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Fireman wins wrongful dismissal case

A former Limpopo fire chief has won a lengthy court battle against his dismissal, according to a report on Tuesday (07/02/2012).

Public Protector’s son crashes her car

The son of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela crashed her state vehicle in Pretoria, her office said on Thursday (02/02/2012).

Public submissions end, Tau responds

Tau: this debate has raised the need to safeguard South African's right to access information valuable to them, the role of the media and simplification of the bill. These are issues we need to consider when we take this bill forward.

Bill will stop 'opposition agents' from whistleblowing

Sidima Kwinana says government is not stupid & would not come up with a bill that would hurt its people. He says government is constantly sabotaged by opposition party agents who work in government & whistleblow to the media. This bill would put a stop to that.

White journos sent to sabotage SA - ANC member

ANC member Majola attacks media, saying white journalists particularly were sent to sabotage South Africa.

Media must get info 'correct way'

ANC councillor Lawrence Troon: "Why is the media allowed to access information in a corrupt way? Some journalists even pay for information. This bill says they can write about government but they must get their information the correct way."

Bill is 'about ANC infighting'

Speaker from Unemployed People's Movement in Grahamstown says this bill is about ANC infighting and not South Africa.

'One day the government will be blue!'

Lulu Johnson says DA must stop renting a crowd of black people and passing them off as real suppoters..woman behind me in a DA T-shirt shouts..'one day government will be blue!'

Freedom must be limited, says ANC MP

Lulu Johnson ANC MP: 'When I asked Khusta Jack if he read the bill he told me he hadn't...I believe that we can't have freedom where one does whatever they want. Freedom has to have certain limitations."

Talk of national threat may lead to scapegoating - Jack

Khusta Jack: "Keeping state secrets is fine. But I am concerned that all these threats of possible national dangers are tatamount to creating scapegoats."

Bill is 'defence against sabotage'

Gift Ngqondi: "South Africans please go read the Bill immediately. Don't be swayed by the media, this bill will protect South Africans against acts of sabotage."

Tau says bill does not seek to hide corruption

Tau reads classification section in the bill, arguing that the bill does not seek to hide corruption and incompetence but to protect national security.

People now flocking to the hearings

By the way Nangoza Jebe hall in New Brighton is quickly filling up!

Do you want us to go back to De Klerk?

MaMphepho from Grahamstown: "This bill is burying us alive. You have never told us about this bill. We are not stupid, we are senior citizens even if we don't have money. Don't treat us like fools, you are giving tenders to your friends and our children go hungry and you want to hide that corruption with this bill... Do you want us to go back to De Klerk?

Whose interests do the media serve?

Thembinkosi Majikela: 'Who's interests does the media serve? Who is controlling the media? They do not publish news that develop our country'.

We would rather be protected against corruption

Public lists government's shortfalls and says they would rather get a bill that protects citizens against corruption.

'We would rather you create jobs and build houses'

Mkhululi Kobe: "Chair you say this bill is to protect us.. was there an outcry from South Africans to be protected, did we say we feel unsafe in this country... we appreciate that you are proactive but we would rather you be proactive in creating jobs and building us houses."

Bill could stop media unearthing corruption

Andrew Whitfield: 'The current law enabled us to get information on the Kabuso report, therefore while I'm not against the bill I am asking for public interest defence clause to be included. "

Why do we need this Bill?

First question..'Why do we need info bill now..why waste money on this bill instead of houses education etc... Moki Cekisani of Walmer ' He also strongly criticised media for being unAfrican.

Chairman is Johannes Tau of NCOP

By the way the chair is Johannes Tau of NCOP

Media must apply for info to be declassifed, wait 14 days

Chair says if journalists want to report on classified information, they can apply to goverment to declassify it and the State security minister has 14 days to respond.

Chairman claims bill is not about secrecy, but protection

Chair kicks off explaining this bill is not a secrecy bill as widely reported but the Protection of State Information bill and is not like the apartheid's protection of Information bill of 1982. He says it is designed to protect South Africans.

Hearings underway

Secrecy Bill public hearings in PE finally get underway

Audience told to wait, because of delays

We've just been informed that we need to wait a little longer for more people who were delayed. We're told their transport is on the way.

Livestock and climate change

THE solution to climate change could be right there before us - on the dinner table. Following on an initial study by the UN, the UK-based World Preservation Foundation has found that steep cuts in livestock production (driven by reduced demand for meat and dairy from us consumers) could slash by a third methane, black carbon and tropospheric ozone.

More water bottles than people so far at Nangoza Jebe.

People start to trickle into Nangoza Jebe Hall, police present

People start to trickle into Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton. The good news is there are about a dozen cops with sniffer dogs here...but they just asked me what's happening at the venue..they were never briefed, they say.

Secrecy bill hearings wet, slow to begin

It's 8:50am, at a very wet New Brighton in Port Elizabeth. I'm at Nangoza Jebe hall where MPs from the National Council of Provinces are to hear what Nelson Mandela Bay has to say about the secrecy bill and so far.. besides myself, about 10 DA members clad in blue Tshirts...the hall is empty. The hearings are meant to start at 9am ...and we wait...

Girl, 15, raped in ECape hospital

A TEENAGE patient was allegedly raped yesterday morning at Queenstown’s Frontier Hospital by a man posing as a paramedic.

ANC councillors killed in crash

THREE ANC councillors died instantly and others were seriously injured when the minibus taxi they were travelling in overturned on the R72 road in Alexandria at the weekend.

Sports Minister in sex scandal

Married Minister of Sport Fikile Mbalula - who last night celebrated his 40th birthday with a lavish party in Pretoria - is embroiled in a nasty spat with a former lover.

New broom to sweep Bay metro clean

ALL eyes will be on Nelson Mandela Bay’s new acting municipal manager, Themba Hani, who, over the next three months, is expected to rid the city’s administration of undue political influence - something his predecessor, Elias Ntoba, failed to do.

Kabuso report: Why heads should roll

HERALD reporter Brian Hayward explains in a nutshell the most controversial issues exposed in the 175-page forensic report.

Secrets brought to light from letters

TWO projects singled out by Local Government MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane when he finally made public the Kabuso report yesterday are laid bare in secret letters to political bigwigs and confidential special investigations attached in the report’s annexures.

MEC vows to 'clean up the rot'

AFTER a turbulent fortnight in Nelson Mandela Bay politics, mayor Zanoxolo Wayile and his boss, Local Goverment MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane, came out guns blazing yesterday, vowing to clean up the rot which has pushed the city’s administration to the brink of collapse.

Another attack at festering Arlington

ANOTHER knife attack has occurred at Arlington Waste Disposal Site. The attack, which took place on Saturday afternoon, comes amid calls by the DA for an investigation into the chaotic state of the site and questionable swopping of contractors.

Schoenies otter takes fishing lessons

IT’S one of the iconic wild animals of the metro’s open spaces, but it’s not often seen - certainly not clambering onto the rocks right under your feet. But that was the experience of fishing buddies Gavin Curtis and Stuart Duckenfield who were trying their luck with light tackle and pilchards at Schoenies yesterday (August 10 2011).

Cause and effect of climate change explained

SO HOW to communicate the complexity and magnitude of climate change to youngsters from a little school in Zwide? The kids, in grades six and seven at Mzimhlophe Primary School, were given the answer to this question during their visit to the SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre (Samrec) yesterday (August 03 2011).

R1.5-million farming venture will fit Eastern Cape to a tea

THE Eastern Cape government has set aside R1.5-million to kick-start an expanded honeybush tea industry that could be ramped up to produce a turnover of R100-million a year and hundreds of new jobs. The good news follows on the results that have emerged from a study of the honeybush industry, commissioned by the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) on behalf of the provincial economic development and environmental affairs department.

Snowed-in guards airlifted to safety

NINETEEN stock-theft guards stationed on the top of the Drakensberg have been plucked to safety as heavy snow presses in on their lonely outposts. The guards are housed alone or in pairs in 10 shipping containers, at key points along the Lesotho border with the north-eastern Eastern Cape, in the Rhodes area.

Algoa Bay the best monitored in all of Africa

ALGOA Bay is now “the best monitored bay in Africa” with millions of rands worth of equipment installed below the surface measuring a wide range of environmental conditions. That was the proud revelation yesterday (July 28 2011) from SA Environmental Observation Network (Saeon) co-ordinator Shaun Deyzel, who was speaking at a marine science symposium hosted by SA National Parks, at the Addo Elephant National Parks.

Mantis in new Nigeria deal

PORT Elizabeth based tourism group Mantis Collection has announced a bold expansion into West Africa with a landmark, multi-million US dollar deal signed in PE yesterday (July 25 2011) to roll out a sumptuous suite of boutique hotels in Nigeria. Mantis founder Adrian Gardiner signed the deal at Shamwari Townhouse in Summerstrand with highly respected Nigerian businessman Nze Chidi Duru, who is the chairman of Abuja-based Grand Towers Plc. The Nigerian company has interests in the pension, banking, retail, communications, IT and hospitality sectors.

Surf event sets greening benchmark

BILLABONG Pro J-Bay is setting a benchmark for international surfing contests with a comprehensive programme to protect the local environment and combat global climate change.

Karoo farmers take their fracking probe to Jo'burg oil summit

A SMALL Karoo farmers’ association is so concerned about fracking, and damning new evidence out of the US, it is funding the R10000 bill demanded for a four-day oil and gas conference in Johannesburg, to allow one of its members to attend.

Swell job for man with decades of experience

WITH the small waves prevailing yesterday (Sunday July 17 2011) for the Billabong Pro J-Bay, all surfing mojos are focused on the second week of the contest and the swell that, it is hoped, will still set things on fire. The man with un-paralleled expertise in this department is contest director Eric Stedman, 54, who has been scanning synoptic charts, fiddling with barometers and assessing wind direction since he was a grommit back in East London in the 1960s. It also helps that he began surfing Jeffreys Bay 43 years ago.

New official whale watching operator launch in the bay

ALGOA Bay’s first boat-based boat-based whale-watching operation in a decade has been officially launched - and already some exciting sightings are being reported. Lloyd Edwards of Raggy Charters, the company awarded the boat-based whale watching (BBWW) license for Algoa Bay, said yesterday (July 14 2011) he spotted the cow and calf pair of southern right whales off Algorax earlier this week.

Super surf contest starts at J-Bay

THE latest edition of one of the great global surfing contests, built around an iconic right-hand point break, was launched in Jeffreys Bay last night (Wednesday July 14 2011).

Unique source of Bay water

HOW many cities in the world can say they get their water from a World Heritage Site? Very few, I bet. Yet, that’s the case with Port Elizabeth and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and in fact the Gamtoos River Valley vege farmers.

Bayworld raggies returned to the ocean

THE biggest baddest pair from Bayworld’s de-commissioned aquarium, two bulky raggedtooth sharks, were released yesterday (July 26 2011) back into the sea. It was a sad day for the oceanarium, where they have lived for nearly two decades, inspiring awe in hundreds of thousands of visitors - but it is good news for the species, as the pair are now part of a research project aimed at securing our waters as one of the few safe havens in the world for raggies.

Dairy farm could close soon

BUSHY Park Dairy Farm, a flagship “proudly Port Elizabeth” business and a much-loved feature of the metro for the past 20 years, is facing closure. The shock news was confirmed yesterday (June 21 2011) by managing trustee Puffer Hartzenberg, who was responding to unconfirmed reports about the matter.

Unique study of great whites

A UNIQUE study into the abundance, distribution and movement of great white sharks in Algoa Bay, sponsored by the metro, has been launched. There has never been a fatal shark attack in Algoa Bay, but the metro has committed the R800000 grant as a pro-active step, taken in line with their marketing of Port Elizabeth as “the watersports’ capital of Africa”, researcher Dr Matt Dicken explained yesterday (June 21 2011).

Refurbished Skead book published

A NEW book aimed at celebrating our natural heritage and guiding sound future conservation policy has been published in Port Elizabeth. Historical Incidence of the Larger Land Mammals in the Broader Western and Northern Cape (including the Eastern Cape as far east as Sundays River) is a complete re-furbishment - with summaries, maps, illustrations and two new chapters - of the original work of the same name by legendary naturalist Dr Jack Skead, who died in 2006.

Co-op sponsors two farmers on US mission

TWO Karoo farmers have flown out of PE on a ground-breaking mission to the US, to get the low-down on fracking, in the country where it all began.

Link Refit to electric cars proposal

IF WE CAN link Refit with electrical motorcars - then we could really be onto something. Speaking to The Herald yesterday (June 14 2011), department of environmental affairs deputy-director general for climate change, Peter Lukey, said the scheduled launch this month of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (Refit), will likely lead to significant positive change.

Exciting reforestation project underway in Transkei

AN UNUSUAL re-forestation and carbon sequestration project is underway in the heart of the old Transkei, where savage erosion is a common feature. The R7600000 project is being run as a partnership between the Congress of Traditional Leaders’ of South Africa (Contralesa), the national department of environmental affairs and a Johannesburg-based company called Carbon Worx.

EC investment boost to counter climate change

EASTERN Cape economic environment MEC Mcebisi Jonas yesterday announced significant new green economy investment to boost green economy skills in the province.

Branch recalls fascinating career

FOR world-renowned reptile and amphibian expert Dr Bill Branch, who retired this week from Bayworld after 32 years employment there - it all began in 1969, on the shores of a lake in East Africa.

Green electricity programme set to launch this month

GOVERNMENT will this month launch the long-awaited Refit programme that will make funding available to pay private energy entrepreneurs who will generate their own green electricity and sell it to the grid.

EC leads climate change battle

THE Eastern Cape government has declared its intention to lead from the front in the war against climate change, with a landmark multi-benefit project agreement signed at the Eastern Cape Climate Change Conference in East London yesterday (June 08 2011).

Climate change conference

EVERYONE change - a milestone Eastern Cape climate change conference, featuring senior political leaders and climate change experts, is set to start in East London today (Wednesday May 8). The Eastern Cape Climate Change Conference will focus on the strategy document that has been prepared by local role-players, and will look towards the UN’s Cop17 summit, the international climate change indaba in Durban in December

Motherwell eco-schools big recipients

TWO Motherwell “eco-schools” were the recipients this week of tens of thousands of rands worth of equipment and furniture to help them learn better. The 26 maths and reading software packages, 100 desks and 200 chairs were donated by ABB after the power and automation giant participated last year in a Wessa eco-schools’ workshop in PE.

Pollution plume off the beachfront raises concerns

A STRANGE-looking plume of discoloured water has been appearing sporadically in the bay between Shark Rock Pier and Humewood Beach, resulting in a number of calls from concerned residents, Following an initial report on May 20 by Humewood resident Elize Pretorius, and then disappearing for several days, it reappeared again this week, prompting further calls.

Put the environment on agenda of new councils

Concerns over Ngqura oil leak 'unfounded'

CONCERNS have been raised that the oil and gas exploration rig in Port of Ngqura could be leaking oil into the bay. Both the Norwegian company that owns the ultra-deepwater drilling rig and the harbour authorities have rejected as unfounded the concerns raised by environmental group Ocean Messengers.

Ball of fire not the beginning of the end.

Was it a bird? Was it a plane? Was it a comet hurtling to Earth in delayed fulfillment of Harold Campling’s doomsday prophesy? Well, no. In fact, it was the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle Endeavour, catching the last rays of the setting sun.

Ngqura a fish magnet

THE Port of Ngqura has become an extraordinary magnet for marine life, and could point the way to an important new role for harbours, according to Bayworld marine biologist and shark specialist Dr Matt Dicken.

Stately emperor pays family a flying visit

THERE are moths and there are moths - and then there is the pine tree emperor, one of the giants of the insect world. Gorgeous yellow in colour and “easily the size of a man’s hand”, one of these moths swooped into a Seaview home the other night.

Endangered forest clearing probed

A SWATHE of critically endangered forest and new generation legislation formulated to combat climate change are at the centre of a confrontation in Deer Park. The forestry department has slammed as “reckless and malicious” the clearing of the area, which is over 100m long by on average 4m wide.

Male in search of good life turns up at beachfront

HE WAS a prickly customer - but in the end he came quietly. It was Patrick Mange, the cleaner and gardener at beachfront flatblock Bandle, next to the Beach Hotel, who found him.

EC operators performs strongly at Indaba

THE Eastern Cape has fared well at the Indaba tourism conference and expo in Durban, taking gold in two different categories in the main Welcome awards and only just falling short in the Eteya emerging tourism operators’ awards. The Welcome Awards winners are both from PE and are both family-owned businesses: the Plantation, the wedding, functions’ and accommodation venue on the Sardinia Bay road, and Economic Cars and Bakkies, the 20-year-old Walmer-based car rental firm.

NMMU microscope a global break-through

NMMU has been catapulted into the forefront of nanoscience research with the arrival of a state-of-the-art custom-built microscope from Japan. The high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) is the first of its kind that has been sold commercially outside of Japan and the last of a suite of four electron microscopes, costing a total R90-million, that have arrived in the past week from Tokyo manufacturer JEOL and a second manufacturer in The Netherlands.

'Port guards like the Stasi'

FOREIGN tourists yesterday compared guards at the Port Elizabeth Harbour to the dreaded Stazi security police of East Germany, following an incident in which their driver was manhandled, forcibly detained and then bundled off to Humewood Police Station. The incident happened yesterday morning as the tourists, a group of five Russians and a Belgian, were about to enter the harbour at its southern entrance, headed for a day diving excursion in Algoa Bay with local dive company Expert-Tours.

How to rejuvenate Baakens River Valley

I WAS chatting to permaculture activist and leading member of Transition Network PE Naomi Suzane the other day, and she came with a great idea of how to secure, rejuvenate and celebrate the Baakens Valley. We kicked her idea around, and this is how it turned out.

Dad's call following son's death

SIMON Swart started drugging in his early teens and he had been through 15 rehabilitation centres before he died, alone in his room in a backpacker lodge in Central, a fortnight ago. But there was much more to this young man.

Nuclear moratorium call

THE concern group challenging the Thyspunt nuclear reactor has called on government to place a moratorium on all nuclear development in South Africa until the full extent of the Fukushima disaster is known. The call by the Thyspunt Alliance - a broad coalition of residential, cultural, environmental, tourism, fisheries, business and surfing interests in the Oyster Bay, St Francis, Humansdorp and Jeffrey’s Bay area - co-incides with the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, the historic nuclear melt-down in Ukraine.

Major show jumping event scheduled for PE

PORT Elizabeth has been named as a host city for a world show-jumping championship qualifier event, sparking great excitement in the show-jumping fraternity, and the promise of an energising mid-Winter injection of tourist revenue. The event will be attracting the country’s top jumpers, so it is being celebrated in horsey circles - but it is much more than that, event co-ordinator Tanya Radke said yesterday.

Oceanarium seals readied for departure

HOW do you transport eight seals to Pretoria? That’s the preoccupation right now of Bayworld’s oceanarium team, as the relocation of their animals moves ahead.

Chumming fines co-incide with issuing of whale permit

NELSON Mandela Bay Municipality has issued four fines to marine tourism operator Lloyd Edwards related to the controversial chumming incident off Humewood Beach last month. The issuing of the fines at the Port Elizabeth beach office on Friday co-incides with the issuing this week of the long-awaited boat-based whale watching (BBWW) license for Algoa Bay - to Edwards.

Farewell (for now) to Bayworld oceanarium

BAYWORLD’S oceanarium is set to close at the end of this month to prepare for the de-commissioning of the 43-year-old dolphin pool and the transfer of 24 penguins and nine seals to Pretoria Zoo. It’s all part of “operation stop the bleed” in which Port Elizabeth’s much loved museum and oceanarium complex has had to make some tough decisions in order to deliver, hopefully, long-term bounty.

Get out the Karoo, farmers tell Shell

ANGRY residents of the Middleburg area have called for Shell to “get out the Karoo” after the company failed to guarantee the security of their water if fracking goes ahead. Addressing Shell representatives at a hall in Middelburg’s Grootfontein Agricultural College in a hall packed with farmers in T-shirts saying “Don’t Frack with our Karoo,” members of the audience asked repeatedly if the multi-national could “guarantee no risk to our water”.

Radio activity comtamination concern surfaces around fracking plan

KAROO anti-frackers are calling for the authorities to take note of the latest findings in America that fracking could be contaminating drinking water supplies with radio activity. The findings stem from an investigation by the New York Times and were reported in that newspaper on Friday. The findings include that waste water produced by fracking wells often absorbs radio activity from naturally occurring minerals underground like uranium.

Nieu Bethesda farmers count flood costs

IT COULD take some farmers in Nieu Bethesda a decade to get back to where they were before the flood that hit them Saturday. That’s the word from the mountainous catchment area north of Graaff-Reinet, where well over 100mm of rain fell in 24 hours, flooding the Gats River and all its tributaries, flattening stock fences, stripping roads to bedrock and bursting farm dams.