Numsa and Sacca already have a strike certificate as they accuse management of threatening them with retrenchments and call for the SAA board to be scrapped. As if their financial dire straits and the plan that they would have to retrench about 900 people were not enough, the national carrier South African Airways (SAA) is..
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‘Mother of all strikes’ ready to paralyze SAA as union hints at ‘total shutdown’ if national carrier cuts a fifth of staff
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EFF says that Springbok rugby is a symbol of white supremacy against change
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Economic Freedom Fighters member of Parliament (MP) Mbuyiseni Ndlozi on Tuesday reiterated his scorn of the Springbok rugby team and said there would be no racial unity in South Africa until wealth was shared equally and land returned to those from whom it was taken.
Ndlozi, in a debate on a motion to congratulate the Springboks for winning the Rugby World Cup, said calls to rally behind the team was a form of collective abuse of black people, who were being asked to sanctify a sport and a symbol that remained redolent of white supremacy.
“Because the Springbok is a sign that cannot be whitewashed, it stands in parallel continuity with Die Stem entrenching white supremacy in our society. That is why the rugby team in question is white-dominated. It is a perfect reflection that white people have successfully resisted change in our society for 25 years,” he said.
He said the mass street celebrations that have met the returning rugby champions were “fake” because
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Power grid remains under pressure, possibility of load shedding not eliminated
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The electricity network remains under pressure and, according to Eskom, there is still the possibility of load shedding for today and the rest of the week, but will only be applied if absolutely necessary.
According to Eskom, unplanned interruptions at 22:00 on Sunday were slightly less than 10,000 MW and good progress was made over the weekend to supplement diesel reserves for the open-cycle gas turbines and water levels with the pump storage schemes.
The power provider said the power grid is still being monitored hourly at its emergency response control center and that the situation at its generation plants is unpredictable.
“Eskom wants to remind its customers that any unexpected changes such as additional interruptions or the unavailability of diesel for the gas turbines or declining water levels at the pump storage schemes could lead to short-term power short notice.”
Meanwhile, another generation unit at the Kusile power station was synchronized for t
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New Speed limits to be introduced to SA drivers – limit on highways will drop to 100km
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The Department of Transport and the Road Traffic Management Corporation are reviewing South Africa’s current speed limits. The proposed review of speed limits comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act into law in August 2019 – introducing a new demerit system for South African drivers.
Speaking to the Weekend Argus, Department of Transport spokesperson Ayanda Allie-Paine said the proposal could see the baseline top speeds across the country’s roads reduced by 20km/h.
This would effectively drop the speed limit on the country’s highways from 120km/h to 100km/h, while the top speeds on main roads would drop from 100km/h to 80km/h.
Speeds in residential areas would decrease from 60km/h to 40km/h.
“Our road safety strategy has considered all these factors. Legislation is being reviewed to address and bring in place an edifice of various interventions to respond adequately to the c
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Meeting held in Kimberley end in chaos after diamond diggers and zama-zama gold miners arrive with weapons
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Apparently, the world-renowned diamond city Kimberley’s project to tie the so-called zama-zama gold miners and diamond miners together into a legal structure did not produce good results.
The meeting held in Kimberley became riotous after diggers with arms arrived at the meeting.
The actions of dozens of diamond miners, who illegally exploited the diamond fields without permits, soon struck the national effort to create law and order.
Some of the illegal diggers say they claim their area that has been deprived of them since the 19th century, and the more than 800 diggers who are unlicensed diggers have completely disrupted the meeting.
They work in an area of about 1,500 acres rich diamond field and refuse to give a thumbs up for their “rights”.
A new licensed cooperative structure has been created, but the majority of diggers refuse to join it, while others have apparently been denied shareholders.
The illegal mines and quarries operated by nearly 10
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The Department of Home Affairs faces about R2 billion in claims due to their inability to meet expected services as well as incompetence to maintain law and order in its immigration department
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The Department of Home Affairs already has claims worth about R2 billion that come from civilians because of its inability to meet expected services.
The claims are still growing due to the legal costs involved in the construction of cases that had to be resolved in court and of which the Department was apparently ordered many times to pay the costs.
Acting Director General One Thulani Mavuso acknowledged that his department has a “continuous obligation” totaling just over R2 billion.
The department’s immigration department alone has a range of claims of R698.5 million and tender contracts of R829 million as well as R479.7 million of civil claims.
The department recently admitted in a lawsuit that it does not have the funds necessary to maintain law and order in its immigration department.
Insatiable money hungry amongst ANC ranks – MP involved in R600,000 scams
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The ANC’s MP, Bernice Swarts, is accused of being involved in a scam involving R600,000.
The ANC has apparently launched an investigation into the alleged scams where businessmen were under the impression that the money would be used for the ANC’s election campaign.
Little information about Swarts is known, but the latest investigation into the R500,000 needed to go to Ramaphosa’s CR17 electoral fund has apparently become a total search.
Now there seems to be confusion, because the Public Protector also investigated R500,000 that was apparently donated by Watson’s Bosasa, but which was paid in but explained to Parliament by Ramaphosa so deceptively that several political opponents described it as a lie finished.
Swarts reportedly received R16 million from an account linked to the election campaign to get support from the Eastern Transvaal, and also received R500,000 from Tuwani Mulaudzi, who apparently disappeared and was never paid into the ANC’s CR17 acco
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Zuma pulls a Schabir Shaik act
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Former ANC president Jacob Zuma, who was due to appear before the Zondo Commission, was discharged from the hospital over the weekend and will only appear later to testify.
Zuma is still being targeted by the Commission for interrogation on state hijacking, but Zuma apparently thanked many supporters for their involvement in “the difficult illness period”.
Observers point out that the possibility exists that he should already be seen as a “very sick person”, so that he, like his friend Shaik, could be released early on parole if jail time is his premise, then for years afterwards, happy to live outside prison.
In addition to the arms scandal, there is still the state hijacking scandal, and the Hanekom court case, which is still being smeared on its political bread.
No indication was given as to the reason for his hospitalization, but Zuma described it as a “difficult time”.
Weapon manufacturer Denel has quietly acquired a contract worth R6.3 billion for the export of weaponry
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With the apparent initiative and guidance of the new chief of arms manufacturers, Denel, a contract has been entered into for the export of weaponry worth more than R6 billion.
A spokesman for the manufacturer confirmed that a contract had been obtained but that the broader details of it had not yet been disclosed.
The new contract worth R6.3 billion will be presented to Parliament during the coming week to approve the arms export.
The new technology that will be used in the weaponry is probably innovative, and can be attributed to the expertise of people who have proven their skills in arms manufacturing over the years.
South Africa’s army has run out of money – this is how much trouble it is in
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South Africa’s National Defence Force (SANDF) is in a dire financial state, and with no promise of future funding, things may still get worse.
Answering in a recent parliamentary Q&A session minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, said that current plans to get the SANDF back on track are entirely dependent on its funding.
“The prevention of the SANDF capabilities from declining further is entirely dependent on the budget allocation of the Defence Force, which has been decreasing at an alarming rate over the years with a negative impact of the entire capabilities,” she said.
“The Defence Review 2015 has been developed with a plan to arrest the decline of the SANDF but unfortunately no funding has been received to attend to the declining capabilities of the SANDF.”
Mapisa-Nqakula added that the years-long decline of the SANDF meant that it was becoming increasingly difficult to protect the country.
“The defence
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