Failed land-reform projects threaten food security in South Africa, warns a study by the FW de Klerk Foundation, launched in Cape Town on Thursday. The document — titled Land Reform: A Contextual Analysis — says the country’s food security is already under pressure.
Billy Downer’s conduct in prosecuting Schabir Shaik was ”absolutely above reproach”, the Constitutional Court was told on Thursday. Counsel for the state, Wim Trengove SC, told the court it was ”madness” to suggest that a prosecutor steeped in a case be removed when it goes to trial.
While the South African Football Association continued to fiddle over the hot-potato issue of Benni McCarthy, Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira threw down the gauntlet and selected him for the African Nations Cup qualifier against Chad on June 2. ”My job is to select the strongest possible Bafana squad,” said the forthright former Brazil World Cup coach.
Failure is not an option in South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Deputy Sports and Recreation Minister Gert Oosthuizen said on Thursday. ”It’s not just a South African dream whose success is non-negotiable … failure is not an option,” Oosthuizen told a conference in Johannesburg on the role of local government in the tournament.
A ”facade” of unity in the tripartite alliance based solely upon the need to look united to the world is not sufficient, African National Congress secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said on Thursday. ”No less than at any other point in our history, South Africa today needs the alliance to lead the struggle for a new and fundamentally better society,” he said.
SA Rugby and Absa have joined forces to stage the popular rugby fan park, Boktown, during the 2007 international rugby season. The concept promises to be a special place where Springbok fans will be able to demonstrate their support for the national team in a unique atmosphere.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) expects about 20Â 000 public servants to take part in Friday’s march through central Cape Town, the first called by the federation in the city since last year’s security sector protest. That event was marred by looting, violence and damage to public and private property before it was broken up by police.
International travellers carrying liquids and gels in containers larger than 100ml as hand luggage will have their goods confiscated at check-in points, the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) said on Thursday. Acsa was briefing the media on their new security measures, which are to be applied at three South African international airports from June 1.
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel does not want to be president of the World Bank, despite having his name bandied about as a possible contender, it was reported on Thursday. ”It has not even crossed my mind,” he said, but added that he was aware that his name had been thrown about as a possible successor.
The increase in electricity demand must be reduced, Eskom said on Thursday. "We have only so much generating capacity; therefore the only solution is to reduce the demand," it said in a statement. Rolling power failures affected parts of Gauteng and Mpumalanga on Wednesday evening.
A new blog that purports to be written by a former male prostitute in South Africa has become the focus of a criminal investigation into claims of defamation. The blog, hosted on an international blogging platform and active since April this year, contains descriptions of the alleged sexual behaviour of prominent South Africans.
The developing world must press for a strong treaty to limit the trade in conventional arms, which is ”dangerously out of control”, Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu said on Thursday. A total of 153 countries at the United Nations voted last year to start work on the treaty, recognising the need to control the sale of arms.
Mdantsane fighter Ali Funeka was finally stripped of his title by Boxing South Africa (BSA) on Wednesday for refusing to defend it against top contender Godfrey Nzimande. BSA said Funeka was relieved of the title due to his failure to respond to numerous letters ordering him to honour the defence of his title.
South Africa’s central bank was closely watching whether another round of oil and food price increases widens inflation, and it would take action if this occured, Governor Tito Mboweni said on Wednesday. ”If we see second-round effects coming through it is prudent for the central bank to tighten monetary policy,” Mboweni said in a speech in Cape Town.
Sandra Botha has beaten her rival, former National Party minister Tertius Delport, for the post of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. Finance spokesperson Ian Davidson was elected unopposed for chief whip after KwaZulu-Natal leader Mike Ellis withdrew from the contest.
The state is expected to argue in the Constitutional Court on Thursday why Schabir Shaik should not get leave to appeal against his conviction for corruption and fraud, his 15-year prison term and the seizure of his assets. Shaik was convicted in June 2005 on two counts of corruption and one of fraud.
The African National Congress (ANC) has retained a key seat in a municipal by-election in the Theewaterskloof municipal area while it lost a seat to an independent in the Western Cape’s Saldanha Bay. The independent candidate was backed by the Independent Democrats and Democratic Alliance.
Public-sector unions are expected to meet the state in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council next week in a last-ditch attempt to avert a strike. Bargaining council general secretary Shamira Huluman said the employer had sent a request for a meeting on May 28 and 29. Unions had been given until Thursday to say if they would attend, she said.
The City of Cape Town on Wednesday unveiled a two-year plan to provide essential services to all 222 informal settlements within its boundary. The plan, which would see every household given access to water, sanitation and area lighting, would cost R63,4-million, Mayor Helen Zille told a media briefing.
Schabir Shaik’s last-ditch attempt to escape a 15-year prison term for corruption and fraud began on Wednesday with a bid to convince the Constitutional Court that he was mistried. Sitting in the front row of the packed gallery behind Schabir’s four counsel were his brothers, Mo and Yunis.
Much of South Africa can expect another freezing night on Wednesday, the South African Weather Service said as the costs of this week’s cold spell mounted. At least 22 people have died of cold in different parts of the country this week, 15 of them in the Eastern Cape.
Government departments are to be connected to a single, faster, more efficient computer network costing R454-million, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Wednesday. The country’s second national telecommunications operator, Neotel, was awarded a five-year contract.
Ajax Cape Town winger Bryce Moon is fit, ready and very excited to take on Mamelodi Sundowns in the Absa Cup final on Saturday in Durban. The Pietermaritzburg-born player is hoping to put in a match-winning performance for his family and friends who will be at the match, and especially for the Bafana Bafana selectors.
South Africa’s health minister said on Wednesday she favoured expanding access to HIV/Aids treatments in her first public appearance since having a liver transplant. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said making HIV-treatment and support programmes more available to those infected with the virus was the linchpin of the government’s prevention strategy.
The government and public-sector unions are to meet again this week on deadlocked wage talks and an impending strike by public servants. The talks were needed to ”refine issues around the agreement on the table” and to hear ”specific demands from unions”, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Wednesday.
In Braamfontein, Johannesburg, under the M1 North highway, a group of street children huddles together for warmth. Metres away, seemingly oblivious to the morning traffic, a middle-aged homeless man lays down on the ground, adjusting the heap of white dustbin bags blanketed around him.
Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Wednesday he is ”in the dark” about a proposed R12-billion monorail between Soweto and Johannesburg. The first he knew about the project was when he read about it in the media. The Gauteng provincial government did not ”consult, discuss or seek our approval” for the project, he said.
There was still no schooling in Khutsong on Wednesday although teachers had agreed on Sunday that teaching would resume in the township, the Khutsong Learners’ Forum (RCL) said. ”Grade 12 learners went to school as they usually do but teaching did not take place,” said RCL president Sibusiso Kula, adding that teachers had also arrived at schools.
The controversial new electronic traffic information system (eNaTIS) is performing transactions twice as fast as the system it replaced, MPs heard on Wednesday. It is currently operating at an average rate of 619Â 000 transactions a day, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe told members of Parliament’s transport portfolio committee.
The issue surrounding salary discrepancies in the workplace needs to be taken seriously, the Commission on Gender Equality said on Wednesday. The commission was responding to reports indicating that women are still being paid lower salaries than their male colleagues. What struck a cord was a report that the media is among the defaulters.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on Wednesday claimed it had proof that KwaZulu-Natal Premier S’bu Ndebele ordered provincial government departments to cease advertising in the Sunday Tribune. On March 1, IFP KwaZulu-Natal caucus leader Lionel Mtshali released a statement that the provincial government had pulled R200Â 000-worth of advertising.
South Africa coach Jake White has gone with tried and tested combinations for Saturday’s first of two Tests against England. Ten of the 15 players selected in the starting team featured in last weekend’s Super 14 final between the Sharks and Bulls. The one surprise selection is that of winger Ashwin Willemse, who has struggled with numerous injuries.