The City of Cape Town says it will fight a bid to block the proposed Green Point stadium and is going ahead with construction. The city’s 2010 spokesperson, Pieter Cronje, confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that its had been served with papers by a civic group seeking to halt the R2,9-billion project.
Western Cape speaker Shaun Byneveldt on Monday announced the names of members of a multiparty committee that will decide whether provincial Premier Ebrahim Rasool misled the legislature. The six-person committee will be chaired by his deputy, Yousuf Gabru. Byneveldt’s office said in a statement that the committee would begin work after the present two-week recess.
Alcohol abuse costs South Africa in the region of R10-billion a year, or 1% of GDP, but the excise tax on alcohol collects only about R7-billion. This leaves the country with a shortfall of about R4,5-billion in costs to health services, the criminal justice system, and, of course, human lives.
The view of most commentators is that the De la Rey song is a call to mobilise Afrikaners against black people in general and the government in particular. High-powered editors, columnists, radio and television hosts read the lyrics as ”right-wing exclusivity” and a ”whining for lost power”. A government minister yawned and warned.
Twelve people were killed when a minibus taxi overturned on a highway in the Western Cape, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Saturday. Five people were seriously injured in the accident, which occurred as members of the same family were taking a corpse to the Eastern Cape province for burial.
Rather than scrapping provinces, South Africa should adopt a ”fully fledged federal system”, acting Democratic Alliance (DA) leader James Selfe said on Friday. In a weekly newsletter published on the DA’s SA Todaywebsite, he said a resurgence of regional identity was one notable feature of a globalising world.
This week saw the official launch and installation of Parliament’s new emblem, a design created by the people as a cornerstone for South Africa’s new democracy. ”A new emblem was an important step in establishing an identity for Parliament, one that represents its values, vision and mission,” Parliament said in a statement.
The South Africa Bus Employers’ Association (Sabea) said all staff reported for duty on Wednesday morning in accordance with a Labour Court ruling, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported. On Tuesday, the court granted an interim order in favour of Sabea preventing a strike planned for Wednesday. This means that any strike will now be unprotected and illegal.
The terms of a probe into whether Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool misled the provincial legislature were amended on Tuesday afternoon, in a motion supported by all parties in the house. An ad-hoc committee, to be named by speaker Shaun Byneveldt on Wednesday, will now inquire only into whether the legislature ”has been misled”.
The 2010 Soccer World Cup has become the benchmark against which everything in South Africa is measured, and this has forced the local organising committee to answer some difficult questions, its chief executive, Danny Jordaan, said on Tuesday. The reason is that 2010 is not just about 90 minutes of football, but is part of the transformation of the country, Jordaan said.
South African and foreign intelligence agencies have been monitoring an alleged training camp linked to Muslim fundamentalists at Greenbushes, Port Elizabeth, the Herald Online reported. According to an intelligence source, the camp is no longer operational because of possible botched surveillance activities.
An ad-hoc committee to inquire whether Premier Ebrahim Rasool misled the provincial legislature will be named by Wednesday, Western Cape speaker Shaun Byneveldt said. A March 13 call by the Democratic Alliance for an investigation into the matter was unexpectedly supported by Rasool’s African National Congress, and by other parties in the legislature.
The last two of the politicians allegedly involved in the ”Travelgate” travel-voucher scam made their first appearance in the Cape Town Regional Court on Monday. This follows a Cape High Court order last week that they go on trial in the regional court, rather than the high court.
New approaches and tools in dealing with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) must be sought, the South African branch of international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) said on Friday. ”MDR and now [extensively-drug resistant] TB are the tip of an iceberg of failing strategies to control TB,” the organisation said.
R1-billion has been allocated this year to eradicate bucket toilets in established settlements by December, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Friday. ”All bucket systems that exist in formal establishments and townships will be completely removed by December 2007,” said a departmental spokesperson.
Senior members of the Italian Mafia have obtained an interest in Namibia’s nascent diamond-cutting industry, using front companies to buy an existing but unused diamond-cutting and polishing licence, an 18-month-long investigation has revealed. Company documents show that the Italian criminal syndicate appears to have been aided and abetted in obtaining their licences by Sam Nujoma’s youngest son.
Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown was released from custody on Thursday after his R1-million bail was unexpectedly paid on his behalf. His advocate Klaus von Lieres handed the cheque to Scorpions prosecutors moments after a Cape Town magistrate ruled that property belonging to a third party was acceptable as surety for bail.
Politically correct garbage Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi’s suggestion (”Corruption is inimical to development”, March 9) that corruption can be fought through ”ubuntu”, and that what Africa needs is a return to its traditional values is politically correct garbage. Fraser-Moleketi is normally an astute leader, and to think she might base policy […]
The following is the text of a response I recently sent to Jeremy Michaels, the spokesperson of Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool. The premier’s office had complained about a Mail & Guardian report that said he may have oiled a deal to sell the Somerset Hospital site. Since he has quoted selectively in order to present me as rubbishing the report, I felt it would be useful for readers to have access to the full version of my views.
Construction of Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium got off to a symbolic start on Tuesday when city mayor Helen Zille and Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool turned the first sods. The ceremony took place on the Metropolitan golf course where the 68 000-seat stadium is to be built.
Eskom, the state-owned power utility, has released the names of four new power stations it plans to commission over the next five years. "Power stations are given project code names during the planning phases, which include feasibility studies and environmental -impact assessments," Eskom explained in a statement on Tuesday.
The tax amnesty for businesses with a turnover of less than R10-million a year expires on May 31 this year, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) warned on Monday. To date, Sars has received close to 18 000 applications for amnesty, said spokesperson Adrian Lackay.
Former MP Tony Yengeni’s son Mandla was hijacked in Nyanga, outside Cape Town, on Friday night. A silver Mercedes Benz with four or five occupants stopped in front of Yengeni and his friends and approached the victims, pointing firearms at them. At gunpoint, they stole a black Volkswagen Golf and sped off.
Disintegrating boxes of medical waste left out in the rain and rotting waste from abattoirs dumped in ditches in the veld were among the environmental hazards discovered by the ”Green Scorpions” during a nation-wide blitz this week. Inspectors from the environmental police force this week carried out a series of countrywide enforcement inspections.
A 60-year-old man who was stabbed to death and his 56-year-old wife who was tied up and robbed in their Hermanus home are United States citizens, Western Cape police said on Friday. ”They are American … They [had been] here since December, and were due to leave in April,” said Captain Elliot Sinyangana.
South Africa’s environmental police force, the ”Green Scorpions,” will be out in strength around the country on Thursday in a massive crackdown on polluters and poachers. The Department of Environmental Affairs is to crack down on illegal fishing, the disposal of hazardous waste and the activities of at least one chemical plant.
Cape Town’s mayor says vigilance will be needed to sustain democracy in South Africa after bruising battles with the African National Congress in her first year leading the sole bastion of opposition to the ruling party. "So far, we have passed the test," Helen Zille said in an interview with the media ahead of the March 15 anniversary of her installation as mayor.
A test that could dramatically reduce the diagnosis time for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) will be evaluated during the next 12 months, the parties involved in the project said on Monday. The two tests will be evaluated on about 40Â 000 TB patients at increased risk of MDR-TB ahead of an anticipated roll-out.
Trustees of the late Brett Kebble’s estate had by Monday not been formally notified that the Western Cape’s African National Congress (ANC) branch would keep the mining magnate’s donations. If the party refused to pay back the millions Kebble had given it, the trustees would turn to the Insolvency Act, said an attorney.
A Cape High Court judge on Monday criticised the police for their lack of professionalism at the scene of the murder of Stellenbosch student Inge Lotz. ”In my 22 years on the Bench, I have never seen anything so bad,” Judge Deon van Zyl remarked as it emerged that a key piece of evidence had been moved.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress and the official opposition Democratic Alliance have been urged by Independent Democrats member of Parliament Lance Greyling to ”give back the money” they received from slain businessman Brett Kebble ”without a fight”.
Trustees of Brett Kebble’s estate have issued notices of demand to the African National Congress (ANC) to repay millions it had received from the slain mining magnate, the Sunday Times reported. The notices demanded the return of ”R24-million in stolen money paid to the ANC and leading members from Kebble’s personal account between 2002 and 2005”.