Desertification is the ”terrible twin evil” of climate change, Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Rejoice Mabudafhasi said in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday. ”Desertification is a significant problem for South Africa, threatening not only our ecological integrity, but the well-being of our people,” she said.
The new Green Point Stadium will be built in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. ”No other host city has had to go through as many processes as Cape Town, and no other stadium site in the country is as complex legally, politically, geologically, and financially,” she said at the launch of the 2010 host-city logo.
Investment opportunities for South African business abound in the under-developed mountain kingdom of Lesotho, the South African-Lesotho business forum heard on Wednesday. Lesotho Prime Minister Phakalitha Mosisili told the forum the challenge was to see the opportunities available and ”make good use of them while they last”.
Three suspects will appear in court on Thursday in connection with the murder of Cape Town theatre personality Taliep Petersen, police said. Superintendent Billy Jones said a third suspect was arrested on Tuesday afternoon after hours of being held for questioning. The suspect is a 34-year-old man from the Athlone area of Cape Town.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation has not arranged to meet the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to discuss the rights to televise local soccer matches, both parties said on Wednesday. ”We’ve received nothing official from them, so I can’t comment,” said PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza.
It features FC Barcelona — one of the most powerful and charismatic teams on the planet — in one of the most talked about club soccer matches played in South Africa in years. But lingering misgivings surround Wednesday night’s highly anticipated showpiece at Loftus, revolving mainly around how Mamelodi Sundowns will fare against daunting opposition.
The electronic National Transport Information System (eNatis) is operating well countrywide, the National Road Public Management Corporation said on Wednesday. The corporation manages eNatis on behalf of the Transport Department.
Kimberley will soon get its sparkle back when the State Diamond Trader (SDT) is established in the Northern Cape city. PW Saaiman, provincial minister for economic affairs, said on Wednesday the establishment of the SDT should have many developmental spin-offs for the city.
Bafana Bafana legend Mark Fish said that Orlando Pirates must put their past triumph over English Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur out of their minds and focus on the way forward when they take on Kaizer Chiefs and the English club in this year’s Vodacom Challenge.
In what could be seen as the government’s final move to have the public-service wage dispute solved through talks, it gave unions a deadline of 6pm on Wednesday to accept its revised ”settlement offer”. The settlement salary package includes a 7,5% wage increase.
The Johannesburg Metro Police Department wants to raise the payment levels of traffic fines from an average of 33% to 60% within the next few years, media reports said on Wednesday. Measures include establishing a special squad to trace the top 100 offenders.
The number of visitors to the Cape Town Book Fair doubled in its second year, the fair organisers said at the end of the four-day event on Tuesday. More than 49 000 visitors attended the fair at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, up from 26 000 in 2006, its inaugural year.
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) on Tuesday said it doubted claims by an East Rand teenager that she had repeatedly seen the Virgin Mary. ”I doubt it very much … We know that people in desperate situations search for answers from God. The God that we know reveals himself in a meaningful manner,” said SACC general secretary Eddie Makue.
South Africa has become the first African country to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s anti-bribery convention, the Department of Public Service and Administration said on Tuesday. South Africa signed the convention in France.
More than 6,8 metric tonnes of liquids, aerosols and gels (lags) have so far been seized under new airport safety measures, the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) said on Tuesday. It said when the new regulations came into effect on June 1, about 500 litres of lags a day were seized at the three international airports — OR Tambo, Durban and Cape Town.
Women should benefit from the settlement of land claims, Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana said on Tuesday. Handing over commercial land valued at R1-billion to four communities in Mpumalanga, she said it was crucial that women were not marginalised. ”Women must benefit significantly from the economic benefits that follow with this claim,” she said.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has called for an urgent meeting with the Premier Soccer League (PSL) over its controversial awarding of broadcasting rights to pay channel SuperSport. ”The [SABC] board calls upon the leadership of the PSL to urgently meet the SABC management team,” chairperson Eddie Funde said on Tuesday.
The time has come for a settlement in the public-service wage dispute, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the dismissal of a group of striking Western Cape health workers was a violation of their patients’ constitutional rights, the Cape High Court has been told.
The African National Congress (ANC) was not worried about differences in economic policy expressed by its alliance partners, the party said at a briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The party’s economic policy has been criticised by its alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party.
The Freedom Front Plus Youth (FF+) has accused the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) of being ”softies” after the ANCYL failed to take part in a live television debate on affirmative action. ”Clearly the organisation is not prepared or does not have the courage to defend their view on affirmative action …,” said FF+ leader Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg.
The youngest of the five baby Jordan-Leigh Norton killers was ”more interested in immediate pleasures than his future”, the Cape High Court heard on Tuesday. Probation officer Joel Ntuli told the court Bonginkosi Sigenu (18) came from a poor background and his late father had declined to buy him fancy clothing.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter on Tuesday expressed his full confidence in South Africa’s preparations for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. ”I am a happy Fifa president,” he told journalists after meeting President Thabo Mbeki at Tuynhuys. ”Everything is on track.”
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday lodged papers in the Durban High Court opposing the eThekwini municipality’s controversial plan to rename Durban’s streets and some of its landmark buildings. The DA is asking the court to prevent the municipality from proceeding with phase two of the renaming process and to have the first phase reversed.
The Lesotho government will relax the restrictions of the curfew it imposed after a spate of attacks on Cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Phakalitha Mosisili said on Tuesday. Briefing the media in Cape Town after meeting South African President Thabo Mbeki at Tuynhuys, Mosisili said the curfew, which was imposed on Saturday, will now be modified.
The case of Annanias Mathe, the Mozambican national charged with escaping from Pretoria’s C-Max prison, was postponed in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. The case was postponed to July 16 for a provisional date to ”centralise” all the charges against Mathe.
Boxing history will be made when Cassius Baloyi and Manuel Medina meet for the International Boxing Organisation junior lightweight title at Emperors Palace on July 5. The fight, which will also serve as a final eliminator for the IBF title, will set an unprecedented record in boxing as the two have been involved in a combined 44 world-title bouts.
The long-awaited new Mokala National Park in the Northern Cape was officially proclaimed by Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Tuesday. The establishment of this new park near Plooysberg, south-west of Kimberley, came as a result of a successful land claim made on a section of the old Vaalbos National Park.
Police arrested about 500 protesting street traders outside the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday following clashes in which a water cannon, pepper spray and stun grenades were used. Police spokesperson Superintendent Muzi Mngomezulu could not immediately say exactly how many people were arrested, but estimated the number was about 500.
Transnet has sold its housing loan book to the FirstRand group for R1,4-billion, its chief executive, Maria Ramos, announced in Johannesburg on Tuesday. Ramos said the sale of the non-core asset — which had been in process since October 2006 — was part of the company’s turnaround strategy that focused on freight transport.
Glenanda Primary School in Glenvista, south of Johannesburg, was evacuated after a bomb threat on Tuesday morning, principal Graham King said. He said 1 200 pupils were sent home after a telephone call by an anonymous man at 9am.
The multiparty committee that will inquire into whether Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool misled the legislature will hold open hearings next Monday, its chairperson said. Since its April 20 appointment, the committee has held closed meetings to finalise procedure and fine-tune the timetable.
The case of the father of notorious prison escapee Annanias Mathe was postponed in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. Although Zaphanias Mathe (80), a Mozambican, was granted R500 bail, he has yet to renew his permit to stay in South Africa, which has expired. For this reason he will be remanded in custody as he is still an illegal immigrant.