One in 10 people who take anti-retrovirals will experience difficulties with the medication or their bodies will reject it completely. This was heard in Cape Town on Tuesday at Microbicides 2006, the first international conference held in Africa into research into gels that could prevent HIV transmission in women.
The two men who were arrested on Sunday night in connection with the murders of actor Brett Goldin and fashion designer Richard Bloom were released on Monday, Western Cape police said. Nine people have already been arrested and will appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday in connection with the murders.
The South Africa government has condemned an attack on Cape Town mayor Helen Zille during the disruption of a meeting over the weekend. ”Government condemns this kind of behaviour without qualification. Our Constitution guarantees free political activity for all parties and individuals,” government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said on Monday.
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille will demand police protection before going into townships again — and she’s laying charges after being attacked at a meeting, media reports said on Monday. She was hit on the head and suffered bruises after being attacked at a community meeting in Crossroads on Saturday.
Police fired rubber bullets at 600 striking security guards at the Kaalfontein station between Pretoria and Johannesburg on Thursday morning. ”These people were on a train to go to the illegal security march in Johannesburg, but they started harassing and intimidating other passengers, so police fired rubber bullets at them,” said North Rand policing-area spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman.
Plettenberg Bay’s Bitou council has asked for advice from lawyers on how it should deal with the allegations against its municipal manager and its former mayor, speaker Lawrence Luiters said on Thursday. A report by the special investigating unit recommends criminal and disciplinary action against the two men.
South Africa has seen a ”phenomenal increase” in the number of asylum seekers in the past few years, the Department of Home Affairs said on Thursday. Although there are only 29 000 people with refugee status living in the country, there are 103 410 outstanding asylum applications.
Two more suspects have been arrested in connection with the double murder of actor Brett Goldin — who starred in the comedy Crazy Monkey Presents Straight Outta Benoni — and designer Richard Bloom on Wednesday, the Western Cape police said. A pistol, in the two suspects’ possession, was also seized.
A black economic empowerment company led by Mutle Mogase, chairperson of Vantage Capital, has bought a 28% stake in the Goedemoed, Vredendal, grape and tomato farming business run by Abrie Botha, a leading figure in Western Cape agriculture.
Five people were arrested on Monday in connection with the murders of Crazy Monkey — Straight Outta Benoni actor Brett Goldin and a friend Richard Bloom. Their bodies were found in a field next to the off-ramp from the M5 freeway to Klipfontein road in Mowbray, Cape Town, early on Monday, Superintendent Billy Jones said.
The South African government needs to wake up to the reality and brutality of crime, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday. The opposition party’s call came after Afrikaans newspaper Rapport, reported that 52 people are killed daily, 1Â 566 per month and 18Â 793 annually in South Africa.
The turmoil in the city of Cape Town administration could endanger major investments planned ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool warned on Wednesday. He was speaking after the African National Congress appealed for provincial intervention to end what it called the ”chaos” in the city.
Life insurers saved R347-million in 2005 by preventing dishonest policy holders and financial advisers, as well as crime syndicates, from making fraudulent claims. This was an increase of nearly 40% on the previous year, Gerhard Joubert, chief executive of the Life Offices’ Association said on Thursday.
Electricity utility Eskom is to launch a major energy conservation campaign next month in an effort to reduce consumption and relieve the current strain on power transmission and distribution facilities, the government announced on Wednesday. The campaign will be ”more intense” in the Western Cape, government communications spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said.
The Western Cape government has approved the development of a multimillion-rand Dreamworld film studio complex. This, after Western Cape environment MEC Tasneem Essop ruled against concerned environmentalists’ appeal that the development could harm a sensitive wetland.
Cape Judge President John Hlophe should be asked to take a leave of absence until questions about monthly ”expense” payments made to him by a Cape Town investment company were answered, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday. A decision he made granting that company permission to sue a judicial colleague also had to be explained.
The Wildebeest moved to the top of the Vodacom Cup log and edged closer to a home semifinal with a seven-try hammering of the Cheetahs in their 51-14 victory in Durban on Saturday. The result takes the Wildebeest to the top of the log on 30 points, with the Falcons slipping off the pace slightly after their defeat at the hands of the Blue Bulls.
Planning for Cape Town’s proposed Green Point stadium, earmarked as venue for a 2010 Soccer World Cup semifinal, appears to be back on track following a meeting between city mayor Helen Zille and Fifa local organising committee (LOC) members on Thursday. ”I think the mayor is comfortable right now that the city will not be bankrupt,” LOC chairperson Irvin Khoza said afterwards.
Switching to energy-efficient light bulbs could save the country the equivalent of a major coal-fired power station, a R30-billion saving. South Africa makes use of an estimated 90-million — mostly energy-inefficient — incandescent light bulbs. By contrast, compact fluorescent lights last six times longer and use just 20% of the energy.
The Cape Town Book Fair provides the ideal platform for getting South Africa’s new writing and publishing out there, but it is being launched with performance, not hype, in mind. Karen Rutter reports.
The South African government does not expect the recent power blackouts experienced in the Western Cape to either derail economic growth or impact adversely on investment in the country, according to President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki said the power failures would not derail the gross domestic product growth target of an average of 6% between 2010 and 2014.
Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile is keeping his distance from the controversy over the proposed Green Point soccer stadium, his spokesperson Bongi Sishi said on Thursday. He was speaking ahead of a meeting on Thursday afternoon between Cape Town mayor Helen Zille, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool, and the Fifa local organising committee, which hopes to allay Zille’s concerns over the project.
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille is to meet Fifa’s local organising committee (LOC) and Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool on Thursday afternoon to discuss the financing of the proposed Green Point Stadium. The meeting, at a city hotel, would also be attended by members of her mayoral committee and Cabinet ministers, she said in a statement on Wednesday.
The government plans to improve staff and management of tuberculosis (TB) services and to improve access to laboratory services where it is poor. This forms part of the TB crisis plan launched by Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Friday, World Tuberculosis Day, at Durban’s King George V hospital.
A feasibility study is under way into a second nuclear power station to provide relief for the blackout-plagued Cape, the public enterprises ministry confirmed on Friday. Gaynor Kast, spokesperson for Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin, was reacting to a report that Erwin had said the new plant would be sited at Koeberg, alongside the existing power station.
Jostling over governance in the Cape Town metro continued on Friday with no apparent solution imminent. The Democratic Alliance’s tenuous hold on power in the city is being threatened by the Independent Democrats’ determination to pursue its quest for changing the executive mayor system to an executive committee system.
Phil Naledi has changed the lives of residents along a leafy street in the north-eastern Johannesburg suburb of Sydenham. He earns R900 a month for guarding the houses in the relatively affluent suburb, working 12-hour shifts. ”No one can make a life if they spend so much time working for this little money,” he explains.
Police were keeping an eye on striking private security guards in the Johannesburg city centre on Friday. About 100 guards had gathered at Beyers Naude Square by 9am, police said. In other centres, striking security workers were also expected to march in support of their demands for better wages and working conditions.
Protesting security guards in Pretoria began to disperse on Thursday afternoon after their strike turned violent earlier, with a security vehicle set alight and rubbish strewn in the inner city. At one stage police fired rubber bullets at the protesting guards in an effort to calm the situation.
Police fired rubber bullets at protesting guards after they apparently set alight a security van in Pretoria on Thursday afternoon. Guards made their way to Church Square, trashing rubbish bins and causing havoc in the city centre. Shops were also set alight. The violence came on the first day of a security-guard strike in seven provinces.
Security-guard employers were reporting little absenteeism in Johannesburg and the East and West Rand on Thursday, the first day of a two-day security-industry strike in six provinces. In the Cape and Pretoria, however, some companies experienced 80% absenteeism, and cases of intimidation were reported.
An estimated 90 000 security guards from 13 unions will strike for two days from Thursday, South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) security industry coordinator Jackson Simon said on Thursday. The figure is down from the 150 000 mooted on Wednesday.