National power utility Eskom and trade unions started conciliation meetings in Johannesburg on Wednesday aimed at resolving a wage dispute. Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration spokesperson Lusanda Myoli said Eskom had consented to an offer of intervention last week.
”Patience.” That is what South Africa’s Robbie Hunter asks of his fans for the duration of the Tour de France. Hunter, captain of team Barloworld, has been inundated with questions from fans who want to know why Barloworld has not already been in a breakaway and why he does not have his team around him to lead him out at the finish.
The JSE came off in the opening on Wednesday but has come back a bit, supported by a tad lower rand at midday. The bourse has also had a little nudge by the resource index, which has improved. At 12.01pm, the all-share index was flat (-0,01%). Resources gained 0,50%, the gold index eased 0,76% and the platinum-index slipped 0,12%.
The Democratic Alliance has asked Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla what she is doing to resolve the issue of Judge John Hlophe. The DA said it had noted with great concern Hlophe’s continued ”obvious contempt” for judicial process, spokesperson Tertius Delport said in a statement.
At least 20 people were injured when a truck collided with a train in Pretoria West on Wednesday, paramedics said. ER24 spokesperson Riana Beech said the 20-tonne truck had been travelling along Roger Dyson Road in Pretoria West when its brakes are believed to have failed, causing the driver to lose control.
Zimbabwean police have set up roadblocks to stop the movement of basic commodities between cities and rural areas. Police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka said that police had information that shop owners were moving loads of basic commodities to rural areas for ”safe keeping”.
Forensic experts exhumed a baby on Tuesday who was drowned and buried in a yard — allegedly by her mother — last year, Pretoria police said. ”I can confirm that forensic experts found the remains of the child in the yard,” Inspector Paul Ramaloko said. He said the child was buried in July last year just after being born.
The Labour Court has ordered that striking South African National Parks (SANParks) employees must comply with all provisions of the picketing rules, park authorities said on Tuesday. ”In practical terms this means that striking Hospersa [Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa] members will cease their unlawful conduct in the park.”
A ”typing error” has put paid to an application by three Ekurhuleni metro police for a restraining order against their chief, Robert McBride. It emerged in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday that McBride was informed in a notice of motion that the urgent application would be heard on Monday ”July 9”, instead of July 10.
The Southern African Development Community should step in to save the deteriorating economy of Zimbabwe, South Africa’s minister of foreign affairs said on Tuesday. ”We are concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe and its economic situation, which has been deteriorating,” Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in Pretoria.
The R5,3-million insurance policy on Taliep Petersen’s life, to which first his widow Najwa and later his minor daughter were beneficiaries, has not yet been paid. This was revealed in the Wynberg Regional Court in Cape Town on Tuesday. The court heard a bail application by Najwa and one of her three co-accused in Taliep’s murder.
Three Ekurhuleni metro police brought an application in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday for a restraining order against their chief, Robert McBride. The application was being brought by Ekurhuleni metro police chief Superintendent Stanley Segathevan, Chief Superintendent Patrick Johnston and Superintendent Itumeleng Koko.
Metal and engineering industry unions have rejected an offer employers put on the table on Tuesday afternoon, said Solidarity. Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said that after unions rejected the increased offer, employers held their own caucus meeting. Unions and employers were expected to meet back at the negotiation table on Tuesday evening.
Italy will, if requested, be ready to help South Africa with safety and security issues during the 2010 World Cup, its Deputy Prime Minister, Massimo D’Alema, said on Tuesday. D’Alema was hosted by Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in Pretoria where bilateral political and economic discussions between the two took place.
Former Talk Radio 702 chief executive and veteran radio presenter Stan Katz appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on two charges of assaulting his former wife Philippa Sklaar. The clerk of the court said Katz faced two charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Defending champions Kaizer Chiefs and Limpopo heroes Black Leopards will parade their new signings and give their fans a taste of their entertaining brand of soccer when the Limpopo Soccer Challenge takes place at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Sunday. Kick-off is at 3.30pm.
First National Bank (FNB) has invested R100-million to fight ATM fraud over the next three years, it said in a statement on Tuesday. FNB chief executive Mike Arnold said the R100-million would ”beef up” security at more than 3Â 000 ATMs countrywide. ”Target our ATMs, and we will catch you and make you pay the price,” said Arnold.
Butch James, one of the Sharks’ favourite sons, has accepted an offer to see out his career at Bath in England. Not for want of trying, the Sharks’ generous offer had to be weighed against the reality of his future playing career. Two seasons ago, many would have laughed at the suggestion he would play again.
Incentives to encourage private-sector development of inner-city housing for lower-income residents are being considered by the City of Johannesburg. ”If we don’t provide affordable housing, the slumlords will do that,” said Dr Philip Harrison, executive director of development planning and urban management.
The Cape Flats community would be outraged if Taliep Petersen’s widow, Najwa, and her alleged accomplices in Petersen’s murder were released on bail, the Wynberg Regional Court heard on Tuesday. Najwa and co-accused Abdoer Emjedi have launched a bail application before magistrate Robert Henney, acting Regional Court president in the Western Cape.
The City of Johannesburg is approving an average of nearly 2Â 000 building plans per month while some northern areas are experiencing growth rates of 25%. Dr Philip Harrison, executive director of development planning and urban management, said figures indicated that the city’s population would double within 20 to 25 years.
Confidence among South Africa’s consumers eased in the second quarter of 2007, but remained high as most expected the benefits of faster economic growth to filter down to them, a survey found. The confidence index compiled by First National Bank and the Bureau for Economic Research was down to +21 from a record high of +23.
The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) is probing the death of builder Pieter Wheeler in a police cell in Grabouw, Western Cape police said on Tuesday. Wheeler (51) was found dead in the cell he shared with three other men at 11pm on Saturday, just over six hours after his detention for alleged drunkenness.
Western Cape African National Congress (ANC) provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha on Tuesday accused the Paarl town council, led by the Democratic Alliance and Independent Democrats, of organising a witch-hunt against duly appointed council officials. He was responding to reports that the council had suspended municipal manager Sidima Kabanyane.
Orania chairperson Carel Boshoff’s wife, Anna, died on July 10 at the age of 75, the family said. "Tannie Anna, as she was known, was a community person par excellence, and will be remembered for the countless initiatives aimed at maintaining and reclaiming the Afrikaner’s freedom," the family said in a statement.
Metal and engineering industry strike action could be over on Tuesday if talks succeed, both unions and employers said on Tuesday morning. Talks between unions and the Steel and Engineering Industry Federation of South Africa resumed at 10am in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
A Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) driver has been shot dead in Khayelitsha in the sixth taxi-related killing in less than a month. The murder of a 24-year-old Codeta-affiliated driver, who may not be named as his next of kin have not been informed, follows the murders of five Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association drivers in the past three weeks.
The owners of the Assmang manganese processing plant at Cato Ridge, where at least 50 workers are suspected to be suffering from manganese poisoning, were warned as early as 1995 about the dangers of high levels of dust at the plant. In 1999 the owners were advised to use international measurements of acceptable dust levels because the local legislation was outdated.
South African companies affected by a clampdown on business on Zimbabwe have not made complaints to Pretoria’s mission in Harare, the Foreign Affairs Department said on Monday. ”If indeed they are faced with this critical situation, they need to get in touch with the embassy in Harare and inform them of their plight,” said spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
Western Cape police are investigating charges of rape and abduction after a five-year-old girl, who had been reported missing in the Karoo, was found alive, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Tuesday. Police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Potje said that he was relieved that the girl had been found.
A meeting to resolve a dispute about moving ambulance services and clinics in Gauteng from municipal to provincial administration ”achieved nothing” on Monday, a trade union said. The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), which opposes the move, met provincial health minister Brian Hlongwa in Johannesburg.
The Italian experience of small and medium businesses will help South Africa in the 2010 Soccer World Cup and beyond, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said on Monday. ”Italy’s experience and culture of small, medium and family-owned businesses will help in the long term,” the minister said on the first day of the SA-Italy Business Forum.