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South Africa

2010

Commission warns of corruption in 2010 tender - 7 July
Greater care must be taken to decrease the risk of corrupt practices in the awarding 2010 FIFA World Cup tenders, says the Public Service Commission (PSC). Realising the commission's annual State of the Public Service Report on Tuesday, Commissioner Dr Ralph Mgijima said the public service was at the centre of preparations for the tournament and therefore government needed to be extremely vigilant. "There is a large flow of resources and abundance of business opportunities during this time, the risk of corrupt practices tends to increase," he said. However, he said the vigilance should not be limited to public servants only but also the private sector as research has shown that employees of private sector companies are among those who solicit and accept bribes from companies and government. - BuaNews Online website

'Arms Deal'

Arms deal activist has no case, says Zuma - 8 July
Anti-corruption crusader Terry Crawford-Browne "has failed to make a case" against the government in his latest legal battle regarding the controversial, multi-billion rand arms deal, says President Jacob Zuma. The president was responding to an action Crawford-Browne instituted against the president and the government. To illustrate that he had failed to make a case, Zuma listed 16 complaints against Crawford-Browne's claim. - IOL website

Communications

1 July 2009
SABC interim board : nominations and final list
Parliamentary Monitoring Group website

Fakie and Ramos can't help SABC - 2 July
Former auditor-general Shauket Fakie and Absa CEO Maria Ramos have turned down approaches from the ANC to serve on the SABC's interim board. A senior ANC MP said today that the party was keen to have Ramos and Fakie serve on the board because of their expertise, but both had declined the nominations. - IOL website

2 July 2009
SABC Interim Board : Committee Recommendations
Parliamentary Monitoring Group website

New SABC board proposed - 3 July
A five member interim board for the SABC was proposed by Parliament's portfolio committee on communications on Thursday. The board, which includes former MTN executive Irene Charnley, Unisa academic Phillip Mtimkulu, media expert Libby Lloyd, advocate Leslie Sedibe and former communications committee member Suzanne Vos, would have to be approved first by the National Assembly and then by President Jacob Zuma. - Moneyweb website

Next six months will be 'tough' - 3 July
Some of the named members of the interim SABC board have acknowledged the enormity of problems facing the corporation and the expectations to clean up the mess. Speaking yesterday shortly after their names were approved by the National Assembly communications committee, some of the new interim board members admitted that the next six months - the tenure of their short stint - will be the toughest. - IOL website
Keyphrases :
Irene Charnley
Phil Mtimkulu

Ex SABC board want to be paid - 5 July
As the SABC interim board prepares to take office, it has emerged that board members who were booted out want to be paid monthly retainers after attending the hearing in Parliament that resulted in the board being dissolved. Board members get about R8 000 a month and R5 000 a meeting. - IOL website

SABC board : ANC gets flak - 8 July
The ANC faced a rebellion from its allies who joined the opposition in their rejection of the new SABC interim board, with the SA Communist Party describing it as illegitimate. Cosatu, the SACP and Young Communist League blasted the ANC for unilaterally appointing a board that was not balanced and did not include nominations from the unions. This is despite the board's chairwoman, Irene Charnley, coming from a union background. - IOL website

ISPs run risk of R 5million RICA fine - 3 July
According to the mobile providers they are ready to enforce this act, and have set up systems to ensure that subscribers can easily register their identities with their respective providers. The debate surrounding the registering and verifying of millions of prepaid cellphone users has overshadowed the requirement for Internet Service Providers to also abide by the act. - My Broadband website

I am a RICA criminal - 2 July
As of yesterday, I am a criminal. I brazenly walked into a large CNA outlet, stepped up to the cellphone service kiosk, and without any form of identification demanded two starter packs, one with a Vodacom phone number and one with MTN. In full sight of anyone who bothered to look, I took the packs to the cashier and handed over R1,98 to cover the 99c cost of each pack. It gets worse. - The Big Change website

New cellphone laws slated - 5 July
Experts have lambasted new laws to collect information about prepaid cellphone users, citing their "severe" privacy implications. One academic described existing rules that forced operators to retain personal call data for a minimum of three years as "excessive". And as of last Wednesday the government will collect more data. Operators now have to obtain the full name, address and identity number of customers buying SIM cards for prepaid services. MTN, Vodacom and Cell C have been given 18 months to get this information from customers. - IOL website
Keyphrases :
Charles Goredema. Institute of Security Studies, Cape Town (Head of organised crime research)
Gus Hosein. Privacy International (Senior fellow) ; London School of Economics
Jerry Fishenden. Microsoft UK (Lead chief technology adviser)

See also : Legislation. Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Amendment Act 48 of 2008

Nafcoc to take Icasa to court over pay TV - 8 July
The National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc) would serve court papers against the regulation of pay TV channels by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa), the chamber said yesterday. Nafcoc, as a consortium representative, is objecting to Icasa regulation and would serve court papers late next week. Nafcoc said digital terrestrial television would extend "MultiChoice's monopoly on the South African pay TV market". - Business Report website

See : GNR 720/GG 32377/03-07-2009

Interdict keeps MultiChoice on toes - 10 July
MultiChoice has voiced concerns that a court interdict brought against the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) to block the allocation of new channels to M-Net would delay the migration of pay TV to a digital broadcasting platform, it said yesterday. - Business Report website

Company Law

King III

Theo's complaints change King 3 - 1 July
Complaints by shareholder activist Theo Botha about King 3 on Moneyweb have borne fruit - clauses defining an independent non-executive director in King 2 omitted originally, are to be reinserted. Botha was alarmed that two vital clauses were left out of King 3 - "has no significant contractual relationships with the company" and "is not a significant supplier to the company" had been left out. - Moneyweb website

Conservation

Seal cull on hold pending deal - 28 June
The annual Namibian seal cull has been put on hold for two weeks, pending the possible sale of the seal industry to a South African seal rescue organisation. Francois Hugo of Seal Alert-SA was this week approached by the only remaining purchaser of Namibia's seal skins and pelts with a suggestion that he and the remaining sealers be bought out. - IOL website

Correctional Services

Shaik Case

No parole review for Shaik - 30 June
New Correctional Services Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, says that without "compelling evidence", she has no intention of reviewing convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik's medical parole. Briefing the media at Parliament on Tuesday, ahead of debate on her department's budget vote, she said there was no evidence to warrant a review of the decision on the matter by her predecessor, Ngconde Balfour. - IOL website

Criminal Justice System

Zuma questions rights of criminals - 7 July
President Jacob Zuma has called for the reassessment of the approach through which the perpetrators of crime are granted bail in South Africa. He said the country cannot afford to have a perception that the rights of criminals were being prioritised over those of victims. - BuaNews Online website

'Free bail' for the poorest - 8 July
A recent amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) means that more people are likely to be released on "free bail" despite being charged with serious offences. The new legislation demands that if a court has satisfied itself that the interests of justice permit the release of an accused person on bail, the court must hold a separate inquiry into the ability of the accused to pay a sum of money to secure his or her bail.  A Pietermaritzburg magistrate, Divesh Mootheram, this week released a 23-year-old man facing a charge of sexually violating a 12-year-old girl on warning or so-called "free bail". Despite being married with a young child, the accused is currently studying and has no income of his own, but is being assisted financially by his parents and others. The accused, who cannot be named at this stage because he has not yet pleaded to the charge against him, was represented by an advocate on private brief. The court found he was not a flight risk and that he was entitled to be released on bail pending his trial. - Witness website

Education

Morrel drops defamation case - 7 July
KwaZulu-Natal University academic Professor Robert Morrell has dropped his pending R200 000 defamation case against the university and its vice-chancellor, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba. The defamation suit arose from an e-mail Makgoba sent to Morrell and about 20 other UKZN staff in June 2006 about their meeting outside campus. Morrell said he had arrived at this decision for two reasons. Morrell married Monica Fairall in 2007. He said his wife, who died a few weeks ago, believed in building harmony, avoiding confrontation and promoting peace and, with that in mind, he had decided to drop the defamation case. His friends had also encouraged him to drop the case : "it has prevented me from exploring ways of teaching and caring for others that give me pleasure and makes the best use of my talents. I need to move from this toxic emotional place," he said. - IOL website

Environment

New law dictates fines for polluters - 7 July
With a focus on environmental friendliness, the National Waste Management Act went into effect on July 2. But, as with most undertakings as huge as a national system of laws for the minimisation of waste and its safe disposal, the devil will be in the detail, environmental groups fear. They have reservedly approved the law's enactment. "I was happy to see that some of the thinking that came out of the lobbying period, such as the notion of the extended producer responsibility, was expressed in the act," said Patrick Dowling of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa, whose input on the act was requested by the government. - IOL website

Govt adopts zero tolerance approach to water and environment offences - 10 July
South Africa is adopting a 'zero tolerance' approach to environment and water crimes, says Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica. "This campaign will be bolstered by our commitment to [reintroduce] environmental courts. We are in discussion with the Justice Portfolio and other law enforcement agencies to realise this and, within eight months, we will see the results", Sonjica said last week. She added that her department was in the process of expanding the mandate of environmental management inspectors to include the water aspect. The emergence of a single enforcement unit, arising from the integration of the Blue Scorpions and the Green Scorpions, would strengthen the resolve against wrongdoers. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Climate commitments made at Durban summit - 10 July
The eThekwini municipality, local and national businesses and the United Nations signed a partnership declaration at the climate change summit in Durban, last week, committing themselves to adapting their practices to reduce carbon emissions, which are the major causes of global warming. The summit was hosted by the Durban Investment Promotion Agency, the United Nations Industrial Development Organis-ation and the National Business Initiative. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Family Law

Naas faces his estranged son in court - 3 July
Legendary former Bulls and Springbok flyhalf Naas Botha on Thursday faced his own son as an opponent in the Pretoria Maintenance Court, after the young man applied for maintenance from him. Francois Jooste, 21, is Botha's son from a previous relationship. Botha did not marry the mother, but paid maintenance for his son until he turned 18. After school the son went with his mother to the US as she married an American, but he later returned to South Africa. As Jooste was no longer a minor, the first-year University of Pretoria computer engineering student could bring his own application for maintenance from his 51-year-old father. On Thursday, the legal representatives of the two parties met at Mitchell's office where they discussed the issue before going to court. It appeared that Botha was not completely reluctant to pay maintenance for his son again, but was willing to negotiate. The warrant was cancelled and the matter postponed to October this year when a maintenance inquiry/trial will be held. - IOL website

Foreign Policy

See also : SA faces a dilemma

Government

Denel to be realigned : Sisulu - 3 July
Arms manufacturer Denel is to be "realigned" and brought back under control of the defence force, Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu told MPs on Friday. "We have to serve notice . . . that we intend to negotiate Denel back into the ambit of the defence force," she said, opening debate on her department's budget vote in the National Assembly. Sisulu said she had held discussions on this matter with Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Parastatals future needs debate - 6 June
The future of South Africa's parastatals needed serious debate, SA Institute of Race Relations president Sipho Seepe said yesterday. This would help avoid the transfer of these entities from one department to another from being viewed as "ideologically driven", Seepe said. The country's major state-owned enterprises include Eskom, SAA and Transnet. Seepe was responding to Friday's announcement by Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu that her ministry had begun negotiations with her cabinet colleague, Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan, to shift Denel to her department from Hogan's. The state-owned arms manufacturer lost nearly R350 million last year. - Business Report website

Health

Motsoaledi moves to change 'primitive' system - 1 July
South Africa's model of health care financing is "primitive" and will be abandoned, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said. He said of the 8.5 percent of the GDP that was spent on health care, only 3.5 percent of the GDP catered for 84 percent of the population's health care. The other five percent catered for just 14 percent of the population or seven million people. One health economist said earlier in June that the system was a "completely unworkable, unaffordable solution that won't improve health services despite massive increases in expenditure". One of the proposals in the NHI is said to be a tax on all employed South Africans in order to create universal access to health care. The National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) has backed the NHI, saying it is disappointed at criticism of the scheme. - IOL website

Pharmacists unhappy with OSD process - 2 July
Pharmacists and pharmacist's assistants at various public sector facilities have recently voiced their dissatisfaction, frustration and anger with the delay in implementation of the Occupation Specific Dispensation for pharmacists. The way in which they have done this varies, ranging from strike action to protesting, picketing and down-scaling of services. - Moneyweb website

A bitter pill to swallow - 1 July
Community pharmacists are concerned that a new pricing structure, published recently for comment after almost four years in the making, threatens the viability of their small businesses. The proposed new fees were published in the Government Gazette two weeks ago, and the director-general of health will accept comments until July 19. - IOL website

Coffee must have a bit of a kick, law states - 6 July
For hundreds of years, restaurateurs, café owners and the manne on the stoep have argued about what makes the perfect cup of Joe. Now the government has stepped in, and what's in your mug of coffee is subject to the law - and it had better have caffeine in it, even if the package says decaffeinated. So what does a legal cup of coffee contain? "Coffee and milk shall be prepared only from milk, sugar and coffee or coffee extract, and shall contain not less than 0.12 percent caffeine," instructs Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi in new draft regulations on coffee. The draft regulations are in terms of the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, and coffee drinkers have until September to voice their feelings. - IOL website

Human Rights

Couple held for human trafficking - 7  July
A couple has been arrested on charges of abduction, human trafficking and extortion after allegedly kidnapping a Zimbabwean woman, Gauteng police said on Tuesday. The couple then demanded R1 800 ransom money from the woman's brother. "Upon the arrest a couple then took police to their place of residence where the victim along with two other Zimbabwean nationals were released" said Superintendent Sefako Xaba. The couple was expected to appear in the Roodepoort Regional Court on Wednesday. - IOL website

School sex : teachers to be charged - 10 June
The KwaZulu-Natal department of education has appointed independent prosecutors to "formulate and draft charges" against five teachers alleged to have sexually abused and harassed 13 young girls at Makhumbuza High School in Umlazi, Durban. MEC for education Senzo Mchunu said the prosecutors were expected to start work by the end of this week. "The prosecution team is led by M Memka of Memka and Associates". - Sowetan website

See also : United Kingdom. Sex assault head teacher jailed

Judicial Service Commission, and, Judiciary

Steering a ship called dignity - 5 July
Albie Sachs was fleetingly in Britain last week, mainly to tell the story behind his 2007 judgment not to send a woman to prison because it would infringe the human rights of her three children. Even by the standards of a judge responsible for some daring legal decisions, including the ruling that it is unconstitutional to limit marriage to a man and a woman, the case of S versus M, now being cited in courts worldwide, is remarkable. "Judges are the storytellers of the 21st century", said 74-year-old Sachs, who told an international audience of human rights lawyers in Edinburgh that the first mindset that needed to be changed in the historic case was his own. - Mail & Guardian website

DA NCOP MP excluded from JSC - 9 July
In light of the upcoming interviews for new Constitutional Court judges, it is absolutely unacceptable that the ANC has used underhanded tactics to remove the opposition's sole representative from the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). The convention of multi-party democracy and representivity has been broken and the ANC has used its majority position to abuse the Constitution, by replacing the DA's Darryl Worth with an ANC member. The result is that all NCOP delegates to the JSC are now ANC members - a state of affairs that reflects just how determined the ANC is to deprive the opposition of their democratic right to representation on the JSC, and possibly push through partisan judicial candidates. - Politicsweb website

ANC trying to "load" the JSC? - 10 July
There is nothing constitutionally amis with the move by the ANC to replace the lone opposition nominee of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) with one of its own delegates. But the move will strenghten the view that the ANC is following a "good cop" "bad cop" routine with the judiciary. There is therefore a very precarious balance on the JSC between party political appointees on the one hand and lawyers (always committed to transformation, of course) on the other. - Pierre de Vos on the Constitutionally Speaking blog

Zuma to choose his JSC nominees - 10 July
In terms of the Constitution, Zuma has the prerogative to designate four persons after consulting leaders of all the parties in the National Assembly. This week he sent letters to the party leaders requesting their input before July 13 about his intention to designate Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza SC, Advocate Ismael Semenya SC, Adv Vas Soni SC and Andiswa Ndoni, the current president of the Black Lawyers Association. - IOL website

Minister ready to appoint judges - 10 July
The postponed appointment of 12 judges across the country will resume on July 19. The process was initially scheduled for June 9 but Justice Minister Jeff Radebe put it on hold, citing the need to consider the independence and transformation of the judiciary as the reasons. Radebe said yesterday he was ready to proceed with the appointments and to address all issues relating to the administration of justice in the country. - Sowetan website

Constitutional Court appointments will test judicial waters - 8 July
When the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) meets later this year to consider who will replace four titans of the Constitutional Court when their terms expire this October, it will be one of the first real opportunities to assess where our courts stand since this year’s election. - Article by Shameela Seedat on SangoNet Pulse portal

Being impartial is not enough for South Africa's judges - 10 July
The notion of a good judge to administer justice fairly and impartially is as old as history. The responsibility of the Judicial Service Commission to recommend suitable candidates for appointment as judges is always a formidable task in any society undergoing self-healing and transformation of its institutions after centuries of marginalisation of some of its citizens. Even in the oldest democracies like England and America, judicial appointments have sometimes attracted controversy. Whilst there is no unanimity as to what makes a good judge there are universal norms and basic standards which can serve as a guide. - Article by Ntsiki Sandi, a practising Eastern Cape advocate and former member of the Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, on the Dispatch Online website

Second Judicial Conference for South African Judges. Pretoria

6 July 2009
Keynote address by His Excellency, President JG  Zuma, at the Second Judicial Conference for South African Judges, Kievietskroon Conference Centre, Pretoria
Presidency website

Zuma to outline vision for the judiciary - 6 July
President Jacob Zuma - along with the country's top judges - is expected to outline their visions of the judiciary on Monday morning. Zuma will open the judges' conference while Chief Justice Pius Langa and his deputy Dikgang Moseneke are due to speak. - Eye Witness News website  

6 July 2009
Keynote address by His Excellency, President J G Zuma, at the Second Judicial Conference for South African Judges, Kievietskroon Conference Centre, Pretoria
Presidency website

Finalise Superior Courts Bill : Zuma - 6 July
President Jacob Zuma today (July 3) urged the finalisation of the controversial Superior Courts Bill to create a single judiciary. "The Bill has not been finalised because it raised many issues that require further consultation with the judiciaries", Zuma said at the second Judicial Conference for SA judges in Pretoria. "We encourage such consultations to ensure that all the stakeholders are brought on boards in developing this important legislation, however there is a need for urgency in finalising these matters", he said. - Weekend Post website

Judges want control of admin policy - 8 July
President Jacob Zuma yesterday called for the finalisation of the controversial Superior Courts Bill, aimed at creating a single judiciary. "The Bill has not been finalised because it raised many issues that require further consultation with the judiciary", Zuma told the second Judicial Conference for SA Judges in Pretoria North. Zuma said the key policy positions the Bill sought to address was still largely constituted in accordance with the Superior Courts Act of 1959. Presenting the background to the legislation, Judge Leona Theron said arguments for its introduction included the need to change the apartheid- era structure of courts. The piece of legislation, however, raised eyebrows due to a section which stated that the administration of the courts, in terms of its budget, policy and policy management and policy matters, had to reside with the Minister of Justice. - Dispatch Online website

President Zuma hits (almost) all the right notes on the judiciary - 6 July
Now that President Jacob Zuma spends more time "acting" as President than appearing as a criminal defendant in court, he has (mostly) stopped saying really silly things and has impressed many people. This morning's keynote address at the Second Judicial Conference for South African Judges in Pretoria is a good example of the post-dropping-of-charges-Zuma. President Zuma hit almost all the right notes on the judiciary and his speech contained very little that might be of concern to lawyers, judges or ordinary citizens, worried about the Rule of Law, the independence of the judiciary and the supremacy of our Constitution. - Pierre de Vos on the Constitutionally Speaking blog

No meddling with S Africa's judicial independence : Zuma - 6 July
A call to reform South Africa's judiciary does not mean judges' independence will be compromised, President Jacob Zuma said on Monday, seeking to allay concern about judicial autonomy under his rule. Zuma caused a stir before he was elected president in April when he said the judiciary needed to change and judges should not be above criticism. - Reuters website

Zuma calls for speeding up of transformation of the judiciary - 6 July
President Jacob Zuma has called on the country's top judges to help speed up the process of the transformation of the judiciary. "The constitution lays down an important foundation for a democratic society in which various cultural and linguistic communities are bound by one common objective of building a nation united in its diversity. "When we speak about judicial transformation, we are doing so to promote the implementation of provisions of the constitution, as transformation is constitutionally sanctioned," President Zuma said. He was speaking at the second Judicial Conference for judges in Pretoria on Monday. - BuaNews Online website

Judicial reform in interest of the poor, says Zuma - 7 July
The transformation of the judiciary needs to go beyond achieving a racial and gender balance to include the appointment of judges committed to the new democratic order, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday. The new administration faces intense opposition suspicion about its intentions over the transformation of the judiciary. Zuma said at a conference for judges in Pretoria yesterday the reform was about the poor accessing quality justice in a timely manner. He emphasised that judicial transformation was in the interests of SA as it was constitutionally sanctioned. - Business Day website

Press release : 7 July 2009 Law Society welcomes assurances of judicial independence by President and Justice Minister The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) welcomes yesterday's assurances by President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Jeff Radebe, that the Executive respects, without reservation, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. 'An independent judiciary and legal profession are paramount in a democracy which is underpinned by the rule of law. Such independence engenders public confidence in the judicial system and respect for the judgments of our courts. We are also encouraged by the President's indication that, if there is to be criticism of the judiciary and other dispute resolution institutions, such criticism should be fair and informed', say LSSA Co-Chairpersons, Thoba Poyo-Dlwati and Henri van Rooyen. The LSSA also welcomes the President's intention to expedite the drafting and processing of the Legal Practice Bill, which will transform the governance structures of the legal profession. 'We look forward to meeting the Minister at his earliest convenience to discuss the key principles underlining the Bill so that a consensus position can be reached with the other stakeholders, and a draft Bill be made available soon for discussion', say Ms Poyo-Dlwati and Mr Van Rooyen. The LSSA will meet representatives of the advocates' profession later this month to discuss the Legal Practice Bill. The LSSA Co-Chairpersons add : 'As indicated by the President, all legal practitioners should be regulated within a single, statutory framework. A strong, united and independent legal profession serves as a pool from which new judges are appointed. In addition, it will ensure both access to the profession by more practitioners and greater access to legal services by members of the public'. Issued on behalf of the Co-Chairpersons of the Law Society of South Africa by : Barbara Whittle Communication Manager, Law Society of South Africa Telephone : 012-366 8800 or 083-380 1307 E-mail : barbara@lssa.org.za Website: www.lssa.org.za

Judges consider their affairs 'holy ground' - 7 July
Judges have put their foot down, again, rejecting any political attempt to manage their affairs, describing such a move as "interference" and making it clear it will be contested. The judiciary, as a separate arm of state, maintains that it must control its own affairs, including its budget. Politicians came face to face with the judges at the second judicial conference in Pretoria yesterday, after a frosty and tense relationship between the new ANC leadership and the country's top jurists. Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke told Radebe that he had touched "a very, very raw nerve" and that the judges considered managing their affairs "holy ground". - IOL website

Please drop this crazy idea, Minister Radebe - 8 July
The love fest between the executive and the judiciary at the Second Judicial Conference for South African Judges seemed to have been spoilt slightly by remarks by Justice Minister, Jeff Radebe. Apparently Radebe mooted the idea - dropped by the Mbeki cabinet after an outcry from judges - that the executive would assume the responsibility of administering the judiciary. - Pierre de Vos on the Constitutionally Speaking blog

Appointment of judges 'not entirely transparent' - 7 July
The process of appointing judges is not entirely transparent, the second Judicial Conference of South Africa heard in Pretoria on Tuesday. "The only criticism that I have, or rather that I have come across, is that although the process of interviewing candidates for judicial appointments is open to the public and the media, the Judicial Service Commission's (JSC) deliberations on whether a particular candidate is suitable or not are held behind closed doors," said president of the Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Lex Mpati. - Mail & Guardian website

Judiciary to enhance working relationship with govt - 8 July
The country's top judges say they welcome the commitment made by government to support the judiciary in the fulfillment of its constitutional obligations. "We note and welcome the commitment of the Executive to the independence of the judiciary and its willingness to support the judiciary in the fulfillment of our constitutional obligation," Chief Justice Pius Langa said on Wednesday. - BuaNews Online website

Langa vows to keep watch over judiciary - 8 July
"I'll breathe, I'll drink water, I'll eat . . . I'll find something else to keep busy with. I will keep interested in the judiciary and if things go wrong . . . I hope not, I will haunt them," he said, speaking briefly on his pending exit from the helm of the country's judiciary on the sidelines of the Second Judicial Conference of South Africa in Pretoria. - IOL website

Resolutions

Judges aim for judicial independence - 7 July
Appeal judges should show more courtesy to lower court judges whose rulings they criticised, a judicial conference has resolved. This was one of the measures adopted at the end of a three-day conference as judges seek programmes to enhance access to justice, eliminate the delay in the criminal and civil justice systems and foster the spirit of collegiality among judges. - Business Day website

SA judges pledge to help ordinary people access justice - 8 July
South Africa's judges have pledged to help ordinary people get access to justice, to work harder and to be more accountable, responsive and open. Their pledge is contained in a declaration adopted by the Second Conference of the South African Judiciary which has ended at Kameeldrift, north of Pretoria. - SABC News website

Judges vow to tackle court delays - 8 July
Judges at a four-day judicial gathering in Pretoria have resolved to tackle court backlogs and delays. Constitutional Court Chief Justice Pius Langa, addressing a media briefing on Wednesday, said judges would take steps to eliminate all backlogs in the country's civil and criminal justice system. - Mail & Guardian website

Judge Hlophe

Our laws must be Africanised : Hlophe - 9 July
South Africa's mix of English and Dutch law needs to be "Africanised" to make it more relevant, Cape Judge President John Hlophe said in Durban on Thursday night. "I believe that people need law that embodies their own culture and their values. We need to Africanise our law and make it relevant to the masses. There is a huge void in our legal system," he told a symposium organised by the Progressive Professional Network. - IOL website

Appeal to race does not hide Hlophe's many flaws - 4 July
Judge John Hlophe is the wrong man for the chief justice job - and treating race as his chief qualification won't fix that, writes Yoliswa Dwane. Paul Ngobeni's "nomination in print" in the Mail & Guardian recently made official the fact that we are witnessing the first political campaign for judicial office in post-apartheid South Africa. - The Times website

KwaZulu-Natal

Parliamentary focus falls on KwaZulu-Natal overdraft - 2 July
KwaZulu-Natal's ballooning overdraft became the focus during the National Treasury's budget vote in Parliament yesterday. Opposition MP Narend Singh put pressure on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to put the province under section 100 protection administration. - Business Report website

Labour Issues

Waste pickers : uniting for their rights - 2 July 2009
Waste pickers from Pietermaritzburg are joining about 120 of their counterparts from more than 50 waste landfill sites across the country at a meeting in Johannesburg this week. They will work on strategies to ensure that the government does not take their means of income away from them and criminalise their livelihood of waste picking for recycling. - Witness website
Keyphrases :
groundWork
National Environmental Management : Waste Act

S Africa miners hold bosses hostage over contracts - 10 July
Some 500 contract workers at Eastern Platinum's mine in South Africa have been holding seven supervisors hostage underground since Thursday, the company said in a statement on Friday. The miners at the Crocodile River mine demand to be employed permanently, a promise they say they were given by management, a local radio station reported. They were notified early on Thursday that management would renege on that promise, it said. - Reuters website

Mine hostage drama : court called in - 10 July
Mining contractors on Friday were trying to get a court interdict to stop temporary employees from participating in an illegal strike and hostage taking at a mine in Brits in North West. "The mining contractors are in the process of obtaining a court interdict which will require their employees to refrain from participating in illegal and unprotected strike action, release those who are being detained against their will, and vacate the underground working areas," said Ian Rozier, president of Eastern Platinum Limited (Eastplats). - IOL website

Construction

World Cup organisers to engage unions over strike - 2 July
The World Cup local organising committee (LOC) intends speaking to trade unions about a looming strike in the construction industry, it said in Johannesburg on Thursday. All it knew about the strike was what had been reported in the media, said LOC chairperson Irvin Khoza. "This matter is now referred to the [executive committee] of the board to engage the respective unions," he said. - Mail & Guardian website

2010 Organising Committee to meet unions over planned construction strike - 2 July
The 2010 Organising Committee (OC) will engage with the National Union of Mineworkers and the Building, Construction, and Allied Workers Union over the planned strike action next week, which will affect various stadium projects. "The board is not going to interfere with the democratic right of the workers in the industry, but there are issues that we need to highlight which will be impacting on the completion of the stadiums, six months, before the 2010 FIFA World Cup", OC chairperson Irvin Khoza told a media briefing. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Possible 2010 strike will not affect stadia deadlines - 3 July
The possible strike by construction workers will not affect the deadline to have 2010 FIFA World Cup stadia completed six months ahead of the tournament. "We are confident that the stadia will be completed six months before the tournament and we will deliver on the FIFA's requirements," said Organising Committee Chairperson Dr Irvin Khoza. He was addressing the media following a meeting of board members of the Local Organising Committee on Thursday. - BuaNews Online website

No mercy from us, warn stadium workers - 6 July
"Employers must expect no mercy from us, they must deliver 13 percent or we will strike until 2011," said Bhekani Ngcobo, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) chief negotiator in the dispute. - IOL website

Construction workers to strike on 'no work, no pay' basis : Safcec - 7 July
The South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (Safcec) said on Tuesday that the planned construction strike, planned for Wednesday, would proceed on a 'no work, no pay' basis. An estimated 70 000 workers will down tools at construction sites around the country, after wage negotiations broke down. Unions representing construction workers were demanding a 13% wage increase, along with several other benefits, while Safcec was offering a 10,4% increase. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Safcec, unions to meet Labour Minister on construction strike - 8 July
Labour unions and the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (Safcec) would meet with Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana on Thursday to discuss a possible solution to the nation wide strike. "We will go there with an open mind. We are open to explore areas of settlement", said the Building, Construction and Allied Workers Union (BCAWU) spokesperson Marius Moloto. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Strike hits Cape Town stadium - 8 July
Work at Cape Town's World Cup stadium ground to a halt, while it slowed down at other 2010 projects as construction workers began a wage strike on Wednesday. - IOL website

Striking workers to hand memorandum to Khoza - 9 July
Striking construction workers will hand a memorandum to the CEO of the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) on Thursday, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said. "Workers are gathered at 2010 sites for the second day and those gathered at Soccer City will hand a memorandum to Irvin Khoza of the LOC," NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka told Sapa. - IOL website

KZN builders down tools - 8 July
Protests at KwaZulu-Natal construction sites will continue on Thursday, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said. "Construction workers at various major projects downed tools at midday today (Wednesday) and they protested outside construction sites. They will continue on Thursday," said NUM's Bhekani Ngcobo. He said the union had talked to Durban metro police to allow Moses Mabhida Stadium workers to protest outside the stadium. Protesting construction workers were forced to disperse minutes after they had gathered at stadium on Wednesday. - IOL website

Strike continues at KZN 2010 stadium - 9 July
Thousands of construction workers were protesting outside building sites in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday morning demanding better pay. - IOL website

Construction strike turns violent - 9 July
The strike by construction workers at 2010 World Cup sites turned violent on Thursday as the minister of labour met the parties involved in an effort to find a solution. - The Times website

We are not against government : NUM - 9 July
The construction strike was not aimed at spoiling government's soccer World Cup projects, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)said on Thursday. - The Times website

Mdladlana hopeful of quick solution to construction strike - 9 July
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana is hopeful that a solution to the wage dispute which has halted construction work at 2010 FIFA World Cup stadia will be found soon. - BuaNews Online website

Minister hails efforts to end stadium strike - 10 July
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana on Friday commended labour and the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors for their efforts to end the strike which has halted work on 2010 stadiums around the country. The minister was reacting to a revised pay proposal put on the table by Safcec, which the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has taken back to its members for endorsement. - IOL website

NUM and employers reach building wage deal - 10 July
South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers and employers said on Thursday they had agreed a plan for better wages which could end a strike threatening to delay work on stadiums for the 2010 World Cup. After intense negotiations . . . a framework of an agreement which contains an improved offer has been established", the union and employers said in a joint statement. "Both parties commit to persuading their members of the acceptability of the framework and will endeavour to conclude an agreement by Tuesday". - Moneyweb website

Companies seek court interdict on strike - 9 July
JSE-listed construction companies Murray & Roberts and Wilson Bailey Homes Construction have turned to the labour court in an attempt to halt the construction workers' strike. - Business Report website

See also :

Labour Courts. Safcec seeks interdict to prevent construction strike

Health

Dismissed KZN doctors to be reinstated - 3 July
The 296 doctors who were dismissed by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health have been re-instated and resumed work on Friday. All doctors, including those who were dismissed earlier this week and those who were on still strike, have returned to their work stations, according to departmental spokesperson, Chris Maxon. The doctors had been dismissed after failing to heed the court order ordering them to report back for work last Monday. - BuaNews Online website

Doctors to vote on wage offer - 6 July
The South African Medical Association (Sama) will this week hold secret ballots to determine whether its members accept or reject a revised occupation-specific dispensation (OSD). Doctors countrywide had expressed dissatisfaction with aspects of the offer during informal polls held at recent roadshows, chairperson Denise White said in a statement on Monday. - Mail & Guardian website

Doctors' strike cost KwaZulu-Natal more than R10-million - 6 July
The doctors' strike cost taxpayers R10-million as the department of health had to transfer patients to private hospitals, KwaZulu-Natal's health minister Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said on Sunday. - Mail & Guardian website

See also : Pharmacists unhappy with OSD process

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)

Workers vent frustration at SABC - 8 July
More than 300 South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) employees sacrificed their lunch hour on Wednesday to make a statement, with songs and a march, demanding a 12,2% salary increase. - Mail & Guardian website

SABC meeting union representatives - 8 July
SABC management met union representatives on Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to bring to an end protest action relating to their wage dispute, the unions said. - IOL website

SABC wage issue remains unresolved - 9 July
There were no discussions on Thursday between the SABC and union representatives over the ongoing salary dispute, SABC spokesperson Kaiser Kganyago said. "Yesterday [Wednesday] the unions indicated that they didn't want to meet with the negotiating team because they wanted to meet directly with management," he said. - IOL website

Land Affairs and Property

No evictions during 2010 : Sexwale - 2 July
Minister of Human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale has clarified media speculations that government will evict people living in informal settlements to hide them from tourists during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Speaking at a post Local Organising Committee press conference on Thursday, Minister Sexwale said those were dense assumptions and government had never planned to evict people living in shacks. - BuaNews Online website

Mpuma's 2010 stadium land saga settled for R8.7mil - 8 July
Mpumalanga's 2010 community has been paid over R8 million for the land on which the provincial R1 billion 2010 stadium is being built. This week government confirmed that the Matsafeni land beneficiaries sold 69.7 hectares of land to the Mbombela municipality for R8.7 million. Provincial and municipal officials initially tried to convince the Matsafeni community to donate the land for just R1. - BuaNews Online website

The battle for Constantia - 1 July
The Western Cape provincial government is refusing to hand over the title deeds of the 1 000ha of prime land transferred to the newly established state Housing Development Agency (HDA) shortly before the national elections in April. Premier Helen Zille's spokesperson, Robert MacDonald, told the Mail & Guardian last week that the provincial government still held the deeds and that transfer of the land could not proceed without them. After the ANC lost to the DA in the province, Zille accused the former ANC provincial government of "asset-stripping" and conducting the transfer of the land - worth about R500-million - in secret. - Mail & Guardian website

See also :
Sexwale should consider returning land to Cape - 26 May
allAfrica website
[InfoUpdate 11 of 2009]

Scopa halts hearing on Cape housing project - 7 July
Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) postponed a hearing on a damning report into a Cape Town housing project on Tuesday after an "incoherent" response from the officials responsible for the project. "There is a great deal of dissatisfaction at the way members of the committee are getting feedback," committee chairperson Themba Godi told representatives from the City of Cape Town and the provincial and national departments of human settlements. "There is a lack of coherence of information, yet this was a project by the three spheres of government". The aim of the multi-billion rand N2 Gateway Housing Project (N2GP) was to provide housing adjacent to the N2 Highway between Bhunga Avenue near Langa and Boys Town in Crossroads. - IOL website

7 July 2009
Statement of the committee chairperson on public accounts on the behaviour of government officials when appearing before Parliament
SA Government Information website

Sexwale orders action on Gateway - 7 July
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale instructed the Department of Housing to rectify issues raised in a damning Auditor General’s report into a Cape Town housing project "as a matter of urgency". "The Minister is concerned at the scale of non-compliance issues that are raised in the AG’s report," Sexwale’s office said in a statement today. "Some corrective action was taken by the Department of Housing after the report was commissioned by the former Housing Minister, and additional corrective action will be taken in the future. - The Times website

N2 Gateway builders 'bankrupt' - 9 July
National government housing agency Thubelisha Homes never had a mandate from the cabinet to manage the N2 Gateway housing project. This was why Thubelisha "got into financial difficulties", said the company's chief operations officer, Mano Pillay, on Tuesday at Parliament's human settlements' portfolio committee. Pillay said the National Treasury declined to approve the Section 21 company's budgetary requests as its mandate, given by former housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu, was never approved by the cabinet. - IOL website

Another delay for District Six - 7 July
District Six's redevelopment may be delayed yet again, because a crucial business plan cannot be completed due to bungling by the Department of Human Settlements. The department, formerly known as the Department of Land Affairs, has appointed a contractor, but the department failed to finalise the spatial plan, or development framework, on which the business plan had to be based. A private development, seen as a pilot project, is under way after several hiccups, but now the project itself may be delayed, because the Auditor-General has recommended that no project should be launched before a proper business plan has been drawn up. - IOL website

Media

The sad decline of the Sunday Times, part II - 7 July
It is the principal function of any newspaper to report the news. Intrinsic to that requirement is the ability to identify which stories constitute news and then to report those stories in a manner that is both accurate and objective. Much of the debate surrounding news reporting in South Africa concerns the latter part of that ability - the nature of reportage - and perhaps not enough attention is given to the former - the content of those stories. How often do newspapers fail to report issues that are newsworthy? - Politicsweb website

Minerals and Energy

9 July 2009
Minister Peters publishes regulations regarding the use of payment cards to purchase petroleum products at a retail site
SA Government Information website

Motorists can pay for fuel by credit card - 10 July
Motorists will from Friday onwards conveniently be able to pay for petrol after filling up with their credit cards. Previously it was not allowed in South Africa because of the high costs involved, however, in May, the Department of Energy said that new regulations would be introduced to make it easier for visitors during the 2010 World Cup to pay for fuel. Many countries overseas allow for the payment of fuel by credit card. The department also felt it would be safer for customers and employees to reduce cash payments. - BuaNews Online website

ANC rejects call to nationalise mines - 2 July
South Africa's ruling ANC party dismissed a call from the party's youth wing on Thursday to nationalise the country's mining and manufacturing industries in the wake of the global financial crisis. The African National Congress's Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told Reuters nationalising mineral assets was not on the party's agenda, after its Youth League leader was quoted as pressing for state ownership. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

We can think on our own : ANCYL - 3 July
The militants of the African National Congress Youth League are at it again, warning their mother body's secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe, not to talk to them "through the media", and that the young lions "do not need permission from anyone to think". At the centre of it all is the issue of nationalisation of the mines, with the league's leader, Julius Malema, saying it was about time that President Jacob Zuma fast-tracked the Freedom Charter's clause on nationalisation of the mines. The ruling party responded by saying that was not ANC policy. - IOL website

Mantashe clarification of Malema on mines rejected by ANCYL - 3 July
When African National Congress Youth League President Julius Malema put forward the proposition that now may be the time to consider fast tracking one of the tenets of the Freedom Charter and nationalising the mines he put into play something that can only be described as the anti-Investor. You've heard of the anti-Christ now meet its financial equivalent. - Michael Trapido on the Thought Leader blog

Mixed reaction from SA labour on calls for nationalisation of mines - 3 July
African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema's call for South African mines to be nationalised have received mixed responses from labour organisations. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

Nationalisation calls get lukewarm reception - 7 July
Calls by the ANC Youth League president, Julius Malema, for the mines to be nationalised have received lukewarm support in both National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and parliamentary circles. But the parliamentary mining committee chairman, Fred Gona, said yesterday there was room for expansion of state diamond mining firm Alexkor into other forms of mining, only it needed to be regulated. - Business Report website

How to kill foreign investment - 8 July
Julius Malema, often referred to as the leader of the ANC Youth League, has managed to elevate language to a new level of gobbledygook, previously unknown to humans, with his vented demands that South African mines be nationalised. Malema has been very careful to avoid any acknowledgement of foreign investment, assuming he has even countenanced such a rare beast, the key driver of South African mining investment for more than a century. - Moneyweb website

Nationalisation hot potato may resurface as Chamber addresses Parliament - 6 July
As the South African mine-nationalisation hot potato continued to be tossed about with seeming defiance by ANC Youth League on Monday, Chamber of Mines CE Mzolisi Diliza flew out of Johannesburg on his way to Cape Town in preparation for the Chamber's maiden presentation to the new Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Tuesday. Although a Chamber spokesperson said that the main theme of its presentation would be on illegal mining, he conceded that Diliza and his team might well have to deal with the mine nationalisation issue in Parliament, following Monday's rash of new statements by spokespersons for the ruling ANC party, trade union Solidarity and the ANC's Youth League. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

SA mines won't be nationalised : Minister - 8 July
South African Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu told Reuters on Wednesday the country would not nationalise mines despite calls from the ruling party's allies. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

ANC wants debate on nationalisation - 7 July
President Jacob Zuma's left-wing allies are stepping up their campaign for a greater voice in setting the policy direction of the new government. And the ANC appears to be buckling under pressure from its partners, including trade union federation Cosatu, the Communist Party and the militant ANC Youth League. After days of sustained attacks on ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe by the youth league and Cosatu, because of his opposition to their call for the nationalisation of the mines, Mantashe changed his tune yesterday and suggested that the issue was open for debate. - The Times website

Current laws do not deter illegal miners, says NUM  - 8 July
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday urged government to legislate to deal with illegal mining. "We would like to note with deep concern the fact there seems to be a legislative void which should deal decisively with illegal mining," NUM health and safety national secretary Eric Gcilitshana told the National Assembly's mining committee. - Business Report website

SA union wants police unit reinstated to clamp down on illegal mining - 8 July
Trade union Solidarity on Wednesday called for the former gold and diamond unit of of the South African Police Service to be reinstated to clamp down on illegal mining. In a presentation delivered during a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee hearing, it also proposed stricter and more specific legislation for illegal mining, which caused the death of 86 people last month. - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly website

See also : Competition Commission, Tribunal and Appeal Court. Xstrata / Anglo American

Municipal Management and Procedure

Cape Town

New barking by-law will save the Cape R50 000 - 6 July
The proposed six-minutes per hour limit on dog barking by the City of Cape Town's revised animal by-law will help save the city council R50 000 a month. And it will stop "vendetta complaints" between neighbours from spiralling out of control and ending up in long and costly court battles. - IOL website

'CTRU neglected city's needs' - 9 July
Duplication of services and public confusion about which tourism body promoted Cape Town as an attraction, were reasons the city did not renew its contract with Cape Town Routes Unlimited, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) committee was told on Tuesday. Mayoral committee member for economic development and tourism Felicity Purchase said while CTRU had to market the province as well as the city, the council felt that Cape Town needed to be marketed as the "hook" for tourism to the province. - IOL website

eThekwini

New Durban bus operator appointed - 10 July
Durban's beleaguered bus operator, Remant Alton, has been replaced by another operator after years of poor service. "The new operator has been appointed and our intention is to have buses operating in the next few days," said KwaZulu-Natal transport department head Chris Hlabisa on Tuesday. The official announcement of the new operator was expected to be made soon by provincial transport minister Bheki Cele. Remant Alton ceased operations on June 30 after it experienced serious financial problems. - Mail & Guardian website

Furore over Durban website cost - 2 July
South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for an investigation into the tendering process for the Durban City Council's World Cup website, which was recently awarded to a BEE company at the cost of R5.5 million. Marti Wenger, Shadow Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, said DA has ascertained that, using the specifications provided by the City Council, the website could not possibly have cost more than R250 000, and may well have cost less than half of that amount. Wenger asked what had happened to the other R5.25-million and added that it could have been misappropriated by Ethekwini municipal officials. - it news africa website

Durban defends R6.5m website - 5 July
The cost of developing the Durban city council's World Cup website has been described as exorbitant, but the council says the R6.5 million price tag is justified as it was not only for the website design and development but includes content, translation and state of the art technology. Mike Sutcliffe, who is the eThekwini city manager, said yesterday the technology that would be used for the website was generally not in use in South Africa. "My understanding is that it is really state-of-the-art stuff". - Business Report website

Press Release : Warwick Junction Developments and Early Morning Market Facts This press release was emailed out at : 07 July, 2009 17:25 Warwick Junction is seen as the main transport hub and gateway into the city and more than 400 000 people who rely on public transport pass through this area on a daily basis. The rejuvenation of the Warwick Junction area is long overdue. This area is over populated with traders, pedestrians and vehicles. Because of this and other factors, this area is home to one of the country's worst intersections for fatalities. With hundreds of accidents occurring in the area annually, rampant crime,  overcrowding, and other ills concentrated in this area, the revamp is critical for the safety of the commuters, residents and business and all who pass through the area on a daily basis. The Warwick Junction Precinct Plan aims to improve public transportation systems to enhance accessibility, mobility and safety ; reduce unnecessary traffic congestion ; create economic opportunities for both informal and formal trade ; and make development culturally responsive and unique to enhance the tourist potential of the area. The City has committed R300m to create a safer transport hub to serve the thousands of commuters who use the vicinity every day. This funding is obtained from the National Treasury as part of the 2010 improvements for the city, which has strict timeframes to adhere to. The public infrastructure projects include a flyover freeway and an inner city distribution system that will reduce congestion and make movement in the area easier. The rationalisation of transport in the area will contribute towards both the latent commercial opportunities being realized and the reclaiming of people space, which has been eroded by transportation demands. The Developers of the proposed Warwick Mall development will invest R400m into the area, creating an opportunity to make numerous services, such as banking, the post office and retail stores accessible to people in the area for the first time. The development is the first private sector outlay in the area for many years, and is a catalyst for further business investment in Warwick Junction. The Warwick Junction Mall will breathe new life into this once neglected area and formalize much of the trading that occurs in the precinct. The development will happen in two phases. The first phase will consist of 21 500 sq.m of gross lettable area, 270 stalls for street traders and a taxi rank that will accommodate approximately 400 taxi bays. The second phase consists of approximately another 10 000 sq.m which will be developed above the railway lines, next to the existing Berea Station, integrating Warwick Junction with the CBD. Phase one will be complete in two stages. The projected completion of the taxi rank that will accommodate all south bound taxi associations will be by May 2010. The rest of the Mall will be complete by October 2010. Phase Two, which encompasses the development over the Berea Station, will be completed by October 2011. The total size of the development, when complete, will be in the region of 30 000 to 35 000sq.m of GLA. The 270 legal street traders in the area will all have lock up facilities and there will be trading opportunities at the traders market as well as inside the Mall. The rentals for the street traders will be the same as currently being paid to the City. The design of the Mall will incorporate two levels ie : a ground floor level which will have its main entrance off Julius Nyerere Street (Warwick Avenue) which will be surrounded by a market area of street traders and a fast food component. The fast food component will overlook a public space that will be created called Masigiye Square. The first floor level will be integrated into the existing Berea Station and will be linked to the Inner City Distribution System that will be developed at the existing Victoria Bus Rank and the new Taxi Rank. The development of Warwick Mall will integrate all the various transport systems at Warwick and there will be various pedestrian linkages to ensure quick and effective integration of these various modes of transport. The street traders will be positioned on a pedestrianised walk-way along Julius Nyerere Street (Warwick Avenue). The design of the Street Traders Market has taken into consideration the existing Early Morning Market wall that will be incorporated into the new market area. This market area will then be incorporated into the new public square, Masigiye Square. Early Morning Market The stall-holders at the Early Morning Market have been asked to relocate to a temporary site in Market Road due to the transport rationalisation project, which includes the new Warwick Mall development. There were various presentations made by the City Manager to the affected traders during the process of consultation with them. They have refused to move, claiming that they had not been consulted on the development of the Warwick Mall, and that the temporary site is not suitable for various reasons. The City has identified a temporary site approximately 300m away from the current market site. The Municipality is prepared to pay the costs of the relocation, market the new trading area and waiver the rental for six months, subject to review thereafter. The Municipality took a decision to strictly enforce compliance with the Early Morning Market Bylaws in order to ensure that there was order at the market in the light of the tensions that were prevailing at the time. In so doing, the Municipality only allowed access to the market for trading, to those traders that either had permits or lease agreements. In a show of solidarity with the illegal traders, the legal traders refused to participate in the process of verification before accessing the market, demanding that all traders be allowed access to trade. When the Municipality continued with the strict enforcement of the Early Morning Market Bylaws, the traders took the Municipality to court in a bid to get an order to have the market open for trading, after claiming that the Municipality closed the market. The ruling was that only traders with permits be allowed to trade at the market. In compliance with the court order, the Municipality continued to allow access to the market to permit holders only. From 17 June 2009, permit holders have been submitting themselves for verification before accessing the market to trade, and those trading illegally have been barred from entering the market to trade. This led to the Metro Police being called in to restore order due to illegal traders wanting to forcefully gain access the market. These incidences are regretted, as this is not how we would like to engage with our stakeholders. The inability to resolve the issue has brought about an intervention by the Premier, Dr Zweli Mkhize, who delegated the MEC of Economic Development, the MEC of Transport, and the MEC of Local Government to mediate between the traders and the municipality to find an amicable solution. A task team including the three MECs and the Mayor has been formed. Licensed stallholders at the market have been issued with termination notices to end their lease agreements with the Council as at the end of July. Traders will then need to apply for new permits to trade. These will be issued according the Municipality's Allocations Policy, and only traders with permits will be allowed to trade at the new market. If however, the traders wish to move to the new site and trade there before the end of July, arrangements will be made to issue permits to them. On Friday the 25 June, the court hearing to determine the fate of the early morning market traders was adjourned by consent to 17 July 2009. This means that the existing terms of the court order to allow the licensed traders of the early morning market to continue trading will still stand until a decision is taken on 17 July. The City is pleased with this, as we believe that this will give the special Provincial Task Team an opportunity to find a suitable resolution to the impasse between the traders and the Municipality. The Municipality is also committed to continue working with the traders to find a more permanent location for the Early Morning Market that will suit their needs more appropriately. For media comment, contact Mr Philip Sithole, Head : Business Support and Markets Unit. Cell : 083-288 8793 Issued by the eThekwini Communications Department. Telephone Sohana Singh : 031-311 2044. Cell : 083-309 0207. Email singhsohana@durban.gov.za

Ease of travel aim for Warwick face lift - 8 July
The eThekwini Municipality's ambitious R1,5-billion project to transform the sprawling Warwick Triangle precinct would give the area a major face lift, enhancing mobility, reducing traffic congestion and ensuring commuter safety. This was according to municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe, who unveiled the project on Tuesday. At the heart of the R300-million plan to ensure efficient travel through the area was the "One Ticket Transport System". - IOL website

Durban market set to be demolished - 7 July
The eThekwini municipality will demolish Durban's early morning market before month-end to make way for a shopping centre, despite fierce opposition from traders. "The construction for the centre that will be built at the early morning market will start at the end of July," municipal manager Dr Mike Sutcliffe said at a press briefing in Durban on Tuesday. - IOL website

Johannesburg

Harassment of hawkers is no way to fight poverty - 2 July
In most of the developing world, city streets are routinely turned into sites of confrontation and intimidation as police try to clear away hawkers. Images of a recent showdown in Johannesburg's inner city assail me : women running with crates laden with fruit and vegetables ; potatoes, cabbages and tomatoes strewn over pavements ; idle young men ready with makeshift push carts to stash some of the goods away ; vendors calling out a warning of looming danger to their peers further down the street. All this happened last week, while a metro police minibus crawled down the grimy street and officers patrolled the pavements, sending hawkers into panic. Such raids are not only an indictment of a government that won elections on a pro-poor ticket, but also a blatant infringement of the traders' constitutional right to earn a living. - Business Report website

S African human rights bodies slam arrest of homeless Zimbabweans - 5 July
South African human rights organisations on Saturday condemned the arrest of about 300 destitute Zimbabwean nationals. "We have been informed by the SAPS (South African Police Service) that the purpose of the raid was to clear the streets and enforce municipal bylaws," the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Resources Centre said in a joint statement. "Large numbers of SAPS and metro police swooped on 344 people seeking shelter from cold, shortly after midnight," the statement added. Bishop Paul Verryn of the Central Methodist Church said among those arrested were women and children. - AFP on Google website

Msunduzi

City can buy fire engines - 3 July
The Msunduzi Municipality fire department was given authority at yesterday's Exco meeting to purchase three new fire engines at a cost of R16,5 million. The new vehicles will be fitted with an aerial platform that will make it possible for firefighters to quell flames on high-rise buildings and customised pumps will help boost water capacity. Deputy municipal manager for community services Zwe Hulane said that three years ago, council took a decision to approve the fleet replacement programme. - Witness website

R1 mln council fund 'hijack' - 6 July
High-ranking officials of the Msunduzi Municipality are set to be investigated after being implicated in an alleged scam in which they apparently misappropriated more than R1 million in council funds. The Witness has evidence that municipal manager Rob Haswell, speaker Alpha Shelembe and deputy municipal manager for finance Roy Bridgmohan allegedly by-passed the municipality’s proper procurement process in order to secure R1 067 119 to finance an African National Congress rally in January. Msunduzi Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo said she had seen the documents and according to her knowledge no council resolution was passed. She said she would take the documents to council and the issue would be investigated further. - Witness website

Pietermaritzburg diverted R1m to ANC election rally : DA - 5 July
Mark Steele says municipal officials seem to have used ghost event to cover payment. The Democratic Alliance has in its possession a series of documents which suggest that the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal fleeced the South African tax-payer of over R1 million, which was then used for an ANC election rally. I am meeting with the Auditor-General this week to put the matter before him and to ask that a full investigation take place. - Politicsweb website

ANC used taxpayers' money : DA - 5 July
ANC leaders in KZN said on Sunday that it would closely examine DA allegations that more than R1-million of tax payers' money was used for the ruling party's election rally in Pietermaritzburg six months ago. "We will examine the matter because the ANC does not use government resources for its rallies," said African National Congress (ANC) chairman Dr Zweli Mkhize, when asked about the allegations. - IOL website

See also : Media. The sad decline of the Sunday Times, part II

Taung and Lekwa Teemane

ANC reinstates North West mayors cast out by councillors - 8 July
Senior African National African Congress (ANC) delegates have ordered the reinstatement of two mayors unceremoniously ejected from office by councillors in the North West earlier this year. Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka was back in the North West this week, leading an ANC delegation. ANC provincial secretary Supra Mahumapelo said Shiceka and NEC member Thaba Mufamadi made the decision in their capacity as senior party members. In May, ANC councillors in both municipalities reportedly teamed up with opposition members to remove the mayors, complaining of corruption and lack of leadership. "They were unable to run their municipalities properly in terms of the law," Packet Seaketso, provincial secretary of the South African National Civic Organisation, said yesterday. - allAfrica website

National Prosecuting Authority

Freedom Under Law applies to join Pikoli case - 1 July
Archbishop Desmond Tutu's founding affidavit in application for organisation's admission as amicus curiae [in North Gauteng High Court].
Politicsweb website

Tutu wants Pikoli firing 'tested' - 1 July
Archbishop Desmond Tutu says the high court application of former national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) Vusi Pikoli to have the decision to fire him set aside raised "novel questions which are crucial for the rule of law and the principle of legality". Tutu made the claim in court papers to be filed by Freedom Under Law, a heavyweight not for profit organisation, which will apply to be an amicus curiae (friend of the court) in Pikoli's case. - Business Day website

National Prosecuting Authority : choosing Pikoli's successor a unique chance for reform  - 9 July
Now that his Cabinet has taken shape, President Jacob Zuma must turn his focus to nonministerial vacancies in those institutions designed to safeguard constitutional democracy in SA. The continuing leadership vacuum in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), following the dismissal of Vusi Pikoli, is one such vacancy. It requires urgent but considered attention from the executive and Parliament. - Article by Chartey Quarcoo, research volunteer in the Corruption and Governance Programme of the Institute for Security Studies and a Harvard University Sheldon Fellow, on the Business Day website

Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU)

State to recover billions in seized assets - 8 July
Willie Hofmeyr intends to make his first billion this year at the expense of criminals. In the 10 years since the Asset Forfeiture Unit - which Hofmeyr heads - was set up, the unit has won forfeiture of assets valued at more than R950-million in about 1 400 cases. - IOL website

Criminals sitting with R100bn income : Hofmeyr - 9 July
Criminals have an income of about R80-billion to R100bn a year, says Asset Forfeiture Unit boss Willie Hofmeyr. But economist Dawie Roodt has warned that releasing the estimates of the criminal "gross domestic product" could have a negative impact on the country's image abroad. - IOL website

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

Selebi sleuths snub new police unit - 28 June
City Press has learnt that Scorpions investigators who probed national police commissioner Jackie Selebi's corruption will not join the newly formed Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigations (DPCI). This comes as investigators from the disbanded unit look set to flock to the DPCI after a few hurdles over pay structure were resolved. - City Press website

South Africa gets new crime squad - 6 July
South Africa's new serious-crime squad has begun work six months after its FBI-style predecessor was disbanded amid claims of political bias. The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation is intended to take on organised and white-collar crime. - BBC News website

Scorpions step aside for new crime unit - 6 July
The Scorpions have made way for "the Hawks". At a launch at Gallagher Estate, in Midrand, on Monday morning, the leaders of the Scorpions handed over a ceremonial package of 288 cases to the new unit's leader, Anwa Dramat. - IOL website

The Hawks : a new era in crime-fighting - 6 July
The police's new unit to combat organised crime, the Hawks, won't discriminate against Scorpions investigators who were involved in the corruption probe of President Jacob Zuma when it appoints its sleuths. This was the firm commitment by head of the Hawks, police Deputy Commissioner Anwa Dramat, at the launch of the newly established elite unit at Gallagher Estate in Midrand on Monday. - Mail & Guardian website

Amid glitz and glamour, they take flight - 7 July
Attending the launch of the Hawks felt more like showbiz than crime-fighting. Walking into the lobby at Gallagher Estate, guests were greeted with the sweet sound of saxophones as they made their way towards rows of martini glasses filled with bright yellow liquid. - IOL website

Hawks will leave no stone unturned to fight crime - 6 July
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), to be known as the Hawks, will leave no stone unturned in efforts to combat crime and bring perpetrators to book. "We commit to the responsibility bestowed on us to build peace in our communities and will do our work with integrity, without fear or favour," said the head of the new unit, Anwa Dramat. - BuaNews Online website

DPCI to use stringent procedures to select staff - 6 July
Stringent selection and vetting procedures will be used to ensure that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation is staffed with highly skilled investigators who are of the highest moral fibre. "Having met the selection criteria, candidates will be further subjected to security screening and integrity measures," said Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, at the launch of the new unit, to be known as the Hawks, in Johannesburg on Monday. He said the vetting process would also not be a once-off event and that following an initial top secret security clearance, there would be ongoing security testing. - BuaNews Online website

Hawks net first prey - 8 July
Durban - Within three days of becoming officially operational, the Hawks, have swooped on their first prey. The Hawks, or Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, arrested three men outside a jewellery store in Grey Street, Durban. It was believed they were about to commit a robbery. KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, Superintendent Vincent Mdunge, said the new crime-fighting unit had received intelligence that a robbery was about to be committed and dispatched a team to observe the location. - BuaNews Online website

Hawks show their talons - 9 July
Two Cape Town policemen were arrested by the country's new crime-fighting team - the Hawks - on charges of kidnapping, extortion and corruption, police said on Thursday. - IOL website

Hawks have fraud suspect in their grasp - 9 July
Barely a week old and the police's directorate for priority crimes, dubbed the Hawks, has already swooped. On Thursday, officers from the unit, meant to replace the Scorpions, arrested a senior official at the troubled Department of Home Affairs refugee centre in Airport Industria. - IOL website

Hawks in major PR fiasco - 12 July
In an embarrassing U-turn the police have admitted that members of their new Hawks unit could not have been responsible for much publicised crime swoops last week because the unit's only member is its head, Anwa Dramat. Police spokesman Captain Dennis Adriao confirmed to Weekend Argus that while 218 detectives "have applied to go over to (the Hawks)", Dramat is the only Hawk. - IOL website

Parliament

Ex-MPs to be evicted - 4 July
Former MPs and their dependants, who are illegally occupying parliamentary houses, face eviction so the state can house new MPs who have been lodging at hotels at taxpayers' expense since May. House chairperson Ben Skosana told the National Assembly during Parliament's budget vote debate this week that the former MPs will be forced out of the parliamentary villages "where members and their dependants were not vacating the residences on time and the Department of Public Works had to initiate eviction processes". Public Works spokesperson Thami Mchunu said "so far two MPs have been handed over to the state attorneys". - IOL website

No MPs evicted from parliamentary villages - 7 July
Acting public works department director-general Solly Malebye on Tuesday refuted media reports that former MPs still living in parliamentary villages in Cape Town were refusing to move out. Malebye also rejected reports that the former MPs had been served with eviction notices. "Six [former] MPs have asked for an extension and two MPs who have changed political parties leading up to the elections are required to move out of their current houses and move to those allocated for their new political party," he said. - IOL website

Treatment of Parly village workers to be investigated - 8 July
Allegations regarding unlawful treatment of domestic workers at the Acacia Park Village at the Parliamentary residence is expected to be investigated by the Department of Labour. Certain media claimed at the weekend that domestic workers at the Parliamentary residence in Cape Town were being paid below the stipulated minimum wage. The reports also said that the workers were not registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). - BuaNews Online website

Parliament in dark about some MPs' assets - 7 July
Two months after the opening of Parliament, the members' register, where MPs declare their assets and other interests, has not been finalised. Parliament confirmed on Monday that the register was not yet ready, even though the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, had told those who had not yet declared their interests to do so urgently. - IOL website

Presidency

8 July 2009
Statement by the President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Jacob Zuma, at the conclusion of the meeting of the leaders of the Group of Five (G5), L'Aquila, Italy
SA Government Information website

Former City Press editor appointed to the Presidency - 8 July
Seasoned journalist and former City Press Editor Vusi Mona has been appointed Acting Deputy Director General : Communications in the Presidency. Also making his way to the Union Buildings is former SABC producer Vincent Magwenya, who has been appointed as acting spokesperson to President Jacob Zuma.  - BuaNews Online website

Vusi Mona heads Zuma's communications team - 8 July
Mona was editor of City Press. He was ousted after, among other things, publishing a story in which it was claimed that the then national director of public prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, had been an apartheid-era spy for the government. The claim was found to be untrue. - Journalism website

See also : United Kingdom. Double jeopardy principle may save Andy Coulson from the sack, for now

What Judge Hefer had to say about Vusi Mona - 8 July
Commission report's 2004 findings on new head of communications in the presidency. - Politicsweb website

Zuma spokesman involved in bribery : report - 10 July
Newly appointed acting head of communications in the Presidency, Vusi Mona, was allegedly involved in a bribery scheme, the Mail and Guardian reported on Friday. Alleged illegal payments were said to have followed the Mpumalanga government's 2003 award of a R32-million public relations tender to a company allegedly belonging to Mona and business partner Moss Mashamaite. - IOL website

See : Zuma's spin doctor in 'bribery scandal'. 10 July - Mail & Guardian website

Road Accident Fund

Passenger case limit before 1 August 2008 - 3 July
Michael de Broglio's Legal Blog

Jacqui Sohn on alleged August setdown - 6 July [sic - accessed on 3 July]
Michael de Broglio's Legal Blog

Michael interviews Jacqui Sohn - 7 July [sic - accessed on 3 July]
Michael de Broglio's Legal Blog

No suspension of any part of the Act - 8 July [sic - accessed on 3 July]
Michael de Broglio's Legal Blog

General damages in the new Road Accident Fund Act - 9 July [sic - accessed on 3 July]
Michael de Broglio's Legal Blog

June 2011 at the earliest say some - 10 July [sic - accessed on 3 July]
Michael de Broglio's Legal Blog

See also : Bureau for Mercantile Law Bulletin. MVA

South African Police Service

Selebi makes way for new top cop - 2 July
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has promised that the new national police commissioner will be appointed by the end of the month, and that the "willy-nilly" reappointments of incompetent station commissioners will not be tolerated as he "takes war against crime to a new level". - IOL website

Petros tipped for Selebi job - 3 July
Western Cape police commissioner Mzwandile Petros is set to replace Jackie Selebi as South Africa's police boss. The Mail & Guardian has established from sources close to senior police management that Petros, recently plagued by several high-profile controversies, is now seen in senior police and ANC circles as the sole candidate for appointment by President Jacob Zuma at the end of July. - Mail & Guardian website

Commissioner should be a policeman : SAPU - 10 July
The next national police commissioner should be drawn from the ranks of the SA Police Service, the SA Police Union (Sapu) said on Friday. "To us the national commissioner is the director-general of the department of police, therefore it is a necessity that person should be someone who has first-hand experience of what it is to be a police officer," Sapu spokesperson Bernard Machakela said in a statement. - IOL website

1 July 2009
Prepared text of the speech by Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa on the occasion of the debate on the Budget Vote 22 and 20 , July 1 2009
Politicsweb website

"Part of the effort in launching the challenge in this regard, is going to be about bringing about stability to the crime intelligence division, through appointing a permanent divisional commissioner this month"

New crime intelligence head appointed - 7 July
Commissioner Richard Mdluli has been appointed as divisional commissioner of the police's crime intelligence division, it was announced on Tuesday. - IOL website

Police legal service in chaos - 23 June
For the past two years former minister of safety and security Charles Nqakula has been covering up a damning report stating that police legal services were in a chaotic state and costing taxpayers millions of rands every year. Legal firm Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS), which conducted the investigation, warned Nqakula as early as May 2007 that intervention was necessary to avoid a "total collapse" of police litigation structures. - City Press website

Damning report reveals SAPS shambles - 2 July
A damning Auditor-General's report has depicted a police service in disarray as it struggles to implement a sector policing policy that has been in draft form since 2002. Acting Police Commissioner Tim Williams and other senior South African Police Service members were grilled in Parliament on Wednesday about their ineffective management and for allowing sector policing to be implemented for seven years without a formal national policy. - IOL website

SAPS to develop system to stop loss of dockets - 2 July
The loss of criminal case dockets will soon be a thing of the past as the South African Police Service (SAPS) are working on developing a system to enhance service delivery. Tabling his department's Budget Vote in Parliament on Wednesday, Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa said the loss of dockets continues to be a serious problem. - BuaNews Online website

Crime stats scam exposed - 5 July
A KwaZulu-Natal police whistleblower, who was suspended without pay because, he said, he exposed fraudulent crime statistics, has had his salary reinstated. Constable Craig Josiah approached the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg last month to set aside his suspension. He claimed he had been victimised and subjected to trumped-up charges after he exposed "fraudulent" activities in the capturing of crime statistics. Judge Fikile Mokgohloa ordered that Josiah's salary be reinstated pending the state's filing of its papers and argument in court on Josiah's suspension. Josiah's station commissioner, Director Hariram Badul, had discontinued his salary on March 9. This was after the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), acting on information provided by Josiah, raided the Mountain Rise Police Station in Pietermaritzburg and discovered 170 unregistered dockets stacked away in a room. - Mail & Guardian website

Cops 'manipulating crime stats' - 5 July
A Sunday Times report on manipulated crimes statistics at certain police stations is "no surprise", the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday. "The DA calls for a full forensic audit to be performed on every single police station in the country," DA MP and spokeswoman on police Diane Kohler Barnard said in a statement. She was reacting to a Sunday Times report that some police officers in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng had been accused of manipulating crime statistics. - IOL website

'Targets spur cops to falsify crime stats' - 8 July
Performance and crime-reduction targets set by the government are motivating the police to manipulate crime statistics, says senior researcher David Bruce, of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Rehabilitation. He was responding to recent reports that officers from Pietermaritzburg's Mountain Rise police station and two stations in the Western Cape were being investigated by the Independent Complaints Directorate for manipulating crime statistics. - IOL website

Station commander faces corruption charges - 8 July
A Pietermaritzburg police commissioner who has allegedly been manipulating crime statistics to make it appear that the crime rate in his jurisdiction had dropped drastically will soon face criminal charges and internal disciplinary action. This follows the endorsement of a recommendation of the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa that charges be laid against Director Hariram Badul, of the Mountain Rise Police Station. Mthethwa's spokesperson, Hangwani Mulaudzi, said on Wednesday that the endorsement had been communicated to KwaZulu-Natal commissioner Hamilton Ngidi to take further action. - IOL website

Govt to review decision on specialised units - 1 July
Government is to review its decision on the closure of specialised units such as the Child Protection Unit and Sexual Offenses Unit. - BuaNews Online website

See also : SA union wants police unit reinstated to clamp down on illegal mining

Minister determined to grow reservists force - 6 July
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa wants to hire over-age reservists instead of recruiting "useless people who end up being criminals". Currently, the SAPS's legal recruitment age is 18, but recruits should be younger than 30. But Mthethwa said this excluded some hard-working police reservists who are over the age limit or even 40, who could do a better job. He wants the force to grow to 204 000 members by 2012. - IOL website

Cops treated like criminals : Mthethwa - 5 July
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa says his officers are treated like criminals for shooting dangerous suspects and protecting the public, and this must stop. He wants to reinstate apartheid-style law to give police more firepower to shoot and kill fleeing suspects. But he warned "trigger-happy" policemen that it would not be a licence to kill. - IOL website
Keyphrase :
'Shoot to Kill'

Will Section 49 be licence for cops to kill? - 7 July
Giving police sweeping powers to shoot to kill would result in the death of innocent people, says Mary de Haas, a KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor. "Police are trained to shoot to disable if possible, not to kill. - IOL website

Minister seeks ways to tackle violent heists - 6 July
The government is to ban so-called "soft cars" from transporting money as part of the minimum safety standards for the cash-in-transit industry. This, according to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, should help to curb violent heists. - IOL website

Sport and Recreation

IRB charge SARU over protest - 7 July
The South African Rugby Union were charged on Monday by the sport's governing body, the International Rugby Board, for alleged misconduct in breach of the IRB Regulations relating to the game including breaches of the IRB Code of Conduct. The IRB pressed the charges because the Springboks wore armbands during the Third Test defeat to the British and Irish Lions on Saturday as a symbol of solidarity for Bakkies Botha following the upholding of his two-week suspension by an independent Appeal Committee for dangerously charging into a ruck without binding on a player. - Sport24 website

Trade and Industry

See also : SADC caught in EU-SA crossfire

New GM ready to emerge from bankruptcy protection - 6 July
General Motors (GM) on Sunday took another step towards its reinvention when the US Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of substantially all of General Motors Corporation's assets to NGMCO, a new entity funded by the US Treasury. The deal would see NGMCO change its name to General Motors Company, and continue to operate under GM's historic corporate and sub-brands, the company said in a statement. GM's subsidiaries outside the US, General Motors South Africa included, would be acquired by the new company, and were expected to continue to operate without interruption. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Judge refuses to delay sale of GM - 10 July
A US judge has rejected a last minute request by a group of personal injury claimants to delay the sale of the profitable parts of General Motors. There is now nothing to stop GM selling the best parts of the business to a government-funded "new GM". Once that has happened, the way will be clear for the carmaker to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. - BBC News website

IDC sets aside R6bn for distressed firms - 15 June
The State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) would set aside R6-billion over the next two years to support companies in financial distress as a direct result of the global economic crisis. The development finance institution, which planned to approve loans of R70-billion over the next five years and R11-billion in the 2009/10 financial year, expected that resources and manufacturing companies to be the main recipients of the bail-out money. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Union cheers measure to protect textile jobs - 2 July
Textile tariff increases have been welcomed by the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu). In a statement on Thursday, Cosatu said the rise in tariffs on imported clothing from 40 percent to 45 percent would protect the local market against cheap imports that might destroy local industries and jobs. - Business Report website

Proposed policies aren't always the right ones - 8 June
protect certain industries deemed strategically important seems to have gathered pace despite significant evidence that higher tariffs would do more harm than good to the economy, and despite more appropriate policy tools being available. The Mail & Guardian last month highlighted the apparent willingness of the DTI to raise tariffs in support of certain strategic sectors deemed "job creators", and referred to a study by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) which indicates that there is significant policy space for such increases. - Mail & Guardian website

Rebates on fabrics welcomed - 17 June
Industry insiders have welcomed the introduction of rebates on certain fabrics used in the making of clothing. The Southern Africa Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu) said the tariff cuts were part of the rescue package for clothing and textiles discussed by the clothing and textile employers organisations, the national bargaining councils for the clothing and textile industries, Sactwu and the Department of Trade and Industry (dti). Sars recently issued a directive to cut import duties on a range of fabrics not made in commercial quantities in South Africa. - Business Report website

Frame to be closed even if DTI and IDC revive it - 10 July
Seardel is proceeding with the closure of Frame Vertical Pipeline (FVP) and the retrenchment of its 1 200 workers, says Seardel CEO Stuart Queen. If the DTI and IDC come up with a plan to save the company, Seardel is prepared to take a minority stake in what it describes as a new entity. Government is reported to be looking globally for a white knight to save Frame. - Moneyweb website

Task team looking to Asians to 'bail' out textile giant - 10 July
A task team appointed to help save Seardel 's textile division, the Frame Group, is negotiating with an Asian foreign investor to buy some or all of the assets earmarked for closure in order to keep them operational in SA. It is understood the potential investor was in fact approached by the Department of Trade and Industry and is in SA to discuss a deal. Apart from the primary intention to save jobs, Frame's rescue is also being considered in the context of the effect Frame's closure would have on availability of fabric in southern Africa. Frame has spinning, weaving, finishing and denim divisions, and is the biggest textile operation in southern Africa. - allAfrica website

Transport and Roads

Date set for demerit system - 8 July
The points demerit system will only be operational by November 2010. This was confirmed by Road Traffic Management Corporation CEO Ranthoko Rakgoale on Tuesday. He said the email being circulated stating that the system was already up and running was false. - IOL website

Ndebele pushes for 'unquestionable integrity' - 3 July
Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele on Friday promised to pay particular attention to combating fraud and corruption in procurement and tender processes, the Road Accident Fund (RAF), and drivers' licences. - IOL website

Govt to establish negotiating forum with taxi industry - 3 July
After consulting with stakeholders in the taxi industry, government is ready to establish a negotiating forum to produce new and lasting solution regarding the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT). "We are now all ready to start a 'CODESA' of the taxi industry," said Transport Minister, Sibusiso Ndebele delivering his Budget Vote in Parliament on Friday. - BuaNews Online website

State to regulate taxis - 5 July
The government wants to regulate taxi fares and take over the licensing of taxi operators. But the taxi industry has adopted a wait-and-see approach towards the proposed regulations. - IOL website

Taxis must participate in all aspects of transport : Ndebele - 3 July
Government wants the taxi industry to participate in the entire transport value chain, Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele said on Friday. Speaking during debate in the National Assembly on his budget vote, Ndebele said on June 11 he had met over 2000 taxi industry representatives from taxi associations and their organised structures nationally. Prior to that, fruitful discussions were held with leaders of the SA National Taxi Council. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Xenophobia

Swazis given 30 days to leave - 7 July
The protesters in the Mpumalanga Province have issued a stern warning to Swazis not only working but living there to leave the place in exactly 30 days. Those who are working there have been called to resign while Swazis residing in the township of Thandokukhanya have been informed to vacate their houses. - Times of Swaziland website

'We are not responsible for xenophobic threats' - 9 July
In a sudden twist of events, Mkhondo Municipality Concerned Group has distanced itself from allegations of the violence against Swazis in Piet Retief. Robert Kubheka, chairperson of the group, disclosed this during an interview with this publication yesterday. According to Kubheka, the committee (concerned group) representing community grievances (Thandukukhanya township) is not in any way or the other against Swazi people in Piet Retief, but was discontent with poor services from the Mkhondo Municipality. Kubheka alleged there were people who hijacked the protest march in pursuit of their own personal interests thus calling for the eviction of Swazis. - Times of Swaziland website

Four Malawians attacked with pangas - 7 July
Four Malawians were seriously injured when they were attacked with pangas at a store room in Rustenburg, North West police said on Tuesday. Superintendent Lesego Metsi said the attack was not linked to xenophobia and the motive was believed to be house robbery. - IOL website

Miscellaneous

Criminologist Irma Labuschange dies - 9 July
Renowned criminologist Dr Irma Labuschagne died this morning. The 70-year-old Labuschagne passed away at a hospital in Pretoria after she was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this week. Labuschagne profiled some of South Africa's most notorious killers, including Skierlik shooter Johan Nel and Najwa Petersen, who murdered her entertainer husband Taliep. - The Times website

Who is entitled to Taliep's R5,3 million? - 10 July
A firm of Cape Town attorneys is investigating Taliep Petersen's decision to make his youngest child the sole beneficiary of his R5,3-million life insurance policy, even though he has five other children. The firm, De Klerk and Van Gend, is questioning whether Petersen willingly consented to the move and whether he agreed to exclude his other children from benefiting. The current beneficiary, nine-year-old Zaynab Petersen, was born from the music icon's marriage to Najwa Petersen - the woman who was sentenced to 28 years in jail for orchestrating his murder. Attorney Igshaan Higgins, who is being assisted by Sharlene Mouton, said he believed the investigation would be finalised within the next two weeks. - allAfrica website

Africa hunt for fugitive Hell's Angel - 8 July
An extradition order has been issued for a fugitive Hell's Angel from the Black Country who is being hunted in South Africa over a riot at Birmingham Airport. Mark Larner fled before he was due to be sentenced last month at Birmingham Crown Court. West Midlands Police spokeswoman Keiley Gartland today confirmed extradition arrangements had now been agreed with the South African government. Judge Patrick Thomas QC issued a warrant for Larner's arrest but decided against sentencing him in his absence on June 19. - Express & Star Newspaper website

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