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Showing 6 posts tagged South Africa
Sanral not ready for tolls, court hears
Johannesburg - The SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) is not ready to proceed with the tolling of Gauteng’s roads because no exemption has been made for public transport, the North Gauteng High Court heard on Tuesday.
“Although Sanral contests the urgency (of this application) …the truth of it is that it is not ready to proceed (with tolling) on the 30th of April because exemptions are not in place,” said Alistair Franklin, for the applicants, who include the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa).
Outa and others are trying to stop tolling because, according to court papers, Sanral failed to give proper notice of the intent to toll, the decision to toll was unreasonable, and that proper enforcement of the system was “practically impossible”.
Franklin submitted that despite numerous assurances that public transport would be exempted, no steps to realise this had taken place. The applicants were thus seeking to have the toll tariffs reviewed and set aside. This was among the arguments contained in an affidavit filed by the applicants on Saturday.
David Unterhalter, for Sanral, said the affidavit had been filed “at the 11th hour” and did not afford the respondents, who include Sanral and the transport minister, adequate time to respond.
He called it “a very considerable expansion of the case” which would prejudice Sanral.
If the court was willing to entertain the new arguments, Unterhalter said the matter should be postponed to allow Sanral time to respond.
“We ask this court to strike the application.”
Absa employees speak out #stopabsa
Solidarity announced on Monday 26 March it would be launching a massive campaign to put a stop to the retrenchments at Absa. The Stop Absa campaign’s slogan will be “Today, tomorrow, goodbye”.The campaign comes after Absa employees received letters regarding the restructuring last week. Several employees’ services will be terminated on 31 March 2012 and several others’ services will be terminated on 13 May 2012. The total number of employees and posts that will be affected is not known, however.“According to our information, Absa was instructed by Barclays to cut personnel costs by 10%. It is clear to us that Barclays’ grip on Absa is getting tighter. Our focus will therefore shift to Barclays. We don’t approve of a situation where the employees of a profitable South African bank subsidise a bank in Britain,” said Dirk Hermann, Deputy General Secretary of Solidarity.
How can I support the campaign?
- Send a letter regarding the retrenchments at Absa to the Chairman of Barclays. Complete the form below to protest against the retrenchments.
- Text the word ‘Absa’ to 34388 (R2 per SMS).
- The campaign can also be followed on Twitter at #stopabsa. You can help to drive the campaign by tweeting #stopabsa messages.
(Your name, e-mail address and cellphone number are needed to keep you informed of the campaign’s progress and will be treated as confidential.)
Malema, the story
The African National Congress Youth League leader will be expelled from the party following a series of divisive statements made by the charismatic political figure, according to AFP.
Julius Malema has stood trial a South Africa court for hate speech and of saying divisive things it would harm the powerful political party. His ouster clears the path for President Jacob Zuma’s re-election to party leader, given he was Zuma’s major challenger within the party.
Here’s a look at Malema and the controversy.
* Malema will be barred from ANC positions and functions, though he remains at his post until the length of his suspension is announced.
* He has advocated the nationalization of mines and of white-owned land, but he has come to attention for singing the song “Shoot the Boer” at rallies. Boer is another term for “white farmer.” The song led him to stand trial for hate speech.
* In contradiction to official policies, Malema has called for the ouster of Botswana’s president and vocally supported Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.
* He’s also been criticized for living an extravagant lifestyle. He’s known for driving expensive British cars and owning luxury homes. A criminal probe regarding his finances are underway, while the National Treasury is looking into his business dealings and ties with Limpopo political allies.
* The Christian Science Monitor reports there has been gunfire in Polokwane, Malema’s hometown, between Malema’s supporters and rival Youth League factions. Polokwane is located in Limpopo, near the borders of Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
* AFP is reporting Malema has two weeks to appeal his expulsion.
* The fiery orator told public broadcaster SABC that “I’m not a soldier who is prepared to fall in the battle, I will die with my boots on, I will die for what I believe in.”
* CIA Factbook acknowledges ANC infighting has “grown in recent years,” which indirectly led to the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki. Malema has at times supported Mbeki and Zuma, later pulling his support for Zuma and going so far as to sing a song that directly criticized the president.
* Malema has decided not to respond regarding the matter. On Friday, the ANC Youth League issued a public statement saying “the leadership of the ANC Youth League will not grant interviews, nor respond to any media enquiry from media institutions until the Press Conference on Monday and after the interview President Julius Malema will do with METRO FM on Monday from 19H30. Members of the media are advised to respect this approach.”
“Papa wag vir jou.” sequel #DrunkDriving
Did you know that Shrien Dewani’s lawyer used the previous advert to try and convince a court that South African jails were dangerous and that he shouldn’t be extradited from Britain to face trial for allegedly killing his wife Anni? The sequel, which aired last night for the first time, is bound to instil yet more fear in drunken drivers’ minds.
The previous advert featured frightening one-liners like: “I like a nice, pleasant body,” as well as: “These hands will never let you go… I’m quite demanding physically”, and the infamous warning from a heavily tattooed prisoner at the end of the advert: “Papa wag vir jou.”
Now, the sequel: “Who’s driving you home tonight?”, which aired on television for the first time last night, carries a similar message: that drunken drivers could end up behind bars with hardened criminals who are more than happy to touch you on your studio.
Justin Gomes, from the advertising agency FoxP2, which was responsible for both advertisements, told The Times newspaper yesterday:
It was actually something more immediate… if you decide to drink, the next decision you’d make is who is going to drive you home. You make the right decision and get home safe or the wrong one and you could come into contact with people you normally wouldn’t want to.
Gomes continued that reformed prisoners “who have paid their debt to society” were used in the advert. “It’s not actually a performance; you can feel that these guys have been there and done that,” he said.
Brandhouse’s responsible drinking campaign manager, Heather Nobel, explained that the strategy was not to necessarily raise awareness, but rather to change consumer behaviour for good.
She added that the previous advert had sparked much-needed debate around the problem of drunken driving amongst the South African public, and that the previous campaign had proved highly successful.
Safe House - Awesome review in SA
Safe House released here in SA this last weekend, was well… what we expected it to be… there is tons of action and hectic chases, raining bullet fire and a side helping of a love story (purely there for producers benefit by the way, has no effect on movie story line at all but it’s required, and frankly played very well by both Ryan Reynolds and the new comer Vera Farmiga , so we let it be).
There are a few things that I thought were quite cool numero uno being it’s staged here in South Africa, predominately in Cape Town and Johannesburg and even filmed in our more raw style which I thought was quite cool. Ok our cops are not shown in the most intellectual light but seriously who are we kidding. There is a scene where they run through a township, and I do mean “through” as the shacks are being collapsed as the characters try jumping on the roofs and finding out their structural integrity is not exactly designed by civil engineers. They also drive/run through the city quite a bit so there is a good overall picture of our country not the usual Hollywood portrayal of Africa which leads my cousins abroad to seriously assume I ride a zebra to work…
High-res
Malema appeal to continue
Suspended ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema’s appeal hearing was scheduled to continue at the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The start of the hearing on Monday was marked by an information blackout, with party spokespeople saying they had been instructed not to comment.
“The media have been kept out and we don’t know anything about it. The media might receive information once the hearing is completed,” spokesperson Keith Khoza said on Monday.
Pic Taken with instagram
