It is pure coincidence that a postponed labour meeting to decide on the public-service dispute will coincide with the start of the African National Congress policy conference on Wednesday, said the Congress of South African Trade Unions on Sunday. Meanwhile, a large teachers’ union has announced its withdrawal from the strike.
Public-service unions on Sunday said there would be no wage deal with until at least Wednesday. Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Willie Madisha said unions needed more time to consult members on government’s final proposal.
Gauteng residents should brace themselves for a strong cold front and isolated showers accompanied by wind in the coming week, the National Forecast Centre said on Sunday. Forecasters said the chilly weather should be expected in the middle of the week, with chances of light isolated showers on Tuesday.
In spite of gaining a valuable bonus point it is almost certaint that the Springbok Tri-Nations campaign is all but over as they face a long haul to Australia to face the Wallabies in Sydney on July 7. Physically, it was the All Black powerhouses off the bench, fullback Leon MacDonald and Luke McAllister, that turned the tables on the Springboks.
South Africans may hope the ruling African National Congress (ANC) finds new ways to fight social ills at its conference this week, but any policy debate will likely be overshadowed by a succession battle that has plunged the party into turmoil. Analysts say they expect closed-door meetings to focus on forming alliances ahead of a congress in December that will choose a new leader for the party.
Captain Richie McCaw and wing Joe Rokocoko scored late tries to snatch a 26-21 win for New Zealand over South Africa in their Tri-Nations match in Durban on Saturday. South Africa ruled the opening quarter by kicking much of their possession downfield and using their superior lineout to continue the attack..
Judgement has been reserved on a Treatment Action Campaign application for the reinstatement of 41 dismissed Khayelitsha health workers. Cape High Court’s Justice Siraj Desai said at the end of an afternoon of legal argument on Friday that he would give a ruling ”with or without reasons” at 10am on Tuesday.
The Blue Bulls scored six tries to the Falcons’s three as the home side won their first Absa Currie Cup game of the seaon at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night by 43 points to 26. The bonus-point win for the home side didn’t produce anything for the courageous visitors who stood tall against a team that included nine players from Super 14 final.
Four people died and 41 others were seriously injured when two trucks and a bakkie collided in Blinkpan outside Witbank, Mpumalanga police said on Saturday. Spokesperson Captain Leonard Hlathi said three of the people died on impact, while a fourth died on arrival at the Cosmos Hospital in Witbank on Friday morning.
Champion amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius can compete against the world’s best able-bodied athletes while researchers try to determine whether his prosthetics give him an unfair advantage, a spokesperson for the international track authority said.
The hostage taker at a hair salon in Vanderbijlpark was shot dead by police early on Saturday morning. A single shot was fired, bringing to an end an eight-hour hostage drama around 2.10am. ”It’s over, he is no longer,” said police spokesperson Captain William Mcera. Both hostages were safe, he said.
Three women have been released after being held hostage at a hair salon in Vanderbijlpark, Vaal Rand police said on Friday night. Captain William Mcera said three women had been released from Merle’s Hair Boutique on Attie Fourie road at about 5.45pm, but ”according to the negotiators there are still a few of them inside”.
A scrap-metal dealer and two workers at the City of Cape Town have been arrested for theft of copper cables, the municipality said on Friday. Pieter van Dalen, chairperson of the City’s cable-theft task team, said the workers were arrested this week after confessing to stealing the cables and selling them to a scrap-metal dealer.
The Proudly South African campaign has dismissed media reports it has been ”disowned” by the government and the Department of Trade and Industry. The seed funding provided for the campaign’s founding period was suspended in 2004, it said in a statement on Friday.
At least four women were being held hostage in a hair salon in Vanderbijlpark late on Friday afternoon. Initial reports were that the four were being held by a middle-aged man. However, it was later claimed that there were 11 women in Merle’s Hair Boutique, in Attie Fourie Street, and that they were hostage to a six or seven-man gang.
The issue of a uniform South African sports symbol will be discussed at the upcoming African National Congress (ANC) policy conference, party spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said on Friday. ”We want to harmonise the national symbols of the country. One logo for all sports,” he said. Ngonyama said the public would also be given a say in the possible name change.
New Springbok captain Victor Matfield lashed out on Friday at suggestions that tighthead BJ Botha scrums illegally. Australia and New Zealand, South Africa’s opponents in the Tri-Nations tournament, have accused Botha of scrumming at an inward angle, which is against the laws of the game.
The African National Congress’s (ANC) national policy conference in Gauteng next week should remain loyal to principle and continuity, but also respond to changing circumstances, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. The four-day conference, which starts on Wednesday, will assess the party’s major policy positions.
The government formally tabled a final public-service wage proposal, including a 7,5% increase, at wage talks on Friday — but unions said they were not yet ready to sign the offer. Unions have 21 days to accept or reject the offer. Until then, the wage talks are suspended.
Two game farmers with tape measures in hand say Free State authorities break their own rules for housing confiscated wildlife, including lions, a media report said on Friday. Free State department of environmental affairs spokesperson Kgotso Tau said: ”Individuals should stop kicking up dust and dramatising.”
Two boys have been rescued from a Transkei initiation school after a so-called traditional surgeon cut off the ends of their penises, the Eastern Cape health department said on Friday. Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the boys, plus a third youth, were found at the village of Swazini near Port St Johns.
The Democratic Alliance accused the Nokeng tsa Taemane municipality on Friday of hiding the truth by denying it faced collapse and needed R20-million from Gauteng province to survive. Municipal manager Mpho Mogale admitted the municipality had a cash-flow problem, and said plans were already in place to deal with it.
A man and a woman died, four people were injured and 45 shacks were destroyed in a fire in Malvern, Johannesburg police said on Friday. A 46-year-old man — thought to have started the blaze at about 11pm on Thursday night — has been arrested, said police spokesperson Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht.
South Africa’s credentials of being serious challengers for the World Cup title in France later this year will be tested by the number one-ranked team, New Zealand, in the second match of this year’s Tri-Nations competition in Durban on Saturday. Jake White’s Springboks are coming off a thrilling, last-gasp win over Australia last weekend.
Retired South African Press Association (Sapa) sports editor William ”Bill” Mclean (71) died in a Johannesburg clinic on Friday morning after a long illness, his family announced. A veteran news-agency man, Mclean’s career with Sapa spanned more than three decades.
Police officers are not allowed to go on strike, the Johannesburg Labour Court ruled on Friday. Meanwhile, protesters barged through the gates of the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council, in Centurion, ahead of further public-service wage talks between government and union negotiators.
South Africa lacks women in high positions, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has found. A lot still needed to be done to empower women, the PSC said in a report released on Friday. ”Critical in this endeavour is the creation of an enabling environment to ensure that women’s talents and potential are harnessed …,” it said.
One of President Thabo Mbeki’s VIP protection-unit bodyguards has appeared in court in Cape Town after allegedly shooting a man dead in a shebeen on the weekend. The Western Cape head of the Independent Complaints Directorate, Thabo Leholo, confirmed on Friday that Sergeant Sabata Vula faced charges of murder and attempted murder.
The habit of packing some biltong in your suitcase as a gift for homesick friends and family in the United Kingdom will have to stop, if the British government has its way, media reports said on Friday. Many a concerned mother has sent a package of South African goodies, inevitably including some biltong and dry wors, along with a friend on their way to London.
President Thabo Mbeki will attend the launch of a book on his governance by Ronald Suresh Roberts at the presidential guest house in Pretoria on Friday. The book, Fit to Govern: The Native Intelligence of Thabo Mbeki, will be launched at 7pm.
The Johannesburg Labour Court would on Friday rule whether police service members could join the public-service strike. During arguments on Thursday, lawyers for the police and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union spent much time arguing which categories of South African Police Services employees were essential and which not.
The Johannesburg Labour Court on Thursday reserved judgement on whether South African Police Service (SAPS) members could join the public-service strike. Arguments by the lawyers for the police and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union centred largely on whether SAPS administration and support staff were essential-service workers or not.