A lack of capacity to spend their allocations from the integrated housing and human-settlement development grant has resulted in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga being stripped of R145-million by the national Housing Department, the Cape Town-based South African Local Government Research Centre has reported.
Free Stater Sandra Botha, a former caucus chairperson of the opposition DA, has narrowly won the race for leader of the official opposition by 31 votes to 25 over former National Party minister Tertius Delport. She is the first woman to hold the post of leader of the opposition in South Africa. Past holders of the post have included Jan Smuts, Sir De Villiers Graaf and Dr Fredrick van Zyl Slabbert.
News that three highly qualified medical doctors nominated for posts in two under-staffed public hospitals have been rejected by the Western Cape provincial health department — because they are white — has been slammed by Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille.
Sandra Botha has beaten her rival, former National Party minister Tertius Delport, for the post of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. Finance spokesperson Ian Davidson was elected unopposed for chief whip after KwaZulu-Natal leader Mike Ellis withdrew from the contest.
The African National Congress (ANC) has retained a key seat in a municipal by-election in the Theewaterskloof municipal area while it lost a seat to an independent in the Western Cape’s Saldanha Bay. The independent candidate was backed by the Independent Democrats and Democratic Alliance.
Interest shown by synthetic-fuel firm Sasol in the pebble-bed modular reactor is evidence of private-sector interest in nuclear power, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin argued on Tuesday. He was speaking in his policy debate in the National Council of Provinces.
South Africa must do much more to train and create a public service that meets the highest professional standards and ”that is proud of the fact that it exists to serve the people”, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. While he does not refer to the upcoming national strike, he clearly has this in mind when he refers to the need for public servants to be ”patriotic and selfless”.
The rejection of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report by South Africa has come as no surprise as it is consistent with the government’s "depressing habit" of shooting the bearer of bad news, says official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille.
MPs serving on the National Assembly public enterprises portfolio committee have been told that the establishment of a new state-owned company, Infraco, would allow for massively reduced costs of access to broadband in future. If the Infraco model were adopted, it could cut prices immediately by 65%.
The legislative framework underpinning South Africa’s labour market "is sound" and shall not be altered, South African Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Tuesday. He was speaking in his budget vote in an extended public committee in the National Assembly.