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/ 18 September 2006
Rare cross-party agreement has been reached to provide MPs with 100% of their annual benefits packages after they have served three five-year terms of office. The sub-committee of the whips forum has also achieved broad agreement that MPs’ salaries should be at a level of a chief director, which is in the region of R580 000 a year.
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/ 11 September 2006
South Africa will add two key issues to the agenda of the group of 20 (G20) when it takes over the helm as chair in November from Australia — financial stability and creating fiscal space, said Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel on Monday. He was speaking at a joint press conference at Parliament with Australian Treasurer Peter Costello — who began a three-day visit to South Africa on Sunday.
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/ 11 September 2006
South Africa’s choice of forging close ties with Iran is sending "a clear message to the world" that it has chosen the wrong friends, official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said on Monday. Leon charged that it "is entirely unclear what national or international interest our diplomatic engagement with Iran is serving".
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/ 8 September 2006
The South African Communist Party (SACP) on Friday came out in support of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Federation of Unions of South Africa and the National Congress of Trade Unions in their backing of the clothing and textile deal between the South African government and the People’s Republic of China.
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/ 7 September 2006
The South African government programme in fighting HIV/Aids ”is based on the belief that HIV does cause Aids”, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said at a post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday. His statement follows years of what he described as ”political bickering” over the Aids issue.
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/ 5 September 2006
An agreement has been reached between the Russian Federation and South Africa to supply the latter with nuclear fuel up to 2010, visiting Russian president Vladimir Putin told a media conference at Tuynhuys on Tuesday. A Russian company is planning to invest $1-billion in production of manganese in this country.
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/ 5 September 2006
South Africa’s Legal Aid Board ran a deficit of R19,2-million for the 2005/06 financial year, according to its annual report tabled at Parliament. The report tabled on Tuesday shows that a government grant amounted to R453,2-million, of which expenses amounted to R485,3-million, including R252,1-million in personnel costs.
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/ 4 September 2006
The statement by religious commentator and director of the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa, Charles Villa-Vincencio, that South African whites should act in their own ”enlightened self-interest” and put something back into the country has evoked a storm of reaction.
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/ 4 September 2006
Recent interest-rate adjustments may have a negative impact on output in the short term but they will ensure that inflation remains within the target band over the long run, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Monday. He said this in turn will be beneficial for competitiveness and hence sustainable growth over the long run.
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/ 1 September 2006
South African President Thabo Mbeki has sprung to the defence of Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu — who recently urged that former deputy president Jacob Zuma should not become president — following what he describes as a ”truly distressing personal attack” on the archbishop by the Congress of South African Students.