South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could become an engine of growth for Africa, visiting DRC President Joseph Kabila said on Thursday. ”The opportunities for growth that present themselves to us are huge,” he told a joint sitting of the South African Parliament.
South Africans were willing to pay for subscription television services, research by Telkom Media revealed on Thursday. Spokesperson Chris Van Zyl said the market potential for satellite subscriptions could be as high as 2,3-million by 2012. This would be more than double the current number of households with access to pay television.
Police have arrested 80 people for Road Accident Fund (RAF) fraud involving R3,7-million. Director Phuti Setati said they were accused of colluding with touts to fabricate information about vehicle accidents in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in May. ”False claims were allegedly submitted to the RAF for payment of fictitious injuries sustained in accidents that never occurred,” he said.
Key government departments are doing nothing to stop drug addiction, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday. DA spokesperson on social development Mike Waters said a reply to a DA question showed that 10 government departments had not yet submitted reports on drug-addiction strategies.
South Africa’s two-week-old public-sector strike should have been avoided and is damaging the country’s image abroad, the deputy leader of the governing African National Congress said on Thursday. ”I don’t think it’s doing any good for the country,” Zuma told the media, one day after thousands of extra workers joined the stoppage.
President Thabo Mbeki and South African editors will meet to discuss ”mutual concerns”, the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) said on Thursday. ”Sanef values good relations with the government and other stakeholders. This meeting will allow us to discuss issues of mutual concern and benefit,” said Sanef chairperson Jovial Rantao.
Locally made Colgate products are ”100% safe”, the company said on Thursday. This followed a toothpaste-recall scare in the United States. Director Russell Pallard assured consumers that locally made Colgate products were ”100% safe, guaranteed”.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila arrived at Tuynhuys in Cape Town on Thursday for talks with President Thabo Mbeki. Kabila, who jetted into the city on Wednesday afternoon, is on an official visit to discuss, among other things, political and economic relations between South Africa and his mineral-rich country.
Australia have not won in South Africa since the turn of the millennium and going into Saturday’s Tri-Nations rugby opener at Newlands in Cape Town it doesn’t seem as if the trend will change. Former Springbok coach and player Carel Du Plessis believes the Boks are mentally and physically too strong to succumb to the Wallabies.
South Africa trails Western Europe and the United States when it comes to energy consciousness and the importance of saving power, the National Energy Efficiency Agency said on Thursday. The agency’s acting general operations manager, Barry Bredenkamp, said in a statement that this attitude should change.
South Africa’s public finances and economy have improved sharply but it faces severe challenges such as HIV/Aids and high unemployment which hold back a ratings upgrade, Moody’s Investor Service said. Last week, Moody’s revised the outlook on South Africa’s foreign currency debt ratings to positive from stable.
Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan took the helm on Thursday of an alliance of African government and business leaders seeking to reverse a decline in the continent’s agricultural output. Sub-Saharan African food production was declining year-on-year as a third of the continent’s population suffers from hunger, Annan told reporters.
A toddler suffering from a lung infection died after nurses at a Bloemfontein hospital told his mother to take him home as they were preparing for a strike, Die Volksblad reported on Thursday. After spending the whole of last week by her son’s bedside, Joyce Ditsoane boarded a taxi for a 45km ride home when nurses told her there would be no one to take care of the boy on Wednesday.
Veteran prop Os du Randt was sidelined by South Africa for this weekend’s Tri-Nations rugby opener against Australia so he’ll be ready next week for the All Blacks. Only four starters from last weekend’s 35-8 win over Samoa were named by coach Jake White on Wednesday for Saturday’s Test at Newlands.
After eight days of being ”missing in action”, international ”fugitive” Radovan Krejcir has handed himself over to police, media reports said on Thursday. The Czech Republic tycoon was due to surrender himself at the Kempton Park police station at 11am on Wednesday but was instead taken into custody by Interpol.
Four-times winners Cameroon head a list of at least eight countries who have a chance to qualify this weekend for next year’s African Nations Cup finals. Cameroon, Angola and Morocco are all a point away from a place in January’s tournament, while wins would also send defending champions Egypt and Algeria through.
The former head of the Congress of South African Trade Unions told striking public-sector workers on Wednesday that negotiations should take place at the table and not on the streets. Mbhazima Shilowa’s comments were a sign of deepening differences between the ruling African National Congress and its allies.
Transnet’s plans to boost freight rail capacity include a feasibility study on a rail ring around greater Johannesburg to reduce delays, media reports said on Thursday. Moira Moses, the group executive for Transnet projects, said in a presentation: ”We want to build a new hub [to replace City Deep].” This proposal still needs to be presented to the Transnet board.
Countrywide pay protests by public servants ended peacefully on Wednesday with conflicting claims on the turnout. One union said 600Â 000 workers took part in countrywide marches, while the government put the figure at 70Â 000. Congress of South African Trade Unions spokesperson Patrick Craven said reports suggested Wednesday’s events had been ”excellent”.
President Thabo Mbeki has rejected the Moseneke commission’s recommendations that government leaders’ salaries be increased by huge percentages, Public Service Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Wednesday. Fraser-Moleketi said the new salaries, as recommended by the commission, would not be implemented.
Power to parts of Boksburg that were affected by a massive fire at an Atlasville substation would be restored by 5pm on Wednesday, the Ekurhuleni municipality said — but some suburbs are set to wait until next Wednesday to have electricity restored as the substation had been badly damaged by the fire.
Some poverty-alleviation programmes have not yet helped the poor, despite the funding the programmes had received, the Public Service Commission said on Wednesday. An ad-hoc report noted that both national and provincial departments had been taking a broad range of continuing measures to alleviate poverty.
South African President Thabo Mbeki gave his clearest indication yet on Wednesday of his preferred choice of successor, heaping praise on his official deputy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Mbeki, who has previously said he would like a woman to succeed him, told Parliament Mlambo-Ngcuka was "a true leader of the people".
The rise of religious ”Jihadist” extremism in Africa is a serious concern, a top United States official told delegates at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town on Wednesday. ”When we talk about the growth rate we have to be quite concerned,” said Jendayi Frazer, assistant US Secretary of State for African Affairs.
President Thabo Mbeki strongly criticised the Sunday Times on Wednesday for what he termed its peddling of ”falsehoods” in a report published earlier this month. The report dealt with the alleged rejection by Western Cape health authorities of doctors for top posts because they were white.
The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday said the planned replacement of Gauteng vehicles’ number plates had been kept a secret by the provincial department of transport. It was announced on Tuesday that the province’s motorists will have to purchase new number plates from January next year, as the current number system is almost exhausted.
Police have rejected as a hoax an email that warns people against ”stonings and shootings” on Gauteng highways on Saturday. National spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said on Wednesday the email claimed the South African Police Service and metro police were on standby because of the alleged threat.
South Africa’s retail sales growth slowed sharply to 5,4% year-on-year in April, official data showed, suggesting higher interest rates may finally be biting into stubbornly high consumer spending. Consumer demand has been the main driver of faster growth in Africa’s biggest economy over the past couple of years, but it has also added to inflationary pressures.
An attempt to steal electric cable could be to blame for the fire at a substation in Kempton Park on Tuesday, the Ekurhuleni municipality said on Wednesday. General manager for electricity and energy Mark Wilson said the fire started about 2.30pm on Tuesday and was extinguished at 6pm.
The meeting between President Thabo Mbeki and Springbok rugby coach Jake White is going ahead as planned, the Presidency said on Wednesday. ”The meeting is still on, as far as I know,” said presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga. This after the SA Rugby Union advised White on Tuesday to cancel, claiming he had not followed internal protocol in arranging the talks.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) began a meeting on Africa on Wednesday with warnings that the continent faces being left further behind as its growth rates fail to match those elsewhere in the world. Africa is forecast to grow 6,2% in 2007, having achieved 4,9% over five years from 2001 and 5,5% last year alone, said a joint report.
Injuries to Fourie du Preez and Ricky Januarie mean Sharks scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar will start for the first time in the number nine jersey when South Africa host Australia in the Tri-Nations opener at Newlands on Saturday. In all there are 11 changes to the Springbok team that ran out against Samoa last weekend.