New African National Congress Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool has pledged to lobby national government to review the system of political defections — also known as party jumping between elections — which he believes the electorate views with distaste.
Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool on Friday named a male-dominated ten-person cabinet, a team which he said was ”destined to deliver” to the people of the province. ”Our goals are clear: our mandate is decisive,” he said. ”There is much to celebrate. But the work starts immediately.”
President Thabo Mbeki has bolstered the role of women in the cabinet but he acknowledged that it had ”not yet reached 50%” of its membership. However, there are now 12 women out of 28 full cabinet ministers. This is up from nine ministers in the last government.
Once Oom Krisjan had stopped laughing, he had a moment to reflect on the appointment of Kortbroek as Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism — and decided that Marthinus was, perhaps, a suitable replacement for Mohammed Valli Moosa after all. As residents of piesangland and the visdorpie well know, short pants are the attire of choice for tourists from Germany and Britain
A tough municipal by-election in a Chatsworth, Durban, ward will see the African National Congress-aligned Minority Front — led by new KwaZulu-Natal sports MEC Amichand Rajbansi — fight it out to retain a marginal seat from a determined challenge from the official opposition Democratic Alliance.
The circus is over, newly elected Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Monday in his inaugural speech in the provincial legislature where he, together with a new speaker, deputy speaker and 42 other MPLs were sworn in. Rasool said the possibilities are greater than ever before for having a dignified and stable provincial government.
Morkel loses bid for W Cape seat
The official opposition Democratic Alliance has selected its team representing the nine provinces in the National Council of Provinces but former Western Cape premier and former Cape Town mayor Gerald Morkel failed to be selected for one of two Western Cape seats available.
In 1999 pregnant women in Khayelitsha were able to access the drug AZT and two years later, highly active anti-retroviral therapy was introduced to the area. The Western Cape is one of the best-resourced provinces in the country and spends a healthy R1 377 per capita on health, second only to Gauteng, which spends R1 668.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress named its candidates for premiers in the nine provinces on Wednesday night, after a national working committee meeting was held in the Mother City. It is the first time that candidates have only been named after the election.
The Western Cape department of health has asked the Scorpions for help in busting a suspected crime syndicate stealing hospital linen. ”In the past three years we have lost hospital linen to the value of more than R23-million,” provincial minister of health Piet Meyer said on Wednesday.
The New National Party and the African National Congress held talks on Tuesday night to discuss the representation of the NNP in the Western Cape government. It is understood that the NNP are unhappy with the offer of two posts in the 11-seat Cabinet.
The National Prosecuting Authority would not stop hunting apartheid-era criminals unless asked to do so by Parliament, the NPA said on Tuesday. ”And as far as we are concerned no law on blanket amnesty is being considered,” said NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi.
There were virtually no surprises on Tuesday as political parties finalised the names of candidates to be sworn in to the National Assembly on Friday. The African National Congress’s list includes President Thabo Mbeki and Deputy President Jacob Zuma, and there are 21 new faces who will represent the Democratic Alliance.
The jostling over the spoils of Cabinet posts in the Western Cape and possible representation for the New National Party in the national Cabinet will begin this week. The NNP on Monday went out of its way to underscore the point that there was no suggestion of any calls for its leader to resign.
Selling Africa to non-Africans is becoming an institution. At exhibitions, shopping malls and estate agencies across Europe, people are buying up the South African coast. The government, land activists and residents look askance at the European invasion of the coastal property market.
Champagne corks popped, fireworks exploded and balloons dropped from the ceiling as this week’s general election was declared free and fair in Pretoria on Saturday and the ANC celebrated a hands-down victory. The party has for first time taken the majority of seats in all nine provincial legislatures.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>There remains uncertainty about which parties will rule KwaZulu-Natal after an inconclusive result from Wednesday’s provincial election — but the Inkatha Freedom Party swept its traditional capital in Ulundi with 93,6%.
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President Thabo Mbeki has again said the African National Congress will not seek to make any changes to the country’s Constitution. The ANC looks set to get a two-thirds majority, which has sparked fears in some quarters that the party may seek to change the Constitution.
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As the African National Congress passed the 10-million vote mark on Friday, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said that the turnout for the third democratic elections had been an impressive 76,9%. At present the ANC has 69,6% of the votes counted so far.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>With just over 88,2% of votes captured by early Friday morning, the African National Congress has nearly garnered 70% of the votes. With the preliminary count updated at 3am, the ruling party was heading the national race with 9,39-million of the votes counted, which translates into 69,67% — continuing to make gains on its apparent two-thirds majority.
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Bantu Holomisa’s United Democratic Party and the New National Party, led by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, appeared to be the big losers as the final counting for the 2004 polls drew closer on Thursday night. By 9.30pm on Thursday the UDM stood at 6,96% in its Eastern Cape stronghold, not even half of the 13,6% it got in 1999.
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The election race in KwaZulu-Natal closed in on the halfway mark on Thursday evening with no indication whether the African National Congress or the Inkatha Freedom Party would win the province. The Democratic Alliance, which may tip the province into the IFP’s hands, was at 9,46%.
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Unbowed New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Thursday vowed to continue advocating its reconciliation message as espoused in the coalition agreement with the ruling party. He would do this even though it might not be popular among the electorate.
Special Report: Elections 2004
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The Independent Democrats said on Thursday it went after South Africa’s youth vote by using innovations in technology to campaign to its voters, such as use of SMSes and the web. Speaking to the Mail & Guardian Online, ID leader Patricia de Lille claimed the party has a database of more than 90Â 000 cellphone numbers of its constituents.
DA ‘elated’ at turnout
The Independent Democrats, contesting its first election on Wednesday, surpassed the long-established New National Party in early poll counts on Thursday morning. By mid-morning, the ID had garnered 123 292 votes or 2,24% of the votes counted, putting them in fourth place. The NNP was in fifth place with 121 928 votes, or 2,21%.
"What the third democratic election has emphatically indicated is that the country is well on its way to being a mature democracy. The fact that, when we compare the electoral process from 1994 up to now, things are generally getting better, says volumes about the country, voters, political parties, politicians, civil society and many other sectors of society." Thabisi Hoeane reflects on the 2004 elections.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>The Democratic Alliance says it is "elated" with the way the voting results have turned out so far and that the party is not surprised at the relative success of Patricia de Lille’s new Independent Democrats. Gibson said that the DA’s own internal polls predicted that the ID would in fact perform even better than they have so far performed.
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As expected, the race for control of the South African provinces of the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal remains tight. In the Western Cape, with 23% of the votes counted, the African National Congress was only slightly ahead of the official opposition Democratic Alliance, with figures indicating that a hung legislature could result.
Special Report: Elections 2004
A South African election wouldn’t be an election without the Raj. For as long as Oom Krisjan can remember Amichand Rajbansi — or Rugbansi to the crueller, follically superior types in piesangland — has been on the campaign trail. And the Bengal Tiger is a survivor …