The ANC’s Jessie Duarte has torn into the DA-run Western Cape and City of Cape Town, expressing her disgust at how she says “apartheid has seeped back, very quietly and comfortably, into the province”.
“What apartheid left, the DA has just taken forward… we must admit as a nation that this is an apartheid-run province…” Duarte, the ANC’s deputy secretary-general, said during a visit to Bonteheuwel on Friday.
In recent weeks, the ANC has wheeled out the big guns, including President Jacob Zuma, in its struggle to take control of the Western Cape in next year’s elections. And after her visit which also included stops last week in the southern Cape and West Coast, Duarte scored the Western Cape government a zero for service delivery to the poor.
“I’ve been to Fish Hoek, where the DA made promises they did not keep. The people do not have water there, there’s an open drain running through the area, but there’s more concern about the wetlands than there is concern for the people,” Duarte said.
She accused the provincial government of “really not doing anything here for black people; let me be blunt, because I’ve not seen white people in this city live in these conditions.
“What Helen Zille is telling us is that there’s two South Africas, one is hers for rich people, and they could also include rich black people, but not for the poor,” Duarte said. -Weekend Argus
Two people were arrested for running a “black dollar scam” in Cape Town on Tuesday, said police.
A man complained to the police that he gave three Congolese men a large number of bank notes, believing they would convert them to dollars and multiply them, said Captain Frederick Van Wyk.
However, he was left with pieces of paper dyed black while they took his money, supposedly to buy the chemicals needed to wash the new “money”, which they claimed had been dyed to avoid detection by customs officials.
Police found two men in Maitland in possession of blank pieces of paper used to trick people into participating in the scam, said Van Wyk.
The men, aged 28 and 41, were arrested and would appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday on fraud charges. The third man was still at large. – Sapa
A proposed wind farm has been given the green light by Western Cape environmental authorities, the Cape Times reported on Thursday.
The environmental affairs and development planning department reportedly said the farm near Wolseley would not be in conflict with environmental legislation.
SAGIT Energy Ventures director Mich Nieuwoudt told the newspaper the next step was to have his bid selected by the national energy department in the next round of renewable energy bids in August.
The 90MW farm of 30 turbines was proposed for the Breede River Valley between Wolseley and Worcester.
According to the report, it would be capable of supplying enough electricity for 70 percent of the Witzenberg Municipality’s population, once completed.
This equated to around 63,000 people when running at peak. The power would be fed into the national grid.
The province reportedly got most of its electricity from Mpumalanga, about 1600km away, and a significant amount was lost in transmission. – Sapa
No arrests have been made for the murder of a Western Cape teenager who died in hospital a day after she found raped, The Cape Times reported on Friday.
Captain Frederick van Wyk told the newspaper Anne-Marie Beukes, 19, of Swellendam went to a shebeen last Friday and was found drunk and covered with a blanket the next morning.
“Due to her condition, she was not able to provide a statement to police,” he was quoted as saying.
She died on Sunday. A post-mortem reportedly showed that she had been raped.
In February, the nation was outraged when Anene Booysen, 17, was raped, disembowelled and left for dead in Bredasdorp.
She managed to identify her attackers before she died in hospital.
Two men have appeared in court in connection with the crimes. -Sapa
Western Cape farmworkers will suspend their protests over wages and living conditions for two weeks, Acting Labour Minister Angie Motshekga said on Wednesday.
She said the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) had consulted workers and it was agreed they would return to work on Thursday and desist from violence and vandalism.
The suspension was on condition that the sectoral determination for agriculture be looked at by the Employment Condition Commission next Wednesday.
This meant the R70 a day minimum wage for farmworkers would be cancelled and renegotiated.
Motshekga was addressing reporters in Cape Town, on behalf of Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant, who was out of the country.
Grape harvesters in the Hex River Valley have been protesting for more than a week about their wages, demanding R150 a day.
Most earn between R69 and R75 a day, with R80 being the highest and only offer from farmers so far.
Sixteen towns in the province have been affected by the protest action, including blocked roads and burning tyres.
Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson described the labour action as a service delivery strike, and said workers in De Doorns, for instance, wanted housing and basic services.
She condemned those who said the matter was purely political.
“This is not a political matter. This an initiative of workers themselves. This is indeed a service delivery strike.”
Agri SA said on Wednesday said it was definitely a political matter.
“This is the worst violence that we have ever experienced… For sure it is forces from the outside. It is political,” Agri SA Western Cape president Cornie Swart said.
“People are being driven in by buses and taxis. It’s not a strike. It’s a total, political, blown-up thing.”
The labour department expressed condolences to the family of a farmworker killed in Wolseley on Wednesday morning and called for an end to violence by workers and victimisation by farmers.
Western Cape police confirmed that a man had been killed as a result of police action and five other people injured during protests in Wolseley.
Lt-Col Andre Traut said the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) would investigate.
Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini said an investigator was on his way to the scene where the protester was shot to get more details.
“I can confirm that one person was killed. However, we only have a report that three were injured. An investigator is on his way to gather more details.”
Joemat-Pettersson said her state security and police counterparts, Siyabonga Cwele and Nathi Mthethwa, would “engage further in the matter”.
“To give information now [on the death] would be very clumsy and irresponsible,” she said.
The SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) said two photographers were injured while covering protests during the day.
“This morning [Wednesday] Mandla Mnyakama, a photographer from the Daily Sun, was allegedly shot in the back with a rubber bullet by police whilst covering unrest near Robertson in the Western Cape,” Sanef chairman Mondli Makhanya said.
He said Mnyakama was hurt, but that his primary concern was the “treatment” he received from the police.
Die Burger photographer Lulama Zenzile was hurt in the same protest, while standing 20 yards (about 18 metres) from the police.
“He was taken to a clinic, and after X-rays confirmed his nose was not broken, he was discharged,” Makhanya said.
Sanef was still waiting for a response from the police.
A notice indicating the intent to call all interested parties to comment on the sectoral determination will be published by next Friday.
Joemat-Pettersson said the sectoral determination could only be revised once a year.
A revision would affect all farmworkers across the country, regardless of produce.
Trade and industry minister Rob Davies, fresh from a visit to Brazil on wine-related matters, said the government needed to look into the ethical trading of wine.
“I’m not surprised there’s been an explosion of this sort,” he said.
“I think there’s a link between the conditions of farmworkers, the degree to which they are seen to benefit from the fruits of the industry and the ability to market this product internationally.”
He would re-visit proposals to carry “ethical trading” stickers on wine bottles from farms with fair labour practices. – Sapa
Western Cape premier Helen Zille warned on Wednesday that the province was “heading towards anarchy” as farmworker protests continued.
The Democratic Alliance leader said in statement she had sent ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman an SMS detailing her concerns.
The SMS read: “We are heading towards anarchy. 1000s of jobs will be lost and an industry potentially destroyed.
“I am receiving horrific reports of farmworker intimidation. [Labour Minister Mildred] Oliphant must be recalled from abroad and begin negotiations on the national minimum wage with all stakeholders.
“It is essential that we remove politics from this matter and stabilise the situation. That is the call you must make. I am extremely worried that lives are in danger and that people will retaliate.”
Zille said later in a statement that Fransman had to distance himself from alleged incitement in the province by the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu).
Last Wednesday, Cosatu Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said talks about the protest had to find a way for workers to get decent wages.
“The ill treatment and under-payment of workers by some farmers must stop, otherwise we will see a Marikana in De Doorns,” he said.
Freedom Front Plus spokesman Pieter Groenewald said on Tuesday the party would ask the SA Human Rights Commission to investigate the “correctness” of statements attributed to Ehrenreich.
According to Groenewald, Ehrenreich allegedly told farmers: “There is already blood on the farmworkers, and unless it stops there will be blood on the farmers of these farms.”
On Tuesday Zille said she asked President Jacob Zuma to intervene in the De Doorns farmworkers’ wage dispute, and had called for the defence force to get involved.
Farmworkers continued protests in the Western Cape and burned tyres on Wednesday morning while police fired rubber bullets to disperse a crowd.
Police spokeswoman Constable Lybey Swartz could not confirm this, saying no reports had reached the Western Cape media centre.
Farmworkers in the area started protesting last week in demand of R150-a- day wage and better working conditions.
Last Thursday, Zille was heckled by supporters of expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema while visiting the area.
She had to be escorted away by police when her entourage was pelted with stones by the striking farmworkers.
Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson was expected to meet Zuma on Wednesday to obtain his support for higher wages for farmworkers. – Sapa
SOUTH AFRICA TODAY: Farms in the Western Cape region are being burned, shops in small towns ransacked, people assaulted and intimidated. At least two people have been shot. Reports that a white farmer had been dragged from his vehicle and murdered.
This is total chaos; yet the ANC government and its trade union partner Cosatu are ENCOURAGING the carnage! Very few reports go out on the mainstream media, indicating a media black-out. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are our only means of information and action.
Make no mistake – this is a xenophobic attack aimed at white people. This had been going on for years now with thousands of Afrikaners/Boers murdered and attacked; yet there is no outcry from the world.
WE URGE you – please use your status in your country’s Parliament to make this known to the world; to impose sanctions against the black racist government of South Africa until they stop the madness.
We are not going to sit back and follow the route of Zimbabwe where all whites were bankrupted, murdered and forced to flee. We are 4,5 million – and as God is my witness – this madness has all the elements of turning into a full scale race war.
We need you and your country to stand up TODAY and stop the nonsense.
People living in the Western Cape are better off than those in most other provinces. Most live in brick houses, have access to running water, flushing toilets and a better education than the average citizen, according to census figures released on Tuesday. It’s also the province with the least Africans.
There are 5.8 million people living in the Western Cape, of whom 2.8 million are coloureds, 1.9 million are black African, 910 600 are white and 58 000 are Indian/Asian.
The Western Cape and Gauteng have been confirmed as the provinces that attract the most people (numbering in the millions) because of greater economic activity.
Seventy-one percent of people living in the Western Cape were born here, while 16 percent come from the Eastern Cape and the remainder from other provinces.
Census statistics showed that the flood of people from largely rural provinces to Gauteng and the Western Cape was unceasing, said Statistician General Pali Lehohla at the release of the figures on Tuesday.
The Western Cape population has grown by 29 percent, making it the fastest growing region, outpacing Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West, which grew collectively at 26 percent. The rest of the provinces grew at 6 percent.
People who live here are more than likely to be better off than in other provinces. For example, while the expanded unemployment rate rides at 40 percent nationally, it is only 29.3 percent in the Western Cape.
Census figures show people here and in Gauteng earn more money and have access to better services.
White people, however, earn six times more than black people and white people are more likely to be employed.
White households earn an average of R365 134, a year, while black households earn a meagre R60 613.
The average national income is R103 204 a year, while the annual average annual income in the Western Cape is R143 460.
There are 1 313 637 brick and mortar houses across the Western Cape and 320 363 informal and traditional houses.
An average family of three or four live in a four-roomed house, which they own, but are still paying off the bond.
There are 164 houses which boast 20 rooms. Stoves are high on the list of priorities with most households and 1.47 million people owning one.
More people own cellphones than fridges: 1.452 million households have at least one cellphone, but there are only 1.315 million fridges in the province.
More than 95 percent of children aged between seven and 14 go to school, but only 14.4 percent of adults in the province have post-school qualifications. This is, however, higher than the national average of 12.1 percent, but lower than Gauteng, where 18 percent of adults have tertiary qualifications. Only 7.5 percent of people in the Northern Cape have studied beyond matric.
White people have the highest level of education – 36.5 percent have tertiary qualifications while 39.5 percent have a matric certificate.
Census 2011 puts the country’s average age at 25, an indicator that South Africa continues to have a youthful population, even though it is ageing slowly. The average age according to the 1996 and 2001 census was 22 and 23, respectively.
In line with global trends, there were more women in the country than men. On average, there were 95 men to every 100 women.
Stats SA estimated a 14.6 percent undercount in the 2011 census. – IOL
South African liberal opposition leader laments few blacks in white-coloured majority province.
The Western Cape’s “tragic” history is to blame for its small black middle class, premier Helen Zille has reportedly told a skills colloquium.
According to The Cape Times, she said border wars and colonial administrations had played a part in keeping black people out the province.
“We have to face some hard facts. Black people and white people were not in the Western Cape over 300 years ago. As black people were migrating down the east coast, white people were arriving in ships down the west coast.”
“… And that means, by extension, we have a very limited skills base among black people in the Western Cape, and that we need to change urgently.”
Zille was speaking at a skills colloquium hosted by the Cape Chamber of Commerce in Cape Town. – Sapa
Six men were arrested in Parow in Cape Town on Thursday after a shootout with police.
Police spokesman Warrant Officer November Filander said a policeman was wounded, but was in a satisfactory condition in hospital.
Police were on patrol on Modderdam Road in Belhar when a white Ford Batam bakkie attracted their attention near the local cemetery. They approached the bakkie around 10am, and were checking its registration when it sped away. The vehicle was later found to have been stolen in Bellville.
At 10.30am the bakkie was spotted on Industria Ring Road in the Parow industrial area, after three of the men robbed a businessman of cash at gunpoint. A shootout ensued when police tried to pull the bakkie over. The men then jumped out of the bakkie and tried to run away. The six were arrested shortly afterwards with the public’s help. Three illegal firearms were recovered.
The men were expected to appear in the Parow Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
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