Fires in the Free State have already destroyed more than 60 000ha of veld, the provincial department of water affairs and forestry said on Monday. Spokesperson Malcolm Proctor said last year’s figure of 69 000ha destroyed will probably be exceeded by next week. ”This is bad,” he said.
The number of jobs created by South African business has increased by 7% this year, a survey released on Monday has shown. According to the latest Grant Thornton employment-growth survey, the percentage represents a significant improvement from last year’s employment figures.
The last two of the politicians allegedly involved in the ”Travelgate” travel-voucher scam made their first appearance in the Cape Town Regional Court on Monday. This follows a Cape High Court order last week that they go on trial in the regional court, rather than the high court.
The renaming of Durban’s Mangosuthu Highway has raised eyebrows and left the Inkatha Freedom Party threatening to march through the city in protest, media reports said on Monday. Also, the decision by the city fathers to rename Point Road after Mahatma Gandhi has generated huge debate within South Africa and India.
The government aims to increase the number of engineering graduates and artisans in its race to achieve 6% economic growth by 2010, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Monday at a briefing on the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition 2007 report.
The future of the former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Jean-Pierre Bemba, could be decided by the DRC Parliament on Monday. Bemba was still taking refuge on Monday in the South African embassy compound in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, said South African foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
The Supreme Court of Appeal has upheld an appeal by the City of Johannesburg, which wants to remove about 300 people from buildings in its inner city due to health reasons and other dangers. The residents of two of the buildings have one month to vacate the buildings, otherwise the sheriff will be permitted to remove all persons from the properties.
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African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma is meeting a group of prominent Afrikaners in Johannesburg on Monday evening to discuss Afrikaner issues. Organiser for the meeting Liesl Göttert said it was a private meeting hosted by De Kat magazine publisher Elzilda Becker.
South Africa is headed for a national bus strike on Wednesday following a breakdown in wage talks, according to the South African Bus Employers’ Association (SABEA). ”Such strike action has the potential of seriously disrupting bus services and leaving many thousands of commuters without public transport,” SABEA president Barry Gie said in a statement on Monday.
South Africa’s no-fees schools have been allocated R2,95-billion for the 2007 school year, according to Education Minister Naledi Pandor. Replying to a parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance’s George Boinamo, Pandor reported that this involved 13Â 901 schools and just over five million pupils.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Monday voiced its support for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to hold the rights to broadcast Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches. The SABC was involved in a court battle last week in order to stop the PSL from selling broadcast rights to other broadcasters.
Talks between the City of Johannesburg and the South African Municipal Workers’ Union over the ongoing Metrobus strike resumed on Monday morning, the municipality said on Monday. Municipal spokesperson Gabu Tugwana said the City of Johannesburg officials had replaced Metrobus representatives in handling the negotiations.
The controversial floor-crossing law allowing MPs, MPLs and local councillors to switch political allegiances while retaining their seats looks set to remain, albeit with some changes to appease detractors. This is according to an African National Congress discussion document to be discussed by branches ahead of the party’s June policy conference, the Star reported on Monday.
It’s lunchtime at Patel’s supermarket in Musina, South Africa, and a steady stream of Zimbabweans are stocking up on supplies for a country in crisis. One of the last shops before South Africa’s border with its northern neighbour, Patel’s once did a roaring trade selling everything from tomato sauce to pyjamas.
The JSE was higher at midday on Monday on the back of cheerful sentiment on Asian markets in the absence of market-moving news on the local front. By 11.57am, the all-share index was up 0,37% at 27 013,630 thanks to a 0,86% rise in resources. The platinum-mining index was up 0,36%, while the gold-mining index was flat (-0,04%).
South African musician Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the ”Princess of Africa”, is an artist, a mother and a businesswoman.
South Africa is facing a serious information technology (IT) skills deficit mostly due to a lack of training, said an IT trainer on Monday. ”We are not seeing a big enough inflow into the economy of IT and engineering graduates,” said director of black-empowered IT training company IT Intellect, Peter Denny, in a statement.
African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma has again called for political tolerance and open debate in the ruling tripartite alliance, media reports said on Monday. Zuma was delivering the annual Chris Hani Memorial Lecture in honour of the South African Communist Party hero, who was assassinated in 1993.
There has been a huge spike in internet banking fraud in the past two months, according to a recent report in the Herald Online. Port Elizabeth commercial crimes unit head Andre Horak said 30 cases of internet fraud, totalling more than R800 000, had been opened since the beginning of February.
The Scorpions are investigating payments of millions allegedly made by fraud convict Schabir Shaik into overseas bank accounts of former transport minister Mac Maharaj, Rapport newspaper reported on Sunday. The payments, made between 1996 and 2000, were allegedly connected to the awarding of tenders during Maharaj’s tenure.
After struggling to find a voice in the post-apartheid era, South Africa’s Afrikaner population has latched onto an anthem about a long-dead general to express their identity. From Amersfoort to Zeerust, at bars and braais, Afrikaners from all walks of life are electrified when they hear the rousing: ”De La Rey, De La Rey, will you come lead the Boers?”
Bafana Bafana beat Chad 3-0 in an African Nations Cup qualifying game that was transformed into a desert storm at the dusty Stade Omnisport in N’djamena on Saturday afternoon. Only a succession of missed chances by Sibusiso Zuma prevented Bafana from opening the score before the 32nd minute on a pitch where the ball often bounced erratically.
Negotiations to end the ongoing Metrobus strike between the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and the City of Johannesburg were on Friday postponed to Monday. Municipal spokesperson Gabu Tugwana said new negotiators were introduced on Friday in a bid to speedily reach an agreement with the union.
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has expressed concern over the suspension of a professor at the University of Kwazulu-Natal after he criticised management. ”We are concerned at the erosion of free expression rights at tertiary academic institutions,” FXI director of operations Na’eem Jeenah said on Friday.
Zimbabwe’s Vice President Joyce Mujuru met South Africa’s Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in Johannesburg on Friday, e.tv reported. The television station had footage of Mujuru at the plush Westcliff Hotel in Johannesburg. She declined to answer questions put to her by a reporter.
The Highveld Lions won the Standard Bank Pro20 competition in fine style on Friday night, beating the Cape Cobras by six wickets in the final at the Wanderers, thanks to a superb 73 by the Lions captain. Neil McKenzie won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat. The Cobras appeared to have lost some of their venom, and lost wickets at regular intervals.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) on Friday expressed concern about the potential threat caused by unexploded munitions at the military armoury on the outskirts of Maputo in Mozambique. The death toll following Thursday’s blasts near Maputo’s international airport had risen to 96 and more than 400 had been reported injured by Friday afternoon.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has dismissed claims that his rule was in its last throes, while a longtime critic renewed calls for a peaceful campaign to oust him. Vice-President Joyce Mujuru and South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, meanwhile, met on Friday in what was described as a private visit.
Countless litres of Chinese honey already consumed in South Africa over the past four years were contaminated with a dangerous antibiotic suspected of causing liver cancer and a potentially fatal rare blood disorder. The possible side effects of the antibiotic chloramphenicol are so serious that it is usually prescribed by doctors only for severe infections.
About 350 workers at Nissan South Africa and members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) protested against retrenchments outside the Japanese embassy in Pretoria on Friday. Nissan SA has given 410 of its workers retrenchment packages, with effect from April 12.
New approaches and tools in dealing with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) must be sought, the South African branch of international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) said on Friday. ”MDR and now [extensively-drug resistant] TB are the tip of an iceberg of failing strategies to control TB,” the organisation said.
R1-billion has been allocated this year to eradicate bucket toilets in established settlements by December, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Friday. ”All bucket systems that exist in formal establishments and townships will be completely removed by December 2007,” said a departmental spokesperson.