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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 27 February 2006
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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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 24 February 2006
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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.
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/ 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”.
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/ 24 February 2006
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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.
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/ 23 February 2006
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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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 15 February 2006
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has allocated R580-million for the development of the pebble-bed modular reactor for the 2006/07 financial year. In the Budget review released on Wednesday, the minister said that the allocation will be made to the Department of Public Enterprises.
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/ 15 February 2006
A Transnet strike in the Western Cape and Northern Cape kicked off on Wednesday with rail services in the Cape Town area severely affected. The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union said more than 5 000 employees downed tools to protest ”management’s unilateral decisions about restructuring the company”.
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/ 15 February 2006
Cape Town station was quiet in the morning rush-hour on Wednesday as a strike by three transport unions brought the Metrorail train service to a virtual standstill. Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott said only 20 trains were running in the entire system, cutting the usual commuter service to a minimum.
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/ 14 February 2006
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The Inkatha Freedom Party does not play the political games of power and patronage that are ”known to be part and parcel of the politics of the Western Cape”, IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi told a campaign meeting in the Cape Town suburb of Hanover Park on Tuesday evening.
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/ 13 February 2006
The prosecution in the Jordan Leigh Norton murder trial on Monday took the first step in its bid to link a crucial piece of evidence — a waybill — to accused Dina Rodrigues. The state alleges that the waybill was left on the scene of the murder on June 15 last year by the three men and a youth it claims Rodrigues paid to carry out the killing.
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/ 13 February 2006
Trade unions locked in a dispute with state-owned Transnet over restructuring have postponed their strike in the Eastern Cape until Friday to give the labour structures in the province enough time to finalise logistics and other outstanding issues, it emerged on Monday.
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/ 13 February 2006
The main instrument of the state to effect change was the Budget and the government needed to be bolder in redistributing resources, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Sunday. ”The last Budget was marginally expansive and we must continue with that trend, but we see no radical change … if we don’t put money aside it’s all just dreams,” said Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu’s Western Cape provincial secretary.
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/ 10 February 2006
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool has again raised the prospect of a provincial development levy to boost funds for subsidised housing. Speaking at the opening of the provincial legislature on Friday, Rasool said it has become clear that the current subsidy budget is inadequate for growing housing demand.
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/ 10 February 2006
Anglican teenagers in the Western Cape are almost as sexually active as their peers outside the church, according to a survey reported in the latest issue of the South African Medical Journal. The survey was carried out by researchers from the Cape Town-based Fiklela Aids project and the University of Stellenbosch’s theology department.
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/ 10 February 2006
While negotiations are under way to resolve the impasse at state-held Transnet over its restructuring, three unions will on February 15 march on Parliament to submit a memorandum to Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin and Maria Ramos, CEO of the state-owned entity.
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/ 10 February 2006
The row over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons holds a lesson for ”callous” political parties in the Western Cape, provincial Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Friday. ”Just like we must calm the flames of the cartoon anger, we must desist from fanning the flames of local identity issues,” he said at the opening of the provincial legislature.
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/ 7 February 2006
The proposed all-weather stadium to be built at Green Point in Cape Town ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup will cost about R1,2-billion, a city official said on Tuesday. The City of Cape Town’s chief operating officer, Rushj Lehutso was speaking to reporters after the central government announced that five new stadiums would be built for the event.
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/ 3 February 2006
South African politicians have generally reacted favourably to President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation address at the opening of Parliament in Cape Town on Friday. Tony Leon, official opposition Democratic Alliance leader, commented: "I thought that in terms of the national goals it was a positive speech."
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/ 3 February 2006
The United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu) said on Thursday that next week’s planned strike by Transnet workers over the parastatal’s restructuring plans will continue. Utatu spokesperson Chris de Vos said the union was disappointed that a meeting with Transnet management on Thursday yielded no results.