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/ 26 January 2005
The implementation of regional electricity distributors (REDs) should not lead to price shocks, but the economies of scale should result in more competitive power prices in the longer term, Western Cape regional general manager of the planned first RED Leon Louw said last Tuesday.
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/ 25 January 2005
Unemployment, poverty and inequality have all grown; and an HIV/Aids epidemic of tragic proportions has unfolded…Since January 2003 a research project on social movements has been conducted jointly between the Centre for Civil Society and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Richard Ballard, manager of the project, reflects on some of the initial findings.
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/ 23 January 2005
The project of rebuilding District Six floundered as a result of lack of funds, but late last year the clouds parted, when a bank agreed to lend financial muscle to the rebuilding. A scheme to sell bonds secured against the value of the new homes is now expected to resurrect the project.
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/ 21 January 2005
South African farmers are to launch a campaign to raise public awareness about the country’s agricultural ”crisis” — particularly in the grain sector, says Grain SA. The profitability and sustainability of the country’s grain industry has been negatively affected by both local and international factors.
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/ 20 January 2005
A Cape Town primary school on Thursday lodged an application in the High Court challenging the Western Cape education department’s intention to send English-speaking students to the school, overriding the school governing body’s admission and language policy. According to the body’s chairperson, the matter has been brewing for the past three years.
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/ 20 January 2005
As infighting continued to plague the Independent Democrats, a renewed call for a postponement of the party’s Western Cape congress was made on Wednesday. Senior office bearers, including chairpersons of nine ID branches in Cape Town’s metropolis, have signed a statement calling for the postponement due to the ”chaotic planning and absence of a fair process”.
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/ 20 January 2005
Shortcomings in the enforcement and the monitoring of fire control mechanisms, such as firebreaks in informal settlements, were acknowledged by the Western Cape government on Wednesday. This followed a devastating fire at Cape Town’s Joe Slovo settlement on Saturday which left 12Â 000 people homeless and caused the death of an infant.
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/ 18 January 2005
Chief land-claims commissioner Tozi Gwanya says he believes that all 22 447 unresolved land-restitution claims will be settled by the end of this year. ”We are confident,” he said on Monday in Cape Town, where he and provincial commissioners are holding their regular quarterly meeting.
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/ 17 January 2005
The Inkatha Freedom Party on Monday reacted to cleric Allan Boesak’s presidential pardon by focusing on the 394 names it has also submitted for pardon. It was announced over the weekend that Boesak had been granted a presidential pardon, which expunged his criminal record of fraud and theft.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=178042">Boesak’s pardon raises hackles</a>
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/ 17 January 2005
Allan Boesak’s presidential pardon was greeted with pleasure and derision on Sunday — with some political parties calling it a ”travesty of justice”. The veteran anti-apartheid leader, who was convicted of stealing from the poor, will remain in South Africa with his family. Boesak was convicted in 1999 for fraud and theft of money entrusted to the Foundation for Peace and Justice.
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/ 15 January 2005
Aids activists will join President Thabo Mbeki and anticipated thousands of other mourners at the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela’s son, Makgatho Mandela, on Saturday. Makgatho died of Aids-related complications last week, and Mandela used the announcement of his death to plead for openness on the disease.
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/ 14 January 2005
As the new school year gets under way next week, Western Cape health authorities warned on Friday of a measles epidemic in Cape Town if children are not immunised against the highly infectious disease. A measles outbreak was detected in Cape Town’s Fish Hoek and Sun Valley, with Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal already experiencing epidemics.
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/ 12 January 2005
The leader of the opposition Independent Democrats, Patricia de Lille, has denied any link between her party and the alleged Western Cape crime syndicate leader Quinton Marinus, rejecting claims in media reports on Wednesday that Marinus had donated R300Â 000 to the ID, as alleged by former party member Lennit Max.
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/ 12 January 2005
The human aspect of drought would be described to President Thabo Mbeki and Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool in a bid to have affected parts of the province re-declared as disaster areas. This was according to Dr Pieter van Rooyen, chairperson of an inter-departmental task team set up to report into the social aspects of the drought.
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/ 10 January 2005
Hundreds of people have been left homeless after a fire destroyed at least 100 shacks in the Kaya Mandi informal settlement near Stellenbosch on Sunday, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Monday. The blaze started when a paraffin stove toppled over in the evening. The fire was fanned by the strong wind and it took firefighters about three hours to bring it under control.
The Cape Town minstrels have a special place in the hearts of Capetonians. I think it is somewhere in the aorta. The doctors say it is too dangerous to operate, so there they stay. They were once called coons, but mercifully the vast lies that are racial stereotyping are a thing of the past. After 10 years of democracy we are free to call the Cape minstrels what they are: tone-deaf sequinned horrors of sartorial ghastliness.
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/ 29 December 2004
The 2004 matric class has achieved a pass rate of more than 70% for the third year in a row, says Education Minister Naledi Pandor. The official results in eight provinces were released during a media briefing at Parliament, but the results in Mpumalanga have been withheld because some are under investigation.
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/ 24 December 2004
Suspended Western Cape leader of the Independent Democrats (ID), Lennit Max, on Thursday afternoon said he had not done anything to deserve the suspension. In a statement Max said he became aware of his ”alleged suspension” on Wednesday when members of the media contacted him for comment. ”To date I have only received a very vague formal notification about it [the suspension] and I still don’t know what it really means,” he said.
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/ 23 December 2004
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille opened her personal bank account records to members of the media on Thursday to refute claims by former ID Western Cape leader Lennit Max that she pocketed about R400 000 meant for party coffers. De Lille has rejected Max’s allegations, saying the ID is very open and transparent.
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/ 16 December 2004
The safety of single-dose nevirapine is not in question, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) reiterated on Wednesday, following comments by the Department of Health. The Aids action group was concerned that ”misleading” comments by the department could result in people discontinuing their treatment, and suffering harm.
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/ 15 December 2004
The number of road deaths so far this December appears about the same as last year, the Department of Transport said in Pretoria on Wednesday. ”This is incredibly disappointing for us,” said the department’s chief director of land transportation regulation, Wendy Watson.
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/ 12 December 2004
Three people burnt to death in a shack fire that broke out in Nyanga, Cape Town, shortly after midnight on Saturday. Western Cape police spokesperson Inspector Elliot Sinyangana said 68 shacks burnt down before emergency services workers put out the fire.
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/ 9 December 2004
If the power station at Koeberg in the Western Cape were coal-fired and not nuclear, it would have needed to burn more than 105-million tonnes of the black stuff over the past two decades to equal the power it has produced from just 621 tonnes of uranium, says Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
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/ 8 December 2004
Disciplinary action will be taken against school principals who withhold end-of-year reports, the Western Cape education minister vowed on Wednesday. He said his office has been receiving calls from anxious parents saying some principals are refusing to hand out reports because the parents have not paid some or all of their school fees.
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/ 8 December 2004
The wine industry in the Western Cape has been stunned by the illegal-flavourant scandal at KWV, the province’s agriculture minister, Cobus Dowry, said on Tuesday. "A scandal such as this has the potential to fundamentally damage this industry and if not addressed properly, take years to mend."
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=176153">Silver lining to SA’s wine scandal
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<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=176088">KWV names, shames winemakers</a>
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/ 6 December 2004
The Constitutional Court has given rail commuters a reason to celebrate and reaffirmed their right to be safe from crime. Two weeks ago, the Constitutional Court ruled that Metrorail and the South African Rail Commuter Corporation were responsible for the safety of train passengers, effectively overturning the findings of the Supreme Court of Appeal.
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/ 3 December 2004
The Cape High Court’s rejection of the medicines appeal bid would not affect the Supreme Court of Appeal hearing, the Pharmaceutical Society of SA said on Friday. ”We note the judgement, also again that it’s a split decision,” said PSSA executive director Ivan Kotze.
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/ 1 December 2004
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Former Heath investigating unit head Willem Heath will take the stand in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial in the Durban High Court on Thursday.
This follows two days of testimony relating to Heath’s exclusion from investigations into alleged arms deal irregularities.
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/ 30 November 2004
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/142915/aids_icon.gif" align=left>A year ago the government approved a national plan for the management, care and treatment of HIV/Aids. Its aim was to provide free anti-retroviral drugs in the public health sector. The HIV prevalence rates range from an estimated 13,1% in the Western Cape to a very high 37,5% of adults in KwaZulu-Natal. A <i>M&G</i> assessment as World Aids Day approaches reveals the leaders and laggards.
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/ 30 November 2004
The numbers for effective land restitution and redistribution are astronomical, the time short and sometimes it seems that only a miracle can ensure the success of the programme. Although most land stakeholders agree that land reform is too slow and that finances present a major obstacle to reform, different people have different ideas of how to overcome the department’s money blues. We take a closer look at these options.
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/ 25 November 2004
The real value of recorded building plans passed by municipalities (at constant 2000 prices) during the first nine months of 2004 increased by 29,5% or R5,167-billion from R17,507-billion to R22,674-billion compared with the first nine months of 2003, according to figures released on Thursday by Statistics South Africa.