A ”frightening” number of police officers have died in Gauteng so far this year, with almost as many slain in the first six months of 2006 as in the whole of last year, said the office of National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi. The deaths of four police officers in a bloody siege in Jeppestown last Sunday brought the tally to 19 since the start of the year.
Now that all the fuss and bother have died down, I find myself feeling a sort of empathy for our genial Minister of Safety and Security, Charles ”Whingers Beware” Nqakula. I have seldom seen such a flurry of outrage and hurt feelings in response to an idle remark tossed off in Parliament by the minister.
The African Christian Democratic Party has called on Christians to boycott the Comrades Marathon after the announcement that the race is to be run on a Sunday. ”You undermine the importance of family and you undermine the sanctity of the Sunday as a special day to get in touch with the Lord of lords and the King of kings,” the party’s Western Cape leader Hansie Louw said on Friday.
Everyone loves a winner, but it does not follow that joint winners will be doubly loved. Darryl Accone reports.
Western Cape education minister Cameron Dugmore has suspended a Delft school principal after his arrest on charges of indecent assault and possession of child pornography, media reports said on Thursday. Three parents laid indecent assault charges against the 57-year-old man who appeared in court on Wednesday.
As the 2006 Soccer World Cup draws to a close in Germany, the eyes of the world will focus on South Africa to see if it is ready to host the next one, says the Cabinet. Meanwhile, a business plan for Cape Town’s 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium shows a ”positive outlook” for the long-term viability of the project.
Western Cape police have completed their investigation into the death of a rugby player in a match last week and are waiting for a decision from the public prosecutor, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. Riaan Loots (24), a flyhalf for Rawsonville Rugby Club, died during a match with the Delicious Rugby Club last Friday.
The Boland Rugby Union has launched an urgent investigation into the incident that left a rugby player brain-dead, the union said on Monday. ”The shocking incident between Rawsonville and Delicious is a cause for concern and the board has appointed a senior advocate to uncover the real facts of the incident,” the union’s spokesperson, Rayaan Adriaanse, said.
According to information obtained from a DA parliamentary question, only 52% of South Africans infected with TB are treated successfully, compared with the World Health Organisation’s target of 85%, the DA’s spokesperson on health, Dianne Kohler-Barnard, said in a statement on Monday.
The findings of a probe into recent damage to a Koeberg nuclear-power generator and resulting power outages in the Western Cape are expected to be presented to Parliament in mid-August. Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin will announce the findings to the National Assembly, probably on August 16, his spokesperson Gaynor Kast said on Monday.
Three policing agencies are to meet on Tuesday to discuss ways to step up the fight against the continuing stonings on Cape Town’s highways, according to Western Cape provincial minister for community safety Leonard Ramatlakane. This follows the weekend death of city motorist Nolan Daniels, hit by a brick thrown through a window of his car as he drove along the R300.
Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin has declined to answer a parliamentary question about whether Western Cape farmers — hit by recent power outages — could sue the power parastatal Eskom. He was asked by Democratic Alliance MP Sarel van Dyk whether Eskom will give financial compensation to fruit-crop farmers.
The son of former Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo, Onele Mfeketo, was on Friday let off the hook on a shoplifting charge in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court. Mfeketo was scheduled to go on trial, charged with stealing potato crisps, fruit juice and maize meal from the V&A Waterfront’s Pick ‘n Pay in May last year.
”Our heritage is unique and precious and it cannot be renewed,” reads part of the preamble to South Africa’s heritage legislation, yet many public bodies don’t know what resources are under their custodianship. The South African Heritage Resources Agency now plans a national audit of state-owned heritage resources to help manage those collections.
A meeting called by NGOs to discuss a controversial City of Cape Town beggar by-law was disrupted on Wednesday when a city councillor was asked to leave. The by-law outlaws a number of alleged offences, such as intentionally touching or causing physical contact with another person.
The forestry sector could lose almost R900-million because of invasive alien wasps, says Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks. In written reply to a question by Democratic Alliance MP Janet Semple in the National Assembly, Hendricks said a control programme to limit damage had been introduced.
Gas supply in the Gauteng area is expected to return to normal over the next few days after a series of mishaps that has throttled supply since the onset of an early winter in May. Afrox, the market leader in bottled gas, says it has supplied an additional 50 000 9kg bottles to alleviate the shortage.
The reaction of South African Airways (SAA) to Saturday’s attempted hijacking showed that the airline’s emergency policies and procedures were adequate to the task, SAA boss Khaya Ngqula said on Monday. ”All the rules were adhered to. Everybody was safe. Everybody reached their final destination,” Ngqula, the airline’s CEO, said.
A total of 419 primary schools in poor communities in the Western Cape have been given ”no-fee” status, the provincial education department announced on Monday. This would bring relief to parents of almost 150 000 learners, it said in a statement. An amount of R29-million had been allocated to fund the initiative in the current financial year.
The police on Monday defended the conduct of the special task force aboard the South African Airways (SAA) plane that was subject to a hijacking attempt on the weekend. ”Obviously, from the police side, it is regrettable that some passengers feel they have been traumatised, but at the end of the day their safety was the primary concern,” spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has welcomed the plea-bargain agreement entered into by a travel operator with the directorate of special operations. The NPA it said that travel operator Shamima Lamalia had entered into a plea-bargain agreement on Thursday. The case relates to Parliament’s travel fraud, which has been dubbed ”Travelgate”.
The Scorpions welcomed an appeal against a precedent-setting Cape High Court judgement on Wednesday, in which illicit diamond trader Tony Dos Santos was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. The appeal ”will allow the jurisprudence relating to racketeering to be developed so that it finds national application”, the Scorpions said.
The Power Alert system, launched on May 22, has taken only three weeks to prove its value, Eskom said on Thursday. The power utility said it expected a turbulent weekend in the Cape after the shutdown of the Koeberg nuclear power station’s unit one on Friday afternoon.
The start of the Soccer World Cup has had an unexpected benefit for blackout-plagued Cape Town, the city’s manager for public lighting, Charles Kadalie, said on Wednesday. He said a drop in evening peak electricity demand in residential areas has been noticeable since Friday, when the tournament got under way in Germany.
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille was acting as if she was a ”mayor in opposition”, unable to rise above the interests of her party, the Democratic Alliance, African National Congress Western Cape chairperson James Ngculu said on Tuesday. Ngculu was addressing a media briefing in the city after a two-day meeting of his provincial executive.
Nuclear power station Koeberg was operating at 90% capacity on Sunday and would be fully operational by Monday, Eskom said. ”It is generating about 90% of its output … The staff at Koeberg will continue monitoring the situation and increase capacity to 100% by tomorrow [Monday],” said company spokesperson Fanie Zulu.
The Western Cape department of local government had its electricity and water reconnected on Friday after it paid R242 000 towards its arrears bill. The department’s city centre building was disconnected on Thursday over what the City of Cape Town said was an outstanding amount of over R724 000.
Yolandi Groenewald gets caught up in the recent spate of thillers that expose the dark underbelly of the scenic Cape.
South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) says the state broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), is guilty of news manipulation and propaganda and it will consider a nation-wide campaign against it.
The Western Cape treasury is disputing an amount apparently owed to the city of Cape Town, which by noon on Thursday had cut off the water and electricity supply to the provincial department of local government and housing. ”There was agreement in the last month between senior officials from the province and city,” Lynn Brown, provincial minister for finance, said on Thursday.
The Western Cape department of local government office in Cape Town had its water and electricity cut off on Thursday over an unpaid bill of almost R750Â 000. City of Cape Town workers cut off the water to the department’s city centre building at 1.12pm and the electricity shortly after that.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) emerged victorious when residents of Tafelsig in Mitchell’s Plain voted for their candidate Sheval Arendse in Wednesday’s by-election in Cape Town. The by-election was the focus of Wednesday’s 14 by-elections around the country as it increases the majority of the DA-led multiparty coalition in Cape Town to two seats in the 210 seat council.