Centurion – The Proteas face a nerve-jangling first session of the middle day of the first Test against Australia at SuperSport Park here on Friday.
SA v Oz – Day 2 as it happened
Their immediate task, of course, is to try to take any follow-on temptation out of the hands of Aussie captain Michael Clarke by dragging South Africa’s sickly first innings total to the relative sanctuary of 198 or more.
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Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma has taken flak from various opposition parties after his State of the Nation address, especially on the jobs issue.
Helen Zille, leader of the DA, said that Zuma did not do enough to address job shortages in his address.
“Work opportunities are temporary replacements… while very important to relieve poverty, they are not a substitute for real jobs that happen because of economic growth,” she said.
She said Zuma’s speech mentioned that 500 000 jobs had been created, but said this fell short of his promise of five million.
“Only one out of 20 of those jobs materialised.”
Real economic growth was needed to create “real jobs”, as opposed to work opportunities, Zille said.
Labour regulations had deteriorated, which could stifle job growth.
On corruption, she said Zuma needed to “put his money where his mouth is”.
“[Zuma] refuses to go to court to answer his own charges,” she said.
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said that it was “delusional” to tell people about the extended public works programme which would create six million job opportunities.
The programme created temporary jobs but the country needed sustainable jobs, Buthelezi said.
He said Zuma mentioned a number of things, including the violence during protests.
‘Violence ANC’s fault’
Buthelezi claimed the violence was the African National Congress’s fault.
“That [violence] was taught by the ANC… to make the country ungovernable. Who taught people to make petrol bombs? The ANC did,” he said.
Buthelezi called Zuma “Mr Promise”.
He said Zuma liked to make promises but did not follow through.
It was “insulting the intelligence of our people” by making these promises.
Meanwhile, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said that Zuma’s address misled the public.
Painting a rosy picture
This “misleading” picture needed to be dealt with. Holomisa said Zuma painted a rosy picture of the country, but this was contrary to what was actually seen.
Holomisa said Zuma had no plans to create the number of jobs that he set out to in his address.
“This is an old story, we have heard this noise before,” he told reporters.
Zuma did receive praise from ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, who had only good things to say about Zuma’s speech.
It showed the “coherence” of the work government had been doing in the past five years, said Mantashe.
One of the most important topics Zuma touched on was that of violent protests.
“Violence is not acceptable. It is not acceptable that people die at the hands of the police. It is a fundamental right to protest, but it must not lead to death,” Mantashe said.
Zuma said government was working on curbing the employment of unqualified people in municipalities.
Mantashe agreed, saying municipalities were the face of government and that quality of services at municipal level needed improvement.
“Do not give any unqualified person a job,” said Mantashe.
‘Zuma hoodwinked SA’
Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota said that Zuma hoodwinked the nation during his State of the Nation address, and gave Zuma’s speech a one out of ten.
“All the things he said had nothing to do with the reality we know, that we are living in this country,” Lekota said.
“How can he say we are winning the battle against corruption when he himself has not even appeared before the courts to account for the many allegations made against him and when he didn’t even say anything to us about Nkandla?”
The president failed to mention that poor South Africans were up in arms because of the failures of the ANC-led provinces, he said.
“Maybe the people around him misled him into thinking he can hoodwink the whole nation delivering a speech like that. It’s a speech that really insults the intelligence of the people of this country.”
SAPA
Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma on Thursday tempered warnings on the economy with reflections on the gains of a 20-year democracy in an upbeat State of the Nation address, ahead of the 7 May general elections.
Zuma veered off his scripted address to warn that the strife besetting the mining industry should not be allowed to destroy the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner.
“In no way can we have conflict that destroys the economy,” he told MPs during a joint sitting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces.
Zuma said while mine owners sought to keep their mines running, unions, representing workers, sought to ensure good working conditions, decent wages and secure jobs for their members.
“It’s very important that as we negotiate and try and find solutions, to take all these matters into account. Because in the end, if these two sides don’t work together… it affects the economy of the country… We need to bear this in mind as we negotiate, as we agree on certain deals that we make.”
Zuma began his address by paying tribute to former president Nelson Mandela whose death on the eve of two decades of political freedom, he said, had caused the nation and many outside its borders untold pain.
“We have a duty to take his legacy forward,” he added, before making a rallying cry for different sectors of society to work together to overcome unemployment, poverty, and inequality.
“We have to work together as government, business and labour to grow our economy at rates that are above five percent to be able to create the jobs we need.”
Pressure on the rand
The president acknowledged it was an uphill battle, saying pressure on the rand, which had seen it weaken by 17.6% against the dollar, would make government’s infrastructure programme more expensive.
However, exporters, particularly in manufacturing, should take advantage of the weaker rand and the stronger global recovery.
“While we have these difficulties, we know that we can cope with this period of turbulence. We have done so before in the past five years. We will, in fact, emerge stronger if we do the right things.”
Zuma enumerated the achievements of two decades of majority rule, ranging from better social services to economic stability and the recent record figure of 15 million people in jobs for the first time.
“On average, the economy has grown at 3.2% a year from 1994 to 2012 despite the global recession which claimed a million jobs. Working together as government, business, labour and the community sector, we nursed the economy to a recovery.”
He said the country could claim gender equality, a free press, independent judiciary, and strong chapter nine institutions.
“All these attributes have made South Africa a much better place to live in now than it has ever been… We buried the undemocratic, unrepresentative, oppressive and corrupt state that was serving a minority.”
Violent protests
Turning to problems certain to feature in the opposition’s election campaign, Zuma sought to minimise the increase in service delivery protests and said government was taking firm action to fight corruption.
He said it was worrying that protests were increasingly marked by premeditated violence, but insisted better delivery was fuelling impatience.
“The dominant narrative in the case of the protests in South Africa has been to attribute them to alleged failures of government,” he said.
“However the protests are not simply the result of ‘failures’ of government, but also of the success in delivering basic services. When 95% of households have access to water, the five who still need to be provided for, feel they cannot wait a moment longer. Success is also the breeding ground of rising expectations.”
He conceded that some communities “especially in informal settlements and rural areas” still lacked basic services, but said government was intensifying efforts to change this, especially in the 23 municipalities with the greatest number of backlogs.
The president said government planned to proceed soon with issuing licences for shale gas exploration in the Karoo and procuring nuclear energy.
The development of petroleum, especially shale gas, would be a game-changer for the Karoo and the South African economy. Having evaluated the risks and opportunities, the final regulations would be released soon and be followed by the processing and granting of licences.
“We expect to conclude the procurement of 9 600 megawatts of nuclear energy,” he added.
– SAPA
Cape Town – South Africans have a duty to honour the legacy of former president Nelson Mandela, says President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation address. .
Zuma told MPs on Thursday that Mandela’s death “caused untold pain to our people and beyond our borders.
“We have a duty to take his legacy forward,” he said.
Zuma went on to list the achievements of South Africa’s successive democratic governments since Mandela took power in 1994, starting with burying an oppressive minority regime. They had made “South Africa a better place to live in now than it ever was before”.
But he said the country still faced inequality, poverty, and unemployment and the government’s efforts were focused on eradicating these problems.
SAPA
North West Premier Thandi Modise and Members of the Provincial Executive Council (Exco) are to engage with disgruntled communities in Madibeng Local Municipality in an effort to address their service delivery challenges. The Exco Imbizo is scheduled to commence at 12:00 pm at the Brits Sports Ground tomorrow.
The provincial government has organised busses for residents of Mothotlung, Lethabile, Maboloka, Damonsville,Jericho , Oskraaal and Oukasie targeted for the engagement .
The meeting follows similar engagement with Majakaneng, Hebron and Kgabalatsane communities that emerged with short term interventions and deployment of an intergovernmental task team to address service delivery challenges in the said areas.
Madibeng was placed under provincial administration by Exco on Monday this week after it was found to be dysfunctional.
Premier Modise had earlier appealed to communities within the municipality to support the intervention, exercise restraint and not to disrupt the momentum to turn Madibeng around to be clean, effective, responsive and accountable so that it meets the basic service needs of its communities.-TDN
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Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma will on Thursday deliver his last State of the Nation (SONA) address as president of the current government.
If you’re um, a big fan of the SONAs (if only for the fashion) well you’re in for a treat this year because we’re getting two with the second one happening after the elections and the establishment of a new Parliament.
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By Obakeng Maje
Ikageng-MEC for Human Settlements Public Safety and Liaison Nono Maloyi will on Friday hand over about 473 houses to legible beneficiaries in Ikageng location in the Tlokwe municipality.
“The hand over is part of the continued departmental programme of handing over the 8000 completed houses by the department to the people of Tlokwe who have been staying in shacks, which exposed them to hazardous conditions” Departmental spokesperson Ben Bole said.
According to Maloyi the programme is part of the government’s endeavor to restore the dignity of the Ikageng community, as well as to celebrate the 20 years of freedom.
The event will be held as follows:
Date: 14 February 2014
Time: 10H00
Venue: Ikageng ext 11 (Next to Roman Catholic Church
-TDN
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Kimberley – A man accused of raping his niece when she was 6-weeks-old has appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court, The Star reported on Thursday.
The case was heard on Wednesday and postponed to 27 March as the State was still awaiting the man’s psychiatric report.
The 24-year-old from Galeshewe in the Northern Cape was arrested shortly after the rape in November.
According to the paper, he also faced a charge of attempted murder after he allegedly tried to kill a policeman.
The baby’s mother told The Star that she had visited her brother in prison to get answers from him.
Her daughter was recovering at a Bloemfontein hospital after undergoing surgery to treat the injuries she sustained during the rape.
At the time, doctors said the child had sustained extensive trauma to the inside and outside of her genitals, as well as bruising and severe tearing.
Her perineum also had a tear and needed to be sutured and built back up.
– SAPA
Johannesburg – Sunday Independent editor Moshoeshoe Monare has resigned.
The resignation was confirmed by The Star’s editor Makhudu Sefara, IOL reported on Thursday.
According to the report, Monare said his resignation was for personal reasons.
Monare tendered his resignation on Tuesday and will be leaving Independent Newspapers at the end of this month, the company’s CEO Tony Howard said in a statement on Thursday.
Monare was in the same statement quoted as saying: “The past ten years have provided me with enormous professional opportunities and personal growth. It was a decade well spent, and a privilege to have worked with outstanding and extraordinary men and women of Independent Newspapers.”
Upheavals
The Independent Group has been rocked by a number of upheavals in recent months.
Cape Times editor Alide Dasnois was allegedly dismissed on 6 December over her decision to cover former president Nelson Mandela’s death as a wraparound supplement. This was published on the same day the newspaper ran a story which painted its newspaper group shareholder Sekunjalo in a negative light.
Independent News and Media SA (INMSA) chair Iqbal Surve said the move formed part of a strategy aimed at arresting poor sales figures.
“Ms Dasnois was not fired,” Surve said in a statement.
Dasnois, however, has said she was “unfairly dismissed”.
Financial journalist Ann Crotty resigned from the Independent Group’s financial daily, the Business Report this week and longtime labour columnist Terry Bell’s column was suspended in January.-News24
Johannesburg – Media coverage by Zulu news programmes were more critical of paralympian Oscar Pistorius than other language groups, research company Media Tenor said on Thursday.
“[The tone] received from Zulu TV seemed to be a lot more critical at 82% compared to other TV news reports, thus moulding the public’s perception that Pistorius was probably guilty,” principal researcher Ludene Brown said in a statement.
Sotho news programmes were 30% critical of Pistorius and Afrikaans news was 29% critical of him.
“Many convicted killers do not get close to this level of negative coverage,” said Brown.
“It is unprecedented.”
Pistorius is accused of killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February last year.
TV coverage of Reeva skyrockets
Brown said the media likened Pistorius to fallen heroes such as philanderer Tiger Woods, murder accused OJ Simpson, and substance abuser Lance Armstrong, showing that “the media was already pillorying [him]”.
Media Tenor said television coverage of Steenkamp skyrocketed after her death.
“Steenkamp was a lesser known model and TV personality prior to her death,” co-researcher Minnette Nieuwoudt said.
“Her media presence skyrocketed after her untimely demise.”
The only positive outcome of her murder was that domestic violence in South Africa was highlighted, Nieuwoudt said.
Nieuwoudt said 105 968 television reports on six news programmes were monitored last year in Media Tenor’s research.
Percentages were based on news programmes in specific language groups.
Media Tenor said its data supported reports that Pistorius was given a trial by media.
– SAPA
The Guardian 