Author: The Bulrushes
The City Of Joburg on Wednesday afternoon pulled the advert for a communication specialist job with an offer of half-a-million rand a month. Earlier on, The Bulrushes reported that the City was looking for a communication specialist on a fixed-term contract of R500 000 a month. The initial report prompted an angry response from the South African Municipal Workers Union. RELATED: https://www.thebulrushes.com/2022/04/06/half-a-million-rand-a-month-coj-communications-job-raises-eyebrows/ Although the City did not go on record, a COJ official told The Bulrushes that the monthly income mentioned was an error. The official said the R500 000 was in fact an “annual salary”. The advert has since been pulled.
The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), which is heading to the Labour Court to save the jobs of 130 City of Joburg (COJ) workers, is up in arms over the half-a-million rand salary being offered by the council for the fixed-term position of communication specialist. The appointment requirements for the cushy job include a matric certificate (NQF Level 4), plus a national diploma in communications/media studies, public relations, or any other function-related degree at NQF Level 6. Candidates for the position, which is “linked to political term of office”, must also have three to four years of relevant experience,…
To mark National Water Week under the theme “Groundwater – making the invisible, visible”, young developers from across the country were mobilised to find actionable solutions for improving the quality of water. South Africa celebrated Water Week from 21 – 27 March. Organisers of the Water Hackathon included Empire Partner Foundation (EPF) and its innovation ecosystem and the Water Institute of South Africa, The two-day Water Hackathon was organised to draw attention to the water quality issues in South African communities and find tech actionable and financially valid solutions for mitigating the problem. A competition was held during the Water…
Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs have been recalled in the UK over salmonella fears. The UK’s Food Standards Agency said the Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs were recalled on Monday due to a “potential link to a salmonella outbreak”. The Telegraph is reporting that “scores of children across Europe are suffering from food poisoning after being infected with salmonella linked to a batch of Kinder Surprise milk chocolate eggs in the run-up to Easter”. As many as 57 cases linked to the Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs have been diagnosed. Most of the cases relate to children aged five or under. Most people who get…
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on Monday announced fuel price hikes. He said the fuel prices for February 2022 will be adjusted as follows: ❖ Petrol (both 93 ULP and LRP): 28 cents per litre increase; ❖ Petrol (both 95 ULP and LRP): 36 cents per litre increase; ❖ Diesel (0.05% sulphur): 152.56 cents per litre increase; ❖ Diesel (0.005% sulphur): 168.56 cents per litre increase; ❖ Illuminating Paraffin (wholesale): 266.00 cents per litre increase ❖ SMNRP for IP: 355.00 cents per litre increase ❖ Maximum LPGas Retail Price: 250.00 cents per litre increase. Mantashe said the new prices…
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday announced the end of the National State of Disaster – imposed 750 days ago to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. During that period, the virus left more than 100 000 dead in its wake. “What this means is that all regulations and directions made in terms of the Disaster Management Act following the declaration of the national state of disaster in response to Covid-19 are repealed with effect from midnight tonight,” said Ramaphosa. The president, however, said there would be a few transitional measures that would automatically lapse after 30 days. “We will still be required…
Microsoft has added isiZulu to its Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services Translator, enabling text and documents to be translated to and from one of South Africa’s official languages. This development announced on Thursday is across the entire Microsoft ecosystem of products and services. isiZulu joins Swahili as the latest African language to be supported, and there are plans to add more of the continent’s most widely spoken languages. Integrations across Microsoft’s ecosystem include Microsoft 365 for translating text and documents, the Microsoft Edge browser and Bing search engine for translating whole webpages, SwiftKey for translating messages, LinkedIn for translating user-submitted content,…
A Pakistan national has been arrested at the Cape Town International Airport while trying to leave the country using a fraudulently acquired SA passport. The suspect, who was arrested Thursday night, had been on the radar of the Home Affairs Counter Corruption Branch for suspected fraudulent activities in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape. “The suspect fraudulently acquired a South African ID in Gauteng and a passport in KwaZulu-Natal,” said Siya Qoza, spokesperson for the Minister of Home Affairs. The Counter Corruption Branch received a tip-off that a Pakistani with a fraudulently acquired SA passport was planning to leave the…
Former president Jacob Zuma and Thales SA will go on trial for corruption next month in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. Zuma is accused of taking bribes from French arms company Thales related to the multi billion rand arms deal in 1999. The former president, who goes on trial a day before his 80th birthday, faces charges of corruption, racketeering and money laundering. Zuma had been objecting to being prosecuted by Advocate Billy Downer SC alleging he was biased against him. Last month Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Piet Koen dismissed Zuma’s attempt to remove prosecutor Advocate Downer SC, saying the former president’s special plea…
South Africa has crossed the grim milestone of more than 100 000 deaths from COVID-19 in the latest update by the NICD. Some 44 people succumbed to the virus bringing the total of COVID-19 deaths to 100 020. There were 1 679 new cases reported. During the same period as many as 33 656 772 vaccinations had been administered. The grime milestone comes as 92,370 Pfizer vials will reach their expiration date today, Thursday, and will have to be disposed of in line with health industry standards.