Cape Town – Cabinet has condemned the disruption of the State of the Nation address as an insult to those who laid down their lives in the liberation struggle, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said on Thursday.
“Cabinet condemns the unruly and un-parliamentary conduct of some members of Parliament during the opening of Parliament,” Radebe told a briefing following Cabinet’s regular fortnightly meeting.
For more http://www.news24.com
Johannesburg – Sibanye Gold [JSE:SGL], the biggest producer of the metal in South Africa, intends to become energy-independent “over the next few years” as state utility Eskom struggles to supply the economy with enough power.
The company is considering investing in solar power and building its own coal-fired plants of 200 megawatts to 600 megawatts to reduce reliance on “inconsistent and increasingly expensive” electricity, the Westonaria, South Africa-based company said in a statement on Thursday.
The investment in solar power would cost about R3bn ($258m) and generate 150 megawatts, Sibanye said. The company’s overall demand is 500 megawatts, it said.
The company’s so-called headline earnings rose 14% to $69.7m in the six months through December from the preceding six-month period, it said on Thursday. Gold production increased 23% in the six-month period to 877 400 ounces. For the full year, headline profit declined 46% to $130.9m from 12 months earlier.
For more http://www.news24.com
A Germiston family is refusing to bury a body from the Nigerian church collapse, which was identified as their daughter.
On February 6 A C130 Hercules brought back 11 bodies from Nigeria; Among them, a body supposedly that of Patricia Mkhulisi.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za
Acting Energy director-general Wolsey Barnard on Tuesday said it would take 20 months for the Eskom War Room committee to return South Africa to normality. Barnard was speaking at the African Energy Indaba in the place of Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
“Big Business is giving us big support,” he told delegates. “Now, everyone in the country needs to pull their weight.”
For more http://www.sabreakingnews.org.za
As of April, eligible citizens will be able to apply for their Smart ID Cards at the Home Affair’s kiosks in their nearest bank, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said on Tuesday.
The Minister said this when he led a briefing by government’s Governance and Administration Cluster at the Imbizo Media Centre in Parliament on Tuesday.
The Minister said this would be a pilot project.
The Minister said to date, two banks – FNB and Standard Bank – have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Home Affairs for the pilot project.
Nedbank has indicated its willingness to sign on the dotted line and Minister Gigaba hopes Absa will also join the partnership.
He said his department had also approached the South African Post Office with the aim of reaching an agreement on how some of its infrastructure could be used as well.
“There are several new innovations that are going to be introduced by the department in the course of this and the next financial years to assist South Africans in applying for their Smart ID Cards and passports in an extremely convenient way.
“That is why the President announced that we will soon be able to apply for our Smart ID Cards at our bank…
“At the moment there are three banks that have come on board and we have signed a memorandum of understanding to start a pilot process with them – so that a person can … go to the Home Affairs kiosk in the bank, submit all their applications, take their biometric photograph, automated fingerprint and their electronic signature and that is compiled to an electronic package and deposited to Home Affairs,” he said.
The Minister said the innovation would help ease the queues at Home Affairs’ 403 offices nationwide, while delivering a crucial service to citizens quicker, efficiently and professionally.
Those that are eligible to apply are pensioners older than 60 years or 16 year-olds.
Meanwhile, the Minister said government had a massive task to ensure that over 38 million citizens with green-coded ID books are converted to Smart ID Cards.
“To date we have issued over one million Smart ID Cards, in less than a year. We are confident of reaching the target of 1.6 million cards by the end of the 2014/15 financial year,” he said.
– SAnews.gov.za
DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane has labelled President Jacob Zuma a broken man presiding over a broken society.
In a hard hitting speech delivered during the debate on the state of the nation address, Maimane accused Zuma of breaking Parliament last week when security personnel were deployed to strong-arm EFF MPs demanding to know when he would pay back the money spent on non-security upgrades at his Nkandla residence.
For more http://www.citypress.co.za
North West- The North West Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Local Government and Human Settlements will hold oversight meetings with municipalities under Bojanala District Municipality at Rustenburg Local Municipal Chamber on Wednesday at 09h00.
The municipalities will be presenting their Annual Reports 2012/13.
The meetings are scheduled as follows;
Municipality
Time: 09H00
Venue: Moretele Local Municipality
Rustenburg Local Municipal Chamber
Rustenburg Local Municipality
12h00
Bojanala District Municipality
15h00
The meetings will be attended by the Executive Mayors, Members of the Municipal Councils and Municipal Public Accounts Committees, Municipal Managers including senior management of municipalities. Auditor General’s office will also be present.
-TDN
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Kingston Nkhatha will line up for SuperSport United against his old team Kaizer Chiefs in the Absa Premiership tonight, expecting to hear more of the booing that marred his time at Naturena.
The Zimbabwean, who joined Matsatsantsa during the January transfer window, joined Chiefs in 2012 from Black Leopards and had a torrid time with club supporters.
On one occasion Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter labeled the boo-boys ‘idiots’ and questioned his own future in Naturena.
For more http://www.kickoff.com
Mahikeng- Thirty members have been elected through a fair electoral process, with members in agreement as to the measures that were used to reach to the final number. As with many processes that have to be done democratically there were some issues that were raised and members then required clarity in order to agree on matters at hand.
“There were some deliberations here and there, where clarity was needed once a cadre suggested that members who weren’t present at the conference and hadn’t followed through with letters of acceptance or declining nominations hadn’t been received. The outcome though, was satisfactory and abided with democratic processes all thanks to the members and the electoral agency deployed for the procedure needed” ANC spokesperson Oupa Matla said.
The election of additional thirty members is a combination of broad demographic representation of all the four regions of the province. This echoed the honest advice that the National chairperson, Baleka Mbete had shared earlier, that ‘factionalism is a disease that affects all levels within the ANC and needs to be dealt with vigorously’.
Spirits weren’t dampened by any of the deliberations and kept singing and chanting before breaking away for some of the core business of the conference, that being the different commissions whereby members could decide on a way forward and how delegates need to give feedback to their various branches.
The commissions in questions included: Peace and stability, robust conversations on economic transformation, social transformation and political education to name a few.
“As the conference draws to a close and load shedding threatened to slow things down, ironically when there had been a presentation during the day from a representative from ESKOM. Members were not deterred and instead kept their spirits high reminding themselves of the core business for attendance” Matla said.
The list of the thirty PEC additional members:
HAMILTON – David Miller and JP Duminy both scored centuries as South Africa overcame a real challenge from Zimbabwe to record a 62-run victory in their opening World Cup Pool B game in Hamilton on Sunday.
Miller (138 not out) and Duminy (115 not out) rescued the Proteas’ innings after they had been in trouble at 83 for four, as they put on a world record fifth-wicket stand of 256 to guide their side to 339 for four.
Elton Chigumbura’s side, however, also showed that they would be a dangerous opponent for many sides with opener Chamu Chibhabha (64), Hamilton Masakadza (80) and Brendan Taylor (40) showing they were all highly competent international batsmen.
For more http://www.enca.com
The Guardian 