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/ 7 December 2006
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) was the big winner in the last round of by-elections to take place this year, claiming all but one of the 12 wards contested in results. The municipal by-elections on Wednesday were marked by low voter turnouts, with an 11% turnout at ward three in Mbolela (Nelspruit).
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/ 7 December 2006
South Africa will be looking to win on home soil for the first time this week, having won the Dubai leg of the World Sevens circuit last weekend. The hosts have never won in George, where the competition heads this weekend, but after winning all their matches last week, including downing the mighty All Blacks in the final, confidence will be soaring in coach Paul Treu’s camp.
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/ 7 December 2006
A candidate attorney, who allegedly illegally represented clients in the regional court, made his third appearance in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on three charges of fraud. Candidate attorneys, previously known as articled clerks, may not represent clients in the regional court without authority from the Law Society.
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/ 6 December 2006
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Western Cape has asked the Competition Commission to block the sale of Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront to a foreign-dominated consortium. ”We’re pretty sure that we’re going to get them to stop it,” Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said on Wednesday.
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/ 6 December 2006
The nine provincial police commissioners on Wednesday expressed anger and disgust at ongoing media allegations that police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi is linked to criminal activity. Speaking on behalf of the provincial commissioners, Western Cape Commissioner Mzwandile Petros said the commissioners met on Tuesday with the National Prosecuting Authority.
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/ 4 December 2006
Recent union remarks over outstanding payments to teachers are ”misinformed and inflammatory”, the Department of Education said on Monday. A settlement agreement for wage increases has been fulfilled by the department, said spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele.
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/ 4 December 2006
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The most influential provincial leadership of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) has voted in favour of President Thabo Mbeki remaining head of the ruling party next year, a potential blow to his former deputy, Jacob Zuma. Political analysts said the resolution signalled the start of the fiercest contest for the leadership of the ANC in its 94-year history.
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/ 4 December 2006
"This thing [the taxi recapitalisation programme] is going to kill our businesses once and for all. Where will we get customers if all taxis are new and are serviced in town?" asks mechanic and Soweto taxi owner Edward Singo. Singo is one of Gauteng’s vehicle mechanics in the informal minibus taxi support industry who is worried about the government’s taxi recapitalisation programme.
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/ 1 December 2006
The Cabinet should take the 2010 Soccer World Cup semifinal away from Cape Town if residents go to court to block the proposed Green Point Stadium development, politicians overseeing sport have recommended. Earlier this week, mayor Helen Zille had warned that the city could lose the semifinal to Johannesburg.
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/ 30 November 2006
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Less than half of South Africa’s 15-year olds will live long enough to collect a pension, according to an actuarial report on the Aids epidemic released on Thursday. Fifteen-year-olds now have a 56% chance of dying before turning 60. In 1996 youngsters of the same age only had a 29% chance of not making their 60th birthday.
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/ 30 November 2006
The Automobile Association (AA) will not support the proposed Western Cape fuel levy, the organisation said on Thursday. ”The Automobile Association is perturbed that the proposed Western Cape provincial fuel levy has been approved in principal by the National Treasury,” the AA said in statement.
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/ 30 November 2006
The City of Cape Town says it is still waiting for a decision from the National Treasury on whether it will underwrite ”risk factors” attached to the construction of the Green Point Stadium, proposed venue for a 2010 Soccer World Cup semifinal. These factors include excessive construction-cost inflation and foreign-exchange rate fluctuations.
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/ 29 November 2006
Police were still on the site of an old hotel in the Strand where explosives and ammunition were seized, said Western Cape police on Wednesday. ”They are still on the scene. They are still searching …,” said Inspector Bernadine Steyn. ”Several civil commercial explosives as well as ammunition were found stored in boxes,” said Steyn.
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/ 29 November 2006
The African National Congress could lose control of the Beaufort West municipality because of the resignation of councillor Truman Prince, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday. His departure paved the way for a coalition between the Independent Civic Organisation of SA, the Democratic Alliance and the Independent Democrats.
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/ 28 November 2006
More South Africans are voluntarily getting counselled and tested for HIV with figures rising annually, the Department of Health said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said 1Â 715Â 588 people utilised the free voluntary counselling and testing services between April 2005 and March 2006. ”The trend is that it seems to be doubling every year,” he said.
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/ 28 November 2006
Raising consumer safety and maximising crime prevention are the targets of a national rail-safety campaign launched on Tuesday, said Metrorail. The campaign focuses on staff riding, train surfing, cable theft and standing behind the yellow safety line, said CEO Lucky Tshepo Montana.
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/ 28 November 2006
Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Tuesday paid warm tribute to the staff of Cape Town’s Tygerberg hospital, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. ”God wants you to know just how proud God is of you,” he said at the annual thanksgiving service for the complex’s children’s hospital, of which he and wife Leah are patrons.
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/ 28 November 2006
Dear Comrade Vavi,
Your article in last week’s Mail & Guardian (”The media must own up to its massive blunder”) will be seen as the view of organised labour on all the issues that you discuss. While this may be the case with many of your statements, some do fill one with concern.
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/ 26 November 2006
Tony Leon will step down as leader of the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) in May, he told reporters in Johannesburg on Sunday. He said 13 years in office is ”the absolute upper limit of effective leadership”. Leon will, however, remain an MP and continue writing a book he has been commissioned to publish.
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/ 26 November 2006
Gauteng minister of community safety Firoz Cachalia launched the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, on Saturday. Marches against violence and abuse took place in Johannesburg — where participants wore stilettos — and Cape Town.
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/ 24 November 2006
Julian Jonker explores the reasons why Cape Town loves a good summer street bash.
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/ 23 November 2006
A total of 303 cases of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) have been confirmed across the country, the Department of Health said on Thursday. ”They are in the hospitals, they are on treatment. Some of them have died,” said the department’s head of TB, Dr Lindiwe Mvusi. Mvusi did not have details at hand of how many had died.
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/ 22 November 2006
In the caves of South Africa’s Cederberg mountains, an ancient people left a legacy of rock art that could teach modern man a valuable lesson or two about living in harmony with nature. That is the view of John Parkington, professor of archaeology at the University of Cape Town, who has spent 40 years in the Cederberg and neighbouring areas researching rock paintings.
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/ 22 November 2006
Over five million South African pupils and 13Â 000 schools will be exempt from school fees from January, the Department of Education said on Wednesday. ”The Department of Education wishes to announce that all the nine provincial departments of education have submitted their lists of the number of learners and schools [that] would benefit,” the department said in a statement.
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/ 21 November 2006
With proper investment and management, railways can be made the backbone of the transport system in South Africa, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Tuesday. ”We cannot be complacent until our economy is aggressively driven by an overall competitive and sustainable public transport system,” the minister said at the launch of the new ”10M5” trains in Pretoria.
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/ 21 November 2006
Legislation on the Western Cape’s proposed fuel levy is expected to come into force in 2008, according to the provincial mini-budget tabled on Tuesday. Western Cape provincial minister of finance Lynne Brown first mooted the tax two years ago, saying then that the target date for implementation was this year, at 10c per litre.
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/ 19 November 2006
Being a role model doesn’t sit comfortably with Ntsiki Biyela, who overcame modest beginnings in a poor, rural village to become the country’s first fully fledged African, female winemaker. ”It is a lot of pressure,” the 28-year-old told the media in an interview at her office on the grounds of the Stellekaya winery in the Western Cape.
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/ 18 November 2006
The African National Congress (ANC) has lost the plot for the future, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Saturday. ”The ANC is so busy tearing itself apart and plundering the public purse and pursuing narrow racist agendas that they have forgotten the people who put them in power,” said DA leader Tony Leon during a Western Cape DA congress.
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/ 15 November 2006
Following the recent announcement by the Department of Health on the revised dispensing fee, South African retailer Pick ‘n Pay announced on Wednesday that all medicine prices in its pharmacies will remain at the current levels until the end of this year.
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/ 14 November 2006
The whole wine industry should provide aid for those affected by Monday’s fatal railway accident at Faure in the Western Cape, according to leading figures in the industry. Nineteen wine farm casual workers died and 17 were injured when the truck carrying them was hit by a train at a level crossing.
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/ 14 November 2006
Only slightly more than one out of 10 South Africans with bank accounts have used their cellphones for banking, according to research released by World Wide Worx on Tuesday. A surprising finding from the research is that the youth market is the least likely to have tried cellphone banking.
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/ 13 November 2006
Nineteen people were killed and 12 injured in an accident involving a train and a truck at a railway crossing near Somerset West in the Western Cape, Metrorail confirmed on Monday afternoon. Earlier reports had quoted a Netcare 911 spokesperson as saying that 27 people had died in the accident.