South Africa’s Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Friday that he had never referred to saboteurs at Koeberg. Speaking at a press conference at Koeberg, outside Cape Town, he said this had been media spin. ”I did not use the term ‘sabotage’,” Erwin said.
![]()
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has polled over 70,3% in Wednesday’s election in the latest results provided by the Independent Electoral Commission. The key Cape Town metro result has still not been finally declared but it is expected later on Friday morning.
![]()
The Democratic Alliance stands ready to co-operate with other parties on a case-by-case basis in the interest of good government, DA leader Tony Leon said on Thursday. ”Although final election results are still awaited, it is clear that in a number of towns and cities around South Africa, no party has a clear majority,” he said in a statement.
![]()
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) hopes to have posted 90% of the local government election results by sunset, its chairperson Brigalia Bam said on Thursday. A 47% voter turnout had been recorded by 10.45am, Bam said in a briefing at the IEC’s national operations centre in Pretoria.
![]()
Provisional results show a 46,72% poll with just more than 14-million votes cast from a pool of 21Â 054Â 957 registered voters. The African National Congress had swept the board in the Northern Cape by 9.45am on Thursday, and the DA’s worst fear seemed to have come true in the Western Cape.
![]()
The Democratic Alliance was trailing the African National Congress in most wards as municipal election results were trickling in on Thursday morning. The African National Congress had captured 14 of the 20 counted Western Cape municipalities by 8am on Thursday.
![]()
The Democratic Alliance and the African National Congress were neck and neck in the local government election race in the Western Cape with the Independent Democrats trailing in third place on Thursday morning. Only 232 people voted for municipal ward candidates in the troubled Khutsong township in Merafong City on Wednesday.
![]()
South Africa’s third local government election since the advent of democracy in 1994 took place in a low key and peaceful manner on Wednesday. ”The voting process has proceeded smoothly throughout the country,” the Independent Electoral Commission said in a brief statement.
![]()
Voting got off to a good start despite a few problems, including flooding, at some voting stations, the Independent Electoral Commission said on Wednesday. By 9am, 99% of voting stations were open. Police used rubber bullets to disperse youths in Khutsong and extinguished burning tyres with a water cannon.
![]()
Voters were streaming to polling stations in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning. In Hyde Park, parking was a battle with cars stretching up and down the streets around voting stations. A woman who refused to be named had only one request: ”Politicians should just learn to apologise and admit when they are wrong or else they will discourage people from voting for them”.
![]()
South Africa’s third post-1994 local government election got under way without obvious hitches at 7am on Wednesday. President Thabo Mbeki was the first voter to cast his ballot at the Colbyn voting station in Pretoria. He was welcomed by Independent Electoral Commission chairperson Brigalia Bam and chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula.
No image available
/ 28 February 2006
Suspects who allegedly sabotaged a generator at Koeberg power station which has triggered months of off-and-on power outages in the Western Cape have been identified, the 702 radio station quoted Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin as saying on Tuesday.
No image available
/ 28 February 2006
![]()
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in the Western Cape is planning to conduct Wednesday’s municipal election as if there will be no power available in the province. ”We are planning for no electricity. That is the safest,” provincial electoral officer Courtney Sampson told a media briefing in Bellville on Tuesday afternoon.
No image available
/ 28 February 2006
The damage to the Koeberg nuclear plant was done deliberately and was not an accident, Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin said on Tuesday. One of the two generators at Koeberg was damaged in December in what Erwin now described as sabotage, causing severe outages in the Western Cape over the past month.
No image available
/ 28 February 2006
South Africa’s real GDP at market prices on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally annualised and adjusted basis rose by 3,3% in the fourth quarter of 2005 from 4,2% in the third quarter, Statistics South Africa said. This brought the annual average real growth for 2005 to 4,9% compared with 4,5% in 2004.
No image available
/ 28 February 2006
There will again be rolling blackouts in the Western Cape on Tuesday, Eskom announced in a news release. This was necessitated by multiple line faults that occurred at 2.13am that interrupted power to the province. Metrorail appealed to commuters to find alternative forms of transport as power outages disrupted train services.
No image available
/ 27 February 2006
![]()
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon expects the party to win back a ”significant number” of municipalities lost to the African National Congress through floor-crossing during Wednesday’s election. Leon started a two-day whirlwind tour of ”winnable municipalities” in the province on Monday.
No image available
/ 26 February 2006
”We are sorry to hear about your mother’s ordeal in the Mail & Guardian (‘What are you doing to protect us, Mr Nqakula?’, February 10). Although we agree with your statement that ”crime is everywhere and affecting everyone” we restate our commitment to creating conditions of safety and security in Khayelitsha, and everywhere else,” writes Trevor Bloem.
No image available
/ 25 February 2006
Convicted German confidence trickster Jurgen Harksen describes in a book published in Germany on Friday how he persuaded his rich victims to keep sending him money in South Africa during a nine-year run from the law. Harksen describes how he hired a host of working-class South Africans to act the part of American bankers.
No image available
/ 24 February 2006
![]()
In the Western Cape, traditionally a province where the opposition has been predominant, the ruling African National Congress is likely to see a more rosy result than in Cape Town in next Wednesday’s municipal election. In Cape Town, the official opposition Democratic Alliance is likely to make gains.
No image available
/ 24 February 2006
The African National Congress has cautioned against ”alarmist responses” to the electricity outages that have affected especially the Western Cape over the past couple of days. In a statement on Friday, the ruling party criticised ”some parties” that ”seek to gain political mileage from these technical problems”.
No image available
/ 24 February 2006
![]()
If the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) loses its eleventh hour bid to contest the city of Cape Town in next Wednesday’s election it will take out interdicts to prevent all other parties from contesting it too, the party’s lawyer told the Constitutional Court on Thursday.
No image available
/ 23 February 2006
![]()
The Democratic Alliance will ”turn on the lights” and pressurise Eskom and the government to get their act together regarding the current spate of electricity outages, party leader Tony Leon promised on Thursday. He said in this election the old slogan ”Power to the people” has taken on new meaning.
No image available
/ 23 February 2006
The historic town of Tulbagh is anxiously waiting to see if Eskom goes ahead with a proposed power line to supplement the electricity needs of the Western Cape. ”We are watching developments [in Cape Town] with concern,” said John Veschini, property developer and secretary to the Tulbagh Action Committee, on Thursday.
No image available
/ 23 February 2006
The unit at the Koeberg nuclear power station that tripped at the weekend, precipitating rolling power cuts in the Western Cape, could be back on stream earlier than predicted, Eskom chief executive Thulani Gcabashe said on Thursday. He said the reactivation of the unit was running roughly twelve hours ahead of schedule.
No image available
/ 22 February 2006
Business and commerce in the Western Cape need to be informed well in advance of potential power shortages to prevent future loss, which is running at ”hundreds of millions of rands”, the Cape Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry said on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 22 February 2006
Power utility Eskom on Tuesday backed away from assurances given the day before that power supply to the Western Cape would be fully restored by mid-week. The assurance was given by Eskom chief executive Thulani Gcabashe during a meeting with the Minerals and Energy as well as Public Enterprises departments to discuss the recent power outages.
No image available
/ 21 February 2006
Opposition parties have questioned the circumstances surrounding the Western Cape’s power outages resulting from the Koeberg nuclear power station’s ongoing problems. Democratic Alliance Cape Town mayoral candidate Helen Zille said on Tuesday reports of undisclosed problems at Koeberg over the weekend were liable to create serious concern among the public.
No image available
/ 20 February 2006
Full power will be restored to the Western Cape by Wednesday at the latest, Eskom said on Monday. Eskom chief executive Thulani Gcabashe gave this assurance during a meeting with the departments of minerals and energy and public enterprises to discuss the recent power outages.
No image available
/ 20 February 2006
The blame for power cuts that hit large parts of the country over the weekend and continue in the Western Cape lies squarely with Minister of Minerals and Energy Lindiwe Hendricks and the African National Congress, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday. The Western Cape, including Cape Town, was without power for most of Sunday.
No image available
/ 19 February 2006
Power had been restored to large parts of the Western Cape by Sunday afternoon, Eskom spokesperson Fani Zulu said. The entire Western Cape was without power early on Sunday following faults on transmission lines because of misty conditions and residual pollution from recent fires.
No image available
/ 19 February 2006
The entire Western Cape was without power early on Sunday and no trains were running following faults on transmission lines that were the result of misty conditions and residual pollution from recent fires, according to Eskom. Meanwhile, power failures also affected northern Johannesburg and most parts of Ekurhuleni.