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.
The concept of opposition has yet to take root in South Africa 13 years after the birth of multiracial democracy, says the outgoing leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance. Tony Leon’s main task in eight years as official opposition leader was ”to get the very concept itself accepted on the stony soil of South African ground”.
A 40-year-old angler drowned after he was washed off the rocks by a strong wave between Victoria Bay and Kaaimans River on the Garden Route in the Western Cape on Monday. National Sea Rescue Institute station commander Hennie Niehaus said a witness called the institute, informing it of the drowning at about 1.34pm.
The family of slain Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer met undertakers on Monday to discuss his funeral, but details of the ceremony are being kept under wraps. The family has decided to keep it a ”totally, totally private affair”, said Theo Rix, Western Cape manager for Doves funeral parlour.
The body of Bob Woolmer, the murdered coach of Pakistan’s cricket team, arrived in South Africa on Sunday morning, six weeks after his body was discovered in a Jamaican hotel room. A casket bearing Woolmer’s embalmed body arrived at Cape Town International Airport shortly before 10am on a South African Airways flight from London.
Top South African long-distance swimmer and Olympic Games hopeful Tyron Venter (21) beat his closest rival by 14 minutes to win the 7,5km Cadiz Vista Nova Freedom Swim from Robben Island to Big Bay, Bloubergstrand, on Saturday. Natalie du Toit came in fourth. She was the first woman home in 1:57.
Thousands of South Africans gathered in various locations across the country on Friday to celebrate the country’s 13th year of freedom from apartheid rule. In the Eastern Cape, President Thabo Mbeki addressed the packed Bisho Stadium and urged South Africans to join the fight against crime and corruption.
Cape Town’s disaster risk-management centre is on full alert following a severe weather warning from the South African Weather Service on Thursday. All city departments that may be required to respond to flooding, storm damage to infrastructure or disruption of services will maintain adequate standby levels during this period, the council said in a statement.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Wednesday added more than 1 000 new applications to the small-business tax-amnesty process through an extensive registration campaign across the country. Several thousand Sars and police officials visited 4 160 small businesses in 30 towns and cities.
The late judge Wally van Deventer — who said life was too short for ”bad books and bad wine” — was remembered by his colleagues at the Cape High Court on Wednesday. Judge Deon van Zyl told the packed courtroom how Van Deventer’s interest had switched from law to business and then back to law.
Life-insurance companies have uncovered 20Â 000 fraudulent claims worth R1-billion over the past four years, the Life Offices’ Association (LOA) said on Wednesday. However, only 2Â 844 fraudulent claims were recorded last year, the lowest number since 2003.
The South African Weather Service has warned beach revellers to brace themselves for chilly conditions over the country’s coastal areas during this long weekend. Mark Todd, a forecaster from the National Forecast Centre, said on Wednesday that it was going to be cold and windy over the Southern parts [of the country].
About 30 fires were ignited in mountain ranges across the Western Cape by a lightning storm in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Spokesperson for Working on Fire, Val Charlton, said on Tuesday afternoon that the outbreak of these fires after lightning and thunder was ”a perfectly natural event”.
A Sunday tabloid aimed at the ”new, modern Afrikaner” is to be launched in May, its editor said on Tuesday. Sondag’s Mike Vink said it would offer less sleaze than weekly Afrikaans tabloid Son. This will entail, among others, a page three pin-up girl, who will not be topless. ”It’s not going to be sleazy, but a genuine Sunday newspaper with a sports, news and business section.”
Outgoing Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon on Monday dismissed as ”distorted and inaccurate” media reports alleging a plot against Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille. Leon said he met on Monday morning with Zille and DA Western Cape leader Theuns Botha ”to discuss certain media reports …”.