The retail price of all grades of petrol will rise by between 68 cents and 69 cents per litre from Wednesday April 4, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Friday. The price of 95 octane petrol was set to increase 68 cents per litre, while that of 93 and 91 octane would increase 69 cents respectively.
President Thabo Mbeki on Friday told the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League to forget about who would be the party’s next president and to focus on solving poverty and gender violence. ”I would advise you please forget that there’s a national conference of the ANC coming in December; we will come back to it another time,” Mbeki said.
Better pay for public office bearers will help combat corruption, the head of the statutory body tasked with reviewing their remuneration said on Friday. Judge Dikgang Moseneke made the remark as the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers released what it said was a major review, after handing it to President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday.
Learner drivers should prepare themselves for a long wait to get their licences, media reports said on Friday. With stringent new measures being introduced at testing stations, only 15% of applicants for driver’s licences can expect to pass the test the first time.
Amateur radio operators offered on Thursday to step in if monitoring of shipping emergency calls is affected by a Telkom strike. The strike, by staff at Telkom’s maritime radio facility in Milnerton, Cape Town, is set to start at midnight. Hans van de Groenendaal, spokesperson for the South African Radio League, said the league had contacted rescue authorities to offer its services.
Bookings for the Easter holidays have not been seriously affected by storm damage along KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) coastline, the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa) said on Thursday. Fedhasa’s East Coast chairperson, Alan Vels, said: ”There has been no impact in Durban. In fact there seems to be a curiosity factor more than anything else.”
Draft legislation that will dramatically increase the penalties for those found guilty of contravening anti-smoking laws was passed by the National Assembly on Thursday. The Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill aims to close loopholes in existing legislation that are ”exploited by the tobacco industry and make prosecutions for contravention … very difficult”.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) have vowed to campaign for a change in the way the tripartite alliance operates. They said on Thursday the status quo in the alliance — comprising Cosatu, the SACP and the ruling African National Congress — encouraged opportunism.
A reconsideration of name changes may be on the cards after a court reversed the renaming of Louis Trichardt in Limpopo, the Freedom Front Plus said on Thursday. ”The decision means the proposed name changing of Pretoria to Tshwane and Potchefstroom to Tlokwe will in all likelihood be placed on ice,” said party leader Pieter Mulder.
Judgement was reserved on Thursday on further applications made in an interdict to suspend the election of new office bearers by an African National Congress (ANC) regional conference. Judge Corne van Zyl in the Bloemfontein High Court reserved judgement until April 4 after hearing argument on an application by 17 people wanting to join the original applicants in the matter.
Violence conducted by Zimbabwe’s security forces is spreading as they randomly beat up members of the public while swooping through neighbourhoods on the lookout for opposition supporters, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday. ”There is a broader element of repression that is taking place at the moment,” HRW researcher Tiseke Kasambala said.
The preparations for the Soccer World Cup need to provide infrastructure and services that will last beyond 2010, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said on Thursday. ”Our people expect the games to leave a lasting legacy …,” he said at the launch of the 2010 Strategic Framework in Johannesburg.
The backlog of housing currently stands at 2,4-million houses across South Africa, and the government hopes to reduce or do away with the shortfall by 2014. ”Yes, there is a problem with the backlog,” housing director general tumeleng Kotsoane said in an interview in Pretoria on Thursday. Kotsoane detailed the obstacles faced in the housing sector.
The South African unemployment rate declined to 25,5% in September 2006, down from 26,7% in September 2005, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Thursday.
Releasing results of the labour-force survey done in September last year, Stats SA said 4 391 000 people were unemployed, compared with 4 487 000 people who were unemployed in September 2005.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party (SACP) will campaign to change the manner in which the tripartite alliance is operating, both organisations said on Thursday. ”The days of … decisions being left exclusively in the hands of the African National Congress are now over,” SACP secretary general Blade Nzimande said.
This week saw the official launch and installation of Parliament’s new emblem, a design created by the people as a cornerstone for South Africa’s new democracy. ”A new emblem was an important step in establishing an identity for Parliament, one that represents its values, vision and mission,” Parliament said in a statement.
There is still no clarity on the future of the Lotto after Saturday night’s draw. The decision as to which company will be awarded the national lottery licence still rests with Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa, current licensee Uthingo said on Thursday.
The City of Cape Town has approved a change to its fire hazard by-laws that will make it easier to prosecute people who toss cigarette butts out of their car windows. The amendment, passed at this week’s council meeting, means the prosecution no longer has the burden of proving who chucked the butt.
South Africa’s producer-price inflation slowed to 9,5% year-on-year last month from 9,8% in January, data showed on Thursday, boosting expectations that interest rates should stay unchanged. Statistics South Africa said factory-gate prices decreased by 0,1% on a monthly basis in February, after a 0,4% expansion in January.
MTN, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cell phone operator, reported on Thursday adjusted headline earnings per share of 584,7 cents for last year, in line with its own forecast as it signed up new subscribers and made acquisitions. Headline EPS excludes certain non-trading, capital and extraordinary items.
Bolivia won their first away match in three years when they beat 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa 1-0 in a friendly played at Ellis Park. Joselito Vaca’s 19th minute goal brought South Africa back down to earth after they had won their first match under new coach Carlos Alberto Parreira in Chad.
The host cities for the 2010 Soccer World Cup should have dedicated red-light districts, police Deputy National Commissioner Andre Pruis said on Thursday. Pruis repeated calls made by National Commissioner Jackie Selebi who asked the National Assembly to give serious thought on what to do about prostitution and drinking in public.
Researchers at the North West University have compiled a profile on biltong hunters in a study of the economic impact of biltong hunting in South Africa. About 200 000 hunters set off each year with biltong as their target, which is far greater than the number of trophy hunters who visit the country.
Mozambique’s health ministry is planning to implement legislation that would prohibit vendors from selling food on the streets in major cities in order to curb the outbreak of diseases. The legislation would be implemented in the country’s major cities of Maputo, Beira and Nampula, according to the Health Ministry.
Fidentia’s curators have told businesswoman Danisa Baloyi to cough up R8-million in 90 days or they’ll sue her. The curators are determined to recover millions of rands of investors’ money. Baloyi was one of the recipients of Fidentia’s loans and was lent the R8-million interest free.
Telkom has put contingency plans in place ahead of a planned strike in its maritime radio division, the parastatal said on Wednesday. It was reacting to a claim by trade union Solidarity that the strike, due to start at midnight on Wednesday, could cripple the monitoring of shipping emergency messages.
Elements in the African National Congress (ANC) are planning another bid to make Cape Town ungovernable, city mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. Tabling the city’s R20-billion budget, Zille said Cape Town might declare an intergovernmental dispute over the R500-million it spends every year on unfunded mandates — functions the province should be performing.
Lawyers acting for Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown say they are going to keep a close eye on curators as they unravel the affairs of the troubled asset-management firm. ”We intend to watch the curators closely because our client’s sole focus is to ensure that investors are paid in full,” Brown’s Johannesburg-based attorney, John Hunter, said on Wednesday.
The City of Johannesburg council is still willing to negotiate with the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) to resolve the ongoing Metrobus strike, the municipality said on Wednesday. Talks aimed at ending the bus strike reached a stalemate on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Samwu accused the municipality of negotiating in bad faith.
A fourth suspect in the murder of Anglo-Zulu war historian David Rattray appeared in the Dundee Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday and was refused bail. Magistrate Vincent Hlatshwayo found that although the state’s case was not overwhelming, the fact that the suspect was arrested while hiding suggested that he knew he was being sought by the police.
A row is brewing over the use of the ”old” city names of Pretoria and Port Elizabeth by the 2010 World Cup organisers, the Herald Online reported on Wednesday. It said the metro bosses of Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay were strongly opposed to this approach.
The criminal justice system must revolve around the victims of crime, said National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli said on Wednesday. ”We want to change our criminal justice system. ”We want to ensure justice for the victims of crime by prosecuting without fear, favour or prejudice and by working with our partners and the public to solve and prevent crime,” Pikoli said.