was disappointed by the European Union’s nomination of a candidate for the top job at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) without broader consultation, a spokesperson said on Thursday. The EU said on Tuesday its finance ministers had agreed to support former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn to head the IMF.
South Africa said on Thursday it suspended poultry imports from Germany in response to an outbreak of a lethal strain of bird flu on a farm in the European nation. The ban applies to live poultry, birds, meat and other products derived from poultry and birds, the Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The impoverished African kingdom of Lesotho has declared an official food crisis after bad harvests left more than 400 000 people in need of food aid, a United Nations agency said. Close to 328 000 tonnes of cereals are now needed to feed hungry people in the country.
The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) on Thursday recommitted itself to working for democracy throughout Africa. On the anniversary of the Dakar conference, the organisation is celebrating 20 years of democracy-building by affirming its commitment to work not only in South Africa, but in other parts of Africa.
Democratic Alliance leader and Cape Town mayor Helen Zille was named Newsmaker of the Year for 2006 by the National Press Club in Pretoria on Wednesday. The runner-up was Kabelo Thibedi, who held hostage a Department of Home Affairs official in a desperate attempt to obtain his identity document.
The death of actor Bill Flynn on Wednesday will leave a huge hole in the drama world, his friend of 40 years and fellow actor Paul Slabolepszy said. ”As a creative artist, Bill was one of the best in the world,” said Slabolepszy, who had once been a student with Flynn at the University of Cape Town. ”This is such a shock.”
In a damning 59-page catalogue of policy advice to the Zimbabwean government, Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono spells out his repeated attempts to persuade the government to change course and save the country from imminent economic collapse and ruin. The Mail & Guardian is in possession of the document.
A former Scorpions advocate was bitten, assaulted, tied up with duct tape and two attempts were made to rape her, the Pretoria Regional Court heard on Wednesday. The grandson of an employee at the Namibian high commission is accused in the case.
The Johannesburg High Court has ordered Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride and five of his metro police officers not to intimidate, harass or threaten three of their colleagues. However, the court stopped short of ordering that they be kept 100m from the men.
Local actor Bill Flynn has died, it was reported on Wednesday. It was understood that he had suffered a heart attack, according to the report. Flynn (58) was a respected and much-loved figure in the entertainment industry. A stage and screen actor, he was known for his roles in films such as Heel Against the Head and Running Riot.
South Africa remains one of only two countries in the world to offer life policies for people with HIV/Aids, the Life Offices’ Association (LOA) said on Wednesday. Three of South Africa’s biggest life-insurance companies were the first to introduce life policies for people with HIV/Aids in 2001, with The Netherlands following suit only last year, a statement said.
Western Province rugby coaches Kobus van der Merwe and his assistant, Jerome Paarwater, resigned from their posts on Wednesday. This was confirmed by Western Province Rugby Union CEO Rob Wegner, who said it was mutually agreed by his union and the coaches that in the interest of Western Province rugby the coaches would step down.
Three women arrested for allegedly drowning a baby in a bucket confessed to a magistrate in a case heard in chambers in Mamelodi, Pretoria, on Wednesday, police said. Inspector Paul Ramaloko said the women made ”an admission of guilt” to the magistrate.