The government plans to force parents serving on the country’s 26 000 school governing bodies to take responsibility for poor performances by pupils. The proposed changes to the Schools Act would allow education departments to give the parent bodies warnings and fire them if results were unacceptably low.
South Africa recalled former captain Bob Skinstad and included four uncapped players in a 46-man World Cup training squad on Saturday. The 30-year-old Skinstad came out of retirement earlier this year in a bid to win a place in the Springbok squad for the first time since 2003.
Hundreds of Taiwanese, Chinese and South Africans gathered to pay their last respects to murdered journalist Gino Feng in Edenvale on Saturday. ”He was my good teacher,” said Jason Wu, who has taken over from Feng as editor-in-chief of the China Express. ”This thing has shocked the Chinese community.”
Business tycoon Tokyo Sexwale said he would ”consider” nomination for the African National Congress presidency at the party’s December conference should he be asked to stand. In January when the Sunday Times reported of Sexwale being approached to run for presidency he dismissed the reports as ”kite-flying”.
Jomo Cosmos convincingly beat Ajax Cape Town 3-0 in a Castle Premiership clash played at the Mehlareng Stadium in Tembisa on Saturday. Cosmos left-back Sydney Plaaitjies scored the first goal in the 29th minute, Innocent Ntsume doubled the lead three minutes before halftime and Davies Mwape sealed victory.
The Coastal Sharks scored 20 unanswered points in the final quarter here against the Auckland Blues on Saturday to romp to a thrilling 34-18 win in a Super 14 semifinal clash to qualify for the final next weekend. The Sharks led 14-6 at the break and will now host the southern hemisphere inter-provincial rugby competition final for the first time.
Flyhalf Derick Hougaard scored all 27 points to steer the Bulls into their first Super 14 final with a 27-12 win over holders the Canterbury Crusaders on Saturday. Hougaard equalled the tournament record of eight penalties in a match and added a 65th-minute drop goal as the Bulls lined up a first all-South African final against the Sharks in Durban next Saturday.
About 100 000 South African rugby fans will pack into stadiums in Durban and Pretoria on Saturday in anticipation of the country’s biggest party since the World Cup was won at home in 1995. The relative recent form of the teams has encouraged local pundits to predict an all-South African final and first South African winner.
Award-winning Tsotsi actor Presley Chweneyagae’s ex-girlfriend has launched a court action against the star to force him to pay maintenance for their seven-month-old son, media reports said on Friday. Nobelungu Somfula said that Chweneyagae had not met his son and had only made two payments of R500.
A Cape High Court judge involved in a defamation lawsuit that could sink his own judge president has been reported to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), media reports said on Saturday. Judge Siraj Desai has been reported to the JSC by the Pan-Africanist Congress chairperson in Gauteng, Thami ka Plaatjie, who claimed Desai did not have the ”impeccable character” needed in a judge.
The month-long school boycott continued in Khutsong township near Carletonville on Friday. Some matric pupils, who had not been taught in the last five weeks, blamed the government for the lost study time. ”The person who decided to move us to the North West is to blame …,” Mamsy Khumalo, a grade 12 pupil at Badirile High School, said.
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has described a conflict between him and President Thabo Mbeki in the run-up to the 2004 national elections. Speaking at the 10th anniversary dinner for law firm Eisenberg and Associates, Buthelezi said he and Mbeki had fallen out over the issuing of immigration regulations.
The Department of Home Affairs is owed R16,923-million in penalties and administrative fines, Auditor General (AG) Terence Nombembe said in a performance audit report released on Friday. The audit — a follow-up to that undertaken in 2000 — found that R8,548-million had been outstanding for more than three years and was subject to prescription under the Prescription Act.
In an unprecedented poll by a show of hands, the Pan African Parliament (PAP) voted overwhelmingly on Friday to send a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe. Suzanne Vos, a member of the South African delegation to PAP, proposed a motion asking for a debate on human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
The biggest public-sector strike in a decade seemed ”unavoidable” on Friday as public-sector trade unions stood united in rejecting the government’s wage-increase offer. ”All unions are now in the process of mobilising our membership …,” said a joint statement by the Congress of South African Trade Unions and independent public-sector unions.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) has ambitious plans to build a bridge across the massive Congo river, connecting the capitals of the two Congos. Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, are visible to one another in the distance on either side of the Stanley Pool.
Lives could be affected if Gauteng’s new R600-million centralised 10111 call system did not work properly when it was implemented, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday. This comes amid the chaos surrounding the recent implementation of the new electronic national traffic information system, said DA Gauteng safety spokesperson John Moodey.
African champions Hendrik de Villiers and Kate Roberts view the Triathlon World Cup’s opening kilometre of the cycling stage as a potential deciding factor on Sunday. ”The swim should be all right if it is not too windy in the bay area, but it’s the first 600m of the cycle stage … that could be a bit of a test for the athletes,” De Villiers said.
A court has ordered that workers at two South African mines owned by Aquarius Platinum return to work, the firm said on Friday. ”The court has granted an interdict, but it has not been served,” spokesperson Charmane Russell said, adding the firm was pursuing talks to resolve the situation before taking the legal route.
South African stocks dropped 1% on Friday after United States and Asian equities fell and miners Anglo American and BHP Billiton dipped after merger rumours failed to materialise. The Johannesburg top-40 index of blue-chip stocks fell 1,03% to 25 220,42 points by 7.50am GMT, while the all-share index fell 1% to 28 155,26 points.
A strike by gold miners at South Africa’s Simmer & Jack Mines will result in revenue loss of more than R1,8-million per day, the firm said on Friday. About 4 500 underground miners at Simmers’ Buffelsfontein mine stopped work on Wednesday night in a wage dispute.
South Africa’s judiciary has started to fast-track women for judges’ jobs, which are still dominated by white males, the nation’s top judge told Parliament on Friday. Constitutional Court Chief Judge Pius Langa said the programme was aimed at making South Africa’s courtrooms more reflective of the country’s overall population.
It is imperative that anyone who poses a danger to the public not be freed from prison under the latest large-scale release aimed at tackling prison overcrowding, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday. While the DA welcomes the move to free 11Â 000 prisoners unable to pay fines of R1Â 000 or less, it said it will closely monitor the situation.
Leading South Africa from identity-based to issue-driven politics is the only way to turn freedom into reality, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille said on Friday. In her first weekly newsletter as DA leader, Zille dismissed suggestions that her party is not interested in compensating for past discrimination.
Representatives of learners in Khutsong on Friday urged pupils to go back to school. ”We will try by all means to make sure that learners are at school on Monday and that teaching is taking place,” Khutsong Representative Council of Learners member Sibusiso Kula told reporters.
In an unprecedented poll by show of hands, the Pan African Parliament (PAP) voted overwhelming on Friday to send a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe. A member of the South African delegation to the PAP proposed a motion asking for a debate on human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and that the PAP send a fact-finding mission to that country.
The Department of Labour is to intensify the inspection of sectors where high workplace injuries and fatalities are being reported. ”National roving and blitz inspections will make sure that an inspector walks into a workplace at anytime. Our visibility will be at a high level,” labour director general Vanguard Mkosana said.
In a full-page newspaper advertisement, friends and family of slain Chinese newspaper editor Gino Feng have asked President Thabo Mbeki how many more people must die before he acts on crime. ”Bullet ripped his heart open. His wife and children had to watch him die whilst sitting in his blood,” reads the advertisement, placed in the Citizen.
Everything to play for and to the victor the spoils as the Sharks prepare to topple the Blues of Auckland to earn a home Super 14 rugby final in their tough-as-nails semifinal at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday afternoon. As a consequence, rugby hype is at its utmost frenzy as 52 000 spectators are set to fill the stadium to its rafters.
South African economists expressed shock on Thursday at a report showing the country dropping 12 places in global competitiveness rankings, partly due to discrimination in the workplace. The World Competitiveness Yearbook ranks 55 countries on their ability to maintain an environment conducive to business dealings.
The refurbishment backlog of South Africa’s electricity networks at all levels could be as big as R7-billion, the National Electricity Regulator of South Africa said on Thursday. A new report estimates a backlog as at the end of 2005 for utilities audited — 11 big municipalities — of R431-million.
Former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) boss Billy Masetlha has proposed to the Constitutional Court that he be reinstated to his position, but under suspension for 15 working days. During this time, he would expect President Thabo Mbeki to take steps ”to achieve a consensual resolution” of matters pertaining to his dismissal.