The head of the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe, Archbishop Pius Ncube, criticised the South African government on Tuesday for failing to rein in Harare’s hard-line President Robert Mugabe. ”They are in the best position to put pressure on Zimbabwe, to call for sanctions if necessary,” the archbishop of Bulawayo said on the SAfm radio station.
Newspaper reports suggesting something untoward in a deal between Russian companies and the African National Congress-aligned Chancellor House firm are nonsense, the ANC said on Tuesday. ”It is a deal between private companies that has nothing to do with government or the ANC,” said ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama, adding that he did not want to comment on it.
The articulation of the affirmative-action programme in South Africa as a ”jobs-for-pals” scheme by the ruling African National Congress is doing ”immeasurable damage” to the South African economy, Independent Democrats (ID) leader Patricia de Lille has argued.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota officially received the frigate SAS Mendi on behalf of the government at the Port Elizabeth harbour on Tuesday. The SAS Mendi is the fourth Meko A-200 San frigate built for South Africa by the German arms company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
No buses will be operating in Johannesburg until Metrobus is satisfied with the safety of its employees and commuters, the company said on Tuesday. ”The situation has not changed. We don’t want to risk the lives of our staff as well as commuters, so there are no buses that are running today [Tuesday],” said a Metrobus spokesperson.
Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane is leading a project to revitalise South Africa’s historic schools. ”We want to restore and preserve these schools for future generations,” said Ndungane in a statement on Tuesday. ”We want them to be centres of cultural and educational excellence.”
Two men have appeared in the Rustenburg Magistrate’s Court for allegedly burning down the home of a prophet in Ramochana near Rustenburg. Dikeledi Njusa’s house was burnt down after irate community members disputed her prophesy that a massive tornado would hit Rustenburg unless everyone paid a R2 coin to ”the water snake”.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) hopes that the government’s proposed elephant-management regulations will lead to elephant-back safaris being abolished. The draft rules propose stopping the capture from the wild of anything other than genuine orphan elephant calves.
The African Christian Democratic Party on Tuesday said it is ashamed by South Africa’s silence on the brutality of the Zimbabwean government against opposition parties. ”Now is the time for the South African government to speak out and to condemn the brutality of the Zimbabwean government,” said party president Kenneth Meshoe.
Prominent businesswoman Danisa Baloyi has been dismissed from the boards of Absa Group and Absa Bank due to her link with the Fidentia scandal, the bank said on Tuesday. ”This action is the culmination of a process to review the position of Dr Baloyi on the Absa boards, following public disclosures regarding her involvement with the Fidentia matter,” said Absa spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi.
Authorities and residents of seashore properties in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) have begun the process of cleaning up and assessing the damage caused by the massive surf that pounded the province’s coastline on Monday. Swells recorded at between 6m and 8m dissipated on Tuesday morning.
Eskom, the state-owned power utility, has released the names of four new power stations it plans to commission over the next five years. "Power stations are given project code names during the planning phases, which include feasibility studies and environmental -impact assessments," Eskom explained in a statement on Tuesday.
The tax amnesty for businesses with a turnover of less than R10-million a year expires on May 31 this year, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) warned on Monday. To date, Sars has received close to 18 000 applications for amnesty, said spokesperson Adrian Lackay.
African National Congress politician and businessman Chris Nissen said he had returned the R370 000 he was paid for consultancy work to the trustees of murdered mining magnate Brett Kebble’s estate, media reports said on Tuesday. The money was repaid last year.
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour on Monday apologised for a scathing attack on Parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services. ”The minister apologised and said that he had not given any sanction to the [correctional services] spokesperson, Mr [Luphumzo] Kebeni, for this personal and general attack …,” said committee chairperson Dennis Bloem.
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South African cricket greats lined up to pay tribute to former coach Bob Woolmer on Monday following his shock death at the World Cup in the West Indies while in charge of Pakistan. Woolmer, who coached the Proteas between 1994 and 1999, was hailed as an outstanding innovator.
An eight-year-old boy who nearly drowned when his arm was stuck for more than two hours in an intake pipe in a public swimming pool in Pretoria has died, paramedics said on Monday. Halaletsang Nkome was swimming at the Danville municipal pool in Pretoria when his arm was sucked into the pipe on Sunday afternoon.
Two former MPs will be tried separately from four travel agents in the Travelgate parliamentary travel-voucher case, the Cape High Court ruled on Monday. Mnyanmezeli Booi and Antoinette Versfeld will be tried in the Cape Town Regional Court. The four travel agents will be tried in the high court.
There will be no buses operating until Metrobus is confident that its employees and commuters are safe, the company said on Monday. ”We wish operation was possible, but until we have a sense that commuters and staff are safe … until we have assurance, we cannot [operate],” said Metrobus managing director Bheki Shongwe.
Part of Harrison Street in Johannesburg came to a standstill on Monday as residents of an inner-city block were evicted. Johannesburg central deputy sheriff James Calitz said the private eviction was under a high court order granted in early December, which gave residents until February 28 to leave the building.
Widespread tidal flooding and huge waves, caused by weather conditions combined with a high spring tide, brought chaos to the KwaZulu-Natal coastline on Monday — and worse may be in store for the battered region. In Durban, beachfront areas were pounded by massive surf in the early hours of Monday morning.
For most tourists, an African safari means up-close encounters with elephants and lions in the bush. But a group of Dutch and South African artists have pioneered a new kind of wild adventure by inviting guests to camp in the heart of Johannesburg’s city centre, where gun crime is rife and thousands of illegal immigrants cram into derelict buildings.
South Africa is looking to Russia to acquire nuclear and space technology, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Monday. Mlambo-Ngcuka said the trade between the two countries could be ”much better”, naming vehicle and chemical exports as areas that could improve drastically.
Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown and financial director Graham Maddock have been granted bail of R1-million each. The two men face fraud and theft charges involving just over R200-million from the Transport Sector Education and Training Authority. The ruling was made on Monday by Cape Town magistrate Eric Louw, who also ordered that they surrender their passports to the Scorpions.
South Africa’s decision to oppose a request for a United Nations Security Council briefing on the crisis in Zimbabwe is indefensible, said Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon. ”[It] is another example of South Africa bending over backwards to defend [Zimbabwe President] Robert Mugabe’s increasingly tyrannical rule,” he said in a statement on Monday.
South African business confidence in the retail sector declined in the first quarter of 2007 but remained surprisingly robust despite higher interest rates, a new survey showed on Monday. The Bureau for Economic Research retail confidence index fell to 87 index points from a record high 91 previously.
Brewer SABMiller plans to invest R100-million to produce its own carbon dioxide for fizzy drinks in South Africa. SAB said in a statement on Sunday it had decided to invest in its South African soft drinks unit ABI so it can produce its own CO2 after its South African suppliers failed to provide enough to meet demand.
South African gaming and leisure firm Gold Reef Resorts reported on Monday a 25% rise in annual headline earnings per share, in line with its own forecast thanks to a strong performance by its casinos. Gold Reef said headline EPS in 2006 rose 24,8% to 127,4 cents, at the top end of its own forecast for a rise of 20% to 25%.
Durban’s beachfront areas were pounded by massive surf in the early hours of Monday morning, leaving the city’s famed Golden Mile littered with debris and emergency services scrambling to rescue numerous people. The South African Weather Service in Durban said winds in excess of 40 knots (80km/h) were reported on Sunday night.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s condition remained stable six days after her liver transplant, her doctor said on Monday. ”She is stable and doing well,” said Professor Jeff Wing, the minister’s physician for the past four years. Wing said there was no sign of rejection of the transplanted organ. ”Usually if there is a rejection, it occurs just before day five.”
Metrobus asked Johannesburg commuters on Monday to continue using alternative transport following the suspension of its operations on Friday. Metrobus temporarily suspended operations on Friday after one of its buses was found burnt out in Kagiso near Krugersdorp at about 4am.
Bloemfontein Celtic produced the great escape of the Premier Soccer League season when they qualified for the Absa Cup quarterfinals on Sunday via a 3-2 penalty shoot-out advantage over Orlando Pirates. Also qualifying for the quarterfinals were Santos and Mvela Golden League’s Dynamos.