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Pretoria - The Democratic Alliance's worst fear seems to have come true in the Western Cape with the African National Congress carrying many municipalities on the back of a split opposition vote.

By 08:00, the ANC had captured 13 of the 20 counted municipalities and the DA three.

Four municipalities and the Cape Metropole were still outstanding.

The ANC had captured one of the five district councils to have reported and the DA one.

In Beaufort West, the ANC tied with controversial former mayor Truman Prince's Independent Civic Organisation of SA (Icosa), each winning five seats. The DA won two seats and Independent Democrats (ID) one.

The DA and ANC also tied in Prince Albert with three seats each on a six seat council.

In Laingsburg, the ANC, DA and Laingsburg Gemeenskapsparty each took two seats and will now have to find an accommodation with each other.

The ID has the whip-hand in Bergriver (Velddrif), where the DA and ANC tied with six seats each on a 13 seat council.

The ANC won in Stellenbosch, long seen as the intellectual heart of Afrikanerdom, gathering 16 seats against the DA's 15. The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) won two seats the ID two and the Kayamandi Community Alliance one.

Icosa arguably cost the ANC control of Mossel Bay, where the DA won 10 seats, the ANC eight, Icosa three, the ACDP one and the ID one.

Councils the ANC can provisionally claim are Knysna (ANC seven, Icosa one, DA five, Knysna Community Forum two, ID two), Bitou (Plettenberg Bay: ANC seven, DA three, ID one) and Oudtshoorn (ANC eight, DA seven, ID six, Oudtshoorn Civic Organisation two).

In Hessequa (Heidelberg-Riversdale), the ANC won nine of 15 seats and the DA the rest.

The ANC also won Swellendam with four seats, from the DA with three, the ID two and the ACDP one.

Split vote in Cape Agulhas

There was also a split vote in Cape Agulhas (Bredasdorp) where the ANC won five seats, the DA four and the ACDP one.

Theewaterskloof (Caledon) was also narrowly taken by the ANC, which won 10 seats to the DA's nine, the ID's two and one each for the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and ACDP.

In Breederiver (Robertson) the ANC won nine seats to the DA's six, with three for the ID and one each for the People's Democratic Movement and the Western Cape Community.

In Witzenberg (Ceres) the ANC took 10 seats, the DA six, the ID three, the United Independent Front (UIF) one and the First Community Party of SA one.

The ANC took six seats in Cederberg (Citrusdal), the DA four and the ID two.

Matzikama (Vredendal) also went to the ANC with six seats, followed by the ID with four and the DA with three.

The Swartland (Malmesbury) voted DA, giving the party 12 seats, the ANC six and the ID and ACDP one each.

Overstrand, or Hermanus, stayed DA, with the party taking 10 seats, the ANC seven and the ID and ACDP one each.

The DA holds George, where it won 18 seats against the ANC's 17, the ID's two and one each for the ACDP and FF+.

On the District Municipal front, the ANC won three seats each on the Central Karoo and Overberg councils. Icosa won two seats and the DA one in the Central Karoo and the DA four and the ID one in the Overberg.


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CAPE QUARTER - 72 Waterkant Street, Green Point, Cape Town: Capetonians like to think of the Cape Quarter as Cape Town's best kept secret!

Home décor, art and artefacts, fashion, beauty, health and lifestyle related stores all delivered in a unique Cape Malay architecture. This is where the best of Cape Town people are drawn together, attracted by the authentic ambience of great restaurants and eateries, shops and offices. This is the essence of Cape Town cool.


Cape Quarter's central piazza and ingenious use of space, as well as its mix of contemporary and authentic design and tenancies, has commendably preserved Cape Town's historical heritage for modern usage.

Green Point is an area of Cape Town that enjoys the rare luxury of protection from the notorious Cape Doctor - whose south easterly wind buffers the city during the summer months. Many guesthouses, B&Bs, sidewalk cafes and stylish shops keep the area abuzz during the day; at night the atmosphere is charged with energy from the numerous bars and nightspots. This is the trendiest Cape Town suburb - and at the heart of this is Cape Quarter.

Cape Quarter enjoys great proximity to the busy city centre and the popular Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. It is also easily accessed by foot - or via taxi or bus - from Cape Town's best known Atlantic seaboard beaches and hotels. Secure on-site parking is offered and the building is covered by full time security and CCTV surveillance.

As it is with the locals in the know, Cape Quarter's relaxed retail environment with its vibey outdoor eateries, authentic hand crafted design and stylish cobbled courtyard will convince you too that Cape Quarter is, in fact, Cape Town’s best kept secret - see you at Cape Quarter soon!

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Johannesburg - South Africa's third post-1994 local government election got underway without obvious hitches at 07:00 on Wednesday.

President Thabo Mbeki was the first voter to cast his ballot at the Colbyn voting station in Pretoria.

He was welcomed by Independent Electoral Commission chair Brigalia Bam and Chief Electoral Officer Pansy Tlakula.

Officials at voting stations visited by Sapa reporters said logistics were in place for a smooth poll to elect about 45 000 councillors in 283 municipalities.

Hot spots

At likely trouble spots, such as Khutsong in the North West and Matatiele in the Eastern Cape, the day also began quietly.

Khutsong was very wet, with the few people in the streets saying they were not going to vote.

An armoured vehicle was parked next to each tent in anticipation of any flare-up in the area, which is in the throes of a border dispute.

At Matatiele, whose community had at one stage considered applying for an election postponement, about 25 people were already queueing at the town hall by 06:30 and a handful of voters were waiting at two stations visited in the township.

"All in all a relaxed start to voting," said a Sapa reporter on the scene.

Power failures

The Western Cape's power failures hit the voting station at Pinelands Town Hall early in the morning with presiding officer Fred Sherwet saying power was off when staff arrived there at 05:00.

Power was restored just after 06:00.

In Durbanville the power supply was fine, with officials rolling out banners in preparation.

At St Cyprian's School in Vredehoek, officials had stocked up with lanterns and candles in case there was a power failure.

Presiding officer Rita Bartnicke said: "We're all set and ready to go."

It also had candles and lamps for back-up.

"But it will help us quite a lot if the power can stay on for the duration of the election," said Sherwet.

De Lille, Leon

Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille is expected to vote at Pinelands, while Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon will cast his vote in Newlands.

At Eureka Primary in Kimberley in the Northern Cape, presiding officer Susan Furie said: "No problems are expected, we are a small ward."

At the nearby Newtown primary school the presiding officer Veronica Molusi said she had to chase away a Democratic Alliance candidate who was putting up posters within the bounds of her voting station.

A polling station visited in Arcadia, Pretoria, was quiet with officials ready for voting to begin.

Elderly

At a voting station in the Universitas area of Bloemfontein in the Free State, elderly people arrived early to make sure they had seating prior to voting starting at 07:00.

Seventy-three-year-old Rita Barnes of Emmarentia, Johannesburg, said: "I am a senior citizen, I sincerely hope the crime rate drops.

"I do, however, see an improvement in some services, but there is always room for more." Meanwhile, John Suffolk said: "Some people don't vote. They just stand at the sidelines and make comments.

"They have the right (to vote) and they are not using it."

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I have simple concerns with regards to tomorrow's election. The same concerns as every SA woman, I suspect. Who are my ward candidates? Who are the mayoral candidates and why should I vote for them? And in particular, who are our female candidates?

As the posters all around me don't really give me that much information, and I don't have a car to drive to the various town halls... I turned to the Internet. Mistake.

Many of us don't like rah-rah campaigning. Many of us would like to research party promises and candidates alone, via the Internet, and not in a room of toadying and ululating. What I want to know is... in 2006, how is it that this is not possible?

Ever visited any of our most prominent parties' websites? (See our list below.) I went in search of information regarding the 2006 elections and the only party website that provided comprehensive election information was that of the DA. In fact they even have bios for some of their mayoral candidates. One would think this is de riguer, but it seems not.

The ANC have, on the whole, been rather snoop with info on their mayoral candidates, choosing instead to push pics of a smiling Thabo, while sending him on a campaign trail through the most rural parts of South Africa. Their election page on their website is useful, they do list their candidates and provide their manifesto but it's still all about Thabo – why are there no bios on their candidates? This is a municipal election isn't it?

The ID's website has been updated and you can read their full 2006 manifesto, but their article on why you should vote still contains the line "IN 1994 YOU WERE GIVEN A VOICE, IN 2004 IT IS TIME TO USE IT!" Sigh. When I phoned they were very helpful, offering to give me the numbers of their candidates to interview... but that's probably just because I said I was press.

The IFP website – they really haven't bothered with election info, and I can't say anything about the UDM website – a real shocker. Seriously. Don't go there, dude.


This electoral article was not paid for by the parties concerned. Francine still has no idea who to vote for tomorrow.

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Addis Ababa - Ethiopian officials announced on Tuesday that tests were under way at a southern poultry farm after thousands of chickens died of a "bird flu-like" disease.

Samples from over 6 000 chickens that died in the Endibir area of the country's Southern Nation and Nationality People's (SNNP) regional state were being sent to an Italian laboratory for further study.

"The bird-flu resembling disease was observed in Gubere Poultry Centre... and laboratory tests carried out locally indicated the existence of a bird flu-like disease," the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said.

Ministry spokesperson Mulugeta Debalkew said measures were being taken to prevent the disease from spreading, including a ban on the sale of the poultry and poultry products in a 60km radius of Gubere.

Sileshi Zewde, the ministry's chief veterinarian said 6 082 chickens had died at the poultry farm and that examinations of 49 of them had confirmed the presence of a bird flu-like disesase.

The fear is that the disease will turn out to be the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus that has killed more than 90 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003.

Sileshi said that all remaining live chickens at the Gubere centre would be killed an incinerated as a precaution.

Ethiopia, along with other East African Rift Valley nations like Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, are considered at high risk for the spread of the virus as millions of migratory birds flock there during the European winter.

Kenyan authorities are testing hundreds of dead chickens that were found dumped in the capital for a possible outbreak of avian flu, officials there said on Monday.

Although the H5N1 strain does not spread easily between people, those who come in contact with sick birds can contract it and scientists say millions of people worldwide could die if it mutates into a disease communicable among humans.

African nations, whose largely impoverished populations are susceptible to illness, have appealed for help in dealing with what experts predict are almost certain outbreaks of the disease on the continent.

Many, including Ethiopia, have slapped full or partial imports on imports of poultry, poultry products and wild bird and have begun monitoring migratory birds as they arrive.

Nigeria and Egypt have both reported cases of avian flu in birds.

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Johannesburg - There will again be rolling blackouts in the Western Cape on Tuesday, Eskom announced in a news release.

This was necessitated by multiple line faults that occurred at 02:13 that interrupted power to the province.

Large parts of the Cape peninsula were left in the dark early on Tuesday morning.

"The Droerivier-Bacchus high voltage transmission line (400kV) that runs between Beaufort West and Worcester tripped," Eskom said.

"This caused an over voltage on the network resulting in several other transmission lines in the Western Cape network tripping. Power supply to the Western Cape and some parts of the Northern Cape was interrupted."

Koeberg Power Station responded to the unusual activity on the network and removed itself from the national electricity grid. Koeberg Unit 2 is currently not generating electricity.

"At 02:23, the northern ring of the Cape transmission network was stabilised and restored. Power supply to the Northern Cape and some parts of the Western Cape was restored."

An Eskom mobile team was dispatched to go on site to investigate the cause of the fault that resulted in the tripping of the Droerivier-Bacchus transmission line.

There would be more load shedding in the Western Cape on Tuesday.

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Johannesburg - Assets of Rand Gold & Exploration worth more than R2bn were sold during Brett Kebble's last year as chief executive, Business Day reported on Monday.
It said the proceeds of these sales could not be traced.

These details emerged partly from pre-liquidation applications brought in the Johannesburg High Court by Rand Gold & Exploration.

The purpose of the applications was to recover money or trace assets that went "missing" during Kebble's tenure.

A search of share registers by Business Day suggested stock previously held by former Kebble companies had been sold.

A new disclosure suggested criminal action may follow against former executives, Business Day said.

A forensic audit is still underway at the Rand Gold & Exploration and JCI, which Kebble quit in August.

The mining magnate was gunned down behind the steering wheel of his car in September last year. An extensive police investigation into the killing is continuing.

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