Hours after a powerful blast rocked a power plant near the Algerian capital, newspapers in the north African country speculated that the explosion was caused by an attack by extremists, while officials stuck to their line that it was accidental. The French-language daily Liberte speculated in a front-page headline: ”A car-bomb attack?”
Namibia’s white farmers are increasingly concerned about their future after President Sam Nujoma’s government began targeting a second group of farms for expropriation under its land reform programme. A second batch of letters was sent to white farmers last week, on the heels of a first bunch in early May, notifying farm owners to set a price for the sale of their land to the State.
Constant attacks on the National Prosecuting Authority and its leaders during the past year may have something to do with the success achieved by the unit, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. DA justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer said ”all is not well in the justice community and Minister [Brigitte] Mabandla has inherited a house divided against itself”.
"We will do what has to be done to achieve good broadband Internet access in South Africa." So says Rudolph Muller, founder of MyADSL, a South African website aimed at providing a forum for the discussion of broadband Internet access issues.
South Africa needs to wake up to the fact that its coal reserves are not infinite, and the use of nuclear power to produce electricity in the future is unavoidable, Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Tuesday. ”In addition to coal, nuclear energy will increase as an energy option for South Africa for the foreseeable future,” she told MPs during her Budget vote.
Power station ‘will inject R10bn into SA’
Despite improvements made in the court system over the past five years, the case finalisation rate and outstanding rolls remain a challenge and the concept of night courts is being considered, Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla said on Tuesday. The latest information available — from the end of December 2003 — showed the outstanding number of cases on the roll for district courts to be 149 539, regional courts 43 573, and high courts 1 012.
Mineral and Energy Affairs Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told members of Parliament on Tuesday that a new power station will bring about R10-billion into the South African economy. The minister said South Africa would be able to achieve universal access to electricity within an eight-year timeframe, as announced by President Thabo Mbeki.
South Africa’s communications department and the National Treasury will finalise a public private partnership model for the funding of regional television services during the course of this year, says Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
Apple Computer and the BMW Group on Monday introduced an adapter that allows iPod and BMW customers to plug their music collections directly into their car sound systems. The two companies worked for a year to jointly develop the system that will work in BMW’s newer model 3 Series, Z4 Roadster, X3 and X5 sports utility vehicles and the Mini Cooper.
Phone company Telkom is to introduce a special ”e-rate” for schools that will effectively halve the cost of their internet calls, Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri announced on Monday. Opening debate on her budget vote in the National Assembly, she said arrangements for this would be finalised between the communications and education departments over the next few months.