Author: newsnote correspondent
Residents in the City of Tshwane are begging for access to clean flowing water and the maintenance of neighborhood lighting. The request came as several of the capital’s biggest reservoirs’ water levels continued to drop. After the recent heatwave and frequent power outages severely damaged its infrastructure, Rand Water limited delivery. A rising number of places were left without water for more than four days in a row, including Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Mooikloof, Centurion, and Mabopane. Basic services are desperately needed by people, places of business, and institutions. Atteridgeville’s parched residents said that the longer their taps went dry, the more…
A 20-year-old male suspect is expected to appear at the Standerton District Court tomorrow, Wednesday 01 February 2023 on charges of murder which took place on 09 January 2023 around 01:00. According to the report, on that fateful day police were called to a scene on the outskirts of a farm in Standerton. Upon arrival members found the lifeless body of Mr Thapelo Boesak Motloung (51) with some injuries which suggests that the victim was severely assaulted. The medical personnel were also called to the scene and upon arrival, they unfortunately certified him dead. A murder case was opened and…
Malema made these remarks while addressing the media on Sunday. The shutdown is planned for 20 March. “The national shutdown means that there will be no school, no university, factories and no business will be operating on that day. All municipalities and all major cities will be shut own and there will be no work on that day. All major roads will be barricaded and all ports of entry including roads that lead to borders will be closed,” said Malema. “We cannot fold our arms and do nothing when the ANC government and Cyril Ramaphosa, who is involved in a…
By Jonathan Jansen What happens when those responsible for managing universities cannot trust each other to act with integrity? In a nutshell, as I discuss in my new book, Corrupted: A study of chronic dysfunction in South African universities, dysfunction is the consequence. This is the situation playing out in some South African universities – sometimes with fatal results. In early January 2023, a protection officer who was guarding Fort Hare University vice-chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu was shot dead in an apparent assassination attempt. The shooting has been linked to ongoing investigations into corruption at the university. This appears to be just one example of how eroded…
Military website Global Firepower has published its military strength ranking for 2023 featuring 145 countries, with the ranking utilising more than 60 different factors to determine a given nation’s PowerIndex. The Global Firepower PowerIndex is calculated by focusing on weapon diversity rather than the total number of weapons available to any country to provide a better balance of firepower. The formula also allows smaller, more technologically-advanced nations to compete with larger, lesser-developed powers, and special modifiers – in the form of bonuses and penalties – are applied to further refine the list, which is compiled annually. One such special modifier is a…
South Africa’s largest retail group, Shoprite, says that it spent R560 million on diesel to keep its operations going during stage 5 and stage 6 load shedding over the last few months. The group published an operational update on its business for the six months ending 1 January 2023, outlining strong growth across its operations for the period. The group’s core business, Supermarkets RSA, contributed 80.1% to group sales and achieved sales growth of 17.5%. This growth is reported against the six-month period ended 2 January 2022 when sales increased by 11.3%. According to Shoprite, the growth in sales reflects…
Currently, 2023 is expected to have more rolling blackouts than 2022. Energy availability factor (EAF) will need to increase from 58% to 70% in two years to recover Eskom’s coal-fired power stations. As a result of the crisis, Eskom considered implementing permanent Stage 2 and Stage 3 rolling blackouts, a statement it has since retracted. The issue of declaring a National State of Disaster for the energy emergency received urgent attention during the ANC’s four-day lekgotla at Esselen Park in Ekurhuleni. Numerous roleplayers, including traditional leaders, community-based organizations, and trade unions, urged the crisis to be declared a National…
With only a few weeks since the reopening of schools in the country, the North West Department of Education has condemned the burning of a school principal’s office and one classroom at Mothelesi Secondary school in Shaleng Village near Pampierstad. The learners were unable to attend Saturday’s extra lessons, due to the incident. MEC Viola Motsumi, said the cause of the fire is still unknown. “I take this time to strongly condemn the torching of Mothelesi Secondary School. Such incidents delay the delivery of quality education to the learners. This incident is going to exacerbate the infrastructural backlogs faced by…
Prohibition Partners published its African Cannabis Report in 2019 and predicted that by 2023, the medical and recreational cannabis markets in South Africa will each be worth R11 billion and R20 billion, respectively. The nation is in a position to take the lead in this competitive industry. South Africa has a significant competitive advantage over its rivals, a positive reputation abroad for the caliber of its output, and is ranked first in Africa for technical proficiency and production cost. However, it is still extremely early in the process of removing the myriad social, political, economic, and legal barriers preventing it…
The African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal has redeployed its former provincial chairperson and former premier, Sihle Zikalala, to the National Assembly. The party said on Monday it discussed this with Zikalala and added that he would soon resign as Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC in the province. Zikalala, who is also the former KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial chairperson, was elected to the party’s national executive committee after the December Nasrec conference. The KZN ANC thanked Zikalala and said a new MEC to replace him would be announced once it finalised its deployment process within its structures.