Switching to energy-efficient light bulbs could save the country the equivalent of a major coal-fired power station, a R30-billion saving. South Africa makes use of an estimated 90-million — mostly energy-inefficient — incandescent light bulbs. By contrast, compact fluorescent lights last six times longer and use just 20% of the energy.
Bulking is the new buzzword in questionable practices among pension funds and their administrators. Bulking is when pension administrators put all their members’ funds together to obtain preferential rates or to lower costs. The Financial Services Board has now raised the question of whether pension funds are making secret profits from bulking.
The United Nations has long campaigned against recruiters of child soldiers, urging their prosecution as war criminals. But the first break came only last week when the International Criminal Court decided to arrest a founder and leader of the Union des Patriotes Congolais, on charges of conscripting children in the current insurgency against the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The celebrations have come to an end and the medals are safely packed away. And, having returned from Melbourne after what is being hailed as the most successful performance by a South African team at a Commonwealth Games to date, things are looking bright for the country’s so-called minor sports.
She may not have screamed her refusal or given an explicit “no” to Jacob Zuma, and her psychological state may be in dispute, but these are not sufficient reasons to dismiss the Zuma rape trial complainant’s claim that she was raped. That, in effect, was Judge Willem van der Merwe’s rationale in dismissing the application by Zuma’s lawyer, Kemp J Kemp.
Since Telkom installed an ADSL line in Dorsbult, only four years after the town council paid for it, the manne have become wise to the pleas of Nigerian princes inviting them to baby-sit billions of dollars for a small fee. But this week we were caught off guard by an e-mail involving a Liberian war widow, asylum and -million.
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Recent electricity failures posed no crisis but an opportunity for economic growth through infrastructure expansion, President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday. There was no reason for investors to worry, he told the National Assembly. ”We shouldn’t frighten ourselves too much,” Mbeki said in response to parliamentary questions.
Several new companies have been appointed to provide security at South African airports, the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) announced on Thursday. ”Group 4 Securicor will provide services at Johannesburg International Airport with effect from 1 April 2006. They take over from Springbok Khulani and Enlightened Security, whose contracts expire on 31 March 2006.
Minister of Public Works Stella Sigcau dared an opposition party member on Wednesday not to hide behind parliamentary privilege in accusing her of unethical conduct. During the Department of Public Works’ budget vote, Democratic Alliance MP Sydney Opperman expressed concern about government graft.