The African National Congress (ANC) has retained a key seat in a municipal by-election in the Theewaterskloof municipal area while it lost a seat to an independent in the Western Cape’s Saldanha Bay. The independent candidate was backed by the Independent Democrats and Democratic Alliance.
The City of Cape Town on Wednesday unveiled a two-year plan to provide essential services to all 222 informal settlements within its boundary. The plan, which would see every household given access to water, sanitation and area lighting, would cost R63,4-million, Mayor Helen Zille told a media briefing.
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) on Tuesday promised to fight the National Sport and Recreation Amendment Bill in every available forum, including in the International Court for Arbitration in Sport. With the acceptance of the Bill in the National Assembly last week, the government had gone too far, FF+ MP Willie Spies said.
A merger of the Eastern and Western Cape could be good news for both provinces, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Tuesday. This would resolve the issues of shrinking allocations to the Western Cape and poor delivery in its neighbour, he told the provincial legislature.
The South African Weather Service recorded 54 weather records in the icy wet and snowy weather this week. On Monday, there were 34 new temperature records and on Tuesday another 20. At least 17 people were reported dead from exposure or in fires trying to keep warm in the icy wet weather gripping the country.
Interest shown by synthetic-fuel firm Sasol in the pebble-bed modular reactor is evidence of private-sector interest in nuclear power, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin argued on Tuesday. He was speaking in his policy debate in the National Council of Provinces.
Passengers on board the train that left Johannesburg for Cape Town on Monday will want to wrap up warmly, especially those in third class. When it passes through the Karoo railway junction town of De Aar in the small hours at about 11pm, the mercury will be on its way to plummeting down to minus eight degrees Celsius.
The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors has raised the alarm over a shortage of coloured auditors in South Africa, as currently only 38 in the country are registered to sign audit opinions, it was reported on Monday. Kariem Hoosain, Irba CEO, says that the figure is "worrying".
An enormous gulf exists between the levels of service provided by different provinces, a Democratic Alliance (DA) study has found. ”If you are poor and reliant on the state for health, education and housing, the best provinces to live in are the Western Cape, Gauteng and the North West,” DA spokesperson Willem Doman said on Monday.
The trial of two men charged with the murder in April last year of actor Brett Goldin and fashion designer Richard Bloom is scheduled to start in the Cape High Court on Monday. Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe on March 5 postponed the trial to Monday.
Predatory imported fish including trout, bass and carp are crowding out many local species in one of the few places in the world still rich in biodiversity. Introduced in the 18th century and popular with both local and foreign anglers, these fish form an integral part of a burgeoning recreational fishing industry.
Residents of the western parts of the Western and Northern Cape provinces have been warned to brace for severe weather on Saturday, Cape Town’s disaster management said. Very cold, wet and windy conditions were expected on Saturday, would spread to the entire Western and Northern Cape on Sunday and persist until Monday, said a spokesperson on Friday.
South African rugby this week found itself once again dancing to the strains of a political orchestra
A row over selection for the national training squad has overshadowed what should be South Africa’s biggest week of celebration since the Springboks won the World Cup on home soil in 1995. Durban’s Sharks and the Bulls from Pretoria contest the first all-South African Super 14 final on Saturday before a 54Â 000-strong sell-out crowd in Durban.
A Johannesburg man who joked on board a kulula.com aircraft about hijacking the plane is to go on trial in the Bellville Regional Court in October. The case was on Wednesday transferred from the Bellville Magistrate’s Court to the regional court, when Mncedisi Eric Maluleka (32) made his fourth appearance since his arrest in October last year.
Universities in South Africa are on the brink of a physical renaissance: they are to receive a R5,95billion boost by 2010, to be used for refurbishing existing buildings, acquiring new ones, and improvements to teaching and learning equipment and library facilities.
In the same week that a major climate conference said that gas-emission cuts need to be both drastic and urgent, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk gave his go-ahead for a giant new Eskom coal-fired power station. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that the world has just 10 years to implement new strategies to combat global warming.
The heads of education committee moved on Monday to quash ”misleading reports” on the draft Education Laws Amendment Bill, gazetted for comment by Education Minister Naledi Pandor last week. Meanwhile, Pandor paid her first surprise visit to a Western Cape school in the Khayelitsha area on Monday.
There has been much debate at the University of Cape Town since Professor David Benatar’s inaugural lecture on Justice, Diversity and Affirmative Action several weeks ago. Benatar essentially argues that ”race is a lazy proxy for disadvantage” and that affirmative action ”does not succeed”, writes Adam Haupt.
We may all be preoccupied with the race for the presidency of the ANC, but the volume and tone of the reaction to Helen Zille’s election as DA leader suggests an interest far beyond the party’s electoral base in the future of opposition politics. Even President Thabo Mbeki has been conciliatory, inviting Tony Leon to the Union Buildings at long last.
Everyone knows <i>Sunday Times</i> columnist David Bullard has enough vitriol to run a small vehicle for a month.
Cape Town’s ailing public-transport system is set for a dramatic overhaul as the state ”takes ownership” of taxi routes, media reports said on Tuesday. The number of trains are to increase from 80 to 108, bus subsidies will be raised from R350-million to R500-million and the minibus taxi industry will be integrated into the public transport system.
President Thabo Mbeki was made a Knight of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in a colourful investiture ceremony held in St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town on Thursday. Mbeki was admitted to the British royal order of chivalry by the organisation’s grand prior, the Duke of Gloucester, a grandson of George the Fifth.
Dina Rodrigues did not flinch on Monday as a Cape High Court judge on Monday pronounced her and her four co-accused guilty of the murder of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton. She stared straight ahead as Judge Basheer Waglay said that even though she only planned the June 2005 killing, she was as guilty as the men she hired to carry it out.
M&G Media, which publishes the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> newspaper in Johannesburg, has been contracted by Mafube Publishing to take over its key management functions, it was announced on Monday. M&G Media will market and distribute all magazine titles published by Mafube — including <i>Enterprise</i> magazine — and assist with advertising sales.
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Sunday congratulated Cape Town mayor Helen Zille on her election as head of the country’s official opposition, the Democratic Alliance. ”We wish her the best of times as the new leader of the opposition,” said ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama.
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille was on Sunday elected as the new leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA). The announcement was made by DA leader Tony Leon to over a thousand delegates at the party’s federal congress in Gauteng. She beat two other contenders for the position, Eastern Cape leader Athol Trollip and federal chairperson Joe Seremane.
Tony Leon on Saturday delivered his last speech as leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), predicting that the party would one day bring about a new government in South Africa. In an emotionally charged session of the party’s federal congress in Midrand, he thanked supporters for the ”incredible journey” they had allowed him to take in heading the DA.
In yet another attempt to rescue the beleaguered Department of Home Affairs, the South African Cabinet this week approved the appointment of a new director general, the latest in this department, which has the highest turnover of directors general in the government.
If the consumer pays between R5 and R6 for a litre of milk in the shops, how much should the farmer get? The milk industry is currently under investigation by the competition authorities, who are focusing on the price build-up between farmer and consumer. In particular, they are paying close attention to a set of apparently cosy interventions that the large milk processors are able to make in the market.
Spending by South Africa’s provincial governments dramatically improved in the past year as they managed to spend 98,7% of their budgets in the 2006/07 financial year, the National Treasury reported on Thursday. The provinces spent R185,6-billion of their combined adjusted budgets of R188-billion.
South Africa’s main opposition party, widely seen as the voice of the white minority, has a rare chance to shake off its conservative image when it elects a new leader this weekend. A black man, a woman and a farmer are all vying for the leadership of the Democratic Alliance (DA) at a party conference near Johannesburg.