New Zealand earthquake damages infrastructure

04 September 2010

New Zealand authorities have imposed a state of emergency to coordinate recovery operations in the country’s second biggest city Christchurch after a major earthquake ripped through there early on Saturday morning.

No deaths have been reported but two men have been seriously injured.

The quake – which measured around seven on the Richter scale – crushed cars, damaged roads and wrecked buildings.

The country’s Director of Civil Defence John Hamilton said looters have added to the misery.

The tremors were felt from afar.

South African expatriate Clare Baxter lives in Greymont, around 200 kilometres away from Christchurch.

“I woke up from a dead sleep. I actually thought someone was attacking us. I thought someone was shaking my bed to try and wake me up. I started screaming and I just saw my bed moving. I started panicking and my husband had to calm me down and tell me that it was just a tremor,” she said.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

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Cosatu says strike is not losing momentum

04 September 2010

Cosatu in Gauteng said on Friday analysts who claimed the strike is slowing down are not basing their opinions based on facts.

The provincial branch hosted a motorcade protest on the M1 highway on Friday, as well as a gathering outside the Johannesburg Securities Exchange in Sandton.

Union leaders said their members are holding out for an 8.6 percent wage increase and a R1000 housing allowance and would not accept government’s offer of a 7.5 percent increase and an R800 housing subsidy.

The strike is now in its 16^th day but union numbers have dwindled at public protests, leading to speculation the mass action is losing momentum.

But Cosatu Gauteng chairperson Phutas Tseki said this is not the case.

“Currently the number of people that you see on the street may not reflect the vices of those members. It’s about the message that they have to give,” he said.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

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Can Cele stop SAPS rot?

04 September 2010

National Police Commissioner General Bheki Cele tells a story of extraordinary shenanigans in tender procedures and rampant outsourcing, which left the police virtually without internal capacity.
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World Cup baby boom expected

04 September 2010

A surge in unwanted babies may be an unwelcome result of the "gees" felt during the World Cup, which also may lead to an increase in premature babies found in black rubbish bags.
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Zuma: 'Alliance will be with us for a very long time'

04 September 2010

The African National Congress-led tripartite alliance was not collapsing, President Jacob Zuma said in Durban on Friday.
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Alliance not disintegrating - Zuma

04 September 2010

The ANC-led tripartite alliance is not collapsing, says President Jacob Zuma.
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No indecent pics of reed dancers allowed

04 September 2010

Nobody will be allowed to take "inappropriate" pictures at KwaZulu-Natal's annual reed dance, says the provincial arts and culture department.
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Fuel strike forces people to break law

04 September 2010

With the petrol pump attendants still on strike, many garage forecourts were swarming with customers trying to pump petrol into their cars.
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Why Zille axed Max

04 September 2010

Analysts agree that Western Cape MEC for community safety Lennit Max has only himself to blame after Helen Zille's cabinet reshuffle left him out in the dark.
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