No image available
/ 20 September 2004
Public servants have put on hold plans for further strike action after a working group set up by labour unions and the government re-drafted a proposed pay rise agreement on Sunday afternoon. The latest draft provided for a 6,2% increase for public servants for this year and consumer inflation plus 0,4% for the following two years, a union negotiator said.
No image available
/ 16 September 2004
Africans look to the Pan African Parliament (PAP) to help them escape from poverty and underdevelopment, South African President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday told the opening of the PAP’s second sitting at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. Earlier,
about 300 protesters arrived to press for democratic reform in Zimbabwe.
No image available
/ 16 September 2004
Hundreds of guests and delegates gathered for the opening of the Pan African Parliament’s (PAP) second sitting at the Gallagher Estate conference centre in Midrand on Thursday morning. Delegates from 46 countries that have ratified the PAP protocol are to take part in deliberations from this Friday until October 7.
No image available
/ 15 September 2004
Ten people were admitted to Pretoria’s Unitas hospital for observation on Wednesday after coming into contact with a substance feared to be anthrax at a government department’s city-centre offices. A departmental registry clerk apparently found a dusting of powder on a bursary application received through the mail.
No image available
/ 15 September 2004
The number of commercial farming units in South Africa decreased from about 58 000 to about 46 000 between 1993 and 2002, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. Paid employment in the sector dropped from 1 093 265 to 940 815 over the same period.
No image available
/ 9 September 2004
About 3 000 municipal workers marched on the headquarters of the Tshwane metro council on Thursday to demand an end to privatisation. The group, members of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union, called for meaningful negotiations with the employer and threatened further action if this did not transpire.
The rand lost about 20 cents against the United States dollar on Thursday at the news that the South African Reserve Bank dropped the repo rate at which it lends money to commercial banks from eight percent to 7,5%. The move, which saw commercial banks lowering their interest rates by the same margin to 11%, has taken economists by surprise.
Mboweni surprises, cuts interest rates
Public service wage negotiations officially broke down in Pretoria on Friday, labour unions said. ”The conciliator issued a certificate of non-conciliation this morning after minimum talks in the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council,” said Public Servants’ Association general manager Anton Louwrens.
While the police and the government declined to comment on Wednesday on claims that two citizens held in Pakistan were plotting attacks on South African tourist destinations, the Democratic Alliance urged the authorities to keep the public properly informed of any real danger.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=119792">’Terror’ pair under lock and key</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=119782">’Terror’ pair were to ‘attack Jo’burg'</a>
There was laughter in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday when "Rottweiler" and "KGB" emerged as some of the <i>noms de guerre</i> assumed by the alleged Boeremag coup plotters. One called himself "Motherfucker" and another "Volla", accused-turned-state-witness Henk van Zyl told the court.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=119751">Whites were to be ‘slaughtered'</a>