South Africa was ”aggressively” seeking greater investment from China, despite local fears of foreign competition. Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said that what South Africa would lose in certain sectors — such as textiles and clothing — it would gain in others, such as mining, tourism and energy.
South Africa is to publish regulations this year to prohibit the use of asbestos, according to Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk. Van Schalkwyk said that according to the law, government was now empowered to control products even before they become waste.
Local banking group Absa and The Royal Bank of Scotland International have formed an alliance to open the offshore banking environment to Absa’s clients. The total number of affluent and high net worth individuals who would qualify for the offshore banking product is estimated to be approximately 0,9-million.
The fate of one of southern Africa’s oldest nomadic tribes, the San, could be sealed when the Botswana High Court hears argument on the issue of ancestral land rights. The court case, which commences on July 5 with an in loco inspection, could decide the future of the Gana and Gwi Bushmen communities.
The Kenyan government is to start offering free medical services to poor patients at small public hospitals across the country from next month, health officials said on Monday. ”Effective July 1, patients will not be required to pay for diagnosis and treatment, at public health centres and dispensaries only,” said James Nyikal, the national director of medical services.
Police arrested 78 women over the weekend when they tried to hold a protest to mark World Refugee Day and draw attention to the plight of Zimbabweans who they say are living like refugees, their lawyer said on Monday. The women, some of them bystanders, were arrested in Bulawayo on Saturday where activists from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) were attempting to stage a demonstration.
Saudi security units renewed their house-to-house search for militants in Riyadh on Sunday as officials claimed significant progress in the battle against al-Qaeda. Four militants killed on Friday night included Abd al-Aziz al-Muqrin, who was regarded as the leading al-Qaeda figure in the kingdom, and his alleged deputy, Faisal al-Dakheel.
”White men are happy in the New SA.” Those banner headlines almost caused me to crash my car in semi-Black Consciousness fury. What was Mondli Makhanya’s Sunday Times trying to tell me? But I can’t afford to crash my car, no matter what the posters say, because, like those of most black men, my car is not insured. Ha, ha, ha, that was a joke. In fact it is a lie. I am insured.
The South African government said on Monday it was aggressively seeking greater foreign investment from China despite fears that this may harm certain sectors within the economy. ”We want greater investment in South Africa,” said deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad.
Côte d’Ivoire’s rebels blamed the country’s president Laurent Gbagbo on Monday for what they described as an attempted assassination of their leader and an attack on their positions in a key northern city. Automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade launchers resounded in the city of Korhogo on Sunday evening, in what officials said was a conflict between different rebel factions.