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”.
In the 1980s every young pilot’s dream was to be Tom Cruise’s character, Maverick, in the film Top Gun. But this is not so anymore, the South African Air Force said on Friday. ”Their role model is no longer the guy … with the big watch and sunglasses; it is a four-bar [commercial airline] captain who is driving a big car,” said Major General Des Barker.
The Cape Town city council on Thursday afternoon approved a R2,9-billion budget for its 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium at Green Point. The approval brings to an end most of the uncertainty that has surrounded the funding of the 68Â 000-seater structure, destined to host a semifinal.
Western Cape provincial minister of education Cameron Dugmore was discussing projects when he visited the school where former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni is doing his community service, his office said on Thursday. Yengeni is working at the Siyazama school for mentally challenged children in Guguletu.
No Hout Bay ‘apartheid’ Your coverage of Hout Bay is simplistic and immoral. It is not an “apartheid” conflict, as you suggest, with racist, affluent whites on one side and poor, victimised black people on the other. It is about upholding the law and trying to find a humane and practical solution to unhealthy, overcrowded […]
A shortage of raw materials and procurement issues may delay the construction of stadiums for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, a government official said on Wednesday. Malcolm Simpson, deputy director general at the Treasury’s World Cup unit, said a shortage of skills, a lack of materials and rising costs could jeopardise the increasingly tight schedule.
A proposed fuel levy in the Western Cape of 10 cents a litre will not have the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) support, unless there is clarity on where the money will go, party spokesperson Eric Lucas said on Wednesday. ”For the IFP there are a lot of questions surrounding this proposed fuel increase,” he said.
Fifty out of 85 construction employers were found to be violating workplace safety regulations during an on-site crackdown by labour inspectors in the Eastern Cape, the Labour Department said on Wednesday. Department spokesperson Zolisa Sigabi said seven construction sites had been shut down and an additional 48 contravention notices were served.
The building of Cape Town’s 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium is back on track with a R185-million funding guarantee from banking group Investec. The city put the R2,9-billion project on hold last week. Mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday that Investec had guaranteed the outstanding R185-million as payment on a post-2010 operating lease on the stadium, to be built at Green Point.
Budget constraints have forced the Western Cape provincial government to reduce the budget at Groote Schuur and Tygerberg hospitals, Business Day newspaper reported on Wednesday. The provincial health department has had to cut 90 beds at the hospitals in order to boost primary healthcare services in townships.
So much for an international race. A strong South African contingent set the tone in the opening stage of the Cape Argus Pick ‘n Pay Giro del Capo and were the dominant force in the prologue in Paarl on Tuesday evening. Quickest on the 5,5km stage was MTN Microsoft’s Daryl Impey (7:23,93).
Funding for subsidised housing in the Western Cape increases dramatically in the coming financial year, according to the provincial budget tabled on Tuesday. The funds the province gives to municipalities to build subsidised housing will climb by 58,4%, from R599-million in the 2006/07 budget to R949-million in 2007/08.
The 50th British soldier to die in Afghanistan was a South African who grew up in the Western Cape. Ross Clark (25) was also a former head boy of Somerset West Private School. Lance Bombardier Clark was with the 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery.
A rapist who intimidated his 14-year-old victim into submission with a punch to the face and then raped her three times the same night was jailed for 17 years by the Cape High Court on Monday. Lungile Deya, now 23 but 19 at the time of the offence, was seemingly shocked at the sentence and covered his face with his hands.
The public gallery of court number one at the Cape High Court was on Monday packed to capacity for the start of the trial of two men charged with the murder in April last year of actor Brett Goldin and fashion designer Richard Bloom. On the night of April 16 2006 Goldin and Bloom were shot dead execution style, each with a single gun shot to the back of their head.