Law Society says rights of Free State racism victims must be asserted

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) deplores the violation of human rights and the degradation of workers displayed in the video produced by the four Reitz Residence students which became public this week.

'The LSSA is of the view that charges must be brought against the perpetrators. The rights of the victims should also be addressed as they may have civil recourse against their perpetrators,' say LSSA Co-Chairpersons David Gush and Henry Msimang. The LSSA has committed the profession to providing legal advice and assistance on a pro bono basis to those who cannot afford the services of attorneys. Attorneys in the Free State, who practise under the jurisdiction of the Law Society of the Free State, will gladly assist the victims in this matter to assert their rights.

The LSSA welcomes the University of the Free State's commitment to dealing with the matter and it adds its voice to those calling on the Human Rights Commission (HRC) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. The LSSA adds that the HRC should convene a discussion forum to deal with the issue of racism in its various forms. The LSSA commits itself to working with the HRC to deal collectively with the historical scourge of racism.

Issued on behalf of the Co-Chairpersons of the Law Society of South Africa by :
Barbara Whittle
Communication Manager, Law Society of South Africa
Telephone : 012-366 8800 or 083-380 1307
E-mail : barbara@lssa.org.za
Website: www.lssa.org.za

GN 213/GG 30790/18-02-2008 *

Co-operative Banks Act 40 of 2007

Date of commencement : to be proclaimed
Inserts s.2(b)(viA) in the Banks Act 94 of 1990
Amends ss.1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10 of the National Payment System Act 78 of 1998
Amends s.18 of the Competition Act 89 of 1998
Amends s.1 of the Financial Services Ombud Schemes Act 37 of 2004
Inserts s.5A and item 2A in Part 3 of Schedule 1 and
Amends ss.18, 50, 55 and 95 and item 6 in Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Co-operatives Act 14 of 2005
GG 30802/22-02-2008 ***

[B3-2008] *

Castle Management Repeal Bill

To be introduced in the National Assembly during February 2008
Explanatory summary is also published
Makes provision for the repeal of the Castle Management Act 1993 and the dissolution of the Castle Control Board and to provide for matters connected therewith
GenN 280/GG 30803/22-02-2008 *

Defence Amendment Bill

To be introduced in the National Assembly during February 2008
Explanatory summary is also published
GenN 281/GG 30803/22-02-2008 *

Division of Revenue Bill

[B4-2008] *

Regulations : amendment
GNR 186/GG 30782/22-02-2008 **

Regulations : amendment
GNR 191/GG 30782/22-02-2008 **

National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act 103 of 1977

Review Board regulations : proposed amendment to the Review Board Regulations in respect of appeal fees
GNR 193/GG 30782/22-02-2008 **

Nursing Act 33 of 2005

Regulations relating to the particulars to be furnished to the Council for keeping of the register for nursing practitioners, the manner of effecting alterations to the register, and certificates that may be issued by the Council and repeal of GNR 3588 and GNR 3589/24-10-1969 and GNR 1206/07-07-1972
GNR 195/GG 30786/19-02-2008 ***
http://www.polity.org.za/attachment.php?aa_id=11821 ****

Notice inviting comments on proposed guidelines for rapid deployment of electronic communications facilities of the Act
GN 279/GG 30800/22-02-2008 *

Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 37 of 2002

Financial Services Board
Exemption of authorised financial service providers as regards representatives
BN 15/GG 30810/22-02-2008 *

Further Education and Training Colleges Act 16 of 2006

Schedule of names and qualifications of provisionally registered Private Further Education and Training Colleges
GenN 254/GG 30777/15-02-2008 ***

Housing Consumer Protection Measures Act 95 of 1998

National Home Builders Registration Council : Home Builder Grading System
GNR 192/GG 30782/22-02-2008 **

Income Tax Act 58 of 1962

Determination of interest rate for purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of "official rate of interest" in paragraph 1 of the seventh schedule to the Act : 12 per cent with effect from 1 March 2008
GN 214/GG 30794/22-02-2008 *

Determination of the daily allowance in respect of meals and incidental costs for purposes of section 8(s1) of the Act
GN 215/GG 30795/22-02-2008 *

Fixing of rate per kilometre in respect of motor vehicles for the purposes of section 8(1)(b)(ii) and (iii) of the Act
GN 216/GG 30796/22-02-2008 *

International Trade Administration Commission

Customs tariff application : List 3/2008
GN 261/GG 30800/22-02-2008 *

Medical Schemes Act 131 of 1998

Medical Schemes registered in terms of the Medical Schemes Act 131 of 1998 as at February 2008. This list replaces the list published in GG 29812/18-04-2007 and contains 121 Medical Schemes
BN 14/GG 30789/18-02-2008 *

National Education Policy Act 27 of 1996

2009 School Calendar for public schools
GN 200/GG 30787/20-02-2008 *

Nursing Act 33 of 2005

Notice regarding the creation of categories of practitioners in terms of Section 31(2)
GNR 194/GG 30782/22-02-2008 **

South African Qualifications Authority

Announcement of intention to extend the accreditation of the Financial and Accounting Services Sector Education and Training Authority (FASSET)
GN 198/GG 30781/22-02-2008 **

Announcement of intention to extend the accreditation of the Local Government Sector Education and Training authority (LGSETA)
GN 197/GG 30781/22-02-2008 **

Announcement of intention to extend the accreditation of the Tourism Hospitality and Sport Education and Training Authority (THETA)
GN 196/GG 30781/22-02-2008 **

Standards Act, 1993

Standards matters
All South African standards that were previously published by the South African Bureau of Standards with the prefix "SABS" have been redesignated as South African national standards and are now published by Standards South Africa (a division of SABS) with the prefix "SANS". A list of all existing South African national standards was published by GN 1373/08-11-2002
GN 180/GG 30781/22-02-2008 **
GN 181/GG 30781/22-02-2008 **

KwaZulu-Natal Adjustments Appropriate Act 8 of 2007

PN 8/PG 75/11-02-2008 *

KwaZulu-Natal Traditional Leadership and Governance Amendment Act 9 of 2007

PN 9/PG 75/11-02-2008 *

KwaZulu-Natal Unauthorised Expenditure Authorisation Act 7 of 2007

PN 7/PG 75/11-02-02008 *

*	Source : LexisNexis
**	Source : Sabinet
***	Source : OSALL (Marina)
****	Source : Polity

The South African Law of International Trade : selected topics / Van Niekerk and Schulze
Neels
TSAR - 2007(4), p.839

Handbuch des internationalen Warenkaufs UN : Kaufrecht (CISG) Verweyen, Foerrster and Toufar
Schlemmer
TSAR - 2007(4), p.839

Shaik Asset Forfeiture Appeal

'Shaik did bribe Zuma' - 27 February
Schabir Shaik has admitted he bribed ANC president Jacob Zuma "with the intention to corrupt him". But, in a final legal bid to stop the state from confiscating R33-million from him, Shaik's lawyers on Tuesday insisted the state never proved that these bribes were the only reason Zuma used his political clout to assist his financial adviser. - IOL website

Shaik asset seizure 'out of proportion', court told - 26 February
The confiscation of "R30-million to R40-million"-worth of assets from Schabir Shaik following his fraud and corruption conviction was out of proportion to his "friend" Jacob Zuma's intervention in one arms-deal dispute, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday. Shaik's lawyer, Martin Brassey, said Zuma's intervention at a meeting with Thomson France was only part of the "pot" of deals Shaik had with the company and its South African subsidiaries. - Mail & Guardian website

Not cruel to take Shaik's assets - 26 February
It was not cruel to make Schabir Shaik forfeit over R30 million in shares after "brashly using the prize" of Jacob Zuma to secure a business deal with an arms company, the Constitutional Court heard. Advocate Wim Trengove argued this during Shaik's Constitutional Court application to have his assets returned. "The stripping of the proceeds of crime is to show criminals that you do crime at your peril," said Trengove. He said it was not unfair "double punishment" if criminals knew that if they invested in crime they would lose their investment. - The Times website

Shaik assets case to be heard - 26 February
The Constitutional Court will hear argument today on the confiscation of assets from Schabir Shaik, following his fraud conviction relating to his relationship with ANC president Jacob Zuma. Shaik had to forfeit over R30 million worth of shares following his conviction in 2005. - The Times website

29 February 2008
688/2006 [2008] ZASCA 2
Swart v Van Rensburg
Sale of immovable property – defences of common assumption, conventional penalty and repudiation dismissed
* * * Not yet online * * *

28 January 2008
634/06 [2008] ZASCA 1
Linvestment CC v Hammersley and Another

Johannesburg

12 February 2008
JS 736/06 [2008] ZALC 8
Douglas and Others v Gauteng MEC of Health

Port Elizabeth

7 February 2008
P377/03 [2008] ZALC 7
South African Police Services v Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council and Others

27 February 2008
A717/07
Majwa Petersen v State
This is an appeal against the refusal of the Wynberg Regional Court, to grant the appellant's second application for bail pending the finalisation of her trial. She and three other accused, namely Abdoer Raasiet Emjedi, Waahied Hassen and Jefferson Tion Snyders, are charged with the murder of the appellant's husband, one Abdul Mutaliep Petersen, at his home on 16 December 2006. They are also charged on two counts of robbery, at the same time and place, of certain cell phones, watches and cash. These are offences referred to in schedule 6 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977

22 February 2008
A359/2006
Jubeida Khatun Banderker NO and Others v Mohammed Iqbal Gangraker NO and Others
After the death of Sulaiman there was no executor in Jameela's estate until Dawood was appointed sole executor. There was again a vacancy in the office of executorship in Jameela's estate after the death of Dawood until the first and second appellants were appointed. After their appointment as executrixes of Jameela's estate, Jubeida and Fatima filed an amended liquidation and distribution account in Jameela's estate, awarding Jameela's 25% undivided share in the relevant properties to themselves as heiresses. The respondents objected to the amended liquidation and distribution account filed with the Master on the ground that Sulaiman had purchased Jameela's undivided share in the immovable properties in terms of the option which Jameela had granted to him in terms of her Will dated 26 March 1954 but which he could not take transfer of as he was prohibited to do in terms of the Group Areas Act. The Master did not sustain the objection and advised the applicants to bring the dispute before the Court. It is against this background that the respondents brought the application to the Court a quo. The matter came before Motala, J who found in favour of the respondents. With the leave of appeal having been granted by the Court a quo on some of the issues which it had decided in favour of the respondents, the appellants now appeal to this Court

18 February 2008
67/2005
State v S W De Vries and Others
The eleven accused in this matter are standing trial on 25 charges. These include contraventions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, 21 of 1998 ("POCA"), various common law offences as well as contraventions of the Firearms Control Act, 60 of 2000. The trial commenced on 15 August 2005 and has run for approximately 137 court days. Shortly before the trial was ready to re-commence on 15 October 2007, after a term's adjournment, accused eleven gave notice of an application to declare invalid and of no force and effect the authorisation issued by the National Director of Public Prosecutions (the "NDPP") dated 10 August 2005 purporting to authorise charges against him in terms of s 2(4) of POCA. Accused eleven sought, furthermore, an order declaring the charges brought against him to have been invalidly instituted and set aside. Similar applications were then brought on behalf of the remaining accused

Judgment reserved in Manuel's arms deal saga - 25 February
The Cape High Court has reserved judgment on a bid by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to stop arms deal critic, Terry Crawford-Brown, from accusing him of corruption. - SABC News website

Delft Eviction Case

Tensions run high as Rasool threatens to sue - 27 February
As tensions ran high in Delft, Premier Ebrahim Rasool said he would on Wednesday persuade his executive to sue both the DA and Delft ward councillor Frank Martin for damages that resulted from the illegal occupation of unfinished houses in the township. During Tuesday's debate in the provincial legislature on the Delft invasion, Rasool and the ANC accused the DA of promoting racial tension between coloured and African people and using Delft and the housing crisis as part of a campaign to win next year's elections. - IOL website

Delft houses to be given to rightful owners - 26 February
Preparations are underway to hand over the first 30 homes of the N2 Gateway Housing project in Delft to their rightful owners by Friday this week. "Plans are underway to handover more than 100 houses per week, until all the rightful owners take ownership of their homes, while a complete list of the 1600 beneficiaries would be published this week," said N2 Gateway Pilot Project General Manager, Prince Xhanti Sigcawu on Monday. - allAfrica website

Councillor Martin and the force of accountability - 25 February
Frank Martin, the ward councillor for the Cape Town suburb of Delft, represents the Democratic Alliance (DA) and has been accused by the ANC of inciting the backyard dwellers to break the law by moving into houses allocated to others. In addition to criminal charges, Martin faces the prospect of disciplinary action by the DA-led Cape Town City Council for allegedly breaking the council's code of conduct. If the charges against him are supported by enough evidence to secure a conviction or justify disciplinary steps by his peers on the council, his vilification in the local media over the past week may have been justified. But that would ignore the real issues behind last week's disturbing scenes, which were uncomfortably reminiscent of the apartheid forced removals that plagued the Cape not long ago. Martin denies encouraging the people he represents to break the law, but sees no reason to apologise for telling them what he is convinced is true - that the ANC has fiddled with housing waiting lists for political purposes, allowing more recent arrivals in the Cape to jump the queue. There is no denying that members of the Delft group, almost all of whom are coloured, have been on the housing waiting list of one authority or another for at least a decade. - allAfrica website

Province, city at war about Delft's homeless - 24 February
The provincial government and the city are on a collision course over assisting the 1 600 homeless Delft residents. It has also emerged that 400 of the people who were evicted from the Delft houses are due to be recipients of the very homes they invaded and which have subsequently been vandalised. - allAfrica website

25 February 2008
17413/2005 [2008] ZAKZHC 10
Zulu v Zulu and Others

19 February 2008
7816/2007 [2008] ZAKZHC 9
Naidoo v Sanbonani Express Freight and Another

Judge slams SA crime rate - 28 February
South Africa's high crime rate and prevalence of firearms were dissuading some people from visiting the country, said a High Court judge on Thursday. Acting Judge Sipho Nxumalo sent two armed robbers to jail for 20 years. - News24 website

Zuma Case

Zuma's Mauritius court bid rejected - 25 February
A Mauritian judge has refused to allow ANC president Jacob Zuma to make conspiracy claims against President Thabo Mbeki and the State in secret. Justice Rehana Mungly-Gulbul has ruled that Mauritian Attorney-General Rama Valayden must be notified of Zuma's latest legal bid to stop the National Prosecuting Authority from obtaining 13 documents seized by the island's authorities from the offices of Thint. Zuma's application, in which he accused Mbeki and suspended NPA boss Vusi Pikoli of conspiring against him, was brought on an ex parte basis and was therefore not served on the attorney-general or the NPA. For this reason, Valayden's office - which has requested the disputed documents on behalf of the State - could not respond to the allegations by Zuma that the decision to bring corruption charges against him and Thint was part of a "carefully orchestrated, politically inspired and driven strategy to exclude me from any meaningful political role". Meanwhile, Zuma's attorney, Michael Hulley, has denied weekend media reports that Zuma asked Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam to instruct Valayden to stop ignoring Hulley. - IOL website

22 February 2008
77/2007 [2008] ZAECHC 13
Nakin v MEC, Department of Education, Eastern Cape Province and Others

22 February 2008
873/07 [2008] ZAECHC 12
Memani v Road Accident Fund

12 February 2008
CA309/2006 [2008] ZAECHC 11
S v Mahlathi

18 February 2008
CA203/2007 [2008] ZAECHC 10
Ramphal v Minister of Safety and Security

14 February 2008
3355/2006 [2008] ZAECHC 9
DP Cohen Consulting (Pty) Ltd v Amendu Products (Pty) Limited

7 February 2008
4226/2005 [2008] ZAECHC 7
Mseleni v Minister of Safety and Security

1 February 2008
20070748 [2008] ZAECHC 8
S v Mlilwana

'Poison pineapples' case for court - 29 February
The Eastern Cape pineapple industry is to take Protea Chemicals to court next month, seeking R100m in damages over claims that fertiliser the company imported from Hong Kong contained higher levels of the heavy metal cadmium than specified. As a result, the industry, which previously accounted for about 3% of the world's canned pineapples, was expecting turnover to be half what it normally was. Summerpride Foods, the region's only remaining cannery, and about 40 farmers are expected to sue Protea Chemicals, owned by JSE-listed chemicals and explosives company Omnia Group, which allegedly imported the zinc sulphate fertiliser from Hong Kong company Zimcon. More than two years ago Rainbow Chicken brought legal action against Protea Chemicals after finding unacceptable levels of cadmium in a feed pre-mix. Noseweek magazine reported this month that the company had settled out of court. Noseweek mentioned other incidents of contaminated fertiliser, such as that sold to citrus farmers in Citrusdal and animal feed supplier Advit. - allAfrica website

Grieving woman addresses son's killer - 28 February
Bereaved mother Aileen Stephens told the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday that her son, Lyle Stephens, 28, shot while taking food to an orphanage in a needy area near Hillcrest. Mthethowakhe Nzama, 26, was convicted on Thursday of the murder and aggravated robbery of Stephens. He was jailed for life for the murder and 15 years for the robbery, near Hillcrest in February 2006. Judge Ron McLaren said the murder and robbery were motivated by greed. While Nzama did not have the direct intention to kill he had a reckless disregard for the lives of others. - IOL website

Man who raped cousin jailed - 22 February
A 23-year-old man who admitted he raped his six-year-old cousin was jailed for 21 years in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday. "I cannot imagine how a man can bring himself to commit such a horrendous crime," Judge Thumba Pillay said. The man was jailed for 21 years after Pillay found substantial and compelling circumstances which made the prescribed life sentence for the rape of a person under 16 years inappropriate for him. Tthe man must serve 14 years before being eligible for parole. - IOL website

Gang leader jailed for 33 years - 22 February
A gang leader was jailed for 33 years in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday. Mzikayifani Kunene of Richmond was unable to escape with the rest of his gang after a robbery at the Cato Ridge post office in February 2006. Judge Chimon Patel said that for the armed robber, a minimum sentence of 15 years was prescribed by law, but because of aggravated features of the robbery, he imposed 20 years' jail term. Kunene was also given four 10-year sentences for the attempted murders of policemen who tried to prevent the robbery - all four 10-year sentences are to run concurrently - and three years for the unlawful possession of weapons, making the total 33 years. Patel ordered that he serve 21 years before being eligible for probation. - The Citizen website

26 February 2008
13878/05 [2008] ZAGPHC 47
Van Zyl NO v Nedbank Limited

Council slapped with court order - 28 February
An order by the Pretoria high court in favour of squatters has left senior officials of the Blouberg municipality in Limpopo humiliated. This after the court ordered the municipality on Monday to rebuild the 66 shacks it had destroyed in December last year. The municipality demolished the shacks belonging to nearly 10000 residents of Desmond Park near Mogwadi, formerly known as Dendron. - The Sowetan website

28 February 2008
05/9489 [2008] ZAGPHC 50
Olivier v Minister of Safety and Security and Another

M&R promises proactive engagement with competition body in construction sector probe - 28 February
Leading South African construction group Murray & Roberts (M&R), which is listed in the JSE and has a market capitalisation of more than R30-billion, says it has adopted a "proactive" policy of engagement with South Africa's competition authorities, which have initiated an investigation into possible anticompetitive practices in the construction industry. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Statements and Speeches

28 February 2008
Speech by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in the National Assembly introducing the National Environmental Laws Amendment Bill [B35-2007]

26 February 2008
Press comment on findings and recommendations of Parliamentary ad hoc committee on the review of Chapter 9 and associated institutions

21 February 2008
The Public Service Commission releases an Overview of Financial Misconduct and a Report on the Indebtedness of Public Servants

Committee Minutes

Education Committee

19 February 2008
Conditional grants, school nutrition, HIV/AIDS and learner transport : department briefing

Health Committee

19 February 2008
National Health Laboratory Services & Council for Medical Schemes Annual Reports 2006/07 : briefing

Justice and Constitutional Development Committee

19 February 2008
Office of the Public Protector Annual Report 2006/7

Public Works Committee

20 February 2008
Committee Programme & Other Committee Business : discussion

Social Development Committee

20 February 2008
Regulations to the Older Person's Act : briefing by Department & South African Older Persons' Forum submission

Transport Department Committee

20 February 2008
Taxi Recapitalisation Programme : Progress Report by Department, SANTACO & National Scrapping Agency ; International Maritime Convention

South Africa

'It is vital that we speak out' - 24 February
Kader Asmal is leaving Parliament to take up an extraordinary professorship at the university where he lectured on his return from exile in 1994. "It is extraordinary because they don't pay me," he says, laughing. Asmal taught at illustrious international institutions, such as Trinity College in Dublin, Christ's College in Cambridge and the London School of Economics (LSE). Now, at the age of 73, he is retiring from formal politics to put his experiences as a teacher, lawyer, politician and human rights activist to other uses. - Mail & Guardian website

Tribute from Trevor Manuel to Kader Asmal - 26 February
Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, I am deeply conscious of the need to assiduously avoid this sounding either like a CV or an obituary. There's too much kick in the old pony yet to even begin to contemplate any of those. This afternoon is about paying tribute to a colleague and comrade who, for the past 14 years has given meaning to the title, Member of Parliament. He has served this institution and the executive so exceedingly well during this period. - politicsweb website

'Poephol of the Bailey' - 12 February
Down our way we use to have what was known as the waggit - pronounced "wag" (Afrikaans) "git". Don’t try looking it up - it has no meaning other than the one we assigned to it. A waggit is a prank you play on your articled clerk on the day he or she starts. - Michael Trapido on the Thought Leader blog

Canada

Canadian lawyers urge US to close Guantanamo - 25 February
Canada's largest legal organization is calling on US President George Bush to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison, calling the operation "a grievous affront to the rule of law".' Few operations run by democratic governments have shown such shocking disregard for due process and basic human rights, say the Canadian Bar Association, launching a tripartite attack today on the military prison holding Canadian Omar Khadr, the only western citizen still imprisoned at the base. Teaming up with the Law Society of England and Wales - and a French counterpart, the Batonnier de Paris - the Canadian lawyers' group sent a letter to Bush today demanding closure of the prison. - The Star website

See also :

Statement on the CBA website

Full text letter

Ontario law society urges parental leave program to advance women - 25 February
On Feb 21, the Law Society of Upper Canada's Working Group on the Retention of Women released a far-reaching report identifying best practices to promote the retention and advancement of women in private practice. The key proposals are establishment of a parental leave program for sole and small firm practitioners, as well as a practice locum service.  - FP Legal Post website

See also :

Media Release on the Law Society of Upper Canada's website

India

Final arguments set to begin on entry of foreign law firms - 25 February
The case challenging the entry of foreign law firms into the country is a step closer to resolution with the Mumbai High Court poised to begin hearing final arguments on it over the next two days. The petition was filed in 1995 by Lawyers Collective, a legal services provider that works in areas of public interest, challenging the practice of three foreign firms, United States' White and Case Llp and Chadbourne and Parker Llp and UK's Ashurst Morris Crisp Llp in India after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted them licences to open up liason offices in the country. The petition also sought clarity on whether the expression "to practice the profession of law" in Section 29 of the Advocates Act, 1961, would extend to both foreign and Indian legal practitioners. - live mint website

United Kingdom

QCs battle against the Law Society - 28 February
The delicious spectacle of dog eat dog - two QCs pitched against the Law Society in the courts - looks as if it will settle, thus avoid an embarrassing dispute. - Times Online website

QCs' legal case exposes Law Society tensions - 26 February
An arcane book about lawyers' disciplinary rules has spawned an unusual legal action that highlights growing tensions in the tangled new system for regulating the profession. The two QCs who wrote the book have asked the High Court to order the Law Society, the solicitors' body, which owns the copyright, to permit them to reprint the key code of conduct for free in a book they have written. Critics say the case highlights conflicts of interest in the dual regulatory and representative role of the Law Society, which has a duty to publicise the code to its members and a financial interest in selling its own books on the same subject. Desmond Hudson, Law Society chief executive, said the Solicitors Regulation Authority had no power to allow the men to publish the code. He said the code was available for everyone to download for free from the internet. The case highlights the increased financial and regulatory pressures facing the Law Society under last year's Legal Services Act - Financial Times website

Women partners up as long-term prospects improve - 22 February
The proportion of female partners at UK law firms rose by more than 5% between 2006 and 2007, according to new research, although women still represent less than a quarter of all partners in private practice. The latest annual statistical report by the Law Society, the largest domestic study of its kind, found there were 7 420 female partners in England and Wales as of 31 July 2007 - equating to 22% of private practice partners. The figure represents an increase from the previous year's mark of 5 727 in 2006, when women comprised just 17.6% of the total number of partners. - legalweek website

Zimbabwe

'Law Society now a political party' - 29 February
The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Cde Patrick Chinamasa, yesterday said the Government no longer treats the Law Society of Zimbabwe as a professional body but an opposition political party. This was after the LSZ solicited, through the British Law Society, and got funding from the British government to engage in active politics. - allAfrica website

Business

Business becoming more difficult - 27 February
The Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry says the new tax on electricity and the increased tax on petrol and diesel will add to the cost of doing business and it was difficult to see how they would benefit the country. "We are already facing electricity price increases of about 14 percent and the new tax will take that figure to nearly 20 percent," said Dr Gerald Woman, President of the Chamber. "This is well above the rate of inflation and it will add significantly to costs". - Cape Business News website

Conservation

25 February 2008
Policy announcement by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South African Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, on the occasion of the publication of the final Norms and Standards for Elephant Management, Pretoria
SA Government Information website

S Africa announces elephant cull - 25 February
The South African government has said it will allow elephants to be culled for the first time in 13 years. - BBC News website

Education

Schools pledge is undemocratic - 25 February
The schools pledge – which is based on the preamble of the Constitution – is, according to Education Minister Naledi Pandor, "intended to internalise those values we as South Africans have thought to be important". I believe much of the content of the draft is good. But is this the best way to communicate values to learners? Let's consider the pledge in sections. By Philip Cole, an independent consultant economist and a school governing body member resident in East London. - Dispatch Online website

Emigration and Immigration

Refugee camp mushrooms - 27 February
A makeshift refugee camp, housing over 1 000 desperate asylum seekers, has sprung up on the Foreshore [Cape Town]. This was the startling picture that emerged when a Cape Argus team visited the area around Customs House this week. Asylum seekers are flocking to the city centre in the hope of being assisted by the Department of Home Affairs in their bid to get legal papers. On the site, there are three mobile toilets put up by Home Affairs. Only two of these were working on Tuesday. There is no running water or bathroom facilities and the stench of urine permeates the air. - IOL website

Environment

Assmang Inquiry

'Review manganese limit for workers' health' - 28 February
Assmang boss Bryan Broekman has conceded that stricter laws are needed to protect South African workers from manganese poisoning, but several large industries might have to shut down if the new laws were "too strict". Broekman, the chief executive of one of the country's two major manganese producers, was giving evidence on Wednesday at a labour department inquiry into the cause of several cases of sickness at the company's Cato Ridge factory. - IOL website

State slams Assmang for trying to block hearing - 27 February
The department of labour has accused Assmang of trying to delay the public inquiry into the exposure of its employees to excessive manganese dust. The attempt at a delay came when the company asked the department's officials in the panel to recuse themselves because they were biased against the company's management, the department said. It turned down Assmang's application. - Business Report website

Blast inquiry goes on in secret - 27 February
The internal inquiry into the death of six workers at the Assmang factory in Cato Ridge outside Durban continued behind closed doors yesterday. Yesterday the National Union of Metal Workers (Numsa) said it would do everything possible to ensure it also took part in the inquiry into the deaths. - The Sowetan website

Assmang application dismissed - 26 February
An application to have a labour department inquiry into workers' exposure to poisonous fumes at a Cato Ridge ferromanganese smelter dismissed because of alleged bias, was itself dismissed this afternoon by the inquiry's presiding officer. Labour department inspector Vuli Sibisi announced to loud cheers that he was refusing an appeal requesting that he recuse himself from the inquiry in 40 alleged cases of manganese poisoning at the Assmang ferromanganese smelter in Cato Ridge. Earlier, Willem le Roux, the attorney representing Assmang, applied for the inquiry to recuse itself because there "was a reasonable apprehension of bias" towards the Assmang management. - The Times website

Assmang furnace out for up to six months after blast - 26 February
African Rainbow Minerals Ferrous CE Jan Steenkamp said on Tuesday that the furnace which had exploded at the company's Cato Ridge works on Sunday would be out of operation for the next five to six months. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

Manganese probe biased, says Assmang - 26 February
A formal inquiry by the Labour Department into workers' exposure to poisonous fumes at a Cato-Ridge ferromanganese smelter was accused on Tuesday of not being impartial. Willem le Roux, the attorney representing Assmang, applied for the inquiry to recuse itself because there "was a reasonable apprehension of bias" towards the Assmang management. Le Roux also said it was highly irregular that the inquiry planned to allow a member - identified as Bernard Randolph - of the panel to testify. - Business Report website

Assmang smelter has history of safety issues - 26 February
The shocking safety record of a Durban factory is in the spotlight following a deadly blast over the weekend. Five workers were killed in an explosion at the Assmang FerroManganese Smelter in Cato Ridge and four are still in critical condition. It is the third lethal explosion in three years. Richard Spoor, who is representing about 50 workers, says negotiations between the factory's management and unions broke down earlier this year. - SABC News website

Mine deaths investigation under way - 26 February
The inquiry is also tasked with establishing the exposure of workers to toxic fumes that allegedly resulted in 40 cases of illness. - The Sowetan website

Protestors place coffin in meeting hall - 25 February
Workers from a ferromanganese smelter near Durban on Monday disrupted a labour department manganism inquiry nearby. Their protest was linked to Sunday's explosion that claimed the lives of five of their colleagues. The group of about 100 workers from the Assmang ferromanganese smelter marched from the smelter to the Cato Ridge Country Club with a coffin, placing it in the middle of the hall where the hearings were due to be held. - IOL website

Manganese inquiry takes off today - 25 February
A formal inquiry by the labour department into the exposure of poisonous fumes at Assmang, a Cato Ridge manganese company, is due to begin today. The inquiry forms part of an investigation that started in November 2006, when six workers were reported to be suffering from possible manganese poisoning. - Business Report website

Take responsibility, suffering staff tell Assmang - 24 February
Joshua Haaroff and Vikay Naicker are upset that Assmang's owners appear to be going out of their way to dispute the already confirmed manganism cases. - Business Report website

Statement on Department of Labour's website - 22 February

Manganese poisoning : negotiations fail - 14 February
A digest of media reports : not the views of COSATU. - COSATU Media Monitor website

South Africa : poisoned worker fights for justice - 2 June 2007
A brain-damaged factory worker who was poisoned by toxic manganese fumes has lodged a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission after his company attempted to fire him "via the back door". - IOL article reported on Hazards News website

See also :

Assmang : Environmental policy
http://www.assmang.co.za/au/environmental_policy.asp

Manganism on the Health Dangers website
http://www.healthdangers.com/toxic-substances/welding-fumes/index.htm

Manganism and occupational manganese poisoning
http://www.manganismfyi.com

Assmang Explosion on 24 February 2008

State halts Assmang's plan to build new R1bn furnaces - 29 February
The department of environmental affairs and tourism, along with the KwaZulu-Natal department of agriculture and environmental affairs and the eThekwini municipality, suspended the company's environmental impact assessment (EIA) process for the furnaces following Sunday's explosion. - Business Report website

Assmang furnace expansion plans halted - 28 February
Following the explosion at Assmang Cato Ridge's ferromanganese plant on 24 February 2008, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT has suspended its environmental impact assessments (EIAs). According to the department, the EIAs were being conducted ahead of the commissioning of two further furnaces at the site which has been in the spotlight following the death of 6 miners in an explosion. - allAfrica website

Motsepe berates Assmang brass over accidents - 26 February
Assmang needed to improve communication between its blue-collar workers and management to avoid incidents such as the explosion that killed five people at the weekend, Patrice Motsepe, the executive chairman of listed African Rainbow Minerals, said yesterday. Motsepe, whose company owns 50 percent of the manganese producer, demanded that Assmang's managers ensure that accidents such as Sunday's explosion at its Cato Ridge plant did not recur and that they improved their relationship with employees. - Business Report website

Manganese explosion : sixth person dies - 26 February
A sixth person injured in the blast at a KwaZulu-Natal ferromanganese smelter near Durban on Sunday died on Tuesday afternoon. - Cape Argus website

Mine deaths investigation under way - 26 February
An inquiry to establish the cause of death of six people after an explosion at Assmang manganese plant in Cato Ridge in Durban at the weekend has begun. The inquiry will look into the health and safety standards of workers while the factory is temporarily closed. The inquiry is also tasked with establishing the exposure of workers to toxic fumes that allegedly resulted in 40 cases of illness. Mining magnate Patrice Motsepe, one of the shareholders in Assmang, visited the plant and was locked in a meeting with the management, union, eThekwini mayor Obed Mlaba and provincial MEC for social development, Meshack Radebe. - The Sowetan website

Assmang workers fear for their lives - 26 February
Workers have refused to go back to work at the Assmang plant in Cato Ridge, where five of their colleagues were killed in an explosion on Sunday. A ferromanganese smelter's furnace exploded at about 4.30am on Sunday, lighting up the sky. Furious workers have refused to heed calls by their employer to return to work. - The Times website

25 February 2008
Durban's massive blast : full-scale probe launched
SA Government Information website

Manganese blast death toll rises - 25 February A fifth person injured in the blast at a KwaZulu-Natal ferromanganese smelter near Durban on Sunday died on Monday morning. The department of labour on Sunday ordered that all the furnaces be decommissioned and has launched an investigation into the explosion. A statement released by labour department spokesperson Zolisa Sigabi on Sunday said: "Labour inspectors who immediately arrived at the scene have in a preliminary report indicated that it is suspected that a water leakage into furnace number six caused the explosion to occur. Meanwhile the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) spokesperson Mziwakhe Hlangani said that the company's engineers had ordered that the furnace be shut down before the explosion "after it was detected to have a water leakage. We do not know how and why it was operated by the night shift staff operators, because it was declared unsafe to put it (furnace) in operation and we believe drastic steps after thorough investigations should be taken," Numsa local organiser Siphiwe Ntsele said. - iAfrica website

Deadly blast at KZN furnace - 25 February
Four people were killed when a furnace at the Assmang ferromanganese smelter in Cato Ridge exploded on Sunday morning. Several other workers were in a critical state in hospital with severe burns to their bodies. The labour department said a preliminary investigation indicated that the impact of the explosion resulted in the wall of the control room facing the furnace to collapse, allowing flames to engulf the room. - IOL website

Assmang blast kills four on the eve of an enquiry into a debilitating manganese disease - 24 February
NUMSA website

See also :

Assmang : Cato Ridge Works
http://www.assmang.co.za/o/manganese/cato_ridge_works.asp

Assmang : Cato Ridge Alloys
http://www.assmang.co.za/o/manganese/cato_ridge_alloys.asp

Health

26 February 2008
Briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Health by the Minister of Health M Tshabalala-Msimang
S Government Information website

Minister considers legislative cure for healthcare - 26 February
Government is to intervene to curb rocketing private health care costs and prevent the sector's "demise", Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Tuesday. The health charter task team, among others, had been discussing the challenge of making health care more affordable, she told the National Assembly's health committee. - Business Report website

Govt to curb private healthcare costs - 26 February
The government is to intervene to curb rocketing private healthcare costs and prevent the sector's "demise", Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Tuesday. - Mail & Guardian website

Labour Issues

Lift accident victims 'stable' - 28 February
Two people who were critically injured when a service lift they were using plummeted to the ground yesterday are in a stable condition in hospital. CV Shopfitters and Joiners director Chris Venketraju, a tenant of the three-storey building in Hime Lane, Jacobs, said that he had complained several times to the owners about the faulty lift, but nothing had been done. An employee of H and B Properties, which owns the building, said it was the duty of the tenant to have the fault repaired and to bill the property owners. - IOL website

Land Affairs and Property

Ultimate name change for bond originator - 29 February
Bond originator MortgageSA announced yesterday, Thursday, 28 February 2008, that it will be changing its name to "ooba" and is launching a new credit card for homeowners. The name change reflects the company's evolved offering which now extends beyond bond origination.The company's fully integrated homeowner services offerings have been re-branded oobasearch, oobabond, oobainsure, and oobacard, respectively. - bizcommunity website

MortgageSA's new lower-case name is überodd - 29 February
If the financial institution hoped to distinguish itself from its competitors, it has certainly succeeded. It now sounds like a character from AA Milne. Despite the fact that ooba now has a silly name, the company has a lot going for it. It is likely to remain a player in the hotly contested mortgage origination market for a long time to come. As it says in the release, it pioneered bond origination locally just less than a decade ago. - Business Report website

Development

Manage for better selling value - 26 February
Commercial property investors must be aware of what is required to maximize all aspects of a property's value over a period of time before deciding to sell. This is according to Tony Bales of Bales Delaporte, who says that investors often make the mistake of waking up too late and decide to sell their investments before realizing their true value. "Unlike residential properties, commercial properties generally have longer term leases in place.  This places constraints on large-scale changes and initiatives to add value quickly". - Cape Business News website

Route to affordability could be through off-plan purchasing - 21 February
Buying off-plan is an affordable and convenient option for people hoping to buy property but find themselves priced out of the market because of soaring interest rates and high property prices. "New developments tend to be more inexpensive than buying established properties," says Careen Mckinon, Developments Manager at bond originator, MortgageSA. - Rodney Hayter website

Property Law

Why landowners should form and join fire protection associations - 26 February
Every landowner has a duty in terms of the National Veld and Forest Fire Act, 1998 firstly, to prevent and combat veld, forest and mountain fires and secondly, to stop fire spreading from their land onto adjoining land. To do this the landowner must, by law, prepare and maintain firebreaks, and have such equipment, protective clothing and trained personnel reasonably required in the circumstances. Firebreaks must meet the requirements specified in the Act. - Article by Jennifer Nicholson of Deneys Reitz Attorneys on the Mondaq website
* * * Free subscription required * * *

Land Reform and Restitution

KZN community threatens land seizure - 27 February
The community of Msinga in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands is threatening to take over farms, accusing the farm owners of human rights violations. Emotions ran high today when the residents marched on a farm near Greytown. Police had to use rubber bullets to disperse the angry crowd. The community claimed the 6 000 hectare farm from the Land Affairs Department in 2005. It now accuses the farmers of abusing workers and killing their livestock. - SABC News website

Grim harvest for SA unless problems are met urgently  - 27 February
Black farmers who have received assistance from the government and established farmers to become viable commercial farmers, are now under threat. In a depressing conflict of policies, many new black commercial farmers who have benefited from government land reform policies in the past are themselves now subject to land claims. "I don't see any provisions in government policy for a person like myself," says a land reform beneficiary, who has a pending restitution claim on his property. This is one of the many unintended consequences of SA's current experience of land reform. - Business Day website

Land reform hobbled by capacity problems - 22 February
At a press conference after the budget speech, Manuel questioned whether the Agriculture and Land Affairs department would be able to handle more funds. At the moment, there are just more than 5 000 restitution claims outstanding. At the end of last year, acting land affairs director general Tozi Gwanya estimated that R15-billion would be needed to settle all the claims, but restitution has been allocated just more than R3-billion. "Instead, what is likely now is that many claims will be gazetted this year and most of these will be settled and the agreements implemented over the coming decade or more. The budget confirms that restitution remains a long-term process," said Hall. - Mail & Guardian website

Media

Forum of Black Journalists meeting on 22 February in Johannesburg

Of racists, kaffirs and coconuts (part one) - 26 February
My plan had been to tackle the Coconut Wars in this piece, but this is already 1 200 words long. I have listened to the voice of my racist readership accusing me of writing in the African oral tradition. Article by Ndumiso Ngcobo. - Thought Leader website

Furore over FBJ and its coconut journalists - 26 February
I have it on good authority that the biggest sellout and "father of African journalism" is planning a marathon party among the dead to congratulate white journalists and their coconut cohorts who have, so far, managed to suppress the relaunch of the Forum of Black Journalists. As I understand it, media-created coconut journalists will make speeches to thank white colleagues for being midwives in the abortion of the FBJ. In fact, they have effectively suppressed the freedom of black journalists, if there is such a thing, not only to define themselves but also to explain themselves to the world. Black journalists lack a conceptual grasp of what constitutes black journalism. Article by Sandile Memela. - Thought Leader website

SAHRC to debate black media forum - 25 February
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is to hold a public forum on complaints of racial prejudice against the Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ) and the issue of exclusive organisations. Because the issues raised by the complaint were very complex, the commission believed an open forum would create both the space and enabling environment for a full and proper ventilation of the issues before it. The event would take place on March 5 at the SAHRC head office in Parktown, Johannesburg, the commission said. - Mail & Guardian website

702 lays complaint about 'coconut' slur - 25 February
Yusuf Abramjee, Primedia Broadcasting group's head of news and talk programming, and Talk Radio 702/567 host Kieno Kammies on Monday laid a formal complaint of discrimination with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) over the inaugural meeting of the Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ). They said the forum was discriminatory and went against the Constitution. "After we walked out in solidarity with our white colleagues who were ordered out and those who were excluded, we were referred to as 'coconuts' - 'black on the outside and white on the inside'," wrote Kammies and Abramjee. "We are of the view that the term 'coconut' is not only insulting, but [also] discriminatory. It was clearly used in a racial context and this is totally unacceptable and is meant to demean". - Mail & Guardian website

Zuma and Forum of Black Journalists disgrace South Africa - 22 February
By accepting that there is a place for racism in South Africa you are confirming that whites-only schools, Afrikaans-only clubs and any other exclusivity is appropriate. Far worse, your conduct itself is all the proof that separatists need for a new whites-only state. [If] you are suggesting that there are different rules for different groups, that inconsistency would be a recipe for uncertainty, which will result in a lacuna where the rule of law used to be. Article by Michael Trapido, specialist criminal attorney and journalist. - Thought Leader website

Zuma to chew the fat with black journalists - 22 February
African National Congress president Jacob Zuma is to deliver an off-the-record address at the inaugural imbizo [meeting] of a forum exclusively for black journalists in Sandton on Friday. Chairperson of the newly formed forum's steering committee Abbey Makoe, said the Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ) was an association "who would politically in the South African context be defined as of African descent, coloureds and Indians". Makoe said the body's "modus operandi" was to "redress inherent past imbalances which affect journalists as they attempt to work in the public domain". - Mail & Guardian website

Address : Forum of Black Journalists - 24 November 2000
Minister Essop Pahad. - GCIS website

Speech by Deputy President Jacob Zuma to the Forum of Black Journalists' Fundraising Dinner SABC - 19 October 1999
ANC website

Minerals and Energy

Power levy burden lighter on households - 26 February
Household consumers will not be as heavily hit as industrial users by the proposed "green" levy on electricity, head of tax policy in the National Treasury, Ismail Momoniat, said on Tuesday. He was elaborating on the announcement last week by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel that a 2c per kilowatt-hour levy would be introduced this year on the sale of electricity generated from non-renewable sources. Momoniat told Sapa that "big" users of electricity paid 15 to 20c per kWh, while domestic users paid over 40c. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Samda wants govt to set up 'resources bank' to help junior firms - 26 February
Industry group the South African Mining Development Association (Samda) has called for government to create a "resources bank" funded by royalties that mining firms will pay under the Royalty Bill, which Samda chairperson Bridgette Radebe suggests could be mining's equivalent of the agricultural sector's Land Bank. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

ARM charts aggressive iron ore growth plans - 25 February
miningmx.com reported that African Rainbow Minerals expects to increase the price of its iron ore by between 65% and 71% for the coming year as it looks to secure transport and port space to double its iron ore exports in a ZAR 6 billion project. African Rainbow Minerals, which holds 50% of Assmang with partner Assore holding the rest, is to embark on a 12 month in fill drilling program at its Khumani iron ore mine in the Northern Cape to ensure the resources are in place to support a doubling of production. - SteelGuru website

Municipal Management and Procedure

Mangaung

Mangaung to demolish drug, crime dens - 27 February
The Mangaung Municipality in the Free State has embarked on a clean-up operation which will see the demolition of notorious buildings which house drug dealers and illegal immigrants. "The municipality is embarking on a clampdown of all illegal operations in the city. We want to give our city a face and let it remain attractive to people of Mangaung, visitors and investors," said the municipality. This follows a successful campaign of removing illegal occupants from unlawful structures last week. - allAfrica website

Tshwane

Free services for registered indigents - 25 February
The Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality has embarked on indigent registration drive which will see poor households receiving free basic services. Indigent households which register for the services will qualify for 12 kilolitres of free water and 100 kilowatts of electricity per month. The Council's Health and Social Development, Member of the Mayoral Committee, Sonto Thipe, said he hoped to register 90 000 indigent households by the end of June. - allAfrica website

National Prosecuting Authority

Scorpions

Scorpions 'fell prey to information peddlers' - 26 February
The so-called "Special Browse Mole Consolidated Report", dismissed by the Presidency as the product of a campaign by discredited "information peddlers", was produced illegally by the Scorpions and in contravention of their mandate, Parliament's joint standing committee on intelligence said on Tuesday. The report, leaked into the public domain last year, outlines evidence that the Angolan intelligence establishment planned covertly to support former deputy president Jacob Zuma in his presidency bid. It also refers to a meeting of African leaders where possible military backing for Zuma was allegedly discussed, and reports on a meeting of former Umkhonto weSizwe veterans that apparently suggested that the local security establishment should support a pro-Zuma coup if necessary. - Mail & Guardian website

MPs nail Scorpions - 26 February
The controversial "Browse Mole" intelligence report, which alleged that the then Deputy President, Jacob Zuma, was bankrolled by Angola and Libya in support of his presidential ambitions, was illegally drawn up by the Scorpions, parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) announced on Tuesday. The Scorpions report hinted at possible insurrection by elements of the security and intelligence services in support of a Zuma presidency. - IOL website

See Browse Mole Report

Judge wanted SAPS to have same power as Scorpions - 24 February
Judge Sisi Khampepe, who led the inquiry into the future of the Scorpions, recommended that the police be given the same resources and powers as the crime-fighting unit. The Sunday Times has reliably learnt that, in addition to the recommendations that the Scorpions should report to the Safety and Security Ministry, Judge Khampepe also recommended a number of measures to address complaints against the unit in a bid to save it. - The Times website

Scorpions and now organised crime? Why not just legalise corruption? - 13 February
I have worked on many cases involving the Scorpions and the organised crime unit over the years. While both have their flaws - who doesn't? - they are nonetheless our knights in shining armour and, without a doubt, our spearhead in the fight against major crime. They comprise highly trained and courageous professionals who are proud of their work. Lest anyone forget, I am a defence attorney and these units are invariably my opponents. Yet they are responsible for taking the fight to the criminals, exposing major crime and giving the people of this country some sense of security. Article by Michael Trapido, specialist criminal attorney and journalist. - Thought Leader website

The Constitutional and political implications of disbanding the Scorpions
Helen Zille's blog

Taxation Issues

Tax on electricity only the beginning : Manuel - 21 February
 Finance minister Trevor Manuel has proposed a 10% levy on electricity consumption which he warns will be only the first step in a program of fiscal measures aimed at non-renewable resource consumption in South Africa - Consulting Web website

Trade and Industry

Embattled textile sector seeks state survival aid - 26 February
SA's embattled textile industry is being squeezed to the brink of extinction by increasing input costs, some of which have risen as much as 68% due to higher oil prices and a weaker rand. Yesterday, SA's largest textile manufacturer, Frame Textiles, called on the government to intervene to save the industry, which has been earmarked as a key job-creating sector. This comes amid concerns that high input costs, in addition to SA's power problems, are increasing pressure on a sector that has already been forced to cut jobs. - allAfrica website

Transport

Potholes hitting SA pockets - 26 February
The awful condition of South Africa's roads is costing motorists more than R200bn a year. According to South African Roads Federation (Sarf) executive director Dr Malcolm Mitchell, about R20bn was for problems caused by the poor condition of the roads, including potholes that caused damage to vehicles and contributed to accidents. Mitchell said not just national roads, but provincial and municipal roads also were in a bad way. He blamed this on the decrease in the number of professional roads engineers in the public sector, especially since 2000, and provinces that had one fifth of their required complement of engineers. - News24 website

Water Affairs and Forestry

Sewage overflow into rivers worsening - 26 February
Sewage from scores of badly-run municipal treatment works is spilling into rivers across the country every day, raising fears about further outbreaks of water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Based on a government sample study of more than 50 small-to-medium-size municipal sewage works across the country, hundreds of these works across the country appear to be suffering significant management problems. - IOL website

"Simply not enough people committed to the issue of proper water management" - 25 February
Interview with Denis Hughes,  director of the Institute for Water Research, in the south-eastern South African city of Grahamstown, who believes there is cause for concern as regards the incidents of recent months, which have included outbreaks of diarrhoea caused by water contamination. The National Water Act of 1998 is one of the best in the world, he says, but adds that he has reservations about the country's ability to implement this law. - allAfrica website

Xenophobia

Is black SA turning old friends into foes? - 22 February
I needed the return to Africa badly. I had been away from the continent for an uncomfortable stretch, carrying out my scholarly labour in the minefield of North American academe. I still don't know what it was about us that gave us away as foreigners but other passengers, all blacks, lapsed into an uneasy silence as soon as we entered the bus. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I had just experienced, firsthand, South African xenophobia and I was to experience it again and again throughout my three-month sojourn in that country. We had been identified as makwerekwere, the derogatory term used by black South Africans to describe non-South African blacks. Black South Africans, including President Thabo Mbeki, found warmth, hospitality, and friendship during their years of exile in Nigeria. Many black South Africans attended Nigerian universities on Nigerian scholarships. Prejudice has been the force majeure of so much of human history. Not to be outdone, black South Africa has manufactured the ma-kwerekwere as her unique post-apartheid contribution to this gory pantheon. Article by Pius Adesanmi, Associate Professor of English and director, Project on New African Literatures (www.projectponal.com) at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. - IOL website

Miscellaneous

Rhodes's noisy new library on the way - 27 February
Rhodes University has almost raised the R110-million needed to build one of the most modern and unusual libraries in Africa. Speaking at the launch of the George Hallett photographic collection of African writers, Rhodes Vice Chancellor Dr Saleem Badat said they had raised R80-million and needed only the last R30-million. He was confident the library would be completed by 2010. The new four-storey building would be based on a totally new concept. Studying methods had changed. Students were more interactive, worked in groups and had different needs from those provided by the more traditional book- based library. The new library would be wired for internet use, would make greater use of multi-media and would be noisy. Today's students enjoy studying while listening to their MP3s, sitting around work stations and being highly interactive", library director Gwenda Thomas said. - The Herald Online website

Kenya

Rift Valley land issues date back to the colonial period - 25 February
As Kenya grapples with how to address the highly complicated land question, the story of one of the country's most promising lawyers' struggle to prove land ownership patterns in parts of the Rift Valley province and elsewhere comes to mind. Elijah Marima Sempeta was murdered in early 2005, just months after he had scoured archives in London for documents the Maasai needed for a suit against both the British and Kenyan governments over the "loss" of its land in the early 1900s. His legacy lives on. Sempeta had secured copies of documents that paint a clearer picture of pre-colonial and colonial land ownership patterns in many areas in Rift Valley Province. - Nation Media website

Zimbabe

Zimbabwe says Britain, US pushing for regime change via elections - 26 February
Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa charged Tuesday that Great Britain and the United States are stoking tensions in the country ahead of March elections in an effort to bring about regime change, warning Harare would not tolerate interference. Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo, speaking at the Institute of Security Studies in South Africa, presented what he said was a letter from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the Law Society of Britain in which he is purported to have promised to keep funding Zimbabwean groups working for "democratic change". - Voice of America website

India

Recommendation on contract labour - 27 February
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour has recommended including contract workers, who had completed five years of service, within the purview of the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2007. In a report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the committee said that it found that the contract labour system was prevalent virtually in every organisation of the government but the contract workers were being denied their basic rights, including minimum wages, working conditions, social security, and continuity of service. The panel strongly felt that the genuine rights and interests of the contract labour should not continue to suffer and the government should not only make an overall assessment of the contract labour system but also review the systemic flaws and carry out the possible reforms in the legislation. - The Hindu website

Microsoft fined record £681m for defying EU - 27 February
The European Commission has fined Microsoft a record €899m (£681m, $1.4bn) for defying sanctions imposed on the software giant for anti-competitive behaviour. It fined Microsoft what was than a record €497m (£330m) in 2004 after it found the software giant guilty of using its near monopoly to stifle its rivals. - Telegraph website

Iran

EU attacks Iran's new penal code - 26 February
The European Union has criticised the new penal code being drafted in Iran, particularly a section that imposes the death penalty for giving up Islam. The EU said this section and other parts of the code violated Tehran's commitments under international human rights conventions. Death for apostasy already exists in Iran under Sharia - or Islamic - law. But the changes would for the first time bring the punishment into the criminal code. - BBC News website

Iraq

'Chemical Ali' execution approved - 29 February
The execution of Saddam Hussein's cousin and henchman "Chemical Ali" has been approved by Iraq's presidency. He was condemned to death on genocide charges for killing 100 000 Kurds during the 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds in northern Iraq. Chemical Ali - whose real name is Hassan al-Majid - was initially sentenced to death in June last year but legal wranglings held up the case. The execution was approved two days ago, to be carried out within 30 days. - BBC News website

Turkey

Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts - 26 February
Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion. The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran. The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad. But the Turkish state has come to see the Hadith as having an often negative influence on a society it is in a hurry to modernise, and believes it responsible for obscuring the original values of Islam. - BBC News website

Anti-Terrorism

Government told to release Iraq minutes - 26 February
The country's information watchdog ordered the government on Tuesday to release the minutes of cabinet meetings held in March 2003 which discussed the legal justification for going to war in Iraq. Release of the documents could embarrass Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose predecessor Tony Blair was accused by critics of glossing over lawyers' initial reservations about launching the invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. - Reuters website

Courts

Heiress fights refugee over divorce share-out - 20 February
An heiress who married a penniless East European refugee told the Court of Appeal yesterday that her "equal shares" divorce settlement was unfair. Linda Berkeley, who has dual American and British citizenship, claimed her million-dollar inheritance had been reduced to just over $168 000 (£86 000) after years of supporting Ardian Bulliqi and his family. - The Telegraph website

Criminal Justice System

Tougher measures for drug dealers - 27 February
Suspected drug dealers' assets could be seized on arrest, rather than charge, under ministers' new drugs strategy. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says it would stop assets being "salted" away - and said suspects who were "completely innocent" would get their assets back. The Conservatives and civil liberties group questioned the legality of confiscating goods before convictions. - BBC News website

Emigration and Immigration

Britain may abolish ancestry visa - 22 February
Britain is proposing to sever its historic ties to tens of thousands of Commonwealth nationals who have an automatic right through descent to live and work here. The small print of this week's Home Office green paper charting new pathways to citizenship suggests the ancestry visa might be abolished. The visa enables people aged 17 or over whose grandparents were born in the UK to come for four years and eventually apply to stay. It is used mainly by young Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans coming to Britain to work and as a base to explore Europe. - The Telegraph website

Health

Drug addicts could lose benefits - 27 February
Drug addicts who refuse to accept treatment will lose their state benefits for up to six months under new government measures. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the move is part of a 10-year strategy to help tackle drug-related crime and social problems. - Reuters website

Land Affairs and Property

Activists await fight in doomed Heathrow village - 26 February
Sitting in a wood-beamed pub that would be buried under London Heathrow's proposed third runway, locals Geraldine Nicholson and Linda McCutcheon say they do not intend to give up their homes without a fight. The government, business leaders and airport operator BAA say the world's busiest international airport must expand or lose out to continental rivals, damaging the country's economy. - Reuters website

Trade and Industry

Legal threat as supercasino plans dropped - 27 February
Plans for a controversial supercasino were scrapped after ministers admitted it would have fuelled problem gambling without boosting the economy. As the Government formally withdrew proposals to introduce Las Vegas-style gambling to the UK, Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, said a review had found deprived areas were unlikely to have prospered as a result of the supercasino. Manchester City Council, which won the bid to run the UK's first regional gaming centre last year, said it would wait to see whether the Government came up with alternative means of regenerating the deprived area in the east of the city where the supercasino would have gone. Council leader Sir Richard Leese warned that if regeneration cash equivalent to the £265 million Manchester had been promised was not forthcoming, the council would consider legal action which could cost local and central Government taxpayers many millions of pounds. - Telegraph website

Miscellaneous

Sharia law 'would undermine British society' - 27 February
Muslim Sharia law would undermine society if it was introduced in Britain, Conservative leader David Cameron said today. Mr Cameron said it would in fact lead to a "legal apartheid". He added that "state multiculturalism" was also the wrong way to tackle integration. - Telegraph website

Clifford Chance chief berates staff for taxi abuse - 26 February
Clifford Chance London managing partner Jeremy Sandelson has emailed staff to warn them about escalating taxi costs as the firm looks to tighten its belt during the economic downturn. The firm will now monitor the use of taxis and will re-examine its taxi expenses policy if costs do not decrease. The firm's current taxi policy is that taxis can only be taken if working legitimately on firm business after 9pm in winter and 10pm in summer. Taxi costs should never exceed £60 but, according to Sandelson, taxis are often kept waiting outside the office for long periods with the meters running. The new HMRC tax guidance on taxis was also referred to by Sandelson. - The Lawyer website

9/11

For engineer, a cloud of litigation after 9/11 - 23 February
Mr Gilsanz, a structural engineer with a small firm in Manhattan, was one of the legions of people who just showed up downtown after the Sept 11, 2001, attack to help. Led by Mr Gilsanz, a group of structural engineers talked their way past the barricades. Despite the fast pace and cruel terrain, no workers died because of structural failures or accidents during the recovery. Now, however, thousands of people have filed lawsuits claiming that they became ill by breathing the air at the World Trade Center site while working on the recovery. Finally, one man has sued on behalf of the United States, claiming that Mr Gilsanz is part of a vast conspiracy to cover up the truth about 9/11, including the "so-called building failures". The lawsuit maintains that exotic weaponry actually destroyed the buildings, and that the airplanes were mass psychological trickery. Mr Gilsanz is one of about 130 structural engineers from 30 firms who have been named as defendants in an enormous cloud of litigation that drifts, year by year, through the federal court. Joseph Tortorella, a former president of the Structural Engineers Association, who is also being sued and Mr Gilsanz say they had nothing to do with monitoring the air. "Air quality is out of our realm as structural engineers," Mr Gilsanz said. "We were in the same atmosphere, exposed to the same substances. I took the training with all the workers. Everyone was told to wear the respirator. It was hard". A lawyer for many of the people suing, Paul J Napoli, said the structural engineers should have made sure that other workers were protected from contaminants in the air. Anyone who directs workers has a duty under long-established labor law not to send them into unsafe conditions without protection, he said. "They shirked their responsibility time and time again," Mr Napoli said. - New York Times website

Environment

Pentagon declares satellite shootdown a success - 25 February
The Pentagon declared on Monday that its mission to blast apart a defunct spy satellite with a missile fired from a Navy warship had been a success. The strike took place 247 km (153.5 miles) above the Pacific Ocean last Wednesday as the satellite sped through space at more than 17 000 mph (27 000 kph), according to US officials. - Reuters website

Potential health effects associated with hydrazine and satellite reentry - 25 February
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is collaborating with federal partners to address potential health and safety threats associated with the reentry of an uncontrolled U.S. government satellite into the earth's atmosphere within the next few weeks. Because the satellite's fuel contains the toxic chemical hydrazine, it is possible that the reentry of the satellite could pose a public health threat if pieces of it fall into populated areas. The risk of health effects related to the satellite is considered to be low. However, CDC is encouraging health officials and clinicians to review information about the health effects related to hydrazine to prepare in case their communities are affected by satellite debris. - Infectious Diseases Society of America website

Space weapons - 26 February
The interception and destruction of a falling US spy satellite by the US Navy last week was spectacular in technological terms. In diplomatic terms, however, it may have been the death knell for any hopes that the world will ban weapons in space. The diplomatic problem with last week's satellite destruction, and with China's similar action last year, rests with the rapid spread of "hit-to-kill" technologies. - JournalNow website

Running the numbers : an American self-portrait
This series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something : fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use) ; 106 000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 410 000 paper cups used every fifteen minutes. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. The underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming. - Chris Jordan website

Health

Administration's Medicaid Regulations will weaken coverage, harm states, and strain health care system - 13 February
Taken together, these regulatory changes will reduce federal Medicaid spending by close to $15 billion over the next five years. Most of these costs will simply be shifted to state and local governments, at a time when states have less capacity to absorb added costs given the economic slowdown and their weakening fiscal conditions. All of the regulations will shift costs to states and localities by limiting federal support for services that have typically been supported partly by federal funds and are widely seen as important and necessary. - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities website

Minerals and Energy

Millions hit by Florida power cut - 27 February
More than three million people in southern Florida were left without power as power stations across the state shut down. People were stranded in lifts, while several hospitals and Miami airport had to use back-up power, said officials. Hundreds of thousands of homes were without electricity and traffic ground to a halt in many places. A nuclear reactor was among the plants to shut down. Power was restored to most parts of the state several hours later. - BBC News website

Miscellaneous

Obama, BigLaw, and taxes (or : Obama = $34 000 paycut) - 26 February
We all know that Obama wants to end the Bush tax cuts. That is a 3% bump across the board to the bad old days when associates faced a marginal federal tax rate of 36%. But the real hidden tax is that Obama plans to end the social-security tax cap. Right now, you may notice, sometime during the summer or early fall, your take-home pay suddenly goes up because they stop deducting FICA. Current law caps social security taxes : in 2008, the cap is at $102 000. Obama proposes to abolish this. That mid-summer bump will be no more : add about several thousand dollars to your annual tax bill. But social-security taxes are not only on employees. The government also charges 6.2% to employers that you never see on your W-2s. But rest assured the partners see this, and will notice that the expense of keeping an associate has risen several thousand dollars a year when FICA taxes double and triple. Will they swallow that additional expense, or take it out of your bonus? - Above the Law website

Justices take vehicle-search case - 25 February
A seemingly routine drug arrest in Tucson, Ariz, will be reviewed by the Supreme Court to clarify the circumstances in which police officers who do not have a warrant can search the vehicle of a person who is under arrest. When two uniformed police officers went to a Tucson house after getting a tip about drug activity there, Mr Gant answered the door and told the officers that the owner of the house was not there but would return later. The officers left and ran a record check on Mr Gant, discovering that his driver's license had been suspended and that there was an arrest warrant against him for driving with a suspended license. The officers returned to the house and arrested and handcuffed him. Then a search of Mr Gant’s car turned up a small plastic bag containing cocaine. After Mr Gant was convicted of possession of a drug with intent to sell plus possession of drug paraphernalia, his lawyers continued to try to have the evidence against him suppressed, asserting that there had been no justification for the warrantless search of his vehicle. - New York Times website

Judge makes lawyers pay for frivolity - 25 February
A federal judge recently got so infuriated by the conduct of two highly regarded trial attorneys that he overturned a jury's $51 million verdict, then ordered the lawyers to pay the fees and costs of the opposing lawyers, a sum that could total several million dollars. He ruled that the entire trial was "frivolous" and the case filed solely to stifle competition rather than to protect a patent. - Denver Post website

Arctic

A comfy seat among Arctic power brokers - 29 February
For Aaju Peter, it's vital that Inuit are comfortable with the way the Arctic, and the especially the Northwest Passage, are opened up to the world. Powerful people will decide in coming years who controls the passage and what goes through it, and Peter says Inuit need to be part of the process. Arctic nations, especially Canada, the US, Russia and Denmark are busy mapping the polar sea floor, eager to establish claims under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that could give them control over territory that's home to vast troves of oil, natural gas and minerals. For Peter, the greatest success was convincing the group to include language in the agreement recognizing obligations under land claims agreements to aboriginal peoples in the region. - Nunatsiaq News website

Environment

In dead water : merging of climate change with pollution, over-harvest, and infestations in the world's fishing groups - February 2008
Edited by C Nellemann, S Hain and J Elder. United Nations Environment Programme
At least three quarters of the globe's key fishing groups may become seriously impacted by changes in circulation as a result of the ocean's natural pumping systems fading and falling they suggest. These natural pumps, dotted at sites across the world including the Arcitc and the Mediterranean, bring nutrients to fisheries and keep them healthy by flushing out wastes and pollution. - UNEP website

The new 'Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World' in the Internet Age - [February 2008]
The publication of the authoritative 'Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World' is always a feast for the land of cartographers, geographers and the like. An atlas is considered the ultimate cartographic product, and the Times Atlas stands on its own in the reference atlas category. However, one might wonder if a traditional paper product like the Times Atlas has a right to exist in our world of Googles and Microsofts. Before answering this question let's look at the Atlas itself. It will also be compared with another authority in mapping and one of its competitors, the "National Geographic Atlas of the World". - GEOInformatics website

Source : Internet