The deterioration of South Africa’s national savings ratio to 13,75% of gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 2006 has brought the annual savings ratio to an historic low of 14% in 2006, South African Reserve Bank (SARB) data showed on Thursday.
Denmark-based Siyabonga Nomvete, the 20th and final player to arrive at Bafana Bafana’s Johannesburg training camp, made a belated appearance on Wednesday — but questions were still raised over whether he would be included in the starting line-up against Chad in the African Nations Cup qualifier in Ndjamena on Saturday.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota did not release the names of 29 people accused of receiving discounts on vehicles linked to the controversial arms deal, his spokesperson reiterated on Thursday. Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille on Wednesday laid criminal charges against the 29.
Eleven vintage cars were confiscated in Soweto after huge rats breeding in them started attacking passers-by, Johannesburg metro police said on Thursday. ”It’s an unusual complaint,” said Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar. ”We’ve had to deal with vicious dogs before, but not with rats.”
A R37-million project to reduce maternal infant mortality has been launched in the Eastern Cape, the province’s department of health said on Wednesday. A spokesperson said the ”Saving Mothers Saving Babies” project will be implemented in 30 district hospitals and community health centres in the Eastern Cape.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is fighting for his political life in a behind-the-scenes power struggle within his own party that could oust him faster than street battles with a reinvigorated and determined political opposition. Analysts say rival factions within the ruling party are plotting to force the president to step down.
Two employees of the Gauteng health department have been dismissed for defrauding the department of more than R700Â 000, the department said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Vusi Sibiya said the dismissals followed disciplinary action taken as a result of a probe that was conducted by forensic auditors.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille has laid criminal charges against 29 prominent South Africans who received discounts on luxury cars linked to the multibillion-rand arms deal. ”I felt it was in the interest of justice and fairness …,” said De Lille.
The upsurge in violent crime, cash-in-transit robberies and violence against women and children underlines the fact that the government has failed to control crime and protect its citizens, said the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on Wednesday. This statement was among grievances detailed by the IFP in a memorandum.
Social activists handed a memorandum to human rights officials at Constitutional Hill on Wednesday, Human Rights Day, after about 2 000 people marched through central Johannesburg.
The Labour Court in Johannesburg has requested more time to consider arguments from Vodacom and striking members, the Communication Workers’ Union of South Africa (CWU) said on Wednesday. The industrial action followed an unresolved dispute over the recognition of the CWU by Vodacom.
A vigilant mass culture is essential to prevent the degeneration of human rights as seen in Zimbabwe, said the South African Communist Party on Wednesday, Human Rights Day, while the Pan Africanist Congress’s president called for the spirit of volunteerism that swept South Africa in the 1950s and 1960s to be resuscitated.
Farm workers on KwaZulu-Natal farms are subjected to gross human rights violations, the province’s Premier, Sibusiso Ndebele, said on Human Rights Day on Wednesday. In an address at Besters Farm in Ladysmith, Ndebele said most farm workers are being refused access to water, sanitation, electricity and education.
Human Rights Day should be used to assess rights accorded to the youth, as well as the acceleration of youth development in the country, the Young Communist League said on Wednesday. ”For the working class and the poor youth, Human Rights Day must mean food, free and equal compulsory education … and a better life,” spokesperson Castro Ngobese said.
South Africa’s foreign policy has shown an eagerness to abandon democratic and human rights values in order to shield oppressive regimes, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said. In a Human Rights Day statement, Leon said South Africa can rightfully and proudly proclaim that there will never be another Sharpeville.
While Bafana Bafana on Tuesday took a further step towards closing ranks for their away African Nations Cup qualifying game with 19 of the 20 players now ensconced in their Johannesburg camp, the modestly regarded minnows of Chad were not allowing the dust to settle under their feet in dusty Ndjamena — the venue for Saturday’s game.
South Africa’s current-account deficit widened sharply in the fourth quarter of 2006 and the South African Reserve Bank will continue to monitor the shortfall and possible currency depreciation, Governor Tito Mboweni said on Tuesday. However, he urged the market not to draw ”inappropriate conclusions”.
Africa’s first power plant to run on methane gas extracted from a rubbish dump began generating electricity in Durban on Tuesday. The plant, built with funding from the French Development Bank, was officially opened by eThekwini mayor Obed Mlaba at the city’s Mariannhill landfill site.
Workers at diamond miner De Beers in Kimberley will on Thursday protest against planned retrenchments, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said. The company has retrenched close to 2 000 employees in the past two years, said the NUM’s regional secretary in the Northern Cape, Tshimane Montoedi.
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African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma was expected to attend a Human Rights Day concert on Wednesday in Pietermaritzburg to raise funds for his legal fees, the Witness reported on Wednesday. The concert at the Harry Gwala Stadium was to be followed by an all-night vigil in support of Zuma.
Thirteen infectious tuberculosis (TB) patients who forced their way out of Pretoria West Hospital, wanting to be treated as outpatients, have been ordered back to their beds. This follows an interim high court order as a result of the Gauteng health department having lodged an interdict against them.
A Pretoria High Court judge issued a strong warning on Tuesday against media reporting that could defeat the ends of justice. Judge Ronnie Bosielo said a possible travesty of justice could have resulted from the way the arrest and first court appearance of serial rapist Simon Malatji was reported.
Durban’s beaches will remain closed for at least another five days as the city’s authorities clean up in the wake of the heavy surf that battered the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) coastline. eThekwini deputy head of fire and disaster management Mark te Water said on Tuesday evening that he expected the city’s beaches to remain closed for at least five days.
Businesswoman Danisa Baloyi vowed on Tuesday to fight her removal from the board of Absa Bank over her involvement in the Fidentia matter. ”After much soul-searching and consultations, I refuse to be pushed off the Absa boards as this would have given the impression that I have done something wrong,” she wrote in a statement.
The South African Cabinet on Tuesday said it was extremely concerned over the unfolding violence in Zimbabwe, but repeated that helping solve that country’s problems had to be through dialogue. Government communications head Themba Maseko said government’s primary worry at this stage was the reported abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe.
Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown will be spending Human Rights Day behind bars after the Scorpions and his lawyers failed to agree on Tuesday on how his R1-million bail was to be paid. He will be back in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday morning for what is expected to be an application for a change in bail conditions.
World-renowned palaeontologist Phillip Tobias is to be awarded the City of Johannesburg’s Walter Sisulu Award, it was announced on Tuesday. The award, to be presented to him on Thursday, is one of the city’s highest civic honours. It recognises ”a special contribution in promoting the ideals of the City of Johannesburg in particular, and the whole country at large”.
The South African Cabinet agreed on Tuesday to extend the deployment of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers in various peacekeeping missions on the African continent. The deployments include 750 SANDF personnel in Sudan under the banner of the African Union Mission in Sudan.
Construction of Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium got off to a symbolic start on Tuesday when city mayor Helen Zille and Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool turned the first sods. The ceremony took place on the Metropolitan golf course where the 68 000-seat stadium is to be built.
The Supreme Court of Appeal on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by two rapists against their convictions and sentences for gang-raping a teenager 24 years ago. The attack took place in 1983 at the home of a friend of the teenager in Wynberg, Cape Town, when the men were 18 years old.
South Africa has the third freest economy in sub-Saharan Africa and is ranked the 52nd most free in the world, the 2007 Index of Economic Freedom has found. Mauritius and Botswana led the sub-Saharan scores in the 13th Heritage Foundation-Wall Street Journal index report, which measured 157 countries across 10 economic freedom levels.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the global nuclear watchdog, is cooperating with South Africa to develop a security plan ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup to avert any ”dirty bomb” attack, a government official said on Tuesday. Tselio Maqubela, South Africa’s chief nuclear director, said security at existing nuclear facilities met international standards.