The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called for the resignation of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz "not just because of his abuse of his office to promote, and give a huge pay rise to, his girlfriend, but because of his consistently anti-working class and anti-poor policies", it said on Tuesday.
A flat tax in which the ratio of tax to taxable income is the same at all levels of income — and which replaces various tax bands that feature in a progressive tax regime with a single tax — would allow the South African government to gather more tax at lower rates, Free Market Foundation (FMF) economist Jasson Urbach has argued.
The challenge facing the international community is that the contemporary global economy has given birth to various forms of economic activity affecting millions of people that is akin to the loss of personal freedom experienced by the classical slaves, South African President Thabo Mbeki argued on Friday.
The South African Airways (SAA) Bill, which converts the national airline into a public company, got the nod of the second chamber of Parliament, the National Council of Provinces, on Tuesday. The SAA Bill has already received the nod of the National Assembly.
A multi-faceted public transport system action plan, involving integrated metered taxis and long-distance public transport, has been announced by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe. Noting that about R9-billion has been allocated of the medium-term budget to public transport, Radebe told journalists that the aim is to create "integrated rapid public transport networks".
Some exceptional items gave rise to the growth in the deficit on the current account of the balance of payments towards the end of last year, but this has been "easily financed by capital inflows", South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Tito Mboweni told MPs on Tuesday.
The democracy for which so many have worked and fought for in South Africa is likely to prevail, veteran South African liberal politician Colin Eglin argues at the end of his memoirs, Crossing the Borders of Power. But, he says, there are dangers to democracy and it cannot be taken for granted.
The articulation of the affirmative-action programme in South Africa as a ”jobs-for-pals” scheme by the ruling African National Congress is doing ”immeasurable damage” to the South African economy, Independent Democrats (ID) leader Patricia de Lille has argued.
Africa was catching up with the rest of the world — although it was still regarded as the poorest region — but it needed two to three decades of rapid growth to make a substantial dent in the level of poverty, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said at Parliament on Friday.
Increased trade is beneficial to Africa in that it supports poverty alleviation and is able to create new employment opportunities on the continent, said Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. It promotes regional integration and helps to expand intra-regional trade "while infusing new capital and technology into the continent", he told the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank.