The government stuck to its guns on Tuesday in the current pay dispute with public servants, saying the current salary demands of the public servants were not realistic. Public-service unions rejected a revised offer of a 6,5% pay rise by the government on Monday and are demanding a 12% rise.
President Thabo Mbeki on Monday called on the media to provide what he described as accurate and properly contextualised information. ”We in Africa can and do benefit from criticism, but we do ask that it should be based on accurate information …,” he told the 60th World Association of Newspapers congress and 14th World Editors’ Forum in Cape Town.
The government has made no decision to reduce the number of provinces or to ”rationalise” them, President Thabo Mbeki told Parliament on Thursday. Replying to questions in the National Assembly, Mbeki said Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi is to give more details of a provincial- and local-government system review next week.
A working document tabled at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council on Wednesday offers progress in public-service pay talks, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said. ”This is a major breakthrough,” she told the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon.
Denel has landed the biggest contract in its 16-year history, to supply the South African National Defence Force with 264 infantry combat vehicles worth about R8-billion, Denel CEO Shaun Liebenberg announced on Thursday. The contract was about three years in the making, he told a media briefing.
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Addressing the Cape Town Press Club on Tuesday, former deputy president Jacob Zuma pledged not to withdraw legal action he has instituted against members of the media. He also said he would accept nomination for a leadership position at the ANC’s national conference near the end of this year.
Alleged threats to withdraw the passports of the South African rugby team heading for the World Cup in France in September and October have been dismissed by the Home Affairs Ministry. Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has no right simply to withdraw passports without valid reasons, her spokesperson, Cleo Mosana, said on Tuesday.
As opposition parties on Wednesday urged stronger action against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, the government called on Mugabe to create a climate conducive for political dialogue. ”The current Zimbabwean situation is a manifestation of the absence of open political dialogue..,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sue van der Merwe said.
A 30-member environmental management inspection team, the so-called ”Green Scorpions”, is set to descend on the Foskor Plant in Richards Bay on Thursday to effect a compliance inspection, according to the KwaZulu-Natal department of agriculture and environmental affairs.
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/ 19 February 2007
While Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s 2007/08 budget on Wednesday is again expected to reflect a large surplus — between 1% and 1,5% of GDP, by some estimates — capacity constraints might restrict its effective use. However, most forecasters want the focus to be on jobs, growth and small-business incentives.