A devastating report on the state of South Africa’s Road Accident Fund (RAF), which shows that there is no indication that the deteriorating trend of the accumulated deficit will subside, has been tabled in Parliament. The RAF’s accumulated deficit on March 31 2003 was R23,026-billion, compared with R16,6-billion on March 31 2002.
The upgrading as well as the building of new stadiums in the country will cost about R1,8-billion and 13 South African towns and cities will have to observe a deadline of June 2008 to meet a Fifa deadline for the infrastructure to be in place, says 2010 Soccer Bid Company CEO Danny Jordaan.
The National Assembly has given the nod to an ac hoc parliamentary committee report expressing its disapproval of the actions of National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka which had prejudiced the dignity of Deputy President Jacob Zuma. This boils down to a mild rebuke of the actions of Ngcuka.
South African President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday carefully placed his government on the left of the political spectrum and attacked those who celebrated individualism and the denigration of the role of the State. Mbeki emphasised there could ”be no doubt about where we stand”.
Mineral and Energy Affairs Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told members of Parliament on Tuesday that a new power station will bring about R10-billion into the South African economy. The minister said South Africa would be able to achieve universal access to electricity within an eight-year timeframe, as announced by President Thabo Mbeki.
South Africa’s new Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Monday stood by his department’s anti-mining stance towards proposed dune mining in the Pondoland region of the Eastern Cape — but he is set to see the king of the Pondos to discuss the matter.
South Africa is to publish regulations this year to prohibit the use of asbestos, according to Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk. Van Schalkwyk said that according to the law, government was now empowered to control products even before they become waste.
South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has announced that she is to introduce community service for professional nurses in January 2005. Speaking in her vote in an extended public committee on Thursday, Tshabalala-Msimang noted that this applied to nurses with four years of training.
South Africa’s Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is standing firm on her government’s interventions aimed to bring down the price of medications — in spite of legal action being taken against her department. Speaking during her vote in Parliament on Thursday she said: ”Our research indicates that large profits are being made on the sale of medicines.”
Nurses to start community service
‘Dispensing not picked up on the job’
Quite a number of medical doctors had failed a course in dispensing required in terms of new legislation, says South Africa’s Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Tshabalala-Msimang said that some doctors who had been dispensing for years had failed the course by a wide-margin.