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.
South Africa should consider the introduction of two time zones in order to alleviate Eskom’s electricity peak-demand woes, said Professor Christo Viljoen, a professional electrical engineer and former member of the then-Eskom council, this week. "If South Africa is … divided into two time zones … the peak demand of the two zones will not coincide.
The dribble of voters casting their ballots for the Western Cape’s only by-election being contested in Tafelsig, Mitchell’s Plain, was expected to increase when people returned home from work on Wednesday. The by-election is seen as a two-horse race between Democratic Alliance candidate Sheval Arendse and the Independent Democrats’ June Frans.
The Council of Education Ministers has approved measures to beef up security at public schools, and the department will identify ”problem schools” needing immediate attention, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor announced on Monday. These are aimed at schools around the country.
Eskom reports that electricity demand in the Western Cape continues to grow as winter settles in, but that the measures put in place in terms of its recovery plan are proving successful in maintaining stable supply of power to the region. "Koeberg unit one is currently operating at 80% of its capacity," the power utility said.
Three men, including two Chinese nationals, are expected to appear in court in June after the Scorpions arrested them and confiscated more than three tonnes of perlemoen (abalone) and R263Â 000 in cash, the elite unit said on Thursday. In a statement, the Directorate of Special Operations said it acted on a tip-off.
An African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) city councillor was threatened with firearms by a drunken Western Cape police officer and his brother on Monday night. The ACDP allege that the drunken police officer threatened ACDP councillor Sipho Xasana with a firearm after the vehicle he [the police officer] was in hit a parked car outside Xasana’s house on Monday night.
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille joined an anti-crime cavalcade through the streets of Mitchell’s Plain on Sunday and urged people to take back the streets. Zille said she felt privileged to join the symbolic stance against what she called a ”terrible” and ”brutal” wave of violence sweeping the country, particularly the Western Cape.
Eskom’s ”power alert” messages will be broadcast on South African Broadcasting Corporation television from Thursday night, the electricity utility said in a statement. Meanwhile, the situation at Koeberg nuclear power station will ”return to normal” by August, Minister of Minerals and Energy Lindiwe Hendricks said on Thursday.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille has come out firing against the Democratic Alliance over what she describes as its "hypocrisy", by entering into coalitions with its arch-rival African National Congress in towns "all over the Western Cape". De Lille has been sparring with the DA after it accused her of lying.
South African retailer Mr Price on Thursday reported a 48% rise in diluted headline earnings per share to 154,7 cents for the year ended March from 104,7 cents a year ago. A total distribution of 81 cents per share — based on a cover of two times — was declared, up from 60 cents last year.
It was a dark and stormy night in the Visdorp when the devil appeared to Joseph. ”Do you know who I am?” he asked. ”Gimme a hint,” said Joseph. The devil twirled his moustache and cried: ”I am the dark lord!” ”Just as I thought,” said Joseph. ”The bladdy CEO of Eskom.”
The horror stories have become platitudes — a nine-month-old baby allegedly gang-raped, a pensioner raped by her grandson — to make the interminable list lend weight to perceptions of South Africa as a world rape capital. In the Western Cape, police statistics show that rape was the only contact-crime category to increase, by 8,2%, from 2003/04 to 2004/05.
Blackouts hit parts of the Western Cape on Monday night as Eskom was unable to provide sufficient electricity to meet demand, the Cape Times reported. Its website said on Tuesday the blackouts came after Koeberg’s Unit Two generator was shut down to be refueled and for standard safety upgrades.
Dagga worth an estimated R3-million was seized at a house at Cape Town’s Mfuleni area, Western Cape police said on Monday. Detectives visited the house, situated at Ngogoshe Street at Mfuleni Extension 4, at about 8pm on Sunday after a tip-off by a member of the public, Inspector Bernadine Steyn said.