The tripartite alliance in Gauteng has agreed that its members should not say things about each other ”that cannot the withstand the test of time”. Gauteng African National Congress secretary David Makhura was addressing a press conference on Monday following the alliance’s provincial ”summit”.
The Council of Education Ministers has approved measures to beef up security at public schools, and the department will identify ”problem schools” needing immediate attention, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor announced on Monday. These are aimed at schools around the country.
The first African country led by a democratically elected woman began recruiting women into its new post-war army on Monday. The new army will initially number 2 000 troops, and roughly 400 of them will be women, said Edith Bawn, spokesperson for the government body responsible for overseeing the creation of the armed forces.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan says that desertification is exacerbating extreme poverty and sparking conflict over dwindling resources, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. ”Across the planet, poverty, unsustainable land management and climate change are turning dry lands into deserts,” Annan said in a message for World Environment Day.
In a women’s fourth-round match held over from Sunday, former world number one Martina Hingis beat Israel’s Shahar Peer 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. The 12th seeded Swiss will now face Belgian second seed Kim Clijsters for a place in the semifinals on Tuesday.
By 2015 about 20% of Zambia’s children will be orphaned by HIV/Aids, the Department of Foreign Affairs warned on Monday. Current official estimates indicate that over 1,1-million Zambian children are orphans, mostly as a result of Aids.
The pebble-bed modular reactor offers an efficient and economical method of providing power to South Africa’s coastal towns and cities, Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin said on Monday. He noted global warming had seen nuclear power re-emerge internationally as an attractive, alternative form of energy generation.
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) was on Monday arranging a meeting of security guards and employers in the hope of resolving the strike in which another two guards were killed over the weekend. The pay strike began on March 23 in a dispute over the 8% percent offered by employers.
A local Sydney council has decided on a new weapon in its bid to remove groups of youths from gathering in carparks and disrupting residents — the music of 1970s crooner Barry Manilow. Officials said that the youths were not causing property damage but were annoying residents by revving their engines and doing wheelies up and down the carpark.
A Johannesburg metro policeman whose fingertip was bitten off by an alleged drunken driver was discharged from hospital on Monday, police said. ”He is in a stable condition and back at home. He does have a shorter finger now as the tip of the finger was not able to be re-attached,” said metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.