Western Cape police are investigating necrophilia and the illegal amputation of body parts at the Salt River mortuary. Superintendent Rian Pool said a pathologist took fluid and tissue samples from a body as a ”precautionary measure” to determine whether the corpse had been sexually violated after death.
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the establishment of the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency, aimed at ensuring long-term water security for South Africa. The agency will take responsibility for developing and operating South Africa’s major national dams and water-transfer schemes.
Police on Tuesday seized more documents in their continuing probe into claims of tender irregularities in Cape Town, this time from offices in the Civic Centre. Last week detectives raided the offices of procurement director Mabela Satekge in Wale Street in the city centre, as part of what mayoral spokesperson Mandla Tyala said was an investigation into security tenders awarded by the city.
The City of Cape Town, rocked by allegations of corruption and tender irregularities, is a target for fraudsters, a leading forensic investigator said on Thursday. Steven Powell, a director at Sonnenberg, Hoffmann and Galombik forensics, spoke on corruption and white-collar crime at a Cape Press Club function.
There was uncertainty on Thursday on whether Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool had ordered a raid on the city of Cape Town’s procurement offices targeting tender documents relating to his former transport MEC Mcebisi Skwatsha. Rasool and Skwatsha have been at loggerheads in a bruising leadership battle, which led to Rasool being deposed as provincial leader.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) on Wednesday said thousands of municipal workers were beginning to gather in different cities across the country in preparation for their three-day wage strike. The union expects between 150 000 and 200 000 workers to heed the strike call across the country.
South Africa’s municipal debt jumped about R4-billion from R31,8-billion in 2002 to R35,9-billion in 2003, while figures for 2004 are not yet available, said Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi. The figures show that Durban/eThekwini — once a shining light of budgetary prudence — has grown its debt from R2,8-billion to R3,2-billion.
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on Monday said in a statement that it has offered to intervene in the Pick ‘n Pay strike under Section 150 of the Labour Relations Act. The strike will continue until a settlement has been reached, the South African Catering, Commercial and Allied Workers’ Union said on Monday.
Trading at Pick ‘n Pay’s stores across the country was normal on Monday and the strike action was ”far more orderly”, the retail chain company said in a statement. The group, however, still appealed to the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers’ Union to ensure that its members obey the law.
From Tuesday, train commuters in the Western Cape can breathe a little easier — it will be the first day on the job for 400 railway police constables whose duty it will be to reduce crime on trains. ”We are saying that we are serious about rooting out crime committed on trains,” said Western Cape provincial commissioner Mzwandile Petros.
About 50 Pick ‘n Pay employees at one of the retailer’s flagship stores on the V&A Waterfront were arrested and later released for riotous behaviour and trespassing on Friday, Western Cape police said. At a Johannesburg store, customers complained about being kicked and strikers barricading the store entrance.
The African National Congress in the Western Cape on Monday plastered over its cracks with an announcement that provincial transport and public works minister Mcebisi Skwatsha is to quit his post on July 27. This followed a politically damaging dispute between Premier Ebrahim Rasool and the recently elected ANC provincial leadership.
Uncertainty over the position of Western Cape public works minister Mcebisi Skwatsha continued on Friday, the day he was supposed to — according to his premier — quit the post. Provincial African National Congress chairperson James Ngculu said on Friday that as far as he is aware, Skwatsha is still a provincial minister.
The Western Cape education department will not take the Mikro school language case to the Constitutional Court, provincial minister of education Cameron Dugmore said on Friday. He said this decision was taken after consultation with both provincial Premier Ebrahim Rasool and the national Department of Education.
It is tempting to call it a no-brainer: the idea that attempts to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to children should be matched by initiatives to keep these mothers alive after they give birth. For all this, efforts in South Africa to prioritise the health of HIV-positive mothers have fallen short over past years.
Referring to sometimes less-than-ideal finances in her budget speech in April, Western Cape provincial minister of environmental affairs and development planning Tasneem Essop (pictured) remarked: ”What we will certainly offer is leadership, energy, commitment, dedication and passion — and this does not require a budget.”
Tuesday’s countrywide municipal workers’ pay protest was wrapped up by mid-afternoon with conflicting claims on the effectiveness of the action. The South African Local Government Association said the strike had minimal impact and it will bill participating unions for damage caused during marches.
Cape Town city centre’s station deck minibus taxi rank, which serves 1Â 200 vehicles, is a disaster waiting to happen, according to a senior transport manager. There are also more than 200 traders sharing the confined space of the deck, the committee of inquiry into violence in the Western Cape taxi industry heard on Tuesday.
Cape Town taximen have been deliberately sabotaging the city’s rail services in order to gain customers, the commission of inquiry into violence in the Western Cape minibus taxi industry heard on Friday. Metrorail’s regional manager handed the commission a document he said contained ”very sensitive information” on the issue.
The head of the commission into Western Cape taxi violence clashed on Wednesday with a senior legal adviser to the City of Cape Town on the issue of witness safety. The confrontation took place in the wake of the slaying at the weekend of a prominent figure in the taxi industry, who only days earlier had testified to the commission.
A group of protesters started burning tyres at the entrance to the informal settlements at De Doorns, near Worcester, in the Western Cape, on Wednesday, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported. Residents threatened to blockade the N1, which runs past De Doorns and Worcester.
According to South Africa’s Competition Tribunal, any public-interest concerns over the merger between listed retailer Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon) and Topics, regarding cheap clothing imports from China and the effect on local employment, cannot be cured by the imposition of a merger condition on a single firm.
A taxi driver from the Dolphin Coast Taxi Association was shot dead at Shakaskraal on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, South African Broadcasting Corporation news said on Monday. Meanwhile, police are mediating between two rival taxi associations at Umhlali near Stanger.
The National Sea Rescue Institute has ended its search off the Western Cape coast for the remaining crew member of a ski boat that went missing in rough seas on Saturday. Five rescue boats and a Dakota aircraft from the Ysterplaat air-force base in Cape Town were used in the search.
The power Shaiks Now that the high court has pronounced on Schabir Shaik and President Thabo Mbeki has done the country proud in axing Jacob Zuma, one remains puzzled at the role the Shaik brothers appear to play in the contention for influence and power, without visibly being representative of anyone or anything except themselves. […]
There was much ululating as President Thabo Mbeki and former deputy president Jacob Zuma entered this week’s gathering of the African National Congress’s policy conference. One was the overall leader of the country as well as the party while the other had fallen from political grace after being ”released” as the country’s deputy president by Mbeki before a joint sitting of Parliament.
Coastal dunes surround an inland lake that is home to hippos, huge carp and barbels. A host of other rare fauna and flora dwell here in an ecologically unique paradise for nature lovers, budding botanists, fishing fanatics and bird-watchers alike. You’d be forgiven for thinking this describes some coastal haven in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Four of South Africa’s top tourism companies were at the forefront of a Pro-Poor Tourism pilot project that aimed to increase the benefits of the industry to include poverty reduction and skills development. The project, which was established in May 2002, hoped to improve links between poor people and the businesses that drive the industry.
A R2,2-billion water pipeline from the Vaal River to Sasol and Eskom operations near Secunda has to be completed by July 2007, the project’s funders said on Wednesday. Work on the pipeline — that will provide about 160-million cubic metres of water — was to begin later this year.
Church’s Chicken, the world’s second largest fried chicken franchise, will soon be spreading its wings over the Western Cape. This follows the acquisition by a Stellenbosch-based company, Inkuku Holdings Ltd, of the American rights to establish a minimum of 50 Church’s Chicken outlets over the next five years.
With a caddie named Elvis on his bag, Western Cape professional Jean Hugo is expecting to make music again at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club this week as he goes in search of his second win in as many weeks on this layout in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour.
The man who illegally processed cash for the Democratic Alliance that may have come from now-jailed fraudster Jurgen Harksen has been appointed the party’s provincial director in the Western Cape. Erik Marais paid a R10Â 000 fine in 2003 for violating foreign exchange regulations after his role was exposed in hearings of the Desai commission of inquiry.