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/ 18 October 2007
Earlier this year, Cape Town was debating a by-law that would make solar water heating compulsory for relatively costly new buildings, and certain renovations. But what of solar water heating for less expensive structures — especially homes being built under the country’s extensive low-cost housing programme?
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/ 17 October 2007
Academics in the sciences must realise that they are also entrepreneurs, according to a range of speakers at the annual Bio2Biz SA conference in Cape Town last month. But researchers must be prepared to fall and pick themselves up again in a real-life experiment, said Dr Joe Molete, conference organiser and CE of the BioPAD innovation funder in Gauteng.
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/ 16 October 2007
Western Cape police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Tuesday scoffed at claims that police are about to arrest Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya and deputy managing editor Jocelyn Maker. ”We wish to state that there is no truth in reports that [they] will be arrested and/or be brought before court this week,” NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said.
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/ 15 October 2007
A lawyer for Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya and deputy managing editor Jocelyn Maker has said they would hand themselves over to police in Cape Town this week, instead of waiting to be arrested for the alleged possession of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s medical records.
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/ 15 October 2007
I recently had the opportunity of being part of two interesting discussions that have a bearing on the debate about whether faith-based organisations have the capacity to influence policy and, more generally, the religion-state relationship in South Africa. The feeling in the room was that victims of trafficking, who, as a certainty, would be sexually and physically abused, writes Cassiem Khan.
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/ 14 October 2007
Opposition parties and the South African National Editors’ Forum have expressed concern at reports of police plans to arrest Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya and journalist Jocelyn Maker over the theft of Health Minister Manto-Tshabalala-Msimang’s medical records.
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/ 12 October 2007
Renowned golfer Gary Player reiterated on Friday his company was only involved in the design of a golf course in Burma and had no links with the controversial Burma regime. Player was recently removed from the guest list for the Nelson Mandela Invitational golf tournament, which is set to take place in the Western Cape in November.
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/ 12 October 2007
Cape Judge President John Hlophe’s refusal to resign is a typical example of persons holding high office refusing to face the consequences of their actions, says Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille. ”By refusing to step down, contrary to the dictates of good governance, such senior office-bearers undermine our young democracy,” she said on Friday.
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/ 11 October 2007
A South African man was seriously injured when hijackers dragged him along a tarred road for 2km after his feet got stuck in the seatbelt of his car, police said on Thursday. The 44-year-old was forced out of his car in a suburban street on Wednesday by four fleeing men who had just robbed a house in Bellville in Cape Town, said a statement by police in the Western Cape.
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/ 11 October 2007
Polokwane will be a busy town come December with an expected 4Â 500 delegates, both voting and non-voting, attending the African National Congress’s (ANC) 52nd national conference. Smuts Ngonyama, head of the presidency of the ANC, on Thursday updated the media in Johannesburg on preparations for the conference.
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/ 10 October 2007
Parents will have to cough up at least R300 for giving children a clip on the ear if they are prosecuted under the proposed Children’s Act, a media report said on Tuesday. The new law stipulates that no form of corporal punishment is legal and a child may not be punished in a way that is ”cruel, inhuman or degrading”.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has apparently thrown her weight behind leading businessman Tokyo Sexwale for the African National Congress presidency. Meanwhile, audited ANC membership figures have confirmed the Eastern Cape as the party’s strongest province, media reports said on Tuesday.
Heavy rains are set to continue over Gauteng for the next two days, clearing up on Friday and continuing at the weekend, the South African Weather Service said on Tuesday. ”There will be showers over the weekend, and I can’t rule out the possibility of heavy rains,” said forecaster Evert Scholtz.
The battle for the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) is becoming ever dirtier and fuelled by paranoia in the final weeks before delegates vote for the as-yet undeclared candidates. The challenge on the surface appears a straight contest between incumbent Thabo Mbeki and ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma.
Legendary golfer Gary Player has come under fire in South Africa over his company’s business ties with Burma, where a golf course he designed is allegedly used by members of the brutal ruling junta. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for a boycott of all foreign companies doing business in the Asian country.
There is a tacit belief in a number of archival disciplines that making documents related to the history of liberation struggles in Southern Africa more widely accessible via the Internet and stockpiling new resources on the web will result in new and better histories. However, a survey of a range of digitisation projects currently underway in Africa suggests that this may be a naïve expectation, writes Premesh Lalu.
This month the University of the Western Cape (UWC) formally approved the formation of the Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics (IMBM). Comprising more than 30 researchers and support staff, the institute is led by Professor Don Cowan of UWC’s department of biotechnology.
There was still no word on whether Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) veterans would get voting rights at the upcoming African National Congress (ANC) national conference, the MK Military Veterans’ Association (MKVA) said on Tuesday. ”We are trying to get representation at the conference,” said newly elected MKVA president Kebby Maphatsoe.
Intelligence authorities are to investigate Cape Town mayor and Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille’s claims of ”agents provocateurs” in the city, and the mudslinging in the media regarding the issue must be stopped, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool announced on Monday.
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/ 28 September 2007
The builders of Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium have admitted they are behind schedule because of several strikes by workers, but have promised to catch up soon. The admission differs markedly from the denial by Cape Town and 2010 officials, who insist all is on track.
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/ 27 September 2007
Western Cape police were involved in a plot to plant agents provocateurs within an organisation waging peaceful protest marches against drugs, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille said on Thursday. Zille, who recently participated in People against Drugs, Liquor and Crime (Padlac) marches, said she had information confirming that police were intending to infiltrate Padlac.
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/ 25 September 2007
The government is committed to meeting its target of eradicating the bucket-toilet system in all formal settlements established before 1994, it said on Tuesday. To ensure this deadline was met an amount of R1,6-billion had been made available ”to provide better and more acceptable sanitation for all”.
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/ 21 September 2007
Kroonstad blogger Juan Duval Uys (39) stepped free from the dock of the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday, after a charge of crimen injuria, laid by Independent Democrats politician Simon Grindrod, was withdrawn. Uys said that he in turn had laid charges of crimen injuria and harassment against Grindrod.
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/ 19 September 2007
The special investigating unit (SIU) on Wednesday confirmed it is investigating thousands of government officials believed to have fraudulently received housing subsidies. In its initial findings, the SIU identified 53 000 public servants receiving housing subsidies, for which more than 31 000 did not qualify.
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/ 19 September 2007
Floor-crossing politicians managed to shift the majority party in control in 12 of the country’s 128 municipalities during the two-week crossing period, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Wednesday. The African National Congress gained the most councillors, the IEC figures showed.
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/ 18 September 2007
Despite the Western Cape having scored the highest matric pass rate in the country last year, only half of its learners reach matric, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Tuesday. Addressing a sitting of the provincial parliament on expenditure trends and service delivery, Manuel said the high number of learners who dropped out of school was a cause for concern.
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/ 17 September 2007
South Africa’s decision to invest in a nuclear power future has raised concerns about what will happen to the nuke waste generated. Last week it emerged that nuclear power would account for about half of Eskom’s planned new generating capacity. At present South Africa’s nuclear waste policy is vague and does not list a clear end-plan of what will happen to high-level nuclear waste.
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/ 17 September 2007
When Ahmed Mursal was held up by a drug-desperate gunman in the tuckshop where he was working in the Cape Flats township of Delft, he offered to buy the gun for R250. He told the gunman he could pay only R30 then, but would speak to his Somali brothers, one of whom was sure to want to buy the gun. If the gunman brought the gun the next day, Mursal would pay the balance of R220. The gunman accepted.
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/ 16 September 2007
Cape Town mayor and Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille’s Sunday march against drugs almost landed her in trouble with the police again. Zille, who was leading a community march targeting at drug lords in Atlantis outside Cape Town, was denied permission to march in a street whose residents were said to be mostly drug lords.
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/ 14 September 2007
The Independent Democrats (ID) came out winners on Friday in a last-minute flurry of applications to the Cape High Court by ID defectors to retain their seats. The party said bids by four former ID local councillors in the Western Cape to keep their seats were rejected by the court with costs. Two of the four were members of the Cape Town city council.
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/ 14 September 2007
The Western Cape legislature’s public accounts committee has cleared African National Congress provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha of wrongdoing in a lucrative Cape Town land deal, the ANC said on Friday. Allegations that Skwatsha had interfered in the sale of a province-owned 2,4ha erf in Tamboerskloof were referred to the committee by the Democratic Alliance.
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/ 14 September 2007
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader and Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has accused the police and Western Cape provincial minister of community safety Leonard Ramatlakane of trying to justify their actions by disseminating misinformation and conducting smear campaigns. ”Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” she said in her weekly online newsletter on Friday.