ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma would not alter the broad parameters of South Africa’s economic policy, but believes the national treasury has usurped the people "as the driver of economic change" and that "participatory democracy" has foundered under President Thabo Mbeki.
The Johannesburg Labour Court on Thursday reserved judgement on whether South African Police Service (SAPS) members could join the public-service strike. Arguments by the lawyers for the police and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union centred largely on whether SAPS administration and support staff were essential-service workers or not.
A court application for the reinstatement of health workers dismissed during the public-service strike sought to punish a government that was trying to restore order, the state argued in the Cape High Court on Thursday. ”We have been berated for taking action in a chaotic situation,” said an advocate for the Western Cape government, Dumisa Ntsebeza.
On paper, Proudly South African probably seemed like a good idea. In practice, it’s turned out rather differently.
South Africa has embarked on the construction of 2,3-million subsidised houses since 1994, the Presidency said on Thursday. Releasing a set of 72 indicators of development, it said the number of households had increased because of population growth and a shift to smaller households.
The continued threat of sanctions against Sudan will only hamper progress towards deploying a hybrid African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force to Darfur, the government said on Thursday. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said that sanction threats against Khartoum were ”surprising” and unhelpful.
An association to support the development of South Africa’s growing nuclear industry has been formed. This was announced in Pretoria on Thursday by Rob Adam, chairperson of the newly formed Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa.
A fire that broke out this week at Zimbabwe’s only newsprint producer has crippled production, the official Herald daily said on Thursday. Newsprint for the handful of newspapers still operating in Zimbabwe comes from the eastern border city of Mutare, which lies close to a number of timber plantations.
Cases of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) have more than quadrupled in the Western Cape in the past three months, the Cape Times reported on Thursday. Since World TB Day in March, 45 XDR-TB cases have been notified in the province. Eight people have died, according to provincial health department figures.
Lewis Hamilton may be the hottest property in Formula One, but he was brought back down to earth with a bump on Thursday while taking a go-kart for a spin around a central London square. A video on the BBC News website showed the Briton racing a customised Mercedes-McLaren kart around a tight circuit, only to overcook a right-hand bend.