Springbok coach Jake White was on Tuesday cleared by the South African Rugby Union of breaching its code of conduct, following a row with a journalist in a Johannesburg pub. It was alleged that the argument over a tabloid newspaper’s coverage of the Springboks had led to the journalist being assaulted by another pub patron.
The City of Cape Town’s renaming panel, set up in a bid to avoid the controversy that has enlivened the process in other centres, has hit a stumbling block. The Western Cape African National Congress announced on Tuesday that it rejected the 17-member panel and demanded that the body be reconstituted.
President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday in Parliament condemned the violence that has marked protests during the ongoing public-service strike — but opposition parties expressed concern about police officers joining the strike in sympathy as well as trade-union leaders’ ”message of selfish own interests”.
Five men arrested in connection with a burglary at Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Soweto home are to appear in the Orlando Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, said Gauteng police. The men were arrested on Monday. Tutu was in Europe at the time of the break-in.
An Alberton school principal was shot dead at his home on Tuesday, Gauteng police said. Spokesperson Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said Nick Karvelas (44), head of the Little Sparrows Private School in Randhart, was apparently called home by a servant. ”It appears that the house was about to be robbed.”
Economic growth in South Africa is breaking historical records, President Thabo Mbeki told MPs on Tuesday. Speaking at the start of debate on the Presidency’s budget vote, he said that by September this year the economy ”will have been growing for eight solid years, longer than ever before in the recorded economic history of our country”.
Less than an hour before they were scheduled to resume talks with government negotiators on Tuesday, all the public-service unions rejected a 7,25% wage increase proposal brokered by mediators. ”This is not substantially different from [what] the government has been offering …,” Willie Madisha, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, said.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila is scheduled to arrive in Cape Town on Wednesday on a three-day official visit. Kabila will hold discussions with President Thabo Mbeki at Tuynhuys on Thursday, the Foreign Affairs Department said in a statement on Tuesday.
South Africa’s rugby bosses were hauled over the coals by lawmakers on Tuesday over the continued dearth of black players in the Springbok team 13 years after the end of the apartheid era. Members of the portfolio committee on sport lined up to accuse rugby administrators of not doing enough to develop rugby at school and club level.
South African President Thabo Mbeki is facing mounting threats to his widely perceived plan to retain influence after he stands down as head of state. The presidential succession debate has already plunged the African National Congress (ANC) into some of its worst factional turmoil.
South Africa is not running out of beer, South African Breweries (SAB) said on Tuesday. SAB spokesperson Janine van Stolk said there had been some recent reports that had led consumers to believe that there was a new, general shortage of beer.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has expressed his gratitude to the South African Police Service for swiftly recovering items stolen from his home, including his Nobel Peace Prize. ”Archbishop Tutu said he and Mrs Tutu felt dreadfully violated by the break-in, but considerably reassured by the efficiency of the police,” said a statement from Tutu’s office on Tuesday.
The South African government confirmed on Tuesday that a South African man was among a group of hostages released in Nigeria. ”We are confirming his release,” said Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa. ”We welcome this development.”
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) severed power supplies to Zimbabwe over an unpaid debt of US-million, it emerged on Tuesday. Zimbabwe, which is already experiencing chronic shortages of power, was importing 100MW of electricity from DRC’s Snel power company.
It would be considered a phenomenon of sorts if Bafana Bafana completed a build-up for an important game without a single casualty or mishap — and Monday proved no exception when Vuyo Mere limped off the training pitch at the Germiston Stadium prior to Sunday’s African Nations Cup qualifier against Congo in Pointe Noire.
South Africa wants to boost foreign mining investment, but not if it fails to help develop a country still suffering from huge inequality of wealth, the deputy president said on Monday. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told a seminar on mining investment she was aware of a debate about the merits of sealing major deals with resource-hungry countries like China.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will not join Wednesday’s general strike because employers need to be given 10 days’ advance notice. The union’s 280Â 000 members would instead hold demonstrations and pickets when not on duty in support of public servants’ wage demands.
The head of the Transport Education and Training Authority (Teta), Piet Bothma, has been placed on ”compulsory leave” following a probe into his role in placing R246-million of the body’s funds with Fidentia. Teta pumped the money — nearly 75% of all its funds — into Fidentia, despite the company’s almost non-existent track record.
Energy production in the Western Cape is set to become cleaner and greener with the introduction of ground-breaking legislation that will kick-start the renewable energy industry throughout the province. The legislation includes a range of incentives, tariffs and tax breaks to stimulate the use of renewable energy across the residential, commercial and industrial sectors.
The Directorate of Public Prosecutions is considering whether to charge Bafana Bafana star Sibusiso Zuma after allegations that he threatened to shoot a group of men at a party in Kokstad. However, Umzimkulu police spokesperson Zandra Hechter said Zuma had also opened a case against the men, accusing them of common assault.
A KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) domestic worker who called an emergency number in a bid to save her pregnant daughter’s life was told ”there were no workers and there was nobody at the hospitals”. The 12-hour struggle to get an ambulance has left Busi Dlamini’s daughter on a ventilator battling for life with her dead, unborn baby inside her.
No penalties will be imposed on the Tasima Consortium for the late delivery of the flawed electronic traffic information system (eNaTIS), which plunged the country’s traffic system into chaos, the Department of Transport said on Monday. The department said it could not impose any penalties because it felt that the delays were due to, amongst other things, a court interdict.
The public-sector strike could soon ”turn violent”, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi warned on Monday. Unions did not want the strike to continue unnecessarily, he told the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union national congress in Cape Town. ”We’re quite aware of the consequences of allowing the strike to prolong …,” he said.
Last week John Perlman, the former host of SAfm’s morning show, started a new chapter at Gauteng regional radio station Kaya FM, hosting Today with John Perlman, a show he hopes to have a long-term commitment to. ”I’m not a dabbler. It’s not something I do,” Perlman said.
With only two weeks to go before the ruling party’s crunch national policy conference, most of the party’s provincial structures have not taken an official position regarding President Thabo Mbeki standing as African National Congress president for a third term.
The state spent R269,5-million on private security companies last year — up R118,5-million (78,5%) from R151-million in 2005. According to ministerial replies to a number of questions put forward by the Democratic Alliance in Parliament, the money was spent by 20 national departments.
Beatings and other abuses inflicted on lawyers are damaging the legal system in Zimbabwe, a group of international judges said on Monday. The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists said it was ”shocked” by the extent of government abuse of the legal and judicial system.
Africa’s political and economic elite will gather under the banner of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Cape Town this week seeking ways to boost growth and trade for the world’s poorest continent. Host President Thabo Mbeki and counterparts will be joined by leading business figures, Cabinet ministers and central bankers for the 17th annual WEF on Africa.
Group of Eight (G8) leaders are making ”hot air” promises when it comes to giving substantial aid to Africa, said Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane in Cape Town on Monday.Ndungane was speaking at a media briefing of the African Monitor, an advocacy organisation of which he is the founder and president.
Springbok coach Jake White is to pay a courtesy call on President Thabo Mbeki on Friday, a presidential spokesperson said. Spokesperson in the Presidency Mukoni Ratshitanga said the ”courtesy call” between the two would take place in Cape Town, either at the president’s office or his residence.
The JSE remained firm at noon on Monday as investors drew direction from overseas markets and recouped oversold positions. At 11.59am, the all-share index was up 1,02%. Resources added 0,72%, the gold and platinum mining indices gained 1,84% and 0,19% respectively.
Shares in South African fixed-line operator Telkom rose over 4% to touch a record high on Monday as investors expected good results from mobile operator Vodacom, in which the group owns a 50% stake. Telkom releases its annual earnings on Wednesday, which is also when the mobile operator said it would provide details of its annual performance.