Richard Davies
Guest Author
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/ 19 December 2006

Cape Flats aquifer under threat from pollution

The Cape Flats aquifer, which has the potential to supply Cape Town with billions of litres of fresh water a year, is under growing threat from chemical pollution, say experts. The chemicals, among others, that have found their way down into the water-bearing rock include nitrates from human waste, cyanide from industry and pesticides sprayed by local farmers.

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/ 6 December 2006

Manuel, Mangena top DA report card

Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel and Minister of Science and Technology Mosibudi Mangena are the government’s top 2006 performers, while Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang continues to languish at the bottom of the class, according to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) end-of-year Cabinet report card.

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/ 9 November 2006

SA asked to help with global water plan

A global action plan is urgently needed to resolve the world’s growing water and sanitation crisis, and South Africa can help establish one, says the United Nations Development Programme. Its latest <i>Human Development Report</i>, focusing on water and sanitation, was launched in Cape Town on Thursday.

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/ 23 October 2006

Research council warns parents over lead in paints

Parents wanting to decorate their children’s rooms, toys or playground equipment in bright colours should make sure the paint they use is lead-free, the Medical Research Council (MRC) warned on Monday. MRC health and development research group acting director Angela Mathee told the media the occurrence of lead in pigmented enamel paint her team had sampled was ”well over 80%”.

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/ 18 October 2006

SAA set to launch new low-cost carrier

South African Airways (SAA) will launch its new low-cost carrier, Tulca, next month to gain a share of the fast-growing budget-travel market, MPs heard on Wednesday. ”Passengers want no-frills and low-cost, and … we have to respond to what passengers want,” SAA CEO Khaya Ngqula told the public enterprises portfolio committee.

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/ 12 September 2006

World Cup will stretch SA’s transport system, MPs hear

The 2010 Soccer World Cup is going to stretch South Africa’s transport capacity to its limits, Parliament’s portfolio committees on sport, recreation and transport heard on Tuesday. Briefing MPs on his department’s Transport Action Plan, the deputy director general of integrated planning, Mathabatha Makonyama, said the event would require 60 trains, about 2 400 buses and at least 6 000 minibus taxis.

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/ 27 August 2006

ANC’s ‘extraordinary challenge’

Building a non-racial society was one of South Africa’s greatest challenges, but nowhere was it more challenging than in the Western Cape, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday. There was a greater sensitivity to issues of race in the region than anywhere else in the country, he told a media briefing in Cape Town.

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/ 27 June 2006

SA transport sector in a bad way

South Africa’s transport sector is in crisis, African National Congress MP and chairperson of Parliament’s transport portfolio committee Jeremy Cronin said on Tuesday. ”We’ve got a very, very substantial crisis around transport mobility and accessibility,” he told journalists at a Cape Town Press Club meeting.