South Africa will deliver a long-awaited report on good governance to an Africa Union summit in June, the head of an African review board said on Tuesday. South Africa should have published its the African Peer Review Mechanism report back at an African Union summit in January, but refused to do so, citing ”factual errors”.
The country’s new electronic national traffic information system (eNaTIS) would be up and running by Wednesday, officials said. National transport spokesperson Collen Msibi said the department would be running tests on the system on Tuesday to ensure it was viable for public use.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will be picketing outside the Constitutional Court on Tuesday in the hope it rules that the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has the final say in labour disputes and not the courts.
Pollution to one of the South Africa’s most important bird areas and home to thousands of lesser flamingos near Kimberley has shown no immediate effect on the birds, a Northern Cape environmental official said on Tuesday. ”There is no immediate effect on the birds; there are no mortalities,” said Mark Anderson.
Road and air-transport development in Africa remain hindered by governments’ resistance to reforms, the Pan-African Parliament heard in a report from the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad). On the air front, states that signed the Yamoussoukro Decision to liberalise the African air-transport market in 2005 were instead insisting on restrictive policies.
The African Union’s three-day retreat began on Tuesday at Zimbali Lodge north of Durban amid calls to resolve the continent’s conflicts and to further the aims of the AU. The three-day AU foreign ministers’ retreat is being held in preparation for the upcoming AU summit of heads of state and government scheduled for Accra, Ghana, in July.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) hopes to use satellites to connect 600Â 000 schools in Africa — which have no fibre-optic cables — to the internet. The programme would involve using VSATs, which are ”very small aperture terminals”. These are earth-bound stations used in satellite communications.
Research is being done to determine the extent of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in South Africa, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said on Tuesday. He was briefing reporters about the work of the government’s social cluster of departments — those of health, social development, housing, water affairs and forestry and education — in Pretoria.
The recovery of bodies from the Kenya Airways plane crash in Cameroon has started, but identifying victims will be a slow process, said the airline on Tuesday. Kenya Airways spokesperson Michael Okwiri said in a statement from Nairobi that the airline’s CE, Titus Naikuni, was at the crash site in Douala in Cameroon.
The week-long strike at the Northam Platinum mine near Thabazimbi in Limpopo has been called off, the mine said on Tuesday. The mine said the strike ended after negotiations between Northam management and the National Union of Mineworkers. ”Employees have been advised of the resumption of mining activities tonight [Tuesday],” the mine said in a statement.
A former law student who bludgeoned his friend to death with a dumbbell and cut off his genitals had acted with the direct intent to kill and was guilty of murder, a Pretoria High Court judge found on Tuesday. Lebogang Frank Mohlakoana (23) was convicted on charges of murder and attempting to steal the car of his friend in 2005.
Letters of protests against proposed name changes to Durban’s streets have been delivered to the incorrect address following confusion over the street name, the Daily News reported on Tuesday. The letters were delivered to a home in Margaret Maytom Avenue, instead of 41 Margaret Mncadi Avenue.
Five ”Fancy Boys” gangsters who formed part of a housebreaking syndicate that targeted wealthy homes were on Tuesday jailed by the Cape High Court for terms ranging from six to 20 years. They had been convicted on charges including armed robberies and criminal membership of a gang
At least 39 people were killed when a bus carrying textile-factory workers collided with a truck in Lesotho’s Leribe district, police said on Tuesday. Lesotho mounted police spokesperson Inspector Pheello Mphana said the bus, which was carrying 103 people, collided with the truck and trailer at 7pm on Monday evening.
A recent article in the publication noseweek alleging that the Presidency had threatened to pull all government advertising from two local radio stations if they failed to broadcast an interview with President Thabo Mbeki was ”pure fiction”, the Presidency said on Tuesday.
The troubled new electronic national traffic information system was back online for vehicle registration from 8am on Tuesday morning, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said later in the day. The problem with vehicle registration ”has not gone without being noticed”, he said.
Teachers taking part in the planned public-service strike will lose a combined income of R70-million a day, the director general of Education Department, Duncan Hindle, said on Tuesday. He said he hoped strike action can be averted but said the department will enforce the no-work, no-pay principle on teachers who decide to strike.
South Africa’s business confidence ticked up slightly in April helped by global investor demand for emerging market assets, the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) said on Tuesday. Sacob’s Business Confidence Index (BCI) edged up to 101,9 points in April, after slipping to 99,5 in March from 100,5 in February.
Ghanaian President and current African Union chairperson John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday rubbished reports that the AU would be sending additional peacekeeping troops to Somalia. ”I never said immediately; I said the AU wants to send 8Â 000 peacekeepers as soon as possible, but we are having trouble finding the troops,” Kufuor said.
The week-long strike at the Northam Platinum mine in Limpopo is expected to end on Tuesday afternoon, both the mine and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said. NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said the union and the mine had finally made an agreement on the ”thorny” issue.
There should be concern about the crisis in Zimbabwe, Ghana’s President and current chairperson of the African Union, John Agyekum Kufuor, said on Tuesday. He was speaking shortly after arriving at the Union Buildings in Pretoria where the Zimbabwean issue was high on the agenda of talks between himself and President Thabo Mbeki.
The Health Department has described media reports suggesting that Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has resumed some of her duties as ”inaccurate”. ”No decision has been taken thus far on when Minister Tshabalala-Msimang will resume her duties as the minister of health,” spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said on Tuesday.
The Star newspaper had an urgent interim interdict granted against it on Monday night. This prevented it from publishing anything in the Difford versus Difford case that contravened certain sections of the Divorce Act. The case is a precedent-setting paternity fraud case before the Johannesburg High Court, the Star reported on Tuesday.
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The Full Gospel Church on Tuesday distanced itself from the ordination of African National Congress Deputy President Jacob Zuma as an honourary pastor. Zuma was made honorary pastor at a meeting of independent charismatic churches at Ntuzuma, north of Durban, on Saturday.
The world’s most successful investor, Warren Buffett, wants to buy a South African company, or at least a sizeable chunk of one, Moneyweb reported on Monday. Buffett said: ”We understand South African businesses in the same way that we understand businesses in other parts of the world. We would love to invest.”
Traffic stations countrywide will be closed on Monday morning as new computer servers are being installed to tackle problems with the new eNaTIS (electronic National Traffic Information System), the Department of Transport announced. ”People shouldn’t go to the traffic stations until after lunch … at about 2pm,” said spokesperson Collen Msibi.
South African Airways (SAA) is expected to unveil details this week of its new comprehensive and fundamental restructuring programme, Business Day reported on Monday. The new turnaround plan — which could include cutting up to 1Â 000 jobs — will be the second to be unveiled by SAA chief executive Khaya Ngqula since he took over the reins more than two years ago.
South Africa on Monday defended its invitation to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to make his first visit outside the Muslim world, saying it was ”myopic” to reject opportunities for dialogue. Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils said South Africa’s own experience showed the need to talk to all sides.
The ongoing strike by thousands of workers at the Northam Platinum mine entered its second week on Monday, the mine said. Mine spokesperson Marion Brower said negotiations between the management and workers’ representatives started on Monday morning. She said the mine had filed a court interdict in an attempt to end the strike, which began on April 29.
The election of Cape Town mayor Helen Zille as Democratic Alliance (DA) leader will not bring change to the opposition party, the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) said on Monday. ”The election of Helen Zille as the leader of DA is nothing else but a change of personalities,” spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said in a statement.
Pupils in Khutsong township on Monday continued boycotting classes in protest against the Merafong municipality’s incorporation into the North West. Anti-North West Forum member Paul Ncwane said there had been no schooling in the area for four weeks. He said only teachers were present in all township schools.
The postponement of regulations on threatened and endangered species that include a ban on ”canned” predator hunts evoked mixed reaction on Monday. North West provincial minister of agriculture, conservation and environment Mandlenkosi Mayisela welcomed the postponement as ”breathing room” for further discussion.