Cape Town – Mixed communities in Plumstead and Wynberg say the construction of a MyCiTi “freeway” through their peaceful suburbs will, like the Group Areas Act of apartheid, rip apart their neighbourhoods and their families.
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Cape Town – A police expert measured the arms of the gunman who killed Swedish beauty Anni Hindocha a day before he died.
This emerged in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday when ballistics expert Pieter Engelbrecht took the stand in the trial of British businessman Shrien Dewani, who is accused of orchestrating the murder of his wife Anni while they were on honeymoon in Cape Town.
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Washington – Ben Bradlee, the hard-driving editor who reigned over the Washington Post newsroom with the style of a well-dressed swashbuckler and the profane vocabulary of dockworker as the newspaper helped topple President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, died on Tuesday at age 93.
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Modimola – Twenty (20) cattle farmers in Ngaka Modiri Molema District have as part of the roll-out of Setsokotsane Programme, benefited from the Department of Rural, Environment and Agricultural Development’s Sire Subsidy Scheme.
This after the Premier of Bokone Bophirima Supra Mahumapelo handed over ten (10) Bonsmara and ten (10) Brahman bulls to 20 farmers during an event that was held at Modimola village outside Mahikeng on Tuesday.
The highly praised Setsokotsane Programme was launched by the Premier last Friday at Montshioa sports ground, Mahikeng.
Premier Mahumapelo told beneficiaries of this scheme that the distributed stud bulls will improve the quality and reproductive rates of their livestock, while contributing to farmers’ efficiency in livestock management.
“We have consciously prioritised Agriculture as one of the anchor economic pillars in our Province, and distributing stud bulls to subsistence farmers signifies our strategic intent to position Bokone Bophirima as the best in beef production and farmer development”, Premier Mahumapelo said.
“This delivery represents the Provincial Government’s swift and integrated approach to implement Setsokotsane Programme objectives, which are about stepping up delivery of services at all local municipalities in the Province”.
One of the beneficiaries, Kesolofetse Motshegare, a 36 years old female farmer from Lokgalong village who received a Bonsmara bull, applauded the intervention by government saying this will enable and encourage them to participate favourably in the value-chain and economic growth of the Province.
In Ngaka Modiri Molema District, a total of 105 subsistence cattle farmers will benefit from the Sire Subsidy Scheme this financial year, and the remaining 85 farmers will receive theirs as Setsokotsane Programme will be taken to various Local Municipalities in the District.
Mahumapelo who was joined by the MEC for Department of Rural, Environment and Rural Development who is also the Leader of Government Business Ms Manketsi Tlhape and MEC for Culture, Arts and Traditional Affairs Ms Tebogo Modise, went on to hand over 300 dust bins (240ltr wheel-bins) to Danville township communities for domestic waste management, as part of the Setsokotsane Programme.
This Programme was initiated by Premier Mahumapelo who pronounced during its launching on last Friday that the activities in Ngaka Modiri Molema District will start in earnest from Tuesday.
The programme seeks to amongst others, align Integrated Development Plans (IDP’s) of municipalities with Annual Performance Plans (APP’s) of the Provincial Departments, and position municipalities as service delivery drivers.-TDN
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Johannesburg – A man was killed and another injured when they fell off the back of a delivery vehicle in Eldoraigne, Centurion, paramedics said on Wednesday.
Netcare 911 spokeswoman Santi Steinmann said it seemed the car was going around a traffic circle on Willem Botha Street on Tuesday afternoon when the pair fell off.
“Paramedics and other services arrived on scene and found one man had already succumbed due to the extensive injuries he had sustained during the fall,” she said.
The injured man did not require hospitalisation. – Sapa
By Obakeng Maje
Hartswater- A case of a 66 year-old man who killed 15 people in a car accident appeared before Hartswater Magistrate Court on Wednesday.
Elias Morebudi,66, ploughed into a taxi while driving a bakkie with 14 people on it at Magogong village, near Hartswater.
The fatal accident took place on 27 September 2014 and that left commuters strewn around.
Morebudi was arrested by Northern Cape police and charged with 15 culpable homicide cases.
According to reports, he was driving under the influence of alcohol and allegedly failed to adhere to a stop sign.
Our crew spoke to Thabo Moyo who was the driver of a taxi that was knocked-down by Morebudi and he had this to say “I am very grateful to be alive. If I relive the moment, I will say it was so terrible and it happened at a blink of an eye.
“I was driving behind a 16-ton truck with a trailer, and after the truck passed, I saw a bakkie pouncing on us. I could not do anything by then and the bakkie ploughed on us” a teary taxi driver, Thabo Moyo said.
He also sent his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.
Thabo Moyo spent two weeks in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Klerksdorp hospital and he is on crutches with a broken hand and leg.
Moyo also warned all drivers to buckle-up at all times on the road as anything can happen at anytime.
Moyo believe the accident was no ordinary, but said it was a satanic deeds.
“According to the bakkie driver, his vehicle’s brakes failed to work at that time, so I believe this was not an ordinary accident, but satanism took charge” Moyo laments.
The case was postponed until 19 November 2014 for further investigations.-TDN
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Johannesburg – More municipalities are sending out electronic accounts to clients as the two-month post office strike continues, the SABC reported on Tuesday.
The public broadcaster said Tshwane metro was the latest to resort to using electronic means to correspond with clients.
Private courier companies have meanwhile reported a boom in business as ordinary South Africans and companies use them to ensure delivery of parcels and documents.
Post Office employees are on strike demanding a 15% salary hike while casual staff are demanding permanent employment.
SAPA
Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma has not had an interview with British newspaper The Guardian on the Oscar Pistorius trial or any other matter this week, the Presidency said on Tuesday.
“A Guardian reporter created an impression that he may have had an exclusive interview with the President on the Pistorius trial,” said spokesperson Mac Maharaj.
He said the journalist reported on a matter raised during the informal networking session as part of the media freedom luncheon on Sunday.
The Guardian reported that Zuma had criticised Oscar Pistorius’s defence team for arguing the paralympian should be spared prison because he was disabled and “had money”.
Pistorius’s lawyers called expert witnesses last week to testify that South African jails were ill-equipped to accommodate disabled people because, for example, the showers lacked handrails.
SAPA
Cape Town – Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene has little room to manoeuvre in his maiden mini budget (Medium Term Budget Policy Statement) and may have to get tough on state-owned entities and civil servants in a way that will earn him little political popularity, observers predicted.
Economists Annabel Bishop and Mike Schussler agreed that Nene would have to keep a tight rein on spending, given lower revenue intake and warnings of further credit down-ratings.
Schussler said this would mean the minister getting stricter still with parastatals and making good on his predecessor Pravin Gordhan’s warning to state employees to prepare for an end to salary increases above the inflation rate.
“It is going to be difficult in the political climate that is still leaning to the left but he is going to have to say we need to control our costs. It is difficult when it is your first MTBP statement,” Schussler added.
But he cautioned that the continual cost of bailing out stricken state-owned entities, notably South African Airways, was untenable and said they should expect “some hard words” from the Treasury chief.
In the poor growth and revenue climate, Schussler said, Nene could be expected to sell off state assets where he could without steering into the politically troubled waters of privatisation.
He predicted that Nene would go ahead with selling the state’s Vodacom stake, and cut grants to areas such as basic education.
The much-trumpeted infrastructure drive would not be immune either, he said, since existing projects such as Eskom’s two new coal plants had gone way over time and budget, leaving less funding for other components of the plan.
Schussler, like Investec chief economist Bishop, predicted Nene would cut National Treasury’s February forecast of year-on-year GDP growth of 2.7% to around 1.5%, and said he believed that Nene would also be compelled to adjust the growth forecast for next year downwards.
Bishop said Nene had to exercise caution against direct debt rising as Moody’s rating agency had warned South Africa risked a further downgrade if there was any sign of unsustainability.
“Should the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement deliver higher net debt ratio projections, or fiscal slippage with the fiscal deficit projected to reach 3.0% of GDP after 2016/17, then SA could receive a further credit rating downgrade, which would then cause the rand to weaken closer to our down case.”
But Bishop said communication from Treasury ahead of Wednesday’s mini budget had signalled a commitment to fiscal efforts to avoid this scenario.
She said as the 2014/15 financial year reached its halfway mark, government spending was slightly higher than budgeted compared to 2013/14, and revenue collection somewhat lower.
Nene could therefore give pointers to potential tax changes to be implemented come the main budget in February, though income tax changes would cost the government political points.
The Democratic Alliance said South Africans were facing the toughest economic conditions since 2009, and Nene was facing the hard choice of budget cuts or a bigger deficit.
The party called for an end to wasteful expenditure and “hand-outs” to state-owned enterprises, cuts to the public sector wage bill, and the cutting of what it calls unnecessary government ministries.
DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane told reporters: “I think we should not deceive ourselves into believing everything is well… South Africa’s economy is stuck in low gear. Slow economic growth and high levels of unemployment, coupled with high inflation, are likely to continue for some time,” he said.
The party’s finance spokesperson Dion George said the economic picture now was very different to the one sketched by Gordhan in February this year.
At that time, predicted economic growth for 2014 was 2.7%.
“This figure has recently been slashed to almost half of that, with revised predictions by the International Monetary Fund and the SA Reserve Bank at 1.4% and 1.5% respectively.
“We might not even see that level of growth for this year,” he said.
“I think it [the possibility of recession] is very real, and I think if we don’t take steps now, we’re in very serious trouble.”
He said growth in the first and second quarters of this year – at minus 0.6% and 0.6% respectively – had essentially stood still.
“So there is a real threat. And also… if we don’t accelerate the economy fast enough, never mind being in recession, even if we grow at the projected rate as it originally was, just under three percent, it’s not fast enough.”
George said that while it was necessary that government cut spending, this should not apply to spending on infrastructure and transport, which should be increased to help drive the economy and attract foreign investors.
SAPA
The Guardian 