Eskom has expressed concern that the current cold weather will put additional pressure on an already tight electricity-supply system. ”We are currently experiencing an increase in electricity demand due to the weather. ”The cold was so severe that a new morning peak-demand record was set this morning [Wednesday],” the power utility said.
Runaway fires in KwaZulu-Natal have claimed the lives of two firefighters and caused damage of about R1-billion over the past week, the province said on Wednesday. Agriculture and environmental affairs minister Mtholephi Mthimkhulu said thousands of livestock and extensive patches of grazing land have been destroyed.
The debate surrounding two centres of power at the African National Congress (ANC) policy conference is set to overshadow other issues being debated by members concentrating on organisational reviews. Meanwhile, the South African Communist Party’s Blade Nzimande has reacted to President Thabo Mbeki’s opening address.
A group of striking public-service workers protested metres away from the African National Congress (ANC) policy conference venue in Midrand on Wednesday. Law-enforcement authorities closed the road leading to Gallagher Estate while Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha intervened.
The number of community-service doctors in Gauteng will be reduced from 202 at present to 45 next year, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Wednesday. ”This is a 78% cut that is bound to adversely affect health services,” said the party’s health spokesperson for the province, Jack Bloom.
The Mail & Guardian on Wednesday faced possible legal action and even an interdict over a new instalment it plans to publish in its series of articles detailing the criminal networks surrounding Glenn Agliotti, a friend of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
She wows with glittering outfits, has a host of friends from various backgrounds, is always perfectly manicured and preened, and makes a killer bobotie. And she’s running for president. Evita Bezuidenhout is one of the many entertainers lining up for the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, which starts on Thursday.
Jacob Zuma’s aide Ranjeni Munusamy has been refused media accreditation for the African National Congress (ANC) national policy conference in Midrand. This effectively prevents her from attending the event, she said on Wednesday. Munusamy worked as a political journalist before she joined Zuma’s camp.
Springbok captain John Smit confirmed on Wednesday that he is to join French club Clermont-Ferrand following the Rugby World Cup. A statement from the South African Rugby Union said that Smit had signed a two-year contract from 2008 to June 2009. Smit (29) has led the Springboks a record 42 times in his 67 caps and will lead South Africa at the Rugby World Cup.
South Africa’s inflation rate, targeted by the central bank, quickened to 6,4% year-on-year in May, official data showed on Wednesday, strengthening the likelihood of an interest-rate rise in August. The annual CPIX measure — consumer prices minus mortgage costs — rose slightly above market expectations, and April’s increase, of 6,3%.
Twenty-eight people were arrested during a protest outside municipal offices in Boipatong, near Vanderbijlpark, on Wednesday, police said. About 50 disgruntled municipal contract workers had been burning tyres and stoning police because they did not want their three-month contracts to end, Captain William Mcera said.
Johannesburg’s first real snowfall in more than 20 years and the freezing temperatures that accompanied it claimed at least one life on Wednesday morning. Motorists were warned to avoid all passes in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday due to snowfalls, the South African Weather Service said.
Delegates were on Wednesday morning filling up the ballroom at Gallagher Estate, venue of the African National Congress’s (ANC) policy conference in a bitterly cold Midrand, Gauteng, raising the roof with song. About 1Â 500 delegates are expected to attend the four-day conference, due to be opened by President Thabo Mbeki.
Police in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, have unveiled a strategy to take the battle against crime to drug dealers and gangs, media reports said on Wednesday. The strategy includes the deployment of 54 more reservists and assigning five more flying-squad vehicles to patrol routes into Mitchells Plain.
Having lost, in quick succession, coach Muhsin Ertugral to Kaizer Chiefs and assistant coach Ian Gorowa to Moroka Swallows, Absa Cup holders Ajax Cape Town on Tuesday turned to their youth coach, Craig Rosslee, to head their technical operation for the coming Premier Soccer League season.
The corporate sector is the primary creator of jobs and work opportunities, said businessman Tokyo Sexwale in a speech released on Tuesday. ”The extent to which this sector is treated or maltreated, welcomed or unwelcomed, by far determines its continued appetite [for] and commitment to capital expansion and job creation,” he said.
North West province has set aside R14-million for laboratory tests to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) and get patients on treatment as soon as possible, the provincial health department said on Tuesday. A departmental spokesperson said every month at least 2Â 100 new TB patients start treatment in the province.
A 38-year-old man’s leg was amputated when he fell under a train at the Roodepoort railway station on Tuesday night, paramedics said. Netcare 911 spokesperson Mark Stokoe said the man was standing close to the doors of the train when it pulled into the station at 6.20pm, en route to Johannesburg.
Restive South African miners are likely to go on strike in coming months, but the relatively tight platinum market may have already priced in the effects of limited disruptions. Gold prices could see a brief psychological lift if miners walk off the job, but South Africa’s share of global output is waning and that market is less sensitive to supply issues.
As the wife of the United States president tours Africa, she will be shining a spotlight on malaria as well as Aids. While the former does not grab the same headlines, it far outstrips Aids as the continent’s biggest child killer, claiming one young life every 30 seconds.
President Thabo Mbeki is to deliver the opening address at the African National Congress’s policy conference in a bitterly cold Midrand, Gauteng, where delegates started arriving on Wednesday morning. The conference takes place against intense behind-the-scenes jockeying over the leadership of the party, and coincides with a bitter public-service strike.
Many residents of Gauteng woke up on Wednesday morning to a layer of snow turning lawns, rooftops and cars white, while the South African Weather Service predicted a freezing day with temperatures staying below eight degrees Celsius in Johannesburg. A number of roads in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were closed to motorists due to snow on Wednesday morning.
The United States Justice Department has launched a corruption probe into Britain’s BAE Systems, a potential headache for Gordon Brown just hours before he succeeds Tony Blair as British prime minister. BAE, Europe’s biggest military contractor, said on Tuesday the probe will include its dealings with Saudi Arabia.
Zimbabweans who have fled to South Africa marked the International Day against Torture on Tuesday by recounting their experiences at the hands of President Robert Mugabe’s security services. Few were convinced that South African President Thabo Mbeki’s efforts to mediate in their homeland would bear fruit.
Trade-union leaders will meet on Wednesday to discuss suspending the public-service strike during the 21 days they have to consider the government’s final offer. It is understood that the unions discussed the possibility of suspending the strike at a meeting on Sunday, but some wanted more time to consult their members.
The African National Congress’s (ANC) policy conference, which will play a key role in deciding whether President Thabo Mbeki leads the party for a third term, gets under way in Midrand on Wednesday. About 1 500 delegates are expected at the four-day meeting at Gallagher Estate.
Former Mangaung mayor Pappie Mokoena, his wife and other former senior municipal officials appeared on fraud charges in the Bloemfontein High Court on Tuesday. The matter concerns a Scorpions investigation at the Mangaung local municipality relating to alleged fraud amounting to R170-million.
A little-known organisation has taken offence to the Potchefstroom city council blaming ”racist anarchists” for the vandalisation of new street signs. The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation said its reputation had been ”besmirched” by the remarks of council spokesperson Kaizer Mohau.
Severe cold and more snow is to hit large parts of the country later on Tuesday and Wednesday, the South African Weather Service has warned. It said temperatures will drop as low as minus nine degrees Celsius in places such as Sutherland in the Northern Cape. The town was blanketed in snow on Monday.
A regional chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa), Thabo Thakalekola, was on Monday night released from jail in Maseru on R1 000 bail, following his arrest last Friday by the Lesotho mounted police on charges of treason. Thakalekola is a freelance journalist and radio presenter.
Wallabies players would be happy to kick the Springboks out of the Tri-Nations and instead play an extra Test against the All Blacks following South Africa’s decision to send an under-strength team on tour to Australia and New Zealand. Springbok coach Jake White will leave key players at home.
A Cape Town woman on Tuesday continued her testimony about her horror taxi ride at the hands of a ”taxi conductor”. One of the two women named in the case, Lorraine Pindela, told the Cape Town Regional Court the shock of the ordeal caused her to menstruate in the taxi.