The South African government has no plans to change its policy of allowing the market to determine the level of the exchange rate, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Monday. She said that currency volatility "tends to occur when inflows and outflows are large and one-way".
South African President Thabo Mbeki should publicly acknowledge the challenge by former deputy president Jacob Zuma for power and object to it as a Zuma presidency would march South African backwards, official opposition leader Tony Leon said on Friday.
Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu had a penchant for the "phantom openings" of non-existent projects and for ignoring the fundamental problems facing housing in the Western Cape, said official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon at the Delft settlement on Thursday.
South Africa’s Parliament said on Wednesday that it would be unwise and "incorrect" to comment on the court processes concerning MPs charged in the Travelgate scam. In a statement Parliament said: "Parliament … notes the Democratic Alliance’s concerns in their recently published media release."
The biggest population of foreign nationals engaged in crime in South Africa hailed from neighbouring Zimbabwe and Mozambique, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told journalists on Tuesday. He also said the violent nature of crime in the country is to be investigated as part of a revamped crime-fighting plan.
South Africa should take a ”rights-based” position over the current conflict in the Middle East involving Israel and Lebanon, official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday. The sensible position for South Africa to take is, he said, the most obvious.
The South African Cabinet has approved the establishment of the South African Space Agency as an institutional vehicle for the coordination and implementation of South Africa’s national space, science and technology programmes. In a statement on Friday the Cabinet said the agency would conduct ”long-term planning and implementation of space-related activities”.
South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance has released a list of social-grant fraudsters in the public service — although Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya has asked that the information supplied to it remain confidential. The names of over 1 728 public servants were provided by the minister to the DA, which MP Mike Waters released on Thursday.
As the South African Communist Party (SACP) gears up for its 85th anniversary celebration this weekend, the ruling African National Congress has said that it values the relationship it has with its alliance partner. In a statement on Thursday ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said: "This is a relationship that has stood the test of time."
Former deputy president Jacob Zuma, in his capacity as deputy president of the ruling African National Congress, will be one of the guest speakers at this weekend’s celebration of the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) 85th anniversary.