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/ 3 September 2005
A teenager charged with the murder of baby Jordan Leigh Norton claimed he tried to comfort the distressed infant moments before she was stabbed in the neck, a Cape Town magistrate heard on Friday. The macabre disclosure was made during a bail application by taxi driver and shebeen owner Sipho Mfazwe.
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/ 2 September 2005
A Cape High Court matter about Independent Democrats deputy leader Themba Sono’s cessation of party membership because of failure to pay a R10 membership fee was on Friday postponed to next Wednesday. Friday’s court proceedings against Sono follow a gruelling legal battle with ID dissident Lennit Max.
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/ 2 September 2005
At least four municipal managers received remuneration packages exceeding R1-million last year — closely matching or exceeding that of President Thabo Mbeki, according to Treasury statistics released on Friday. The municipal manager of eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal received a package of R1,091-million in the 2004/05 financial year.
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/ 2 September 2005
Credit card payments by Camp’s Bay businessman Andrew Stofberg, allegedly for child pornography, formed part of an international investigation by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Thursday.
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/ 1 September 2005
The 15-day floor-crossing window for MPs and MPLs to change parties without losing their seats got under way on Thursday and brought some surprise defections. Among these were African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) MP and Chief Whip in the National Assembly Louis Green, and ACDP KwaZulu-Natal MPL and leader Reverend Hawu Mbatha.
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/ 1 September 2005
Make institutions work Christopher Caudwell, in Studies in a Dying Culture, picks on Rousseau to expose the fallacy in the idea that human beings lose their freedom because of institutions. “Unfortunately, not only is man not good without institutions, he is not evil, either. He is no man at all; he is neither good nor […]
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/ 1 September 2005
Four New National Party MPLs have crossed the floor to the African National Congress, giving the ANC an outright majority in the Western Cape legislature, while former Western Cape police commissioner and member of the Western Cape legislature Lennit Max has crossed the floor to the DA.
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/ 1 September 2005
Diversified South African industrial company Barloworld on Thursday announced it has signed heads of agreement with the owners of Midas Paints, trading as Midas Earthcote, to acquire the company for a cash consideration of approximately R40-million. The deal will see Midas become part of Barloworld’s South African coatings operations.
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/ 1 September 2005
Cape High Court judges worked overtime on Wednesday to deal with a barrage of legal action ahead of the midnight opening of the political floor-crossing window. The United Democratic Movement on Wednesday expelled six MPs and MPLs from the party, and the Independent Democrats gave the boot to its deputy leader and Gauteng MPL Themba Sono.
High-level expulsions rocked the United Democratic Movement on Wednesday, just hours before the doors were to open for South African politicians to switch parties. The floor-crossing window is open from September 1 to 15, and South African politicians spoke to the Mail & Guardian Online about its pros and cons.
The United Democratic Movement has expelled six of its senior members, including deputy leader Malizole Diko, with immediate effect. On Tuesday, Cape High Court Judge Basheer Waglay reversed the suspensions of the six, saying the party had not followed its own constitution in suspending them.
The Independent Democrat’s Lennit Max won another round of his marathon legal battle with the party on Wednesday afternoon. However, the way is not yet clear for him to cross the floor to the Democratic Alliance at midnight. Earlier, he won a court order barring the ID from filling his seat in the Western Cape legislature.
The former Western Cape leader of the Independent Democrats, Lennit Max, won a high court order on Wednesday preventing the party from filling his seat in the provincial legislature. Judge Dennis Davis also declared that Max’s expulsion from the party, ordered after an internal disciplinary hearing, be suspended until his appeal is finalised.
Helen Zille speaks to the <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i> about perils of floor-crossing and changes to South Africa’s education laws.
Floor-crossing battles kept two Cape High Court judges busy for the better part of the day on Monday. At stake in two cases involving the United Democratic Movement and the Independent Democrats are two seats in the National Assembly, one in the National Council of Provinces and five in various provincial legislatures.
South African cement producer Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) on Tuesday announced details of its Batsweledi cement-capacity expansion project. PPC will invest R1,36-billion to increase the company’s inland cement capacity in South Africa by just more than one million tonnes a year.
Capetonian Hein Wagner has been given the use of a Maserati GranSport Coupe for his attempt next month to become the world’s fastest blind driver. Viglietti Motors in Cape Town agreed to provide the R1,5-million vehicle for Wagner’s land-speed-record attempt, the National Council for the Blind said on Monday.
The Cape High Court was set to be busy on Monday dealing with a wave of legal action ahead of the floor-crossing window that opens on Thursday. The court will hear argument on a bid by United Democratic Movement deputy president Malizole Diko and five other party officials to have their suspension from the party reversed.
The Cape High Court has ordered e.tv to show prosecutors a programme on the murder of baby Jordan Norton before it goes on air. Acting Judge Dumisani Zondi made the ruling on Thursday after an application by the Western Cape directorate of public prosecutions to block the broadcast of the documentary.
A 50-year-old tree tumbled across a road in Newlands, Cape Town, on Friday as gale-force winds, driving rain and bitter cold hit the city in the early hours of the morning. The Elsieskraal River flowing through Pinelands had apparently burst its banks, but there was no major flooding reported so far, said senior traffic officer Lyndon Herbert.
Swashbuckling miner and financier Brett Kebble has lost control of his empire, and the future looks bleak for the network of empowerment companies he has cobbled together. A Western Areas spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday that Kebble was forced by his shareholders and bankers to relinquish control of JCI, the citadel at the heart of his family’s beseiged empire, stepping down as CEO.
About R1,2-billion of public hospital fees are still outstanding from the 2004/05 financial year, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday. ”An astonishing 68% of fees billed for the 2004/05 financial year were not paid,” said DA health spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard. The DA found that only R560-million (32%) was paid.
Former Western Cape leader of the Independent Democrats Lennit Max has blocked the swearing-in of his successor in the provincial legislature. His legal team was granted an interim interdict by a Cape High Court judge late on Monday to prevent the party’s new provincial leader, Neville Hendricks, from taking his place as a member of the provincial legislature on Tuesday morning.
The African Christian Democratic Party says that larger parties — in particular the ruling African National Congress — will benefit from the upcoming floor-crossing period for MPs and the nine provincial legislatures. The ACDP opposes floor-crossing because it undermines the will of the voter as expressed in an election.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it remains committed to pursue its rolling mass action in support of the jobs and poverty campaign, which runs until February next year and includes periodic national stayaways as well as sectoral action.
The culling of an estimated 20 000 pigs in the Eastern Cape started in Idutywa on Monday, after an outbreak of swine fever hit the province. At least 3 500 emerging farmers’ pigs have been affected by the virus, and strict control measures to stop the spread of the disease have been set in place.
South Africa’s transition to democracy over the past decade has proved a disaster for the country’s poor, Congress of South African Trade Unions Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said on Monday. Speaking in Cape Town’s City Hall at the launch of a grassroots coalition to tackle poverty in the province, he harshly criticised the government’s failure to stem job losses.
Former Western Cape leader of the Independent Democrats Lennit Max has been expelled from the party after being found guilty of contravening its code of conduct. The expulsion was ordered by labour law expert Sarah Christie, who was appointed by the high court as an independent presiding officer over Max’s disciplinary hearing.
Condemning the Scorpions’ raid on the office of the attorney of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, the General Council of the Bar of South Africa on Friday called on them to return everything they had seized as soon as possible. The raid appeared to violate the principle of attorney-client privilege, the GCB charged.
Molly, the "receptionist" at Klippe Rivier guesthouse, drags herself from the spot where she has been enjoying the early morning sun. Her eyes peruse the breakfast room, where a scrumptious morning meal has just been served, hoping that some scraps remain for the taking.
South Africa is often considered to be in the unfortunate position of having some of the world’s best laws and poli-cies to protect women and children but an inability to implement them. Take the roll-out of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for rape survivors to prevent HIV infection, a lot of dissatisfaction with the programme has been widespread.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>There were no sinister motives behind the Scorpions’ swoop on the Johannesburg home of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, that of his financial adviser Schabir Shaik and other residences and offices on Thursday, said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), also denying the raids were conducted in response to Congress of South African Trade Unions statements on Zuma.