The new international La Mercy airport project needs to be driven as expeditiously as possible and the new African National Congress provincial government would like to see the first bricks laid by April 2005 and the project completed by 2009, says new KwaZulu-Natal finance minister Mike Mabuyakhulu.
New African National Congress Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool has pledged to lobby national government to review the system of political defections — also known as party jumping between elections — which he believes the electorate views with distaste.
President Thabo Mbeki has bolstered the role of women in the cabinet but he acknowledged that it had ”not yet reached 50%” of its membership. However, there are now 12 women out of 28 full cabinet ministers. This is up from nine ministers in the last government.
An urgent meeting of the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) national council was being held in Durban late on Wednesday evening to discuss the party’s future in national government — after Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi was left out of the new cabinet line-up.
A tough municipal by-election in a Chatsworth, Durban, ward will see the African National Congress-aligned Minority Front — led by new KwaZulu-Natal sports MEC Amichand Rajbansi — fight it out to retain a marginal seat from a determined challenge from the official opposition Democratic Alliance.
The official opposition Democratic Alliance has selected its team representing the nine provinces in the National Council of Provinces but former Western Cape premier and former Cape Town mayor Gerald Morkel failed to be selected for one of two Western Cape seats available.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was re-elected head of state for his second term on Friday, has criticised the writings of selected commentators portraying a gloomy picture of the thumping African National Congress victory last week.
South Africa’s new Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete — elected unopposed by Assembly members on Friday — says she hopes to contribute ideas on how to ”jack up” the debate in the 400-member assembly — possibly without the aid of written texts that are then read out.
Baleka Mbete, previously known as Baleka Mbete-Kgositsile, was elected unopposed to the position of Speaker in the National Assembly on Friday, where the process of swearing in of MPs was in full swing. Gwendoline Lindiwe (Gwen) Mahlangu was elected as the Deputy Speaker, succeeding Mbete.
New Speaker wants more natural debate
Frene Ginwala, who has been Speaker of the National Assembly for the past 10 years since democracy, got the axe on Thursday from ruling African National Congress MPs. The speaker will be replaced by the Deputy Speaker, Baleka Mbete, who has served in that position since the first Parliament.