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2010 FIFA World Cup

Trouble hits crowd control plan - 2 May
Police and aviation officials are on a collision course over plans to deploy a fleet of unmanned surveillance aircraft above stadiums during the 2010 soccer World Cup. The radio-controlled, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are slightly bigger than model aircraft, fitted with camera equipment that enables security officials to monitor events on the ground. Police spokesman Director Sally De Beer confirmed police are "definitely going to acquire" several UAVs, although the exact model had still to be decided. However, the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) this week said UAV's were technically illegal. - The Times website

Arms and Ammunition

Gun owners in the legal firing line - 6 May
Gun owners who have not renewed their licences could face charges of possession of an illegal firearm if they do not hand in their weapons before the end of next month. Police spokesperson Billy Jones on Tuesday confirmed that once the amnesty period lapses on June 30, police could charge those who missed the March 31 deadline for licence renewals. - IOL website

Arts and Culture

Heritage petition : Laundry lamentations - 25 January
The Rand Steam Laundries buildings on the corner of Barry Hertzog Avenue and Napier Road has been illegaly [sic] demolished and action can be taken in terms of Heritage and other legislation : read the history and assist with the petition. - Eprop website
Keyphrase :
National Heritage Resources Act of 1999

New owners plan to develop Richmond laundry - 13 March 2006
Although the new owners have rights to build a 17-storey residential building on the historic Rand Steam Laundry site in Richmond, Imperial Properties plans to be 'sensitive to its heritage'. - Joburg News website

Diagonal Street 2, with Neil Fraser - 26 August 2008
Johannesburg Development Agency website

Communications

SABC board briefs Nyanda on recent developments - 1 June
Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda on Monday met with the board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to receive a briefing on the recent developments at the SABC. The meeting served as an opportunity for the minister to meet members of the SABC board and receive a briefing on the developments at the public broadcaster including its corporate plan, the ministry said in a statement. - BuaNews Online website

1 June 2009
Minister of Communications' meeting with the board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
SA Government Information website

SMS quiz subscriptions targeted - 29 May
The Wireless Application Service Providers' Association of South Africa (WASPA) has fine-tuned its Code of Conduct to address consumer concerns and complaints about abusive practices among certain providers of SMS quiz subscription services. "We believe that the changes we have made to our Code of Conduct will ensure that consumers can enjoy quiz services in the knowledge they have clear information about how much these services will cost them and how to opt-out of services they no longer wish to subscribe to". According to the amended Code of Conduct, providers of mobile quiz subscription services must now indicate that their quizzes are subscription services on all advertising, even online ads such as those delivered on Facebook and Google. - MyBroadband website

 Company Law

King III should incorporate non-profits' unique needs - 15 May
The non-profit sector (NPO) in South Africa has a long and proud history of serving a disparate number of communities. These have ranged from traditionally charitable institutions, such as homes for children and the aged, to socio-political and economic non-governmental organisations (NGO). It is thus surprising that the King III Report on Corporate Governance has studiously ignored the unique needs of the non-profit sector. It seems to suggest, in its omission of specific guidelines applicable to the non-profit sector, that it should merely fall in line with the guidelines which commercial business should follow. - Article by Shelagh Gastrow on the Thought Leader website

New merger thresholds will not be retrospective : law firm - 7 May
Corporate merger thresholds, which were recently increased and gazetted by the Minister of Trade and Industry, would not be applied with retrospective effect, assured Webber Wenztel partner Candice Meyer on Thursday. "Companies in the midst of merger processes initiated under the old thresholds are confused. But the position is clear; merger notification and approval processes notified under the old thresholds must be completed with all the commensurate fees, cooperation and investigations", Meyer said. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Cartel busting : is introducing criminal liability for managers the answer? - 10 May
Competition authorities in a number of jurisdictions have turned to criminal sanctions against individuals in the fight against cartels. In South Africa, however, it is feared that subjecting individuals to criminal liability will embroil the competition authorities in needless litigation and require them to work much harder to detect and prosecute cartels in future. - Moneyweb website

21 May 2009
Address to the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) by Trevor A Manuel, MP Minister in the Presidency : National Planning Republic of South Africa
SA Government Information website

Financial regulators must not hinder companies - 22 May
While there is a need for good financial regulators, it is important that they do not hinder companies from operating properly, says National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel. "The world needs good regulations and good regulators. The period of deregulation has come to an end. No longer can we rely on enlightened self interest to regulate global markets," said Mr Manuel speaking about the global financial crisis. However, he cautioned that one should be careful not to shift to the other extreme, where companies are tied up in so much regulation that they can barely function. The minister was addressing the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) on Thursday. - BuaNews Online website

Employers warned of likely rise in staff fraud - 12 May
In tough times fraud committed by employees against their companies increases, Alexander Forbes Risk Services said yesterday. "The best defence against being ripped off by your employees is to remain alert to patterns of behaviour which may point to fraud", spokesman Brian Gillespie said . - Business Day website

See also : Fraud tempts more directors of insolvent companies

Conservation

Carnage in our oceans - 25 May
Illegal fishing in our oceans is vast and it is estimated that the value of fish stolen from our waters may be as high as R6 billion annually, which is perhaps greater than the total value of our entire South African commercial fishery. So says Shaheen Moolla, a director of Feike, in a paper commissioned by the Institute for Security Studies, Cape Town. The study was undertaken to get better measure on the illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing of marine resources in South Africa. - Cape Business News website

Correctional Services

Concern about security at prisons - 4 May
Already burdened KwaZulu-Natal prison officials will have additional pressure placed on them as they will collectively be 80 staff short after the non-renewal of security company Sondolo IT's contract with the Correctional Services Department. The contract with the department was signed in 2003 and expired on Friday. Eight KZN prison control centres - four at Westville, and one each at Kokstad C-Max, where some of the country's most dangerous prisoners are held, Ncome, Pietermaritzburg and Ekuseni - are affected. - IOL website

No surveillance at SA prisons - 5 May
Despite a report warning of the risks of not having surveillance systems in place, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) maintains there is no security threat in the country's prisons. Following the end of the department's four-year contract with security services provider Sondolo IT, the DCS has failed to make arrangements to keep its prison surveillance system running. - ITWeb website

Judicial review of Shaik's medical parole : a viable option? - 29 May
The dust seems to have settled over the controversial medical parole that was granted to Schabir Shaik in March this year. The prosecution, trial and execution of the sentence, and subsequent release leave a trail of executive interference in the sphere of competence of the third branch of state power. Not only the power to prosecute (s 179 of the Constitution) but the constitutionally binding nature of judicial decisions (s 165(5) of the Constitution) has been severely compromised. Article by Dr Loammi Wolf who specialises in constitutional law and has a special interest in transitional democracy, constitutionalism and state organisation law. She obtained an LLM at the University of Virginia and a doctorate in constitutional law at Unisa. She also studied at the Karl Ruprecht University in Heidelberg and qualified in taxation law and chartered accountancy in Frankfurt, Germany. She is currently running the initiative Democracy for Peace. -Politicsweb website

Courts

Drowning in default judgments - 17 May
The country's courts have been inundated with civil cases as creditors rush to recover debt from cash-strapped citizens. The situation is so dire that straightforward matters such as default judgments, which can take as little as five minutes to process, are now dragging on for months. The delays have infuriated lawyers and people clamouring to recover money but, with their limited resources, many magistrates' and high courts cannot keep up. The Durban Magistrate's Court can only handle 600 of the 800 default judgment applications that come before it each month. In the Gauteng North High Court in Pretoria there were almost 16000 outstanding matters as at the end of March. And while the Gauteng South High Court in Johannesburg has managed to pre-empt problems by hiring additional registrars to process default judgments, the Western Cape High Court did not have enough staff to keep up with the increase as at May 1. The situation reached boiling point this week when the Cape Law Society called on the Department of Justice regional head in the Western Cape, Hishaam Mohamed, for an "urgent intervention". - The Times website

Criminal Justice System

Jockeying starts for anti-crime jobs - 15 May
Lobying for the country's top jobs in the criminal justice system and political oversight has started, although these posts - national director of public prosecutions, national police commissioner and public protector - are not likely to be filled in the immediate future. - Business Day website

Cele tipped for Selebi's job - 14 May
Political circles in KwaZulu-Natal are abuzz with speculation that flamboyant ANC politician Bheki Cele will soon be named the new national police commissioner. The Times has learnt from ANC leaders in the province that Cele, who was re-appointed Safety and Security MEC on Monday, has been earmarked to take over from suspended police chief Jackie Selebi when his contract expires at the end of June. Selebi's contract is unlikely to be renewed by the new government, led by President Jacob Zuma. - The Times website

Selebi to go, but who replaces him? - 27 May
There is still no clarity on who will replace National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi - one of the targets the government set for its first 100 days in office. It was also unclear on Tuesday whether Selebi, whose contract expires at the end of June, had been informed - as required by law - two months in advance about whether he would keep his job or not. According to the Police Act, former president Kgalema Motlanthe should have informed Selebi by letter whether his contract was to be renewed or not. Selebi's lawyer, Wynanda Coetzee, said on Tuesday she was not aware of any letter. - IOL website

Zuma can't appoint new police chief yet - 31 May
It would be "reckless" for President Jacob Zuma to appoint a replacement for axed prosecuting head Vusi Pikoli while the latter's legal challenge against his dismissal is still pending, says ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe. He also cautioned against appointing a national police commissioner while the contract of Jackie Selebi, the incumbent who is on special leave pending a criminal case, has not ended. - IOL website

See also : Judiciary ; Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) ; National Prosecuting Authority

Dinokeng Scenarios. May 2009

'Team of greats' urges citizen involvement - 5 May
A group of 35 people, the great and the good, who include Mamphela Ramphele, former vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane, former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, and Gra a Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela, have analysed some of the problems faced by South Africa and concluded that a more capable government and a more engaged citizenry are needed to prevent the country from disintegrating into anti-democratic ruin. - MSN website

We'll give you what you want says ANC - 7 May
The Dinokeng Team  found that the situation was further compounded by some home-grown inadequacies. Key among these was weak leadership in all sectors. In their critique neither politicians, business or the labour movement – key sectors in the development of this country – was spared. Government is found to have "failed to provide leadership in developing a common national identity ; business is an unwilling partner that sulks behind government while applauding it in public ; the labour movement has no sense of common good beyond its membership". This, the Dinokeng Team argues, has hindered the country from unleashing its full potential. "We come from a political culture of identifying who is in and who is out. The solution is to have everyone inside", says former UCT vice-chancellor Dr Mamphela Ramphele – a Dinokeng Team member. Ramphele's argument is that through wrongful implementation of employment equity and affirmative action, South Africa has marginalised white skills needed for the country's development. - The Sowetan website

Scenario planners question state role - 6 May
An attempt by the state to overstretch itself and play too ambitious a role will not help SA out of the global recession, according to a set of hypothetical scenarios for SA's future published yesterday. "As long as we remain a state-centred society we are doomed", said Vincent Maphai, South African Breweries executive director for corporate affairs and transformation and one of 35 participants in what are known as the Dinokeng Scenarios. - Business Day website

A bleak picture of SA on path to authoritarianism - 6 May
After 15 years of democracy, SA, the poster child of a peaceful transition, stands at a fork in the road, according to the Dinokeng scenario team which plotted three possible futures for the country up to 2020. The choices are stark and all have their seeds in the present political and social reality. - Business Day website

Resurgence in citizen activism is the key - 6 May
The third Dinokeng scenario paints the picture of a responsive and accountable government under pressure from ordinary people who form groups to demand better health services, education and public security. - Business Day website

Too much take, take, take - 10 May
It was an unusual commission : speak to the subject of your biography and find out what he thinks about the Dinokeng Scenario Report, released this week on the cusp of a new ANC administration. The Dinokeng report is not really my work, however. I was a "sherpa", part of a team of writers responsible to the 35 South African leaders who comprised the Scenario Team, which gave robust, often stinging, feedback on our work. At around noon on the day of the launch we sent Manuel the report. By 1.20pm, with just 40 minutes to spare before president elect Jacob Zuma's first parliamentary caucus, he had already read it and absorbed it, immediately casting doubt on the report's conclusion of a weakening state. Manuel was part of the Mont Fleur Scenario team in 1992. Those scenarios were facilitated by the Canadian scenario planner Adam Kahane, as were those at Dinokeng. - Mail & Guardian website

If it ain't broke, don't fix it - 13 May
Mamphela Ramphele, a key member of the Dinokeng team, spoke to Lynley Donnelly about the importance of getting the diagnosis right. Given the economic crisis, countries across the globe are increasing state intervention in their economies and South Africa is no exception. Yet the scenarios, particularly "Walk apart", take a negative view of increased state intervention. The point is not to devalue the role of the state. Across the globe states need to evaluate the best interventions for their circumstances and different environments trigger different responses. - Mail & Guardian website

Dinokeng scenarios challenge state - 6 May
The government will study the Dinokeng scenarios mapping out three possible paths for South Africa's future, an official said on Wednesday. The Dinokeng scenario team is a group of 35 South Africans from different sectors of society, including businesswoman Mamphela Ramphele, author Antjie Krog, Democratic Alliance chief executive Ryan Coetzee, The Elders member Graca Machel, businessman Vincent Maphai, former City Press editor Mathatha Tsedu and AfriForum's Kallie Kriel. They came up with three scenarios for South Africa's future in the hope of stimulating debate and creating awareness of how the government and its citizens could deal with the country's problems. - The Times website

State of the state : the voters have spoken - 11 May
Business may have been prodded from the policy-making centre to its margins, but the Dinokeng Scenarios area high-profile effort by the private sector, with civil society, to influence a government that appears increasingly set on a path of statism. The multimillion-rand scenarios development process is funded by Nedbank and Old Mutual and several business executives are part of a team which last week issued a depressing diagnosis of the state of the state.It does not point fingers, however. Its central message is "We have messed up and we must get our act together". - Ferial Haffajee on the Mail & Guardian website

Visions of the future contain blind spots and detours around fault lines  - 6 May
Unless the scenario planners recognise that SA is in fact entering a second transition driven by interconnectedness of race and class, its ability to diagnose, never mind envisage, realistic scenarios will remain a crystal ball-gazing exercise . If we are to walk together we have to learn how to listen. - Business Day website

Do we really want an SA full of beautiful PR poppies? - 6 May
Constitution Hill's Roundhouse was a creative, progressive venue suited for the earnest discussion yesterday of the Dinokeng Scenarios, visions painting a way forward for SA that would avoid the downwards trajectory into selfishness, incompetence and corruption.  The venue was filled with privileged and earnest people putting their time and imagination to use posing questions to the rest of the country about what sort of a place SA should become.  - Business Day website

Toxic balm in the Dinokeng scenarios - 1 June
The self-appointed "experts" who compiled the Dinokeng Scenarios are worried about the lack of engagement between citizens and the government, and they want us to swallow their "remedies". They are right to have concerns. The lack of public involvement in meaningful political activity is a huge problem which should be examined, but we should be worried about the prescription. We need to ask why, when between 1973 and 1986 public involvement seemed so high, the problem of disengagement has become so profound. - Mail & Guardian website

Predecessors :

Mont Fleur Scenarios : what will South Africa be like in the year 2002?. 1991-1992
http://www.generonconsulting.com/publications/papers/pdfs/Mont Fleur.pdf

New scenarios challenge citizens to engage the State - 6 May
In 1991, in the midst of doubt about whether SA would achieve a political settlement, 22 politicians, activists, academics and business people sat down to think what SA might look like in 2002. In a series of gatherings at Mont Fleur, outside Cape Town, the group, which included activists such as Trevor Manuel and Tito Mboweni, came up with four scenarios that were to prove influential in shaping the economic policy of the new democratic government. - Business Day website

South Africa Scenarios 2025 : the future we chose?. September 2008
http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=89109

What the Presidency predicted for SA last year - 6 May
Government policy tsar Joel Netshitenzhe predicted a split in the ruling party in a government scenario planning exercise titled Scenarios 2025 : The Future We Chose?  However, the scenarios not only predicted a split in 2012 in the party by a group unhappy after the African National Congress’s elective conferences, but also told the story of the formation of a leftist party unhappy at not being able to capitalise on the success they had in Polokwane.  The scenarios, launched by the government in September last year, are again of interest following the release of three scenarios by the Dinokeng scenario team. - Business Day website

Education

Committee report exonerates Makgoba - 18 May
University of KwaZulu-Natal rector Malegapuru Makgoba has been cleared of claims that he suppressed freedom of expression at the university. The university appointed a committee of seven people in 2007 to probe accusations that Makgoba was managing the institution with an iron hand, following negative publicity in relation to academic freedom. Addressing the media at UKZN's Westville campus on Monday afternoon, Phumla Mnganga, the chairwoman of the committee, said the committee had found there was no evidence that academic freedom at the university was infringed. - IOL website

Makgoba fumes about ugly tag of controversy - 22 May
"I detest being called controversial when there is no evidence," vice-chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Malegapuru Makgoba, firmly asserted as he, for the first time, publicly challenged critics and the media over allegations levelled against him. In an interview with The Mercury this week Makgoba responded to questions on the recent academic freedom spat and opinions that he was like a puppeteer tugging at the strings of council and senate, influencing decisions against outspoken academics. Makgoba's contract as vice-chancellor has been renewed for another five years amid tension from some quarters in academia relating to cases of disciplinary action. - IOL website

Varsity invites staff to join 'freedom' debate - 2 June
The University of KwaZulu-Natal has invited staff to comment on how it could implement the findings of a probe into academic freedom at the institution. Although a committee set up to conduct the probe had cleared the institution's vice-chancellor, Prof Malegapuru Makgoba, and the university itself of posing any threat to academic freedom, it recommended that the university begin dialogue and debate to determine the extent of this freedom and freedom of expression. - Business Day website

Mkhize appointed UKZN chancellor - 10 May
KwaZulu-Natal Premier  Zweli Mkhize has been appointed chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Mkhize, a former alumnus of UKZN, was chosen by the council to succeed Dr Frene Ginwala whose term of office ends on June 30. - Witness website

Emigration and Immigration

ACLU in court in case of South African scholar banned from US - 27 May
The American Civil Liberties Union is in federal court today to present arguments in the case of a prominent South African scholar who was denied a visa and is barred from attending speaking engagements in the US. The government has denied Professor Habib a visa on unspecified national security grounds. According to the ACLU, the government denied Professor Adam Habib a visa not because of his actions but because of his vocal criticism of US foreign policy, and his exclusion violates the First Amendment rights of organizations that have invited him to speak at conferences in the United States. - Common Dreams website
Keyphrase :
Adam Habib, Professor. Political commentator. University of Johannesburg

Refugees fight to stay in one of South Africa's last, battered camps - 31 May
In Cape Town, arguably the most cosmopolitan city on the African continent, around 400 men, women, and children live in battered tents reliant on handouts - a legacy of last year's xenophobic violence that left 62 dead and forced more than 60 000 from their homes across South Africa. A year ago, angry mobs targeted foreigners living in townships throughout the country with a brutal, two-week barrage of attacks. Most of the victims were immigrants who had fled poverty and calamity in neighboring countries. Now lawyers for Somali and Congolese refugees are staving off local government efforts to close one of the country's last remaining camps near Cape Town. It's still too dangerous to leave the Blue Waters camp and return to the townships, they say. - Christian Science Monitor website

See also :

Cape Town to fight court order to move displaced - 10 June 2008
Associated Press website

Plan to sue government for millions - 27 May 2008
IOL website

Court halts relocation of foreigners - 2 June 2008
Mail & Guardian website

[InfoUpdate 18 of 2008]

Environment

Poisonous metals found in Assmang environs - 19 May
The discovery of cyanide, mercury and other poisonous heavy metals in streams and underground water near the Assmang factory has heightened fears about possible health threats to human settlements and cattle in the Valley of a Thousand Hills in KZN, says a report in The Mercury. - Legalbrief website

SA to create large marine-protected area around Prince Edwards Islands - 8 May
Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Friday gazetted a proposal to create one of the world's largest marine protected areas (MPAs) surrounding the Prince Edwards Island group, comprising Marion Island and the Prince Edwards Island in the Southern Indian Ocean. This would also be South Africa's first offshore MPA and followed a five-year process during which a scientific plan and draft management plan were developed, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (Deat) said in a statement. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

SA celebrates Environment Month - 1 June
Climate change is expected to be the focus of this year's National Environment Month which is celebrated in June. Spokesperson for the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, Albi Modise said South Africa was raising the bar with regards to efforts to mitigate climate change. - BuaNews Online website

Foreign Policy

SA reduces waves of Zim asylum seekers - 4 May
In an effort to reduce waves of Zimbabwean asylum seekers, South Africa announced on Monday that its neighbour's citizens can travel here on a free 90-day visitor's permit and apply to do casual work during their stay. South African officials have been overwhelmed by Zimbabweans, who apply for asylum at a rate of more than 8 000 a day, and they believe many will now opt for the visitor's permit.  - IOL website

4 May 2009
SA lifts visa restrictions against Zimbabweans
BuaNews Online website

News Release : 28 May 2009

Presidency Denies Existence of Generals Report on 2008 Zimbabwean Election Violence

The South African Presidency has denied that a written report on post-election violence in Zimbabwe was provided to former President Mbeki (in his capacity as SADC's Mediator) by retired South African generals. It has also denied the existence of any written terms of reference for the generals' mission and maintains that no documents were made available to the generals for the purpose of compiling their report.

Although little was publicly disclosed about the generals' mission, outside of their deployment to ascertain the nature and causes of the violence that erupted following the March 2008 elections, it is known that the generals entered Zimbabwe on 3 May 2008, and returned for a second mission in June 2008. Amongst the Generals who were tasked with compiling the report were : former army chief, Lt Gilbert General Romano, Brigadier-General Ray Moerane and Lt-General Lambert Moloi.

The Presidency's denial of the existence of a report comes in response to an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act made by the acting director of the Southern African Centre for Survivors of Torture, Frances Spencer.

Affidavits from Frank Chikane, former Director-General and Information Officer in the Presidency, and Trevor Fowler, currently the acting DG in the Presidency, maintain that no report or supporting documentation exits and that the generals reported only orally to former president Mbeki.

NGOs supporting the application for access to the report – the South African History Archive (SAHA) and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) – have expressed incredulity at the Presidency's response, especially as the report is believed to have been hard-hitting and instrumental in the evolution of subsequent negotiations leading to the September Global Political Agreement.

Piers Pigou, director of SAHA, said : "It is surprising to say the least that the generals would not have issued a written report to the (former) President given ZANU-PF's propensity for denial of violence and human rights violations, and the need for the mediator to have an empirical base around which to engage them on such issues.

"This denial reminds one of former President de Klerk's denial of the existence of the Steyn Report, which profiled allegations about South African security force involvement in violence and destabilisation in the early 1990s".

Concerned at reports of continued intimidation and harassment by Zimbabwean security and intelligence structures intended to undermine the Global Political Agreement, the SACST, SAHA and SALC call upon the Presidency to offer to SADC a redeployment of the generals to Zimbabwe in order to assess and report on the extent to which the letter and spirit of the GPA is being carried out.

Prepared by : FD Beachhead

See also :
North Gauteng High Court. Lawyers for Human Rights v Minister of Safety and Security and Others

S African Ambassador : interaction will enhance ties - [2 May]
The relationship between South Africa and Turkey is "sound", but could be enhanced, said South African Ambassador to Turkey Tebogo Seokolo, who urged the continuation of efforts to encourage business and tourism between the two countries. "I think the relationship is sound, but we can still do more to increase trade and people-to-people relationships," Seokolo told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review, noting that both countries occupy special places in their respective regions. "I'm quite happy with the level of interaction in cultural relations, but we can also increase the interaction among members of Parliament and expand that relationship with more contact at the municipal level". - Hurriyet Daily News website

Gender Issues

'40% of men violent towards partners' - 6 May
A woman is six times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner in SA than anywhere else in the world, a conference on sexual violence heard on Wednesday. - IOL website

Health

You and your money - 14 May
Summit TV personal finance expert Bryan Hirsch takes a look at funding medical healthcare costs in retirement with Heidi Kruger from the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) and Dr Jonathan Broomberg from Discovery. The government has announced a national health insurance (NHI) system for South Africa - and President Zuma on Worker's Day said it will be implemented despite the nay-sayers. - Business Day website

The Dr will sue you now : a stolen chapter from Ben Goldacre's book Bad Science - 1 May
This chapter did not appear in the original edition of this book, because for fifteen months leading up to September 2008 the vitamin-pill entrepreneur Matthias Rath was suing me personally, and the Guardian, for libel. This strategy brought only mixed success. For all that nutritionists may fantasise in public that any critic is somehow a pawn of big pharma, in private they would do well to remember that, like many my age who work in the public sector, I don't own a flat. The Guardian generously paid for the lawyers, and in September 2008 Rath dropped his case, which had cost in excess of Ł500 000 to defend. Rath has paid Ł220 000 already, and the rest will hopefully follow. Nobody will ever repay me for the endless meetings, the time off work, or the days spent poring over tables filled with endlessly cross-referenced court documents. - Denialism blog
Keyphrases :
Aids dissidents
Aids policy
Anti-retroviral drugs
Anthony Brink
AZT
HIV/Aids
Matthias Rath
Zackie Achmat

Home Affairs

New measures to ensure authentic IDs - 26 May
The Department of Home Affairs is to introduce new measures to clean-up the population register in order to retain the integrity of Identity Documents (IDs) and passports internationally. Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Monday corrupt activities within the department had significantly compromised the integrity of South African documents at an international level. "Since we can no longer be sure whether the person in possession of a South African ID or passport is 100 percent South African; we strongly believe that we need a clean population register that will truly and clearly reflect all South African citizens. "We want to do all this to retain the integrity of our documents which are being increasingly undermined at the international level," she said. - BuaNews Online website

Radical fingerprint plan for school kids - 26 May
Children at primary schools across the country will be fingerprinted in a move to combat identity fraud - if a radical plan by the department of home affairs gets the all-clear. Briefing the media yesterday in Pretoria, newly appointed Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the nation’s population register was in a mess and needed to be "cleaned up". "Every child below the age of 16 will be registered at school. We are trying to check at what age we can take fingerprints because we want, as an interim measure, to take fingerprints before the age of 16 so that we can put those fingerprints in our population register", she said. - The Times website

Human Rights

Committee set up to prevent initiation deaths - 29 May
A Committee for Male Initiation Affairs has been established by the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to draw up an intervention strategy to prevent young boys dying at initiation schools. - BuaNews Online website

Parents sell girls as child brides - 30 May
South African girls as young as 14 are being abducted and forced into marriages from hell under the pretext of the age-old custom of ukuthwalwa. Ukuthwalwa (literally, 'to be carried') traditionally allowed parents to arrange the marriage of their children, but was never intended to violate the rights of children, experts say. Traditional experts and senior government officials have expressed outrage that the custom - abandoned as far back as the '60s - was still in use in the Eastern Cape villages of Lusikisiki, Bizana and Flagstaff. - The Times website

Judicial Service Commission

JSC members named - 26 May
Parliament on Tuesday appointed six MPs, half of them from the opposition, to serve on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) which advises the president on the appointment of judges. - IOL website
Keyphrases :
Cecil Burgess (African National Congress)
Fatima Chohan (African National Congress)
Hendrik Schmidt (Democratic Alliance)
Koos van der Merwe (Inkatha Freedom Pary)
Ngoako Ramatlhodi (African National Congress)
Patricia de Lille (Independent Democrats)

The ANC's parliamentary nominees to the JSC - 26 May
The ANC Parliamentary Caucus notes the nominations today of several Members of Parliament by the National Assembly to the membership of South Africa's constitutional bodies and the Continent's Parliamentary Structures, ie Judicial Service Commission, the Magistrate Commission, the Pan African Parliament and the Southern Development Community Parliamentary Union. - Politicsweb website

Ramatlhodi among new recruits for JSC - 27 May
They are a mix of seasoned politicians and MPs with legal experience, and include senior African National Congress (ANC) member and advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi, who has been tipped as the next national director of public prosecutions. Ramatlhodi, a former premier of Limpopo and a member of the ANC's national executive committee, was admitted to the bar last month, and tipped to replace Vusi Pikoli who was fired as national director of public prosecutions. If Ramatlhodi is appointed prosecutions chief, he will have to quit Parliament and the commission. Political appointees to the commission interview candidates for judicial office, and decide who to short-list for appointment by the president. They will interview and short-list the candidates for four Constitutional Court positions due to fall vacant in October. - Business Day website

SA justice at crossroads, says judge - 24 May
The four judges President Jacob Zuma will appoint to the Constitutional Court later this year could determine whether South African justice follows a high or a low road, says High Court Judge Dennis Davis. Speaking at a book launch in Cape Town, he urged the media and civil society to get into the debate about who should succeed the last four of the original Constitutional Court judges to retire. - The Times website

Judge Hlophe

Hlophe now considering 'bias' action - 4 May
The row between Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe and his legal peers intensified at the weekend, with suggestions that he might interdict the Judicial Service Commission, alleging bias. Now it appears that Hlophe's legal team has been given ammunition from within the JSC to prove that there may be bias. At issue is whether the commission was motivated to proceed with the inquiry before the elections, come hell or high water, because of the possibility that Zuma would lead the new government. Prominent Durban lawyer Mvuseni Ngubane broke ranks with his colleagues on the committee last week and penned a 19-page "dissenting view" on its decision to proceed with last month's inquiry. He declined at the weekend to say why he felt the need to write a minority decision, saying he was not a JSC spokesperson. Hlophe's attorney, Barnabas Xulu, confirmed that Hlophe's legal team was considering court action. - Cape Times website

JSC 'feared' Zuma influence - 3 May
The battle between Cape Judge President John Hlophe and the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is far from over. It has come to light that the timing of the hearings was apparently influenced by an imminent Jacob Zuma presidency. According to JSC member Mvuseni Ngubane, the commission wanted the Hlophe issue to be dealt with urgently because of the fears of "shenanigans" by the incoming Zuma administration. Hlophe lawyers are now reportedly considering going to court in the wake of the revelation. - The Citizen website

Hlophe's lawyer cries conspiracy - 5 May
The Judicial Service Commission has acted in a "devious and improper manner" in the case against suspended Cape Judge President John Hlophe, his lawyer charged yesterday. Attorney Barnabas Xulu accused the commission of not giving his client a fair hearing, despite the fact that those who sit on the body were "the most respected minds". He was responding to a "dissenting view" penned by one of the commissioners, Mvuseni Ngubane, last week. - The Times website

The JSC's Hlophe dilemma - 4 May
Could Judge President John Hlophe receive a "get out of jail free" card because of a bungling by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC)? - Pierre de Vos on the Constitutionally Speaking website

Hlophe decision will be bigger than Zuma - 4 May
Should Hlophe be allowed to avoid facing the JSC and answering that question based upon legal technicalities then the masses of our country - who despite views to the contrary are far more knowledgeable than they are given credit for - will know that there is one rule for the rich and another for the poor. That justice is there for those who have money and influence. In their own case they can look forward to jail should they run foul of the criminal justice system ; often as a result of desperation. Not for them legal niceties and drawn out litigation, which are beyond their reach, simply years in jail without any prospects when they get out. As such should the government allow the rule of law to be perceived as a rich-man's toy and the plight of these masses deteriorate then they will turn to the only justice that they are able to believe in. In hindsight you may well find that the approach to Hlophe in terms of impact outweighs even the NPA decision on Zuma. - Michael Trapido on the Thought Leader blog

JSC 'needs privacy' to foster robust debate - 9 May
Legal experts believe it is important that members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) are able to speak their minds freely during the body’s confidential deliberations. But this is provided that, where a view is irrelevant, it should not form the basis for a decision. The inner workings of the JSC have come under the spotlight following a dissenting opinion by one of its commissioners, Mvuseni Ngubane, on the decision to refuse a postponement to Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe. - Business Day website
Keyphrases :
Daniel Pretorius
Hugh Corder
Pierre de Vos

JSC operating like a kangaroo court : Justice for Hlophe - 15 May
Justice for Hlophe Alliance, a nonprofit organization that works to defend and seek justice for Judge President Hlophe and all pro-transformation judges (black and white) who find themselves unfairly attacked for their strong, principled and unwavering pro-transformation stance, wishes to state the following to the public in South Africa and around the world . . . - Politicsweb website

Hlophe goes for the kill - 16 May
Embattled Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe has fired a salvo against former justice minister Enver Surty in his attempt to halt the Judicial Service Commission's (JSC) hearing against him. The Mail & Guardian understands that Hlophe wrote a week ago to then president Kgalema Motlanthe, accusing Surty of bias against him; and that Surty wrote to Motlanthe in response. In a surprise move Surty was dropped from the justice portfolio by President Jacob Zuma when he announced his Cabinet on Sunday and was returned to his old job of deputy education minister. - Mail & Guardian website

Hlophe lawyers reject JSC offer - 18 May
Lawyers for Cape Judge President John Hlophe rejected an offer by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) that he be allowed to submit argument and cross-examine witnesses. This came after the JSC's lawyer Vincent Maleka said the commission made the offer without any strings attached. - The Star website

Hlophe under pressure - 19 May
Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe has less than a week to find an amicable solution in his bid to halt a commission of his peers investigating him. - IOL website

Hlophe on Zuma's yellow brick road - 24 May
Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe's bid to dodge a Judicial Service Commission's (JSC) recommendation that he be impeached is increasingly resembling the strategy that got Jacob Zuma off the hook. - Mail & Guardian website

'Old' settlement draft may be used in Hlophe case - 25 May
A draft settlement proposal circulated a few months ago may be resuscitated in a bid to resolve the dispute between Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe and the country's top judges, says a report in The Star. - Legalbrief website

Justice for Hlophe Alliance condemns Bizos and Mpathi - 26 May
We, the Justice for Hlophe Alliance, condemn in the strongest possible terms the JSC's surreptitious, ex parte submissions to the Court (ie the affidavits of Bizos and Mpathi which attacked [JSC commissioner] Attorney Mvuseni Ngubane were submitted without him knowing of the contents thereof and not having the opportunity to refute the falsehoods contained therein). This latest arrogant posturing can only have the effect of further demonstrating that the Honourable Judge President Hlophe will never obtain a fair hearing before this particular JSC. It serves as proof that the JSC's cumulative acts and determination to block Judge President Hlophe's right to a fair hearing are all intentional acts designed to deprive him of his rights to : due process of law ; equal protection under the law ; and meaningful access to the tribunal. - Politicsweb website

Hlophe wants JSC committee to resign - 28 May
Cape Judge President John Hlophe on Thursday asked the members of the Judicial Services Commission's complaints committee to resign, his lawyer Barnabas Xulu said. "All the current members of the Complaints Commission violated the JSC's rules so as it stands now they are accused of being biased... the easiest way out for them would be to resign and make vacancy for new people," said Xulu. Xulu said this would allow the proceedings to start from the beginning before a new JSC, where charges would be formulated in a pro forma charge sheet and Hlophe would know exactly what case to face. - IOL website

Advocates turn down role in Hlophe case - 29 May
Legal body Advocates for Transformation (AFT) yesterday turned down an invitation by Chief Justice Pius Langa to enter the fray in the ongoing dispute between Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe and the judges of the Constitutional Court, saying it preferred an out-of-court solution. The AFT  said it had made representations to the JSC "offering mediation of the dispute", and still "persisted in seeking an extra-curial solution". It said the mediation offer was made "mindful of the potential damage that would visit the judiciary if the litigation route was pursued to its logical conclusion". - Business Day website

See also : South Gauteng High Court. Judge Hlophe

Judiciary

Zuma's judges dilemma - 29 May
It may be the most urgent question facing President Jacob Zuma : whether to use his powers of appointment to rein in the courts, where he has faced his most difficult battles, or to facilitate the rebuilding of an independent judiciary from the wreckage of the ANC's succession battles. - Mail & Guardian website

See also : Criminal Justice System ; Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) ; National Prosecuting Authority

On the relationship between the executive and the courts   - 7 May
There remains a looming threat to the independence of the judiciary. It is not by any means confined to SA. In the US and even in the UK, attacks on the judiciary have unfortunately become more frequent and more extreme. I do not refer to criticism of judgments, even strong criticism: that is always permissible. Judges are not infallible: they are not gods. I am referring to reckless and unfounded allegations that decisions have been motivated by a political agenda, accusations that the judges are exceeding their powers, and reflections on an individual judge's integrity - usually for no more reason than that their decisions are unwelcome. - Article by Sydney Kentridge on Business Day website

"This is an edited extract from a speech by Kentridge at an event hosted by the Johannesburg Bar to celebrate his 60 years as an advocate"

A transformed judiciary or merely subservient courts? - 15 May
Judge Dennis Davis usually runs a tight ship during his half hour You Be the Judge slot on the e.tv news channel. His encounter with parliamentarians Ryan Coetzee and Mathole Motshekga to debate the future of the judiciary is the first discussion of its kind during the Zuma presidency and it did not measure up to the usual high standard of the programme. - Business Day website

'Judges are not above the law' - 1 June
Judges need to understand they are not above the law, said Ngoako Ramathlodi, the head of Parliament's justice committee, in an interview published on Friday. Ramathlodi, who was recently appointed to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), said some judges "elicited negative responses" in their comments about President Jacob Zuma's corruption case, which has since been scrapped from the court roll. - The Times website

'Judges must know their place' - 30 May
Judges should know their place and watch their mouths if they want a good relationship with the ruling party, says the new chairperson of Parliament's justice committee. Speaking to the Mail & Guardian, Ngoako Ramatlhodi admitted that the ANC's difficult relationship with the judiciary is not sustainable and needs fixing. "We are interested in working with the judiciary, but we insist they must operate in terms of the Constitution and we will give the judiciary the space to do this". Ramatlhodi was recently appointed to the Judicial Service Commission, the body set up to appoint judges. - The Times website

Labour Issues

How far must an employer bend for a failing employee? - 15 April
South Africa's labour laws have been criticised as being too time consuming especially when it comes to the dismissal of an employee. Often at issue is the extent of an employers' obligation to provide underperforming employees with further training, counselling and monitor work performance prior to dismissal. This issue was recently was considered by the Labour Court in reviewing a CCMA decision in the case of Chesteron Industries (Pty) Ltd v CCMA & Others (2008), and there is good reason for sticking to the code of good practice in schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act, says Siobhan Viljoen, of Shepstone & Wylie. - Shepstone & Wylie website via Linex Legal
* * * Free registration required  * * *

See also :
Labour Court. Port Elizabeth
26 September 2008
P286/06 [2008] ZALC 125
Chesteron Industries (Pty) Ltd v Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and Others

NUMSA lays down its demands - 1 June
Numsa Press Conference Statement, Numsa Head Office, Johannesburg. - Politicsweb website

Bus workers lose millions to strike - 5 May
Johannesburg Metrobus drivers who downed tools over salary scales stand to lose around R2 million with the strike in its second week. Around 402 drivers, manning a fleet of 476 busses, resorted to industrial action last Tuesday after their demand for salary progression was not met. - Business Report website

Samwu calls off Metrobus strike - 27 May
The five-week long strike by Metrobus drivers has been suspended and bus services in Johannesburg are set to resume on Thursday. On Wednesday, Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane announced that the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) had agreed to call off the strike as well as the secondary industrial action which had been planned for Thursday. - BuaNews Online website

ArcelorMittal SA and union reach wage agreement - 13 May
South Africa's largest steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa and the trade union UASA have reached a wage agreement. In a statement on Wednesday, the union said that ArcelorMittal SA had initially refused to pay increases due to employees in terms of a multi-year collective agreement with effect from April 1 2009. However, the unions "stuck to their guns", stating that they had a legally binding wage agreement in their hands. - Mail & Guardian website

Metal industry workers, employers agree on 8,8% wage increase - 2 June
The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (Seifsa) and industry trade unions on Tuesday agreed on a 8,8% wage increase,  effective from the beginning of next month. The increase would apply to all metal industry workers whose minimum rates of pay were scheduled in the industry agreement and all apprentices. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Health services to continue despite strike : dept - 26 May
The Department of Health says it will do everything possible to ensure the delivery of health care services in public hospitals continues amid threats of strike action by some doctors on Friday. Department's Deputy Director-General of Human Resources, Percy Mahlathi said on Tuesday that as part of minimising the impact of the strike on Friday, the department will consider activating a range of interventions based on the impact on each affected facility. - BuaNews Online website

Minister assures doctors that issues will be addressed - 29 May
Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi assured doctors on Friday that government was working around the clock to address the challenges they faced. "The issue I am resolving now is how and when, almost everyday I'm attending meetings regarding the issue, which is now being addressed at the highest government level," Dr Motsolaledi told striking doctors on Friday. The minister said this after being handed a memorandum by members of the South African Medical Association (SAMA) who had marched to the department's offices in Pretoria. Thousands of SAMA-affiliated doctors also held protest marches in East London and Durban. - BuaNews Online website

Unemployment rate increases to 23,5% - 5 May
South Africa's unemployment rate had increased by 1,6% quarter-on-quarter to 23,5% in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the 21,9% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2008, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on Tuesday. A total of 208 000 jobs were cut quarter-on-quarter, as the global economic crisis has led to many businesses, especially those in the mining and manufacturing sectors, retrenching employees. The employment rate had, however, increased by 0,1%, or 13 000 jobs year-on-year. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

KFC worker fired for traditional bracelet - 5 May
KwaZulu-Natal's Arts and Culture MEC Wesiwe Thusi on Tuesday condemned the firing of a Durban fast food outlet employee for wearing a traditional wristband. Spokesman Vukani Mbhele said Thusi would talk to the Human Rights Commission and the fired employee about the matter. The Ilanga newspaper reported on Sunday that a Kentucky Friend Chicken employee, Sindile Mbongwa, was fired for wearing an isiphandla (traditional animal-skin wristband) at work. - The Sowetan website

Land Affairs and Property

Sexwale should consider returning land to Cape - 26 May
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale addressed a media conference yesterday following his first meeting with the provincial housing MECs. He spoke of the need for the two spheres of government to work together to address the housing backlog, and that the issues that were raised at the meeting would be passed on to the Cabinet at the lekgotla scheduled to take place later today. High on that list should be the outgoing African National Congress (ANC)-controlled Western Cape government's extraordinary decision, on the eve of the recent election, to transfer 1000ha of prime land, worth as much as R500m, to the Housing Development Agency, a newly formed body that now falls under Sexwale. - allAfrica website

Housing is the new ANC-DA battleground - 27 May
SA has just witnessed the first round of an intense power struggle between the national government and a Western Cape controlled by the Democratic alliance (DA). The transfer of about 1 000ha of prime land by the previous provincial administration to the recently formed national housing agency set the scene for the first battle between the two. Apart from the indignation at the transfer having taken place the day before the general election, and the perception that the African National Congress (ANC) wanted to hobble the DA’s delivery efforts in the province, what is really at stake is the struggle over the control of housing delivery. - Business Day website

Land Bank appoints top executives - 5 May
Former Brait executive Wolf Meyer has been appointed as the chief financial officer of the troubled Land Bank. Meyer would be appointed from 1 May 2009, the bank said in a statement on Monday. Acting treasurer Vincent Potloane has been appointed as the bank's chief treasurer. - Business Report website

Property valuations : do they make a difference? - 18 May
When the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) announced its general property valuations in 2007 to be undertaken the following year, there was a lot of misunderstanding from property owners. Partly because either the property valuations were not clearly explained or people were hoping to get good values for their properties following the property valuations. Werner Sarvari, professional property valuer from Lightstone says that property valuations are not known to have a direct impact on property prices as the market values used by the valuers are influenced by the property market. - Realestateweb website

Jail time : murder vs property crimes - 5 May
You'll do less time for murder. Velvet-tongued jailbird Maurice de Grandhomme was sentenced to 30 years for conning about R2m out of wannabee golf estate investors. He met his victims on a driving range at Pollsmoor Prison while he was still serving time for fraud, nogal. That intriguing news snippet was in the Cape Times on Friday where on the same page we were told that Niel Philips, who murdered the mother of his daughter, was finally apprehended a decade later. Philips' sentence was a more modest 24 years in jail for shooting the young woman execution-style, even though he was also a prime suspect in the shooting of a community police forum member whose body was close to the scene of that murder. Passing sentence in the killing of 20-year-old Lucille Christians, Judge Burton Fourie said: "The cruel and calculating way in which this mother was killed requires a long prison sentence". Wynberg regional magistrate Bruce Langa, meanwhile, had similar thoughts about De Grandhomme. "The circumstances of the case clamour for the sternest possible sentence," he said. - Moneyweb website

Development

SA govt meets Marikane community affected by mining plans - 4 May
South Africa's Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) on Monday convened a meeting to discuss the plight of the workers from the Marikane community, who was recently evicted by the owner of the farm Spruitfontein, near Rustenburg. DME spokesperson Solomon Phetla stated that the farm owner handed the workers a court sanctioned eviction notice on March 21, stating that he planned to develop the property for mining. However, Phetla stated that the eviction notice had not gone through the regular channels, and had not been approved by the Department of Land Affairs or the local municipality. He added that the farm owner had also not lodged a mining or exploration application with the DME. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

Land Claims and Expropriation

Most forest land under claim - 7 May
IT is estimated that a whopping 50% to 70% of forestry land in South Africa is under land claim, with about 1 500 land claims still to be gazetted in KZN alone. This is according to statistics that came to light at the Forestry SA AGM in Howick this week. - The Witness website

Former Scorpions boss takes over Land Claims job - 13 May
The former head of the Scorpions in Limpopo has been appointed as the province's Land Claims Commissioner. According to a Beeld report, Tele Maphoto's appointment has already been approved by the Cabinet. He replaces Mashile Mokono, who is facing 26 charges of fraud which relates to a R2.5m claim in the Bushbuck Ridge area. - Legalbrief website

Anger as new land owners fail to use farms - 19 May
Some 700 people have lost their jobs after people who won their land claims in KwaZulu-Natal’s Pongola area failed to use the once productive farms. The situation has angered farmers who now suggest they should be allowed to rent the unused farms while the matter is being addressed. - allAfrica website

See also :
North Gauteng High Court. Court overturns minister's land grab

Property Law

Some landlords may not sue for rent - 2 June
Landlords with mortgage bonds registered over their rental properties may have unwittingly surrendered their right to sue defaulting tenants for unpaid rent without even knowing it. In Picardi Hotels Limited versus Thekweni Properties (680/7) (2008) ZASCA 128, the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the Durban High Court’s decision that a landlord could sue his tenant for unpaid arrear rentals. Instead, the court ruled that unless otherwise agreed, the landlord had given up his right to sue for unpaid rent by ceding this income to the bank when concluding a mortgage agreement. Slot suggested property owners look into this possible loophole as a matter of urgency because, given the current economic climate, unpaid rentals could become more common with tenants battling to make ends meet. - Cape Business News website

See :
Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
30 September 2008
680/07 [2008] ZASCA 128 ; 2009 (1) SA 493 (SCA)
Picardi Hotels Ltd v Thekweni Properties (Pty) Ltd

Maritime Law

Shippers turn to South Africa - 4 May
The world-wide shipping industry turmoil with losses of hundreds of million of US dollars and companies going into liquidation or receivership almost daily, is resulting in massive maritime claims. Many of these arise from operators trying to redeliver (hand back) ships on charter to them as they simply don’t have cargo to carry, or owners who bought second hand ships or ordered new buildings, trying to walk away from the sales, even if they forgo deposits. From the promulgation of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act (AJRA) in 1983 until about three years ago South Africa was a leader in this field as the Act enabled the arrest of ships, and in particular associated or sister ships, to obtain security for claims to be pursued in arbitration abroad. - Cape Business News website
Article quotes Shane Dwyer, partner of Shepstone & Wylie's International Transport, Trade and Energy Department and an expert in the shipping field

Two Korean-flagged vessels fined R1 million for contravening South Africa’s foreign fishing vessel permit conditions - 29 April
The Master and First Officer of two Korean-flagged vessels, the MFV Oryong 371 and the MFV Oryong 373, were each sentenced a fine of R500, 000 or five years imprisonment, after routine inspections by inspectors from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism revealed contravention of the Marine Living Resources Act of 1998. The vessels were guilty of contravening the permit conditions for foreign vessels entering the South African Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Both vessels were discharging quantities of fish other than what was stipulated in their respective applications for an EEZ permit as well as exceeding the limit as set out in the application. - SA Government Information website

See also : Magistrates Court. Cape Town. Mutiny

Master's Office

Strike brings service at Master of the High Court to a standstill - 3 June
Pepople from as far away as Ulundi and Newcastle had to wait for hours without getting helped at the office of the Master of the High Court yesterday due to strike action by employees there. Attempts to get comment from the department of Justice yesterday were unsuccessful. - Witness website

Pta court proceedings on hold - 12 May
Operations at the Master's of the High Court buildings in Pretoria will be temporarily affected due to a fire on Tuesday, the department of justice and constitutional development said. - News24 website

Media

Star withdraws affair story - 2 May
The Star has withdrawn its report claiming that SA President Kgalema Motlanthe was having an affair with a 24-year-old woman. As was reported by The Sunday Independent on February 8, 2009, the woman in question has recanted her story in its entirety. In the circumstances, we have no hesitation in retracting the original story in this regard and regret any distress occasioned to the President by its publication. - Journalism website

SABC pulls satire show again - 27 May
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has cancelled, for the second time, the broadcast of a documentary on political satire that was due to air last night. "Tonight's episode of Special Assignment will not be aired owing to the fact that due process with regard to consultation has not been concluded", said SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago. He was quoted in a statement issued just over an hour before the show was due to be aired. - Witness website

SABC lays charges of 'theft' over Zapiro doccie - 28 May
The South African Broadcasting Corporation has laid a charges over the "stolen property" after the Mail & Guardian Online posted an episode of Special Assignment on political satire on the web. The public broadcaster pulled the episode on Tuesday evening, citing "internal processes", after initially pulling it just before the elections in April. - Mail & Guardian website

Watch the video at http://www.mg.co.za/multimedia/2009-05-27-what-the-sabc-wouldnt-show-you

See also :
SABC cites legal concerns after pulling show - 15 April
IOL website
[InfoUpdate 9 of 2009]

Minerals and Energy

Nuclear company's challenge to local industry - 27 May
French nuclear group Areva is challenging South African companies which would like to be local partners for Europe’s nuclear giant should it win the contract to build South African power utility Eskom’s delayed, but not cancelled, Nuclear-1 project for a new generation pressurised water reactor nuclear power station. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

SA still weighing nuclear-fuel recycling options - 28 May
South Africa's nuclear policy has been drafted in such a way as to keep open the country's options regarding the reprocessing of nuclear fuel, but final policy on the matter is yet to be decided, the Department of Energy's acting chief director nuclear energy Ditebogo Kgomo said on Thursday. Some countries, notably France, favour the recycling of irradiated or "spent fuel", arguing that the process not only ensures more efficient use of the uranium, but also minimises the final quantity of high-level waste. But other countries, particularly the US, remain undecided. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

State calls for Necsa board nominations - 13 May
The State has called for nominations for new board members for State-owned nuclear energy research and development company, the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa). Interested candidates had to be South African residents and had until May 31 to submit their details to the chief director of nuclear within the former Department of Minerals and Energy (DME). - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Nersa spectacularly rejects Transnet's call for 74% pipeline-tariff hike - 4 May
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has spectacularly rebuffed a request by Transnet for an average 74,42% pipeline-tariff increase for 2009/10, announcing on Monday that it had instead decided to institute a tariff reduction of 10,38% for the financial year. Nersa's full-time member primarily responsible for petroleum pipelines regulation Dr Rod Crompton told Engineering News Online that the decision was based on advice from two separate senior counsels. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Nersa tariff cut makes sense : AA - 5 May
The Automobile Association has welcomed the decision by the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) to reduce Transnet's pipeline tariff. "In effect, precedent has now been established where new projects may not be funded through a levy or tax on existing infrastructure," Gary Ronald, spokesman for the AA said. - Business Report website

Cruel fate of miners who found perfect blue diamond - 12 May
On Tuesday a Sotheby's auctioneer will almost certainly slam his gavel on an offer of at least Ł4-million (about R50-million) when an "important and rare, fancy, vivid, internally flawless blue diamond weighing 7,03 carats" finds a buyer at the Beau Rivage hotel in Geneva. It is seven months since the unique gem, in its rough form, tumbled down a chute at Cullinan mine, embedded in anonymous grey rock. The sale of the diamond has caused headlines around the world. Yet on 23 April, Petra Diamonds, which owns the mine and is selling the polished stone, wrote to unions stating that "the ongoing deterioration in our income" was forcing it to "revise, review" and replace all previous collective agreements with the mine's 900 staff. - Mail & Guardian website

Rare blue diamond sells for record $9,5-million - 13 May
A flawless vivid blue diamond weighing 7,03 carats sold on Tuesday for a record 10,5-million Swiss francs ($9,49-million), the highest price paid per carat for any gemstone at auction, Sotheby's said. - Mail & Guardian website

JSE suspension of coal junior SACMH's listing a blow to Bafokeng community - 4 May
The suspension by the JSE securities exchange of the listing of the troubled South African Coal Mining Holdings (SACMH) coal-mining company is a blow to controlling Royal Bafokeng Holdings shareholder. The JSE said in a Stock Exchange News Service (Sens) notice that SACMH's listing had been suspended "with immediate effect" as a result of the company's failure to comply with listings requirements. Royal Bafokeng Holdings is the business arm of the 300 000-strong Bafokeng community, which is located above valuable platinum deposits in North West province and built up most of its considerable wealth from its platinum-mining interests. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

State-owned IDC provides R45m loan to Pamodzi Gold’s stricken Free State mines - 4 May
The State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) had provided a R45-million loan for the provisionally liquidated Pamodzi Gold's stricken Free State gold mine, lead provisional liquidator Enver Motala told Mining Weekly Online on Monday. Motala said that provisional liquidators were also in the final stages of concluding a R40-million loan agreement with the HypoVereinsbank (HVB) of Germany, the holder of the onerous gold hedge over the East Rand operations. He added that confirmation of the elusive Best Rock funding had, to date, still not been obtained. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

S African govt gives Pamodzi Gold R7,5m for critical water pumping - 30 April
The South African government's Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) on Thursday deposited R7,5-million into the account of the provisionally liquidated Pamodzi Gold East Rand to enable it to fight off the dangerous rising water onslaught at the Grootvlei gold mine.  - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

Suitor offers $150m for Pamodzi Gold - 5 May
A consortium including Sekunjalo Investments and high net-worth Middle Eastern families had offered to acquire Pamodzi Gold, the troubled mining firm, for $150 million (R1.27 billion), a source close to the bid said yesterday. - Business Report website

Offer for Pamodzi Gold’s Orkney won’t cover R337m liability : Simmers - 6 May
The bid that Simmer & Jack Mines (Simmers) would submit for the stricken Pamodzi Gold's provisionally liquidated Orkney mine would not cover the operation's current R337-million financial liability, Simmers CEO Deon van der Mescht told Mining Weekly Online on Wednesday. Earlier, Motala had confirmed to Mining Weekly Online that the JSE-listed Simmers would meet him on Thursday. Van der Mescht said that Simmers' strategy in seeking to acquire the Orkney gold mine was one of area consolidation, which would allow synergistic geographical benefits to be unlocked. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

Unpaid Pamodzi Gold workers facing ''starvation', union slams banks - 14 May
Unpaid miner workers from Pamodzi Gold's provisionally liquidated Orkney gold mine were facing starvation, emergency fund head Rev Sarel Oosthuizen told Mining Weekly Online on Thursday, as a trade union slammed two banks for their alleged lack of compassion. Oosthuizen, a Dutch Reformed Church minister from Stilfontein West, warned that a socioeconomic tragedy was unfolding for between 2 800 and 3 000 unpaid miners while Solidarity attacked Standard Bank and Nedbank over penalties charged to stricken Pamodzi employees, and praised FNB and Absa. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Pamodzi Gold gets R50m from German bank, Solidarity wants insolvency probe - 21 May
As trade union Solidarity called for an insolvency probe into potential financial irregularities in the provisionally liquidated Pamodzi Gold, the stricken company's liquidators on Thursday announced that the German HypoVereinsbank (HVB) had provided  a R50-million loan that would facilitate a return to full production at Pamodzi Gold's East Rand operations. Joint provisional liquidator Enver Motala of SBT Trust told Mining Weekly Online further that he would be applying to the High Court for an extension of the May 26 return date for all three of the liquidated gold mines, for which takeover offers were being formulated. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

Liquidators ask for more time on Pamodzi Mines - 27 May
Pamodzi Gold 's provisional liquidators will be filing an application today to extend the provisional liquidation orders on the group's East Rand, Free State and Orkney mines, liquidator Enver Motala confirmed yesterday. He said he was not aware of any plans to oppose the liquidators' applications. - allAfrica website

Pamodzi Gold provisional liquidation extended to Sept 1 - 28 May
The North Gauteng High Court, in Pretoria, has extended the return dates for the provisional liquidation orders against cash-constrained Pamodzi Gold's Orkney, Free State and East Rand operations until September 1. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

Harmony says 36 illegal miners died at Free State shaft, 294 charged - 1 June
Criminal charges have been laid against 294 illegal miners at one of South African gold major Harmony Gold's old shafts, while 36 bodies had been recovered at the shaft. Harmony Gold South Region COO Tom Smith added that the illegal miners have been charged with trespassing and with illegal dealing in or the possession of gold. The illegal miners had stolen mostly gold, although a small amount of copper had also been taken, said Smith. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

Municipal Management and Procedure

Cape Town

Cape Town crackdown on residential business premises - 5 May
The City of Cape Town closed down 31 illegal businesses operating in the Blaauwberg area between December 2008 and March 2009 and issued summonses to 69 others who failed to comply with instructions to close. The problem of illegal businesses such as mechanical, spray painting and panel beating workshops being run in residential areas has been blamed on a lack of adequate business opportunities as a result of bad planning in the rapidly growing Table View area. - allAfrica website

Business rejects rates increase - 13 May
The Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry has written to the City Council to protest strongly at plans in the Draft Budget to increase rates on commercial property by 15.8 percent, nearly double the increase on residential property. - Cape Business News website

Budget 2009-2010, Draft on the City of Cape Town website

Ekurhuleni

Ex-Ekurhuleni manager to bag R4-million - 1 May
The Ekurhuleni municipality will pay sacked city manager Patrick Flusk R4-million before tax as part of a settlement, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) radio news reported late on Thursday.  Flusk was fired in March due to the municipality's poor service delivery. - Mail & Guardian website

Msunduzi

The city's draft budget - 27 May
Msunduzi Municipality’s draft budget is a mixed bag with welcome concessions for some ratepayers and unpleasant news for others. The document shows that as in most institutions a fair amount of income gets spent on human resources costs. - Witness website

Msunduzi budget : 'too much money for overtime' - 28 May
The Msunduzi Municipality's proposed 2009/2010 budget was approved at a full council meeting held at Eshowe Sports Grounds in Vulindlela yesterday. However, concerns were raised by members of the opposition who felt that less money should be spent on overtime, while more funds should be allocated for repairs and maintenance. - Witness website

See also : Operating Budget. 24 March 2009 on the official Msunduzi website

eThekwini

Row over Indian market in South Africa, hawkers to move court - 14 May
A group of fruit and vegetable hawkers here are taking the local municipality to court in an effort to retain the 100-year-old Early Morning Market that was started by the first indentured labourers from India who opted to remain in the country after their contract as sugarcane farm workers ended. The eThekwini municipality is planning to develop a mall on the site where a fifth generation of South African Indians still continue to bring fresh produce from their smallholdings for sale to the public directly, just like their forebears did for the first time in 1910. - Samay Live website

Press Release : Relocation of Early Morning Market

This press release was emailed out at : 28 May, 2009 12:05

The eThekwini Municipality's Business Support and Markets Unit would like to clarify a few issues regarding the relocation of the traders in the Early Morning Market.

Reports in the media that the relocation of the traders has been put on hold following Tuesday's meeting requested by South African Communist Party to get clarifications on certain issues regarding the Warwick Mall Development, are unfounded. There was no agreement that the relocation, as stipulated in the letters given to the Early Morning Market traders, would be halted.

The said meeting between all the stakeholders concerned resolved that discussions would continue on Wednesday, 3 June 2009.

The City will therefore, be proceeding with the implementation of the Council resolution to facilitate development of the Warwick Mall.

The Municipality is sympathetic to the plight of the traders in the Early Morning Market, and stresses that everything will be done to ensure that the transition is smooth and that the new site is well marketed.

The following facts should be noted :

1) Street traders' operations

All the street traders who are in possession of permits will be allowed to continue to trade.  All traders have been given letters that give them this assurance.

2) Early Morning Market traders

The Market will not be closed down, but will be relocated to the Materials Management Building in Market Road.

For further comment please contact Mr Philip Sithole, Head : Business Support and Markets Unit on 083 2888 793. Email sitholep@durban.gov.za.

Issued by the eThekwini Municipality's Communications Department.
Contact Sohana Singh, telephone 031-311 2044 ; cell : 083-309 0207 ; Email : singhsohana@durban.gov.za

See also :
Notice of Intention to Grant the Lease of Immovable Property to Warwick Mall (Pty) Limited - 25 February 2009
Press release : eThewini Municipality
[InfoUpdate 6 of 2009]

eThekwini bus boss stands down - 31 May
Remant Alton chief executive officer, Jay Singh, is to stand down as director of the embattled bus company because of a previous criminal conviction for bribery. This is after his lawyer and Remnant Alton chairman, Rajan Naidoo, advised Singh on Friday of relevant provisions of the Companies Act. On Friday his lawyer said they had previously been unaware of the relevant provisions of the Companies Act which disqualified Singh from directorships and management of registered companies. He later confirmed that the Act did indeed disqualify Singh from directorships of companies, but said the clause prohibiting direct or indirect involvement in management of companies, was open to interpretation. - IOL website

Remant fires back - 29 May
Durban's controversial bus service has sharply rejected claims of defrauding taxpayers by more than R1-billion. Remant Alton has also challenged a private investigator, who handed an affidavit to police containing allegations of fraud and corruption, to back the claims with hard evidence. The bus company has further sounded an alarm of imminent closure of the bus service if it does not receive its subsidy for May from the departments of transport and education. - IOL website

State owes Durban huge debt - 13 May
As ratepayers prepare to cough up more than ever before for rates, water and electricity - several government departments, and some people living in hostels, still owe the city R757-million. These are the revised figures that were on Tuesday presented to Durban's executive committee amid howls of anger and frustration from opposition parties. The Combined Ratepayers' Association has also joined the fray, saying the unpaid rates and services accounts represent a figure greater than all the rates that will be paid by residential property owners this coming financial year. - IOL website

Massive hike in electricity looming - 13 May
Ratepayers should brace themselves for the possibility of paying as much as 40,5 percent more for electricity before the end of the year - seven percent higher than the increase the city council proposes for implementation on July 1. The city council has proposed an electricity tariff increase of 33,3 percent for the 2009/10 financial year, but said on Tuesday the many unknowns in Eskom's draft application for a bulk tariff increase, to the national energy regulator Nersa, forced it to prepare for a different scenario. - IOL website

Pretoria/Tshwane

Tshwane property rated to increase by 13% - 21 May
BuaNews Online website

Pretoria tariff hike shock - 22 May
Pretoria ratepayers will have to dig deeper into their pockets this year for hefty, above-inflation tariff hikes that Tshwane mayor Dr Gwen Ramokgopa has announced, while noting top economists' grim predictions of the global economy. Opposition parties in the Tshwane Metro Council say it is the council's inability to collect revenue effectively that has necessitated the hikes. Ramokgopa announced the R15.4-billion budget in her State of the City address yesterday. - IOL website

National Prosecuting Authority

JZ free to pick NPA boss? - 27 May
President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday reports that he was bound by an undertaking not to appoint a successor to axed national prosecutions boss Vusi Pikoli were false. - iAfrica website

Presidency wades into the Pikoli controversy again  - 27 May
The presidency is fighting its way back into the headlines over the heavily contested decision by former President Kgalema Motlanthe to confirm the sacking of the director of public prosecutions, Vusi Pikoli. Thabo Masebe, head of communications in the president's office, issued a statement saying he wished to correct inaccurate media reports concerning the matter between Pikoli and the government. "The former President Kgalema Motlanthe undertook that he would give Pikoli's legal representative notice before he appoints a new National Director of Public Prosecutions". "Former president Thabo Mbeki did not say he was advised by the National Security Council to suspend the NDPP. All he said was that he conferred with the National Security Council. Nor did the Ginwala enquiry declare the suspension of Advocate Pikoli as the NDPP to be unlawful as some media reports also stated". - Weekend Post website

See also : Criminal Justice System ; Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) ; Judiciary ; North Gauteng High Court

Browse Mole Report

Smoke and mirrors - 1 May
I won't keep quiet any longer. Here goes . . . First, some stumps of fact that could snag the skeins of deceit and disinformation. Special Browse "Mole" was commissioned by the former head of the directorate of special operations (Scorpions), Leonard McCarthy - now vice-president responsible for integrity at the World Bank - in early 2006. I was sole author, subject to two caveats : that McCarthy passed certain pieces of (unsourced) information to me during my inquiry and he instructed that certain passages, written by himself, be inserted into the text. Curiously, neither the Fraser team nor the committee saw fit to speak to Powell before reaching their conclusions. Indeed, after the committee's report was made public, I tried on several occasions to contact its chairperson, Siyabonga Cwele (now intelligence minister), leaving him voice messages in which I communicated my willingness - even eagerness - to assist with any queries. I briefed lawyers to write letters to this effect. To no avail. Nobody seemed to give a tinker's for what I had to say. - Article by Ivor Powell on the Mail & Guardian website

Browsed and beaten - 1 MAy
The leaking of the Special Browse "Mole" report arguably did more than any other event to tilt the balance of forces between the Scorpions and their foes in the Jacob Zuma camp. The top-secret report, dated July 12 2006, was faxed to Cosatu general secretary Zwelenzima Vavi on May 7 2007.  A hard copy was posted too, making sure that one of Zuma's staunchest supporters got access to the document. Why? Because exposing the Browse was a propaganda coup. - Sam Sole on Mail & Guardian website

The Special Browse Mole Report : the veiled truth within - 5 May
When the Special Browse Mole Report (the report) was initially leaked to Cosatu, those implicated in clandestine activities to undermine the rule of law and overthrow the government swiftly moved to discredit the origins of the report and attempted to render its contents invalid. The SACP secretary-general, Blade Nzimande, addressed a letter of complaint to the chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) as the SACP believed the detail and nature of the report could be politically explosive and also have the potential to create intense, acrimonious and divisive political conflict. It is important we interrogate some aspects of the report to establish if there might be any truth to the allegations made. The questions we need to ask is why Angola and Libya would want to fund and support the Zuma presidency? - Sentletse Diakanyo on the Thought Leader blog

Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) (formerly Scorpions)

S Africa names top investigator in anti-crime push - 21 May
South Africa appointed a former undercover ANC fighter as its top criminal investigator on Thursday, handing him the task of tackling one of the world's highest crime rates ahead of the 2010 soccer World Cup. Anwa Dramat, 41, was appointed head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), which is being formed after the FBI-style Scorpions unit was disbanded under pressure from supporters of Jacob Zuma, who accused it of political abuse. - Guardian website
Keyphrase :
2010 FIFA World Cup

High praise for new DPCI head - 21 May
The head of the new Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) Anwar Dramat has been praised for the role he has played in crime combating. Not much is known publicly about the current Deputy Provincial Commissioner of Police in the Western Cape due to his years of work as an intelligence operative. But today, he received high praise from his colleagues for, among others, being a successful intelligence and underground operative and for his work in curbing taxi violence and drug related gangsterism in the province. - BuaNews Online website

Strict selection, vetting of new investigators - 21 May
Investigators wishing to be part of the new Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) will undergo a stringent and comprehensive selection process. This is according to Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa, who announced the new Head of the Directorate, Anwar Dramat, on Thursday. The new elite crime fighting unit, which replaces the former Directorate for Special Operations (DSO), also known as the Scorpions, will come into operation on 1 July.  - BuaNews Online website

See also : Criminal Justice System ; National Prosecuting Authority ; Judiciary ; North Gauteng High Court

Zuma Case : Dropped Charges

'Clarification sought' on Trengove's comments - 2 May
Advocates for Transformation (AFT), has sought "clarification" from the Johannesburg Bar Council on whether Adv Wim Trengove had been given permission to be quoted in the media criticising the National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) decision to drop corruption charges against president-elect Jacob Zuma. Chairman of the Johannesburg Bar Council, Adv Ish Semenya, says the AFT's letter has been received and will be considered at the next council meeting. AFT's Anthea Platt says in terms of the Johannesburg Bar Council rules, advocates need permission before speaking to the media about cases they have acted in. Trengove says he believes there is a difference when speaking about a case that is still before court and one which had been finalised. But he says his defence is "not a technical one", but based on the public interest. - Business Day website

How Zuma avoided a trial - 5 May
In the first extract from his revised and updated book on the arms deal, After the Party, Andrew Feinstein tells of the plethora of legal strategies employed by Zuma's legal team to make sure the President-elect never had to face the original charges against him. - Dispatch Online website

Zuma should have gone to trial, says Hong Kong judge - 8 May
On the eve of Jacob Zuma's inauguration as South African President, the judge whose decision was key to dropping corruption charges against the ANC president has said that the country's chief prosecutor made a mistake in law. But the former Hong Kong judge behind that important decision, Justice Conrad Seagroatt, who earlier commented to Grubstreet on Mpshe's plagiarism of his judgment, has now told me that Mpshe was wrong to use his judgment to justify dropping the charges against Zuma. - Grubstreet website

What Justice Seagroatt told Grubstreet - 8 May
My judgement had been overruled by the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. In the light of this Mpshe should not only have given proper attribution to the passages in my judgement upon which he obviously relied, but should have explained why he relied upon them in preference to the HKCF's decision. There was certainly room for him to do so. - Grubstreet website

Mpshe was wrong to drop Zuma charges says plagiarised judge - 8 May
When the judge had initially been contacted by the journalist Gill Moodie, Seagroatt had described Mpshe's plagiarism of his judgment as "sloppy and undisciplined" based the schedule of extracts published on Politicsweb.co.za. However, at that stage he had not seen the full Mpshe statement itself. In afurther email to Moodie, published on the Grubstreet.co.za weblog, Seagroatt made four further criticisms of the NDPP' decision (according to Politicsweb). - Pierre de Vos on the Constitutionally Speaking website

Jeff Radebe's worrying defence of the NPA - 27 May
The article by Jeff Radebe ("NPA's integrity remains intact" Sunday Times April 12) makes interesting reading. He was the Minister of Transport when he wrote it, and he is now the Minister of Justice, and writing from Luthuli House as the ANC's head of policy he offered a lawyer's-eye account of the issues surrounding the decision by the NPA to withdraw the case against Jacob Zuma. He refers - as lawyers do - to various legal rules and decided cases which he quotes as authorities for his conclusions. What he says is worth examining. Politicians have an absolute and inviolable duty to understand and to respect the basic rules of our constitution and law, and criminal law and procedure in particular. - Politicsweb website

NPA's integrity remains intact - 12 April
The Times website

Mpshe wrong to drop Zuma charges : claim - 28 May
A retired judge has questioned whether the decision to drop corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma was in accordance with the rule of law. Speaking on Wednesday at a conference to reflect on the past 15 years of democracy, Judge Rex van Schalkwyk said lawmakers and citizens should be subjected to the law in equal measures, and those who serve in high positions should not be treated differently. Van Schalkwyk said acting prosecutions head Mokotedi Mpshe should explain why he did not take into consideration a judgment on the case. - IOL website

Provincial Government

Future of provinces one of 'big decisions' for Zuma - 18 May
Democracy and governance experts are divided on whether the government should reduce, abolish or retain the nine provinces and legislatures. However, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka says the future of provinces is one of the big decisions the new government is tasked to make. "There is a policy document that we will be discussing around the future of provinces". Shiceka said the document dealt with whether they should remain, be done away or reduced. Kwandiwe Kondlo, director of democracy and governance at Human Sciences Research Council, said scrapping some provinces would be the best decision. - Business Day website

Presidency to get more power over provinces : law expert - 25 May
There was likely to be a realignment of functions between national, provincial and local governments, with more centralised control possibly being exercised over provinces by the two new ministries in the Presidency, Community Law Centre professor Nico Steytler said on Friday. Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka said the future of provinces was one of the big decisions the new government would have to take and that the discussion would be based on the review already conducted. - Business Day website

Helen Zille on how provincial government is under threat : full text - 31 May
Here is the full text of Helen Zille's online newsletter which raises the spectre of the end of provincial government powers. - The Times website

'Shoot to Kill'

Suspect killed in police shootout - 4 May
A suspected criminal was shot dead during a heavy exchange of gunfire between police and robbers in Durban on Monday morning, police said. Superintendent Jay Naicker said members of the Flying Squad spotted a stolen silver Toyota RunX in Pine Street at 4.30am. "When police officials approached the vehicle, the suspects fled and police gave chase. "The suspects opened fire on the police. Police officials managed to pull the vehicle over at Cato Manor and one suspect was killed in the exchange of gunfire." - IOL website

South African Police Service

Public should question legitimacy of emails - 18 May
The South African Police Services (SAPS) has warned members of the public to question the legitimacy of emails which are in circulation regarding the law and law enforcement. An email which is currently doing the rounds claims that a woman has the right to refuse to go to a police station if she is not assisted by a woman officer and is not taken to an all women police station between 6pm and 6am. The email, which is headed "Woman Arrest Law," is completely incorrect under South African law and is not applicable in this country, says the SAPS. "Hoax e-mails are being circulated in South Africa with ever-increasing frequency, disseminating incorrect information and causing confusion which could have far-reaching effects if not disputed," it said. - BuaNews Online website

Statistics

Statistics of liquidations and insolvencies - 25 May
StatsSA website

Taxation Law

Personal use of business cellphones and computers - 5 May
The National Treasury and Sars have cited enforcement inability and onerous compliance costs as the reason for removing the taxable fringe benefit which would normally arise on the private use of these business assets. The Revenue Laws Amendment Act, 2008 places an added exclusion into paragraph 6(4) of the Seventh Schedule, which removes the taxable value that would otherwise have been placed on private use of telephones or computer equipment provided by an employer. - Moneyweb website

Special Board Decision Reports are no longer placed on the SARS website, which means that LexisNexis, previous publisher of these reports, also cannot publish them. The last Board decision was no.199. The reason for this is, and I quote from my source : "The board decisions are not reportable as they have no precedence and a decision was made to stop reporting them".

Source : OSALL (Lara)

Trade and Industry

21 May 2009
The Department of Trade and Industry to give effect to the Customised Sector Programme process
SA Government Information website
Keyphrases :
Clothing and Textiles Competitiveness Programme (CTCP)
Customised Sector Programme (CSP)
Enterprise Investment Programme (EIP)

Further significant de-industrialisation would spell failure, new Trade and Industry Minister asserts - 28 May
In a frank exchange with Engineering News only days after President Jacob Zuma announced his appointment, South Africa's new Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies, outlined precisely what the public should expect of him over the next five years : "I would regard any further significant de-industrialisation under my watch, even if it is not of our own causing, as indicating that we have not succeeded". The significance of this statement can only be truly measured when it is viewed in its full context – a context that is being shaped overwhelmingly by the prevailing global economic crisis and a domestic manufacturing economy that appears to be in chronic decline. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

IDC grants loans of R70 million to textile firms - 5 May
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has approved four applications for loan finance worth R70m from clothing and textile firms, as a government plan to rescue the industry cranks up. The loan scheme is part of a comprehensive rescue package for the ailing clothing and textile industry, said to be worth R5bn, which is finally being rolled out by the Department of Trade and Industry - allAfrica website

S Africa offers help to textile sector - 21 May
South Africa unveiled a plan on Thursday to help the struggling textile sector, a key employer, to better compete with cheap Chinese imports. The department of trade and industry (DTI) said in a statement it would grant loans with preferential lending rates to textile firms wanting to upgrade equipment and would encourage cost-sharing within the industry. - Reuters website

Clothing industry to benefit from dti plans  - 21 May
A review of the import duties paid on textiles not made locally or in short supply which are needed for clothing manufacture, has been completed according to the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), and the results of the review are currently being readied for implementation by the South African Revenue Service. - Business Report website

Rescue plan for textile sector : Nimrod Zalk, chief director, industrial policy, Department of Trade and Industry - 22 May
Moneyweb website

Ministry develops textiles competitiveness programme  - 22 May
In order for companies in the clothing and textiles sectors to be in a position to compete with international competitors in the domestic and international markets, it is essential that they advance their operational competitiveness to world class performance levels. the dti has therefore developed a Clothing and Textiles Competitiveness Programme (CTCP) which is being administered by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). - fibre2fashion website

Ministers weave Frame bailout  - 20 May
In a renewed effort to save jobs at troubled Frame Textiles, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies and Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel have been meeting union representatives to draft a bailout package for the company, which employs 1 400 people. Should the expected multimillion-rand package be agreed, it would be South Africa's first bailout of a private company using state resources. - Business Report website

25 May 2009
Progress in the avoidance of loss of strategic capacity and employment associated with the Frame Vertical Pipeline (FVP) textile facility
SA Government Information website

Rescue team mulls new venture for Frame - 26 May
The team charged with finding a way to prevent the closure of Seardel's Frame Textile unit is mulling a number of options, including setting up a joint venture to run some of its more viable assets or the sale of some of its divisions. - JustStyle website
* * * Subscription protected * * *

Lesson for SA textiles sector in the fate of an American icon - 28 May
Two features of power and affluence stand out from my Durban boyhood. The one was textile mogul Philip Frame, and the other was the swanky American car, the Pontiac. - Article by Tony Leon on the allAfrica website

SA subject to two new antidumping measures - 7 May
Products exported from South Africa were subject to two new antidumping measures that were implemented by other nations in the second half of 2008, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Thursday. The organisation revealed that 138 new final antidumping measures had been implemented during 2008, while 208 new antidumping investigations were initiated in 2008, compared with 163 new antidumping investigations in 2007. Products exported from China were the most frequent subject of new measures during the second half of 2008, accounting for 37 out of 81 new measures during this period, said the WTO. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Thailand presses country for free trade deal - 12 May
Thailand is eager to engage SA on a fully fledged free trade agreement (FTA) with the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu). Thailand is part of the very successful Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) trade bloc, which also includes Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, and has a combined consumer market of 500-million people. Thai Deputy Minister of Commerce, Alongkorn Ponlaboot, believed that bilateral ties could be strengthened through more formal trade co-operation between the Asean bloc and SA, and an FTA between Sacu, and even possibly with the Southern African Development Community (SADC). - allAfrica website

Trade in fake goods costing SA R2bn - 14 May
The trade in counterfeit goods, including the theft of intellectual property (IP) rights, is costing South Africa more than R2 billion annually in lost revenues. This is according to Mandla Mnyatheli, chief director of company and IP enforcement with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), who was speaking at a regional conference on counterfeiting at the Westin Grand Hotel. Mnyatheli said the global impact of counterfeiting was valued at R3.4 trillion in 2005 - 10 percent of world trade. - Business Report website

Traditional Leaders

KZN dept, traditional leaders to work together  - 29 May
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development is committed to working with traditional leaders in the province to develop rural areas. "It is impossible to achieve any development in the rural areas without the involvement of the traditional leaders. They are the ones who are in constant touch with the rural communities," said provincial MEC Lydia Johnson on Friday. She said it was imperative that the department worked closely with the traditional leaders to improve the living conditions of people in rural areas. - BuaNews Online website

12 May 2009
Dispute around the Chieftainship of Bahurutshe ba Moiloa Boo Ramotshere investigated
SA Government Information website

S Africa's 'breakthrough' succession case - 1 June
There was nothing remarkable about the case before Hosi Nwamitwa II, chief of the Valoyi tribe. A villager said his brother's wife had failed to show up for a hearing on an accusation that she insulted neighbors. The accused pleaded guilty and was fined $30, and the case was closed. What was unusual was the person mediating the dispute. For only the second such court session to date, the chief - whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather had also led the Valoyi - was a woman. Nwamitwa knows something about family feuds. Last year, her six-year battle with a cousin went to South Africa's top court. The cousin said the 70 000-member tribe's tradition of male leadership gave him the right to be hosi, or chief. The court disagreed, citing the Valoyi royal family's decision to give Nwamitwa the throne, and she assumed the job full time last month. - Washington Post website
Keyphrases :
Gender issues

See also :

Constitutional Court
4 June 2008
CCT 03/07 [2008] ZACC 9 ; 2008 (9) BCLR 914 (CC) ; 2009 (2) SA 66 (CC)
Shilubana and Others v Nwamitwa
Right of woman to succeed as Hosi (Chief) of the Valoyi traditional community in Limpopo

Succession of women to traditional leadership : is the judgment in Shilubana v Nwamitwa based on sound legal principles?
J C Bekker and C C Boonzaaier
CILSA - 2008, v.41(3), p.449

Miscellaneous

Motorists to cough up - 30 April
On a leisurely Sunday morning outing, you fall from your bicycle while swerving to avoid a large pothole in the road. You sustain serious injuries. Or you come around a corner in your car, hit a pothole and damage your suspension. Or you swerve to avoid the pothole and collide with a third party. Do you have a claim against the local authority? - Article by Miles Carter, Director in the Dispute Resolution Department at Bowman Gilfillan on the iafrica website

Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
29 May 2008
632/07
McIntosh v Premier, KwaZulu-Natal (632/07) [2008] ZASCA 62
Delict – cyclist falling in attempt to avoid pothole in road - legal duty of Province apparent from statute – additional considerations when weighing up reasonableness of public authority's conduct

Pothole victim sues province - 26 January 2009
The Witness website
[InfoUpdate 3 of 2009]

Former Thint chief seeks citizenship - 1 May
The man who once stood in the dock with Jacob Zuma wants to become a South African. Pierre Moynot, the chief executive of French arms subsidiary Thint which was accused with Zuma of corruption, retired as the company officially ceased to exist on Thursday. Charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering were formally withdrawn against Thint (Pty) Ltd and Thint Holding in the Durban High Court on April 7, the day the NPA dropped its case against Zuma. Eight days later, the warrant of arrest granted in February 2005 for Thint's former head, Alain Thetard, was cancelled by Judge Kate Pillay in the Durban High Court. But Moynot, who has lived in South Africa for the past 17 years and has permanent residence, will not be packing for Paris. He will remain in the country and plans to apply for citizenship. - IOL website

Cwele probe has stalled : Beetge's dad - 3 May
Caught up in an international drug trafficking drama, Sheryl Cwele, the wife of national Intelligence Minister, Siyabonga Cwele, is expected back at work on Monday as the Director of Health and Community Services at Hibiscus Coast Municipality. Cwele, who has been booked off work on almost one month's sick leave, is alleged to have arranged international air flights and a visa for a South Coast woman, Tessa Beetge, who was found in possession of more than R3-million of raw cocaine in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in June last year. Recent newspaper reports have revealed that Cwele had exchanged dozens of emails, letters and text messages with Beetge before her arrest. - IOL website
Keyphrase :
Drug smuggling

Jailed drug mule's dad speaks of threats - 3 May
The parents of convicted KZN drug trafficker Tessa Beetge, who is languishing in a Brazilian jail, this week spoke about threats they had recently received. - IOL website

Pair held after discovery of stolen car - 5 May
Two Zimbabwean nationals were arrested at a car dealership in Bryanston after they were allegedly found in possession of a stolen British vehicle, Randburg police said on Tuesday.  Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the Bentley GT was reported stolen in London. - IOL website

InfoUpdate : an Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society