Donwald Pressly
Guest Author
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/ 23 November 2006

Manuel notes improvement in provincial spending

It is "vitally important" to acknowledge that provincial underspending of capital budgets among provinces had been on a declining trend over the past three years, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Thursday. Three years ago –- in 2002 and 2003 — provinces underspent their capital budgets by R1,1-billion, noted the minister.

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/ 21 November 2006

Parastatals overall in good shape

South African state-owned enterprises are overall in "a good state" although performance has been uneven in the past financial year, the chairperson of the public enterprises portfolio committee reported on Tuesday. Yunus Carrim also argued that the government was correct to keep these enterprises in state hands.

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/ 21 November 2006

Denel chief warns of lurking skeletons

Interrogation of the financial viability of the businesses falling under the state arms company, Denel, may expose some skeletons, its CEO, Shaun Liebenberg, has warned MPs. Liebenberg said that as "the interrogation of the financial viability of the businesses deepened, we must accept that skeletons will come out of the closet".

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/ 20 November 2006

Budget speech scheduled for February 21

South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is scheduled to present his budget speech and introduce the Division of Revenue Bill on Wednesday February 21 next year, according to a draft parliamentary programme. While some MPs are still in Cape Town, the bulk of members have returned to their constituencies.

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/ 16 November 2006

Agliotti arrest shows Selebi in ‘good light’

The arrest of businessman Glen Agliotti clearly shows police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi ”in a good light”, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Johnny de Lange said on Thursday. Selebi, who has tried to downplay his friendship with Agliotti after initially saying that Agliotti was ”my friend, finish and klaar”.

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/ 15 November 2006

‘Final issues’ being sorted out for Coega smelter

The final issues are being sorted out between Alcan, the Canadian aluminium company, and South Africa over the building of a smelter at Coega in the Eastern Cape, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said on Tuesday. Briefing the parliamentary media, the minister said his government had been "in touch" with Alcan "quite a lot in the last two weeks".