Posts tagged with 'government'

 

Calls for Death to Americans at US Embassy in South Africa – SACP chant ‘One American, one bullet’ outside US embassy in Pretoria

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A threat of “one bullet, one American” was chanted outside the US embassy in Pretoria on Thursday, where hundreds of protesters gathered to protest against the US foreign policy in the Middle East.

“The Americans are the biggest terrorists in the world. They are responsible for terrorism in Cuba, Venezuela and many other countries in South America. Now they have decided the Middle East is their base. Our message is that there is no home for you, otherwise you will go home in chests. Soon you will hear the slogan ‘one bullet, one American’, “said Shuaib Booley, chairman of the Ahlul Bayt Islamic Council of South Africa, with loud cheers from the crowd.

Booley led the crowd in cries of “Allahu akbar” (God is great) while embassy workers watched the demonstration from a distance. Officials later stopped Booley before he could enter the building as part of a delegation that would hand over a memorandum.

Al
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Bankrupt power supplier is struggling to maintain electricity grid and diesel generator units are used to prevent #rollingblackouts

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Eskom has now gone so far as to use its emergency reserves in an effort to evade load shedding.

The diesel generator units have been used to prevent the burning of candles, but the diesel fuel bill is already more than 50% over the entity’s allowable diesel consumption according to its budget.

Workers claim they worked hard on Wednesday night to pump water so the entity on Thursday could avoid shedding.

Observers believe these are probably the first signs of a new breeze blowing through Eskom, as no one has taken much responsibility to date on whether to light the candles and when it’s going to change.

Last year’s load shedding cost Amcor about R740m, directly affecting the net profit to be shown at the end of a financial year.

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ANC regime has driven SA into bankruptcy over a 25-year period

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The extremely dire situation in which South Africa finds itself has raised the question of whether it is not yet time to make a survey of everything that has been destroyed in 25 years.

A political analyst points out that the first red light came on when municipalities across the country, all of which had cash stashed  up over years, suddenly turned red in the face of bankers.

Today, there is probably not one municipality that is either totally bankrupt, or hesitates on the brink of bankruptcy.

The debt burden of billions of rand in municipal structures is one of the surest ways that South Africa will look just like Zimbabwe in the foreseeable future – tar roads become dust roads, light fires sometimes, and businesses close their doors, one sooner than the other.

The government is in the same position – the latest shock is that the government has failed to raise R2bn so that the bankrupt SAA can resume its flights.

SAA
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Why do people vote for same leaders who don’t deliver services?

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Service delivery protests in South Africa are continuing as different municipalities fail to deliver their mandate of providing basic services to their communities.

The Maluti-A-Phofung municipality in Free State has not supplied water to Qwaqwa since last year December and tensions flared up when a young girl drowned while trying to collect water from a nearby river.

Communities such as as the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality in the Chris Hani District of the Eastern Cape have also experienced a billing crisis which has not been solved in years.

With all these service delivery problems, Bongani Bingwa questions why many people in these communities continue to vote for the same leaders that do not deliver services.

He chats to North-West University public policy lecturer and Thabo Mbeki School of Leadership visiting lecturer TK Pooe to unpack this matter.

I always say this, in public policy ours is not to tell people who to vote fo
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Eskom cannot deliver sufficient and sustainable power, ANC regime now approves alternative options

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The ANC regime has finally realized that Eskom is unable to provide sufficient, and sustainable, electricity to consumers.

The news that the government has agreed that municipalities may start their own power supply is a complete turnaround in policy and is also contrary to the AMC-SACP alliance’s communist approach to control everything for everyone.

There are suspicions that several larger municipalities will do their homework, but informed sources believe the new step could lead to greater corruption and poor service delivery since no municipality has the skills to set up and operate its own power plant.

 

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R11m from SA Lottery goes to cousin of National Lotteries Commission boss

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The National Lotteries Commission has given more than R11m to a non-profit organisation (NPO) called I Am Made for God’s Glory, which has in turn paid R2m to a private company of which the sole director is the cousin of the chief operating officer of the National Lotteries Commission.

According to leaked bank statements, R2m was paid to Upbrand Properties by I Am Made For God’s Glory (IAM4GG), which received a R11 375 000 grant from the Lottery to develop an “integrated sports facility” in Limpopo.

The sole director of Upbrand is Kenneth Tomoletso Sithole, first cousin of NLC chief operating officer Phillemon Letwaba.

GroundUp has previously revealed how Upbrand received a R15m contract to build a rehabilitation centre near Pretoria at a time when Letwaba’s brother, Johannes “Joe” Letwaba, was a director of the company. Johannes Letwaba subsequently resigned, leaving Keneilwe Constance Maboa, the wife of Karabo Sithole, another fi
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Cash-strapped SAA cancels 38 domestic and international flights

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SAA has confirmed its cancellation of 38 domestic and international flights between OR Tambo International Airport and Cape Town, as well as between Johannesburg and Durban’s King Shaka airports.

In a statement, the airline said: “These decisions are in line with SAA’s usual policy of reviewing flights and consolidating services with low demand. Furthermore, during the current process of business rescue, these cancellations represent a responsible strategy to conserve cash and optimise the airline’s position ahead of any further capital investment.”

The airline said it would be reviewing further schedule amendments over the coming days and would communicate any operational changes to its customers.

Those who have already booked the cancelled flights will be re-accommodated on alternative services including Mango.

Below is a list of all the cancelled flights:

The following domestic flights operated by SAA have been cancell
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Alexkor, SA state-owned diamond company is on life support

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South Africa’s state-owned diamond mining enterprise Alexkor is desperately in need of cash to pay expenses, but does the struggling entity deserve more funding?

Its marine-based concessions stretch from Alexander Bay to Port Nolloth, while its land-based concessions span the equivalent of 865km2. It mines the latter through its Pooling and Sharing Joint Venture (PSJV) with the Richtersveld community.

Despite carat sales having increased from 41 941 units to 70 061 in the year to end-March 2019, diamond sales only amounted to R209.9 million (2018: R208.7 million). Cost of sales was R152.9 million (2018: R126.8 million).

The reasons given for this poor performance: an oversupply of diamonds in the market, as well as the quality and size of the diamonds produced.

Land and shallow water diamonds achieved an average of $456.77 per carat (2018: $718.86), while diamonds from its deep water mining concession achieved an average price of $305.6
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SAA director resigns from his post amid crisis at state entity

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SAA director Martin Kingston resigned from his post, and the move was welcomed by the communist-minded Numsa union as well as the trade union Sacca.

The two unions also said the rest of SAA directors should follow Kingston’s example and submit their resignations.

Kingston’s resignation comes after Bloomberg said in his report there is no reason why the director should be on the board.

Kingston apparently decided to resign when the company was placed under rescue because of the extremely poor results being delivered.

The shipping company is still waiting for Treasury to pay the promised R2bn earmarked to keep SAA afloat and is the second part of the R4bn initially promised to the shipping company by the government.

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