The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board on Tuesday condemned seven members of the broadcaster’s executive for signing a petition calling for it to resign. Board chairperson Khanyisile Mkhonza said they considered the petition mischievous and divisive.
The procedures of appointing the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) board are to be reviewed, Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said on Tuesday. Speaking in the National Assembly she said there had been a national debate about the SABC as a result of views that emerged out of the assembly’s communications committee hearings.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) group executive on Monday called on the board of the national broadcaster to step down immediately.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation board failed in a court bid on Monday to appeal against the reinstatement of chief executive Dali Mpofu. The Johannesburg High Court dismissed an application for leave to appeal against an earlier ruling that the suspension of Mpofu was unlawful.
A South African Broadcasting Corporation promotional helicopter transporting cast and crew members from the local soapie 7de Laan crashed into a bakkie in Kroonstad on Saturday, Free State police said. Spokesperson Superintendent Sam Makhele said the helicopter was transporting cast and crew to a stadium for a show.
North West agriculture minister Jan Serfontein and interest groups are to try to develop a standardised programme for working with predators. This follows a lion attack on Tuesday on the farm Uitspan, near Mafikeng. David Moloana (50), of Mareetsane village, was killed while cleaning a drinking pen situated in a lion cage.
President Thabo Mbeki has brushed off criticism that he failed to show compassion by not visiting areas affected by violent attacks against foreigners around the country, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday.
The border between South Africa and Zimbabwe should be ”comprehensively” abolished, Methodist Bishop Paul Verryn told academics at the University of the Witwatersrand on Wednesday. ”In exactly the same way we pulled down the fences in 1994 and found that instead of restricting, it enabled,” Verryn told a colloquium on xenophobia.
The South African government came under pressure on Monday to deal with the aftermath of deadly anti-foreigner violence that has displaced an estimated 35 000 people. As thousands headed for the borders, a growing humanitarian crisis was developing domestically with crowds of foreigners sheltering at police stations.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, already under fire for perceived policy failings that caused an anti-immigrant backlash in his country, now faces questions about his handling of the crisis. The head of state is yet to visit the worst affected areas of Johannesburg after two weeks of violence against foreigners.
South African troops have killed a man in a Johannesburg township during operations to quell anti-immigrant violence, the army said on Saturday, as they deployed on the streets for the first time since apartheid. At least 43 have been killed, more than 500 arrested and 17 000 displaced.
South Africa’s government admitted on Friday it was aware of the potential of anti-immigrant sentiment to explode into violence. ”Of course we were aware there was something brewing. It is one thing to know there is a social problem and another thing to know when that outburst will occur,” said Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils.
Anti-immigrant violence has spread to Cape Town, where mobs attacked Somalis and Zimbabweans and looted their homes and shops, police said on Friday. Hundreds of African migrants were evacuated overnight from a squatter camp near Cape Town, the hub of South Africa’s prized tourism industry.
Global analysts Lehman Brothers wondered out loud on Friday morning whether some notably hawkish statements by Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni on Thursday might be a signal that a rate hike of 100 basis points could be on the cards come June 12.
Power failures could be expected between 5pm and 10pm on Thursday due to technical problems at power stations, Eskom announced. ”About 16% of Eskom’s installed capacity is currently not available due to planned maintenance, unplanned outages, and load losses.”
A Somali community in Johannesburg on Thursday accused police of firing live ammunition at its members as more xenophobic attacks were reported in Gauteng and former Cabinet minister Kader Asmal questioned claims of ‘third force’ involvement in the attacks.
A statement by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board that it would challenge a court ruling against the suspension of CEO Dali Mpofu was ”misleading”, Mpofu’s lawyers said on Wednesday. ”The judgement … has not yet been signed by the judge and is therefore not yet available to either of the parties,” Mpofu’s lawyer, Sandile July, said.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board will appeal a high court ruling setting aside the suspension of chief executive Dali Mpofu, board chairperson Khanyi Mkhonza said on Tuesday. ”After careful study of the judgement, the board has identified areas of concerns that we believe can only be clarified through the legal process,” she said.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board said it disagreed with a Johannesburg High Court ruling on Monday, which set aside the suspension of CEO Dali Mpofu. Judge Moroa Tsoka said the entire matter was handled badly by board chairperson Khanyi Mkhonza.
A wave of xenophobic attacks spread through Johannesburg townships on Monday. Mobs beat foreigners and set some ablaze in scenes reminiscent of apartheid-era violence. A total of 22 people have now been killed in the violence directed at immigrants around Johannesburg, which began a week ago.
The Johannesburg High Court on Monday set aside the suspension of South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) CEO Dali Mpofu. ”I rule that the meeting at which the decision was taken to suspend Mpofu was unlawful,” said Judge Moroa Tsoka.
As a fresh wave of severe xenophobic violence gripped Johannesburg on Sunday, with five people killed in the Cleveland area, hundreds fleeing to the safety of police stations and shops in the CBD looted, President Thabo Mbeki announced that a panel had been set up to look into the attacks.
Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula said on Friday that those responsible for continuous xenophobic attacks in Gauteng townships will be ”severely dealt with”. He was responding to the violence in Alexandra and Diepsloot that erupted in the past week, in which three people were killed and dozens injured.
Any increase in electricity prices should occur gradually over five years, Eskom was told on Friday at a summit in Sandton on the electricity crisis, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported. The government, labour, the African National Congress and community forums were represented at the summit.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board did not comply with its own rules when it suspended chief executive Dali Mpofu, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Friday. ”The SABC board acted before it complied with its own internal rules … the suspension cannot stand,” said Mpofu’s lawyer, advocate Vincent Maleka SC.
Nick Fraser, the editor of the BBC’s international documentary series Storyville, comments on the state of affairs at the SABC.
A Johannesburg High Court judge on Friday questioned the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board’s lawyers about the legality of CEO Dali Mpofu’s suspension. Hearing an urgent application from Mpofu challenging his suspension, Judge Moroa Tsoka put it to the respondents that there were discrepancies in their court papers.
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) chief executive Dali Mpofu’s move to suspend his news chief Snuki Zikalala was the last straw that prompted his own suspension, according to court papers on Thursday. Mpofu has launched an urgent application with the Johannesburg High Court, to challenge his suspension last Wednesday.
The presidency orchestrated South African Broadcasting Corporation CEO Dali Mpofu’s suspension, his lawyers claimed on Thursday. Mpofu is challenging his suspension in the Johannesburg High Court. Mpofu said board chairperson Kanyi Mkhonza was acting on an instruction to ”get rid of the CEO” issued by the Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad.
Johannesburg townships Alexandra and Diepsloot were tense on Thursday morning in the wake of xenophobic violence that has killed a number of people since the weekend, police said. Captain Louise Reed said one man was injured in a suspected mob attack in Diepsloot on Wednesday evening.
The Johannesburg High Court will hear an urgent application brought by suspended South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) group chief executive Dali Mpofu on Thursday, a representative speaking on his behalf said. Mpofu has been tight-lipped over his planned court action against the SABC.
Lawyers for convicted murderers the Waterkloof Four have filed papers in the Pretoria High Court for an application for leave to appeal, it was reported on Wednesday. The four want to take their murder-conviction appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal after they lost their first appeal case in the Pretoria High Court last week.