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/ 26 October 2006
Rescue workers in search of the three miners still trapped underground in AngloGold Ashanti’s Tautona mine have been delayed by ”a difficult rock”, the company said on Thursday morning. ”There was slow progress during the course of the night because the rock that rescuers have to go through to reach the trapped miners is difficult [to dig past],” spokesperson Steve Lenahan said.
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/ 26 October 2006
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South African taxpayers have contributed R10-million towards axed deputy president Jacob Zuma’s defence costs, the Star newspaper reports. The figure was reflected in the Presidency’s revised budget vote in Wednesday’s mini-budget tabled by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
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/ 25 October 2006
The African National Congress Youth (ANCYL) League handed a memorandum of demands to the National Credit Regulator in Johannesburg on Wednesday in a protest against the blacklisting of youth by credit bureaux. ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula handed the memorandum to three officials and said the blacklisting of the youth was unfair to the students and unemployed of the country.
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/ 25 October 2006
Trade union Solidarity on Wednesday called for military style training for cash-in-transit security guards in response to the rising number of heists. ”We’re not saying that they don’t receive good training, but we believe that they don’t receive the type of training required to handle these situations,” union spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said
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/ 25 October 2006
Four gorillas are leaving Pretoria and heading home to Cameroon in time for Christmas. The International Fund for Animal Welfare said the gorillas, known as the Taiping Four, would probably leave for the Limbe Wildlife Centre in Douala, Cameroon, on December 7.
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/ 25 October 2006
Four people accused of killing a suspected thief on a farm in South Africa, who died after being tied to a tree and beaten, walked free from court on Wednesday after murder charges were dropped. After a magistrate ordered that charges of murder be downgraded, the four all pleaded guilty to assault and were each fined R10Â 000 .
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/ 25 October 2006
Secrecy is fundamental to the initiation custom, the public hearing on initiation schools heard on Wednesday. The South African Human Rights Commission’s Free State office manager, Mothusi Lepheana, who spoke in his personal capacity, said secrecy is needed to preserve the ”copyright” of the initiation process.
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/ 25 October 2006
Economists, the ruling party and the official opposition have reacted to the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement tabled in Parliament on Wednesday by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. ”There was nothing really there that was too unexpected,” said George Glynos, market analyst at ETM.
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/ 25 October 2006
The body of one of the five mine workers trapped underground at AngloGold Ashanti’s Tau Tona mine near Carletonville has been found, the company said on Wednesday afternoon. This, coupled with conditions at the scene, offered little hope that the remaining four miners will be found alive, said spokesperson Steve Lenahan.
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/ 25 October 2006
The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) called on Wednesday for a commission of inquiry into Bloemfontein’s flying squad, allegedly caught watching a pornographic movie while telephones rang unanswered. Free State ACDP leader Casper Nordier said far too many media reports showed problems at Bloemfontein’s flying squad.
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/ 25 October 2006
The government will be spending close to R2,3-billion on its HIV/Aids programme by 2010, according to the mini-Budget tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. The figure was contained in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, which gave no breakdown of how the amount was arrived at.
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/ 25 October 2006
The African National Congress’s efforts to change Cape Town’s multiparty government is doing ”incalculable harm” to South Africa, city mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. ”They are not damaging the multiparty government, they are doing incalculable harm to South Africa,” she said in an opening speech at a full council meeting.
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/ 25 October 2006
The Young Communist League is ”flabbergasted and disturbed” by a school that still flies the old South African flag and sings the old national anthem, the YCL said on Wednesday. Pupils at the Christelike Volksonderwys primary school in Lichtenburg, North West, apparently still sing Die Stem at morning assemblies.
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/ 25 October 2006
Almost R15-billion of the about R80-billion increase in government spending over the next three years goes to 2010 Soccer World Cup major capital projects, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. This infrastructure will benefit the country long after the final whistle in the tournament has sounded.
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/ 25 October 2006
South Africa’s latest Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, outlined by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday, combines real increases in spending of 9,7% in the current 2006/07 financial year and 7% real average spending rises in each of the next three years, with almost perfectly balanced budgets in all four years.
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/ 25 October 2006
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said at the launch of the latest Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament on Wednesday that South Africans have reason to feel exceedingly proud of what they had achieved as the current fiscal position was "a seriously good story".
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/ 25 October 2006
While CPIX inflation in South Africa may briefly exceed 6% in early 2007, it is projected to remain within the target band thereafter, South Africa’s Treasury said in its Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday. The Treasury said CPIX is expected at 4,6% in 2006 from the 4,3% announced in February.
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/ 25 October 2006
South Africa’s nine provinces are to receive an additional R28,2-billion over the next three years, according to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement. Provincial government is projected to get R178,3-billion this year — 2006/07 — including R150,7-billion from the equitable share and R27,5-billion in conditional grants.
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/ 25 October 2006
South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has revised upward by R29,6-billion the government’s projected revenue collections for the 2006/07 financial year. The sharp increase — to R486,4-billion from R456,8-billion estimated in February’s national budget — was attributable largely to higher-than-expected collections in corporate and individual income tax.
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/ 25 October 2006
A narrowing in the current-account deficit is expected over the remainder of 2006 as oil prices and import volumes ease and as exports pick up, the Treasury said in its Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday. The Treasury said that a deficit of 5,7% of GDP was expected in the current year, with the deficit projected to average 5,6% over the medium term.
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/ 25 October 2006
South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said at the launch of the latest Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament on Wednesday that it did not make sense to provide tax relief at the moment in anticipation of revenue that may not be sustainable.
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/ 25 October 2006
The 2007 medium-term expenditure framework provides for R9,5-billion to be spent on 2010 World Cup stadiums and their supporting infrastructure, raising the total contribution from the national fiscus to R14,9-billion, the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement reported on Wednesday.
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/ 25 October 2006
The Scorpions have arrested a Cape Town man suspected of hacking bank accounts using sophisticated keystroke-logging technology. The 28-year-old man was arrested after a joint operation between the Scorpions, Standard Bank and a United Kingdom-based security consultancy, which traced the man through his prepaid SIM card on his cellphone, Standard Bank said on Wednesday.
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/ 25 October 2006
The five judges who heard the appeal of convicted Durban businessman Schabir Shaik are working non-stop on the judgement, a Supreme Court of Appeal spokesperson said on Wednesday. ”The judges are very busy finalising the judgement,” Henry Snyman said. ”There is a possibility that it could be finished towards the middle of November.”
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/ 25 October 2006
Ailing Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang would probably spend the rest of the week in hospital, South African Broadcasting Corporation television news
reported on Tuesday. Although she had shown a remarkable improvement in the past few days, she would probably be discharged only at the end of the week.
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/ 25 October 2006
The South African Police Service has been hit with civil claims totalling R5,3-billion — which is equal to one-quarter of its annual salary bill, media reports said on Wednesday. The amount included R253-million in claims for shooting incidents, R1,67-million for alleged police assaults and R1,9-billion for undisclosed ”police actions”.
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/ 25 October 2006
The naked body of a 23-month-old baby boy was found in Bekkersdal in Westonaria on Tuesday afternoon, West Rand police said. The baby’s penis had been cut off. Captain Paula Terreblanche said Tekano Seleki’s body was found next to a stormwater drain at around 4pm.
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/ 25 October 2006
It could take 18 hours to reach the place where five miners are trapped underground at AngloGold Ashanti’s Tautona mine, the company said on Wednesday morning. ”The longer it takes the more our hope of finding them alive fades,” said company spokesperson Steve Lenahan.
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/ 24 October 2006
Expropriation notices have been issued on four pieces of land in Limpopo, the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights announced on Tuesday. ”The notice for expropriation is our last resort following lengthy negotiations with the land owners, which to-date have yielded no results,” said chief land claims commissioner Thozi Gwanya.
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/ 24 October 2006
A South African cultural rights group on Tuesday urged the government to establish legal ground rules for male circumcision rituals to prevent botched surgeries by traditional healers. Over the last decade 83 people have died — including 19 this year alone — in the Eastern Cape province as a result of the age-old practice that marks the passage of boys into manhood.
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/ 24 October 2006
The case against four men arrested in connection with a shoot-out and robbery in central Johannesburg on October 10 was postponed on Tuesday, police said. Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said one of the four suspects arrested on October 11 committed suicide while in police custody. Another suspect was arrested a week later on October 18.
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/ 24 October 2006
One of the two men accused of killing Carletonville teenager Kalin Jooste ”enjoyed posing for the camera” as he showed police the scene of the attack, the Ramsgate High Court heard on Tuesday. Thembisile Pilisi (19) and Vukile ”Chico” Sinama (20) have both pleaded not guilty to last year’s attack on Zelne Maritz and Jooste.