Thousands of workers protested against unemployment and poverty around South Africa on Monday in a nationwide strike that business says was poorly attended and unnecessary. The SA Chamber of Business said that only 10% of workers took part in the strike, which cost the economy an estimated R500-million.
The Independent Democrat’s former Western Cape leader Lennit Max and his lawyer walked out of his disciplinary hearing in Cape Town on Friday. The walk-out came after independent presiding officer Sarah Christie refused to adjourn proceedings for Max to bring a high court application for a Christie’s recusal.
Senior members of the judiciary were present on Tuesday when Minister of Justice Brigitte Mabandla officially opened the Equality court in the Cape High court. ”It is my hope that this Equality court will be successful in further eradicating the legacy of inequality and at the same time enhance our ability to bring justice closer to an increasing mass of our people,” said Mabandla.
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism will — by the end of July — appoint a service provider to identify the top 50 air polluting industries or sectors in South Africa, said Minister Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Monday. "The web of life is more than just a poetic idea, it is a reality that defines our biggest social, economic and developmental challenges," he said.
The storm in a tea cup over the use of the word ”rooibos” finally ended this week with an agreement that worldwide registration of the name will be cancelled. This concludes a protracted R6-million rights and licence fee dispute. The name ”rooibos” was initially registered by cosmetic giant Annique Theron in 1994.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, national chairperson of the South African Communist Party, has been named as axed Deputy President Jacob Zuma’s successor as Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly. This may be an indication of whom the president has in mind to fill the Deputy President’s shoes but the Presidency was still not telling on Friday morning.
The SABC will be allowed to broadcast regional television programmes on two stations in official languages other than English, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) announced on Wednesday. Icasa chairman Mandla Langa said SABC 4 would broadcast in Setswana, Sesotho, Sepedi and TshiVenda, Xitsonga and Afrikaans.
President Thabo Mbeki has asked the secretary of Parliament to arrange for a joint sitting on Tuesday, his office said on Monday. Spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said: ”The president will deal with issues arising from the judgement of Judge Hilary Squires.”
Relief and joy were etched on the faces of women who were among the first Western Cape prisoners to be released on Monday as part of the government’s remission of sentence programmes. ”Ek is te bly. Ek wil net by die huis kom. Dis al. [I am so happy. I just want to go home. That’s all],” said Dorieca Demas from Bishop Lavis.
African National Congress (ANC) MP James Ngculu ousted Western Cape ANC chairperson Ibrahim Rasool from his post following an election at the party’s provincial congress on Saturday. Ngculu, who chairs the National Assembly’s health committee, won the election by 274 to 259 votes.
Controversial Beaufort West politician Truman Prince on Wednesday night committed himself to promoting the rights of women after being found guilty by an African National Congress disciplinary committee. The three-person committee sitting in Cape Town suspended Prince’s ANC membership for six months.
Six hours of negotiations between striking unions and Metrorail were a ”total disaster and waste of time”, said United Transport and Allied Trade Unions (Utatu) general secretary Chris de Vos after Wednesday’s meeting. The strike, which has left thousands of commuters inconvenienced, will enter its fourth day on Thursday.
Train services were running relatively smoothly on Wednesday, a Metrorail spokesperson said as a countrywide strike entered its third day. Thandi Mlangeni said 97% of trains were running in the Witwatersrand area, 60% in Tshwane, 88% in Durban and 21% in Cape Town.
The strike by Metrorail workers that has been delaying tens of thousands of commuters for the past two days can be resolved for about R1-million a year, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a Metrorail spokesperson said the company cannot afford the increase demanded by workers.
Reports of chaos at train stations around South Africa were exaggerated, Metrorail said on Tuesday as a wage strike against the rail operator entered its second day. Metrorail spokesperson Thandi Mlangeni said while the service had been disrupted, its updates at 7am were ”showing a very positive picture”.
Shouts of ”Viva” and ”Amandla” and the sound of whistles and vuvuzelas echoed through Johannesburg’s Park station on Monday as about 100 Metrorail workers protested against the company’s 4,5% wage offer. There were severe disruptions on Monday in the Western Cape, with only 2% of trains operational.
Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu said on Friday that 1,6-million houses have been built since 1994, but admitted the housing backlog is still enormous and her department can only do so much. She said poor communication with the public is the likely cause of protests about the pace of housing delivery.
The African National Congress’s disciplinary hearing of embattled Beaufort West politician Truman Prince has been postponed to June 6. Prince’s advocate, Charles Simon, said his client pleaded not guilty to all charges, including alleged intimidation and death threats.
Those involved in lawful protests have nothing to fear from an intelligence probe into such actions, Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils said on Monday. ”Anybody who transgresses the laws of the country and foments violence, then obviously that is a criminal offence and that is to be dealt with,” he told SAFM.
A group of disgruntled Cape fishermen spent the whole of Sunday night chained to Parliament’s gates in a protest against fishing policies. The fishermen contend that the proposed new fishing policies unveiled recently by the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, amounted to ”subtle genocide”.
The disciplinary hearing of disgraced Beaufort West politician Truman Prince will resume on Sunday morning when the African National Congress will call its last two witnesses to testify. The hearing arises from a documentary on SABC3 on child prostitution that showed Prince flirting with under-age girls.
The Cape Town municipality has given rugby boss Brian van Rooyen’s company another chance despite its role in a recent fiasco with traffic fines, the Cape Times website reported on Thursday. It said the municipality had decided to re-assess its contract with Labat Traffic Solutions only at the end of August.
In the high-stakes nuclear game, will a radioactive waste-management policy be foisted on an unsuspecting public or will ”transparency, consultation and stakeholder participation” be a reality? A draft policy containing those words remains ungazetted while the government looks at prototype pebble-bed nuclear reactors for commercial use.
Western Cape police used teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades on Wednesday morning to break up a group of protesters in Blackheath, Cape Town. Captain Billy Jones said police warned the group of about 600 protesters to disperse but they refused. He said the police then opened fire.
The spiralling use of the drug ”tik” in South Africa, especially among the youth, came under the spotlight in Parliament on Tuesday, with Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour vowing to ”break the back” of those peddling the deadly substance. He also spoke about the issues of prison gangs and overcrowding.
Jacques Kallis was voted the 2004 Sportsman of the Year for the Western Cape Sports Writers’ Association. Kallis was presented with the trophy by Nick Mallet at a function held at the Newlands cricket stadium on Monday evening. The woman’s award went to Natalie du Toit for her performance at the Paralympic Games held in Athens.
Beleaguered clothing manufacturer Rex Trueform said on Tuesday that a black economic empowerment (BEE) consortium has expressed a willingness to offer attractive terms to lease its Salt River factory, which faces closure. The company announced in March that the Salt River factory was no longer viable.
More and more people are committing family killings because they are "catching", Family and Life Centre director Liz Dooley said on Monday. Her comments follow a bloody fortnight for some South African families. Just over the weekend, 15 people died when men opened fire on their families.
The Western Cape education minister was not interfering with the language policy of Mikro Primary School, the Supreme Court of Appeal was told on Monday. The Mikro school governing body refused to admit several grade-one pupils, even when the department directed it to do so, saying admitting the pupils would be against its language policy.
Truman Prince, the embattled central Karoo district municipal manager, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bringing the African National Congress into disrepute, SABC radio news reported on Wednesday. Prince’s disciplinary hearing began in Cape Town on Wednesday night, chaired by attorney Peter Williams.
An apartheid-era law is causing headaches for a committee set up to investigate the underlying reasons for instability and conflict in the Western Cape minibus taxi industry. The ”problematic area” relates to Ordinance 13 of 1978, which stipulates that the proceedings of such committees should not be open to the public.
A woman was found shot dead and three children died in a fire after an attack on their Mitchells Plain home on Wednesday, Western Cape police said. An unknown number of people allegedly set the house in Chrysler Street, Beacon Valley, on fire after trying to gain entry to it at about 4am.