|
Electronic copies
of this information may be obtained from our librarians at
help@lawlibrary.co.za or click
on the underlined hyperlink where relevant
South Africa
Animal
Rights
US
tycoon fights for white rhino trophy - 6 November
One of the richest men in America is embroiled in a heated legal
battle with South African wildlife officials to recover the trophy
head of a white rhino bull. The twist to the story is that the
rhino at the centre of the row appears to be alive and healthy in
Mkhuze game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal after surviving a hunting
attempt more than three months ago by Texas property tycoon H Ross
Perot jr, son of H Ross Perot, former US presidential candidate
who stood against George Bush (sr) and Bill Clinton in the 1992
presidential elections. The animal was apparently shot and wounded
by Perot jr in late July, but the bull ran off and wildlife
officials have been unable to find any sign of a carcass or a
wounded animal - indicating that it suffered a flesh wound or was
not seriously injured. - IOL
website
Correctional
Services
Free
Shaik 'damaged parole credibility' - 5 November
The credibility of the parole system has been damaged by the
release of President Jacob Zuma's former financial adviser,
Schabir Shaik, on medical parole, the head of the Council for
Corrections, Judge Siraj Desai, said yesterday. While briefing
Parliament's correctional services committee on the operations
of the council, Desai was asked by Democratic Alliance MP James
Selfe about the image of parole in the eyes of the public, to
which he responded that the credibility of parole as a
correctional instrument had been damaged. He suggested the law
be changed to remove the power to refer paroles from the hands
of the minister and the commissioner and given to the Council
for Corrections. - Business
Day website
Criminal
Justice System
Doctor
reluctant to help in criminal cases after arrest - 5 November
A Milpark
Hospital
doctor says she is reluctant to help in criminal
cases after she was arrested for being in contempt of court.
Rachelle Isakov was subpoenaed to give evidence in a rape case at
the Johannesburg Magistrates Court last month but could not
testify due to a medical emergency. She was then arrested at work
in front of patients and staff last week and released hours later
on a warning. - Eye
Witness News website
Defence
SA
terminates deal to buy eight Airbus A400M planes - 5 November
The South African government has cancelled an order with Airbus
Military for eight A400M aircraft, owing to "expensive"
and "unaffordable" costs escalations and a failure by
Airbus to deliver within agreed timelines. "Cabinet decided
to terminate the contract to purchase eight A400M strategic lift
aircraft", spokesperson Themba Maseko told reporters on
Thursday. Defence procurement agency Armscor had been instructed
to end the contract "as quickly as possible", and
R2,9-billion would be refunded to the National Treasury "as
per contractual provisions". - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
Minister
hopes to gain refund from Airbus - 5 November
Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says government is due a nearly
R3bn refund from Airbus. Sisulu briefed Parliament’s
Defence Committee on government's decision to terminate the
acquisition of eight heavy-lift military aircraft on Thursday. - Eye
Witness News website
Education
'Ideal
outcome' to bullying incident - 5 November
The mother of a Grade 8 Glenwood High pupil who was
"bullied" by a group of four Grade 9s is relieved after
the Durban school decided to discipline the culprits through
counselling and community service following a disciplinary hearing
last week. The hearing was held after an incident two weeks
ago when four Grade 9 boys approached a Grade 8 pupil and tried to
push his head down a toilet after a physical education class. -
IOL website
Judicial
Service Commission, and, Judiciary
Judging
quality - 5 November
According to SA's new chief justice, Sandile Ngcobo, judicial
temperament is a key attribute for aspiring judges. Addressing the
Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in September, Ngcobo added
scholarship, experience, dignity, rationality, capacity for
articulation, diligence, intellectual integrity, energy and
courage to the list. A long list of noble virtues and high
standards indeed - but now Ngcobo, as the new chairman of the JSC,
will need in practice to identify these qualities in candidates
interviewed for the bench. - Financial
Mail website
Judged
and found wanting - 31 October
One of society's most important institutions is as much a symptom
of bitter division as a force for healing and leadership. Prakash
Naidoo looks at a judiciary and a legal profession that are
battling - often in public - to get over the past. - Article
by Prakash Naidoo on Leader
website
Prejudice
taints the country's pool of potential judges - 7 November
Article by Kgomotso Moroka SC, member of the Johannesburg bar and
chairman of Advocates for Transformation, Johannesburg. - Sunday
Times website
KwaZulu-Natal
Goodbye
to KZN millions - 2 November
The embattled KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture will not
be able to recover some of the R80-million unaccounted for
because essential supporting documents have gone missing. A
forensic investigation into the department revealed the reasons
for R80m being unaccounted for as mismanagement, financial
irregularities, fraud and corruption. - IOL
website
Auditor
General praises KZN - 5 November
Auditor General Terence Nombembe on Thursday praised
KwaZulu-Natal for major improvements in managing public funds,
but raised concerns about the province's failure to manage
assets properly. "We are pleased to report that only one
department in the province had an adverse report. We really
welcome that. However, the issue of poor recording of assets is
tarnishing the good image". The Royal Household was the
only department that received an adverse report. - News24
website
Turnaround
strategy for royal household - 5 November
Premier Zweli Mkhize on Thursday announced measures seeking to
turn-around the royal household department, moving it away
from being a fund-guzzling institution to a self-sufficient
public entity, supported by a royal household trust. The
trust, which would be set up in terms of the KwaZulu-Natal
Royal Household Trust Act, was expected to be
operational within the next two weeks. Mkhize said the
trustees and the CEO had been appointed with the chair of the
trust being, Judge Jerome Ngwenya, who is also the chairman of
Ingonyama Land Trust. The deputy chairman is Prince Mbonisi
Zulu, Zwelithini's brother and the spokesman for the Royal
Household. - IOL website
Keyphrase :
Public Finance Management Act
3
November 2009
Mid-term
expenditure review
SA Government Information
website
KZN
cabinet agrees to cost-cutting exercise - 4 November
The KwaZulu-Natal cabinet yesterday agreed after intense
discussions that the spending of all departments must be cut
by more than R2 billion.
This was announced by finance MEC Ina Cronjé during a
mid-term budget review in Pietermaritzburg yesterday. - Sowetan
website
Land
Affairs and Property
Dispute
hits all transfers of land, say surveyors - 2 November
New land transactions are being disrupted by a prolonged labour
dispute at the Department of Rural Development and Land Affairs,
according to the SA Geomatics Institute. "Several critical
surveyor-general offices have effectively ceased to function and
others are on a go-slow due to the failure of protracted
negotiations about wages and staff levels over the last
year," Gavin Lloyd, the president of the organisation for
professionals working across the land surveying sector, said on
Friday. He said at the moment the worst affected
surveyor-general offices were in Pietermaritzburg and Pretoria,
but the disruptions could intensify in other areas if the labour
dispute was not resolved. - Business
Report website
EAAB
declares dispute - 3 November
The dispute between the Services Sector Education and Training
Authority (Sseta) and Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) related
to the introduction of new compulsory educational standards for
the real estate industry from 2012 has taken a new turn. The
EAAB has now formally declared an intergovernmental dispute with
the Seta in terms of the Intergovernmental
Relations Framework Act. - Business
Report website
Sexwale
axes DG Kotsoane - 5 November
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has booted out his
director-general, Itumeleng Kotsoane, despite initial denials.
And Mziwonke Dlabantu introduced himself to parliamentarians
yesterday as acting director-general of the Department of Human
Settlements. - IOL website
Sexwale
says he is ready to take tough action against fraudulent
contractors - 2 November
In light of the "serious problems with housing service
delivery", the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) has
commissioned an audit to "take a rigorous look at housing
delivery – from top to bottom", and examine, review and
analyse the chronic problems in the delivery of houses. The
outcomes of this audit would be : facilitation of criminal
action ; institution of civil action ; forcing contractors to
finish their work ; claims against contractors who have not done
their work properly ; blacklisting of repeat offenders in all
provinces ; and naming and shaming of people both inside and
outside of government. - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
Millions
wasted on shoddy housing construction, Minister avers - 2
November
The Department of Human Settlements on Monday stated that
shoddy construction work, and inferior workmanship on the part
of contracted construction companies meant that "money
has been wasted", as these houses had to be destroyed. - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
Hunting
down the housing vermin - 4 November
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale this week shrugged
off a trade union's callfor his personal assets to be
"nationalised", and remained focused on
re-launching, with further detail, a war against corrupt
private sector housing contractors, along with connected
public servants, lawyers and estate agents. There are, of
course, countless innocents among this bunching, but the
targeted reprobates are also in very good numbers, responsible
for monumental corruption, fraud and backlogs in delivering
houses to South Africa's underprivileged. Amid the stench, the
housing audit is being led by the Special Investigations Unit
(SIU), a division of the National Prosecuting Authority, and
supported by the Auditor-General's office, plus all provincial
government departments, Parliament's standing committee on
public accounts, and the portfolio committee on human
settlements. That is the combined war machine, but is it big
enough, and does it have the resolve to face up to the savage
ugliness that stolen billons always manages to build? - Moneyweb
website
Family
gives up 10-year development fight - 3 November
The Wiehahn family has thrown in the towel after almost 10 years
of legal battles costing millions of rand for the right to develop
land on the slopes of Table Mountain. The decision follows a
recent Supreme Court ruling upholding a High Court decision to set
aside development rights granted in 1957 to the then-owner of the
land at Oudekraal. The family had planned to build more than 200
luxury housing units on a portion of the mountainside. - IOL
website
Table
Mountain victory for the people - 3 November
Groups opposing housing development on the historic mountain
slopes beneath the Twelve Apostles are elated Cape Town's
surveyor-general has finally stamped "cancelled" across
the plan. The surveyor-general's office was giving effect to an
order of the Cape High Court, upheld later by the Supreme Court of
Appeal this year, which set aside the development rights of owner
Kassie Wiehahn on Oudekraal. This final administrative detail
ended what must be one of the longest - and most expensive -
development battles in the country, which began 13 years ago when
Wiehahn took the first steps to begin building on the site in
1996. - IOL website
Minerals
and Energy
2
November 2009
Address
by the Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe, at the Chamber of
Mines of South Africa Annual General Meeting (AGM) dinner,
Johannesburg Country Club
SA Government Information
website
Transformation
in mining sector must be expedited - 3 November
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has noted with concern that the
mining industry has not transformed as quickly or sufficiently as
it could. "We do need to expedite the transformation of our
industry . . . Transformation cannot be limited to changing the
nature of ownership, but must enhance the contribution of the
industry to development, the creation of decent work opportunities
and sustainable growth", Motlanthe said. He was speaking at
the Chamber of Mines of South Africa Annual General Meeting on
Monday. - BuaNews Online
website
'No
immediate plans to nationalise mines' - 3 November
South Africa's mining sector "should take comfort that there
are no immediate plans from the state to nationalise mines",
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Monday night. - Mail
& Guardian website
2
November 2009
Address
by Minister of Mineral Resources, Susan Shabangu, at the 120th
Annual General Meeting of the Chamber of Mines
SA Government Information
website
State
gets tough on 'fronting' miners - 4 November
The South African government has questioned the mining sector's
commitment to transformation, and hit out at companies for using
black people as "fronts" or "window-dressers"
to meet mining-charter targets, Business Day reported on
Wednesday. Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said on
Tuesday the latest review of the charter indicated fronting was
widespread, and warned tougher measures would be announced soon to
curb the practice. - Business
Report website
SA
govt will allow Chamber input on 'unfair' Mining Charter review
- 3 November
The South African government had completed its review of the
Mining Charter, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said
on Tuesday. Shabangu said at the annual general meeting of the
Chamber of Mines (CoM) that she was aware that the CoM regarded
the government's review of the charter as being
"unfair" and pledged to give the organisation a chance
to provide input, prior to the document being finalised. - Creamer
Media's Mining Weekly website
Nationalisation
call based on mining being 'gem in SA crown' : Chamber - 3
November
The underlying logic of the call to nationalise South Africa's
mining industry was the mining sector's status as "a precious
gem in our country's sovereign crown", Chamber of Mines (CoM)
president Sipho Nkosi said in Johannesburg on Tuesday. - Creamer
Media's Mining Weekly website
Unfair
to blame only Maroga, says Hogan - 4 November
Embattled Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga is not solely responsible for the
power utility's problems, Public Enterprises Minister Barbara
Hogan said on Wednesday. Replying to questions in the National
Assembly, she said it was unfair to blame only Maroga. Earlier,
www.fin24.com reported that President Jacob Zuma had intervened to
prevent Maroga being sacked by the Eskom board. - Business
Report website
Maroga
exits Eskom - 5 November
Electricity supplier Eskom's CEO Jacob Maroga has resigned with
immediate effect, according to a staff announcement made by the
company's chair Bobby Godsell on Thursday afternoon. Two different
Eskom employees confirmed Godsell made the announcement that
Maroga, who was absent from the announcement, resigned on Friday.
"They said they are still resolving the legal matters of his
employment contract," said a source. - News24
website
Maroga
resignation confirmed to staff, but public announcement cancelled
- 5 November
State-owned power utility Eskom on Thursday cancelled a scheduled
media conference (at the last minute), at which chairperson Bobby
Godsell was due to announce that the board had accepted the
resignation of the utility's beleaguered CEO Jacob Maroga. Godsell
had, during the course of the morning, already held various
briefings with staff, during which he read a statement indicating
the board's acceptance of Maroga's resignation. He did not
announce the name of a replacement, or even an interim
replacement, indicating that this would be the prerogative of the
shareholder. - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
Parliament
slams Maroga saga - 6 November
he Eskom board has the habit of "running amok" in
critical moments, Vytjie Mentor, the chairwoman of Parliament's
portfolio committee on public enterprises said on Friday. This was
in reaction to reports that Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga had resigned. -
Business Report website
Municipal
Management and Procedure
Chaos
cripples many SA municipalities - 31 October
Sicelo Shiceka, the minister for cooperative governance and
traditional affairs, has lifted the lid on the chaos that has
crippled many of South Africa's 283 municipalities. Responding
to parliamentary questions, he said he would table a
comprehensive strategy next month to bring order to towns across
the country. - Times Live
website
eThekwini
|
Press
Release : City Initiatives in the South Durban Basin
This
press release was emailed out at : 06 November, 2009 12:30
Air
Pollution Intervention in the South Durban Basin over the last
decade
The
democratic government of South Africa responded to community
concerns relating to poor air quality in the South Durban Basin,
covering areas of Merebank, Wentworth, Bluff and Clairwood. The
government's strategic response was through the Cabinet endorsed
Multi-point Plan of November 2000 for the SDB. Through the
implementation of the plan and efforts by all Stakeholders :
Government, Community and Industry we have achieved the
following :
-
Reduced exposure to Sulphur dioxide pollution in Merebank and
Wentworth by 77% and 66% respectively (refer to graph) ;
- Brought Benzene exposure, which is toxic and carcinogenic, to
within very strict compliance levels in Merebank and Island view
;
- Eliminated the toxic heavy metal lead as a fuel additive. Lead
is a neuro-toxin, it can impede brain development in
children if exposed to high levels.
- The levels have come down to below World Health Organizations
limits ;
- Regulated top 5 industries in the SDB through an improved
permitting system ;
- Implemented a world acclaimed air quality monitoring network
to measure air pollutants and report on performance ;
- There are several transport and traffic related developments
on the Chief Albert Luthuli motorway and the Khangela Bridge
which will serve to streamlining traffic flow and reduce
vehicular emissions. This will have a positive impact in the
Clairwood area
- The remaining challenges concern odour emissions and
incidents. We as the local government have plans in place to
address them. Some of the plans are the Southern Works odour
abatement plan ;
- City commitment to putting forward an integrated land use
planning framework between the port and Clairwood. This plan,
which if implemented, will have a positive impact on the social
and physical environment.
Air
Quality and Land use Planning efforts in Clairwood and Environs
EThekwini
Municipality is currently looking into the Land Use Management
issues and challenges in and around the Back of Port area which
includes the geographical area of Clairwood. The high volume of
logistical activity in the area and its immediate surroundings
often creates a pollution nuisance to local residents. The
mixed land use planning in the area further compounds the
pollution nuisance.
New
flats in Landsdowne Road in Merewent are nearly complete and
several families are eager to move in. About 70 tenants from the
Tara Road barracks have signed to move into the new flats. The
units are valued at R350 000 each. In addition R700 million
housing re-development project is planned for neighbouring
Austerville. KZN MEC of Human Settlement and Public Works, Ms
Maggie Govender recently pledged funds for the project.
The money would be used to refurbish and upgrade Council flats
which will be transferred into the ownership of the occupants.
Hence
the City has embarked on a study to address the current
environmental and logistical challenges within the Back of Port
area. As part of the study an air quality assessment of the area
has been undertaken which evaluates the levels of pollutants
within the defined geographic area, it also highlights the major
contributing factors to such pollution. The information derived
from this study coupled with a series of Air Quality modeling
(with specific reference to TRAFFIC) will assist in developing a
more sustainable living environment in the Back of Port area.
This information will be beneficial in evaluating what the best
land use planning for the area would be and what mitigating
factors will have to be implemented.
In
addition the City's Air Quality Management Plan has highlighted
the Jacob's industrial area as a thematic air quality
deliverable, noting the air pollution challenges from the high
density industrial and commercial activity. One of the most
significant challenges in the area is that of Odorous Emissions,
to which the City has focused on developing a strategy to reduce
the aforementioned. The strategy focuses on prioritizing the
major contributors to unpleasant odours and working collectively
in assessing options for abatement.
The
City views the above as proactive steps in addressing some of
the environmental challenges in the area.
To
see the table go to http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/government/media/image-and-document-storage/tab/
For
more information contact Mr Siva Chetty : Deputy Head of
Municipality's Pollution Control and Risk Management Department
on 083-387 8110 or email chettysiva@durban.gov.za
Issued
by Communications Department of eThekwini Municipality. Contact
Ms Ntsiki Magwaza on 031-311 2279 or email magwazan@durban.gov.za
|
Name
Changes
Petition
over name changes - 3 November
AfriForum will send a petition to Arts and Culture Minister Lulu
Xingwana to stop the changing of the names of 42 towns, the
organisation said on Monday. Included in the list are towns like
Nelspruit, changed to Mbombela, and Waterval Boven, changed to
Emgwenya. The announcement led to an outcry from mostly
opposition parties and civil movements like the Afrikanerbond,
who said the changes had been done without any consultation.
"It is important that all affected stakeholders be
consulted and engaged and the process should be unifying rather
than divisive", Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya
said. - News24 website
See
: GN 978/GG 32632/16-10-2009
Keyphrases
:
Belfast
Machadodorp
Nelspruit
Rietvlei
Tweefontein
Waterval Boven
South
African Police Service
Police
redeployed instead of suspended - 4 November
Eleven high-ranking officers of the Mountain Rise Police Station
in Pietermaritzburg - who have been accused of manipulating the
station's crime statistics - have been transferred to work with
acting Provincial Commissioner Bongani Ntanjana, pending the
outcome of an investigation into the matter. Police Director
Phindile Radebe said the decision to redeploy the officers had
come after they made representations to Ntanjana, indicating why
they should not be suspended while the investigation continued.
This decision was taken to enable a smooth and speedy
investigation and to remove any hint of perceived hindrance, as
all 11 members were in management positions at the station. - IOL
website
Sport
and Recreation
ASA
offers apology to Semenya - 5 November
Athletics South Africa wants to "publicly and
unconditionally apologise to Caster Semenya and her family, the
President of South Africa as well as to all South Africans for
the handling of her gender verification processes and the
subsequent aftermath". - Times
Live website
ASA
head suspended over Semenya debacle - 5 November
Athletics South Africa
head Leonard Chuene has been suspended on the day ASA
finally apologised for its handling of the Caster Semenya gender
debacle. The body on Thursday released a statement accepting the
findings of the ANC Caster Semenya task team. - Eye
Witness News website
Trade
and Industry
Vavi
explains why his salary has been doubled - 4 November
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi's salary has doubled to
R500 000 a year, the Star reported on Wednesday. "My
salary doubled because we were losing all the policy capacity in
the federation", said Vavi. "The economists and
accountants were all gone, because if you keep the salary at
R250 000, it means the economists can't make those
sacrifices for years and years. They lose out". The
newspaper said Cosatu administrators and researchers earned
about R7 000 per month while security guards earned less
than R4 000. - Mail &
Guardian website
Western
Cape
Rasool
defied the law - 3 November
Damning claims have emerged in the full report on the Erasmus
Commission released on Tuesday about how then-premier Ebrahim
Rasool directed top officials to ignore the law and about secret
meetings without minutes. The commission cost the taxpayer R6.2
million. The long-awaited report by the Brian Williams
Consultancy suggests Rasool told his officials to ignore legal
opinion that the Erasmus commissions were invalid because
"sometimes the political has to prevail". - IOL
website
3
November 2009
Racist
remarks by the speaker of Western Cape Provincial Legislature a
cause for concern
SA Government Information
webiste
Speaker
apologises for 'racist' threat - 3 November
Provincial speaker Shahid Esau has apologised for his
"racist" threat to replace the "too many black
women" staffers at the legislature with "boere"
(white men). This came after Cosatu on Monday joined the fray
and threatened to report him to the SA Human Rights Commission
and the Public Protector if he did not apologise before Tuesday. Members
of Cosatu-affiliated unions and other legislature staff signed a
petition to express disgust at Esau's remarks during an earlier
staff meeting. - IOL website
Miscellaneous
South
Africa's legal war over Gaza - 29 October
A group of South African lawyers are confident that
judge Richard Goldstone's recent Gaza report has
paved the way for a legal case that could see uncomfortable
questions about the conflict asked much closer to
home. They want to investigate South African citizens who
may have fought for the Israeli army during the war on Gaza
in December and January, with a view to prosecuting them on
South African soil for war crimes and crimes against
humanity. The lawyers are representing two civic organisations,
The Media Review Network and the Palestinian Solidarity
Alliance. Working from a Johannesburg office, they are building
a case known as the Gaza docket which seeks to bring the South
African soldiers to justice for their role in the Gaza war. The
lawyers are all Muslims, but deny they are only taking
on the case to defend their co-religionists. - Aljazeera
website
'Nationalise
Motsepe's obscene wealth' - 2 November
The National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) on Monday called for
the nationalisation of the wealth of South Africa's richest man,
Patrice Motsepe and ANC struggle hero, Tokyo Sexwale. This comes
after South Africa's "Rich List" was published by the Sunday
Times on Sunday. The list, compiled by Who Owns Whom, showed
that Motsepe was the richest South African with R14,2-billion. -
IOL website
Calls
for nationalisation are based on jealousy : Mantashe - 3
November
Calls to nationalise the personal wealth of BEE tycoons Tokyo
Sexwale and Patrice Motsepe were based on jealousy, ANC
secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday. "It's
talking to the resentment we have among ourselves as black
people. If anybody progresses we feel very jealous and we resent
their success", Mantashe told a media briefing at Luthuli
House in Johannesburg. - Moneyweb
website
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