More than 1Â 780 posts have been filled as part of the City of Cape Town’s drive to replace some of the 10Â 000 staff lost during the ”rigorous and undirected” staff restructuring of the past seven years. A further 1Â 000 posts are ”being filled”, the media reported on Wednesday.
Israel should seize the opportunity presented by the united Arab peace initiative to begin ”serious negotiations” to normalise its relations with the Palestinians, Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad said on Wednesday. He was opening the United Nations African meeting on the question of Palestine, which will take place in Pretoria over the coming three days.
Taxpayers will have until October 31 to submit their returns this year using a new, much easier system, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel announced in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has not only cut down on the number of tax returns, but has significantly simplified them — particularly the two for individual tax.
South Africa’s Nedbank lifted its first-quarter headline earnings per share (EPS) by 26,3%, helped by solid retail and corporate lending growth but said it expected bad debts to increase. Nedbank, majority-owned by insurer Old Mutual, said on Wednesday its headline EPS increased to 322 cents per share.
The schedule for a potentially massive public-sector strike expected to last a month will probably be divulged after unions meet later this week. Congress of South African Trade Unions spokesperson Patrick Craven said on Wednesday that a programme of marches and rallies would be likely in the run-up to the strike.
South African drug and cosmetics retailer New Clicks lifted first-half diluted headline earnings per share by 34,1% as it boosted market share and said it expected similar gains in full-year profit. New Clicks said diluted headline EPS rose to 53,9 cents.
The bail conditions of three of the four men arrested in one of the country’s biggest drug busts were amended in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. Scorpions spokesperson Lucinda Moonieya said Stephanos Paparas, his father Dimitrio and Stanley Poonin were only allowed to leave their homes to go to work between 6am and 6pm.
A district surgeon has recommended that the man who allegedly held eight staff members of the Pretoria News daily newspaper hostage for several hours be evaluated by a psychiatrist. The surgeon’s report was handed in to the Pretoria Regional Court where Lionel George (32) of Danville appeared on Wednesday.
Higher interest rates do not necessarily result in a rapid slowdown in spending, but some of the ”exuberance” evident in consumer demand has been dampened, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. But he warned the South African Reserve Bank would have to raise rates again should consumers continue to spend as they had been doing.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) is urging its members to live a healthy lifestyle, which should include ”at least 30 minutes” of exercise a day. In a document released ahead of the December national conference, entitled Policy Discussion Documents, the ruling party devotes a section to ”healthy lifestyles”.
The government is seeking to change behaviour with the relaunch of its Khomanani HIV/Aids communication campaign, a senior health official said on Wednesday. This is how the success of the campaign will be measured, director general of the Health Department Thami Mseleku told reporters in Pretoria.
Senior cricket administrators are to meet on Thursday to review the Proteas’ performance over the past year. Among other things, the administrators will be discussing the team’s somewhat erratic performance at the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, where they lost four of the 10 matches they played.
Cricket SA confirmed on Wednesday the Proteas did not receive death threats on their return from the Cricket World Cup. Proteas captain Graeme Smith clarified comments he made earlier in an interview with Cape-based radio station KFM about the Proteas’ reception when they landed at OR Tambo Airport on April 28.
The Constitutional Court will decide on Thursday whether to extend the definition of rape to men. At the moment, rape is defined as non-consensual vaginal penetration. The Pretoria director of public prosecutions has asked the court to include non-consensual anal rape in that definition.
Advertisements offering certain work-from-home opportunities are now illegal, said the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on Wednesday. New Department of Trade and Industry regulations make various ”work-from-home ‘opportunities’ illegal. These include opportunities to ‘fill envelopes’ and ‘type labels’,” said the ASA.
The Constitutional Court has reserved judgement in Cosatu’s application for leave to appeal a finding that Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) decisions be subject to appeal and not just to review. The finding was made by the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2006 when it overturned a CCMA decision that Rustenburg Platinum Mines reinstate a security guard.
Traffic stations countrywide are open on Wednesday after an upgrade of the new electronic national traffic information system (eNaTIS), the Department of Transport said. ”Today we are open for business throughout the country,” said national spokesperson Collen Msibi.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is to request a special debate in Parliament about the poor performance of the courts, spokesperson Sheila Camerer said on Wednesday. ”Effective and efficient courts are essential in the fight against crime,” she said in a statement. Among other things, court sitting hours had steadily decreased over the past three years.
South African IT firm Dimension Data doubled first-half adjusted earnings per share as more companies adopted internet-based communications, but it forecast slower revenue growth in the second half. Didata said on Wednesday earnings per share before one-off items rose to 1,8 US cents in the six months to the end of March from 0,9 US cents in the year-ago period.
Former National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha will ask the Constitutional Court on Thursday to overturn a Pretoria High Court ruling upholding his dismissal. Pretoria High Court Judge Ben du Plessis ruled in December 2006 that a breakdown of trust was a lawful reason for Masetlha’s suspension and sacking.
The editor of the Mercury newspaper was shot and wounded in an attempted hijacking at his Durban home. Superintendent Danelia Veldhuizen said the attack happened as David Canning was driving up the driveway of his house in Durban’s Kloof suburb around 9.30pm on Tuesday.
On some days there are only five to seven ambulances to serve Port Elizabeth’s 1,3-million residents, the media reported on Wednesday. This means one ambulance for 260Â 000 people. The national norm is one ambulance per 10Â 000. Ambulance staff, who asked not to be named, said they were becoming increasingly frustrated.
National Intelligence Agency (NIA) agents visited an office of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) on Wednesday to question officials about a looming strike, according to the union. Spokesperson Jon Lewis said Sadtu was concerned that this might amount to intimidation of its members.
A bank employee won R1-million for helping to protect the bank against crime — for the second time. Moses Subjee, an off-line equipment operator at First National Bank (FNB) in Johannesburg, could not believe his luck when FNB CEO Michael Jordaan presented him with the Vow of Vigilance award, said FNB spokesperson Sue Naidoo in a statement on Wednesday.
After centuries of roving around South Africa’s capital city, Pretoria’s famed vervet monkeys have been forced out by rampant development, with some of the last relocated on Wednesday. The fragile species, known for communication methods very similar to humans, face extinction.
President Thabo Mbeki should personally intervene in the Merafong municipality demarcation issue, religious leaders in Khutsong said on Wednesday. ”We ministers of religion want to see peace restored and we plead with the president … to personally intervene …,” they told reporters in Carletonville.
Workers at Lear Corporation — a vehicle components firm in Pretoria — will strike after 300 union members were retrenched, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said on Wednesday. Numsa said the retrenchments went ahead though the union had agreed to exempt the company from a proposed 5% wage increase.
Motorists issued with traffic fines because the country’s new electronic national traffic information system (eNaTIS) was offline may have them cancelled, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Tuesday. Radebe apologised ”unreservedly” for the inconvenience the implementation of eNaTIS had caused.
Eskom has been granted a licence to build the country’s first coal-fired power station in over 20 years, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa announced on Monday. The station, to be called Medupi, is located in Lephalale in Limpopo and consists of six units with a 4Â 500 megawatt capacity.
There may be bigger and more famous stadiums in world rugby, but there are not likely to be more intimidating places than Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. Serving as the home ground to the Bulls since the 1920s, it is the venue for Saturday’s Super 14 semifinal against the Canterbury Crusaders.
South Africa’s long-jump record holder and champion, Godfrey Mokoena, got the ball rolling in the international athletics season with another win on the 2007 World Athletics tour circuit. Following his win in Dakar with a leap of 8,32m a week ago, Mokoena repeated the feat last Saturday in Osaka, Japan, in what is arguably a dress rehearsal for the World Championships later this year.
African gay activists this week protested against ”state-sponsored” homophobia, saying authorities condone their persecution across the continent. The International Gay and Lesbian Association’s first pan-African conference in Johannesburg drew activists who say they have seen the consequences of laws that breed homophobia.