Staff Reporter
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/ 26 October 2007

ANC is making steady progress, says Mbeki

President Thabo Mbeki on Friday said the African National Congress (ANC) government was making steady progress in meeting the basic needs of poor people, despite attempts to discredit it by the ”left alternative”. Writing in the ANC’s weekly newsletter, he said the Community Survey 2007 showed there had been an improvement in meeting basic needs since 2001.

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/ 26 October 2007

AG: Discipline key to avoiding qualified audits

Simply enforcing financial operating disciplines will go a long way towards reducing the high number of qualified audit reports received last year by government departments, said Auditor General (AG) Terence Nombembe on Friday. He highlighted measures adopted by other countries that were successfully applying accrual accounting.

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/ 26 October 2007

Eskom: Load shedding could extend into next week

Load shedding could be extended to the weekend and Monday if electricity demand is not reduced and the supply situation not normalised, Eskom said on Friday afternoon. Eskom said initial investigations at the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric project indicated there was a supply problem on the Mozambican side because of poor weather conditions.

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/ 26 October 2007

Cosatu says there’s no ANC wish list

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has not compiled a ”wish list” of candidates for the national executive committee of the African National Congress (ANC). This follows the Mail and Guardian publishing a list on Friday that it said named the 57 people Cosatu wanted as ANC leaders.

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/ 26 October 2007

Rain doesn’t stop Bok parade

Thousands of people in Pretoria turned up in rainy weather on Friday for a parade to celebrate the Springboks’ victory in the Rugby World Cup a week ago. They were due in Johannesburg later in the day — and in Soweto on Saturday, after a public outcry over the initial cancellation of that leg of the victory tour.

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/ 26 October 2007

Kenya polls set for December 27

Kenya will hold presidential and legislative elections on December 27, the electoral commission announced on Friday, days after President Mwai Kibaki dissolved the Parliament. Commission chief Samuel Kivuitu said 14 248 838 Kenyans have so far registered to vote in the one-day exercise, the fourth since Kenya reverted to pluralism in 1992.

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/ 26 October 2007

Manto criticises EU plan to attract health workers

A European Union scheme to attract health workers will hurt developing countries, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Friday. ”Many developing countries are already struggling with the migration of health workers. We cannot afford schemes that seek to cream the very limited health skills we still have in developing countries,” she said.

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/ 26 October 2007

Attack halts Italian oil facility off Nigeria

Gunmen attacked a support vessel to an Italian-operated oil-production facility off the coast of Nigeria on Friday, industry and security sources said. The attackers overpowered the vessel shortly before dawn and used it to attempt to board the Mystras production facility, operated by Saipem and SBM Offshore, forcing the facility to halt production.