The new Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, is powerless to stop controversial mining in one of South Africa’s most pristine and ecologically sensitive areas. It is the Department of Minerals and Energy that has the power to grant a licence to the consortium that is currently prospecting in the Eastern Cape’s Pondoland area, says Van Schalkwyk.
Unprecedented public distrust of the Department of Health is threatening its efforts to eradicate inequalities in the public health sector. In the month since Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was reappointed to a second term as health minister, the department has had to juggle two court cases, resignations of crucial staff and glitches in the anti-retroviral (ARV) roll-out plan.
The African National Congress has denied that it bowed to pressure in withdrawing the nomination of Vincent Smith as chair of the public accounts committee (Scopa).
The ANC caused surprise this week when it put forward New National Party member Francois Beukman as the chair when it had previously indicated it might settle for Smith.
Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana has given the sector education and training authorities (Setas) until the end of June to come up with a master plan on how they will use the more than R2-billion in unspent funds currently in their coffers. Despite commitments made at the Growth and Development Summit last year, Setas have yet again failed to spend billions earmarked for skills development.
Under the harsh glare of fluorescent lights, hundreds of women bend over sewing machines and ironing boards amid piles of brightly coloured cloth. Almost 25 000 T-shirts roll off the Shining Century production line each day, destined for store shelves at the Gap and Old Navy outlets in the United States.
The director of the CIA, George Tenet, resigned abruptly on Thursday after months of intense criticism for intelligence failures in the run-up to the September 11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq. Tenet cited personal reasons for stepping down. President George Bush said he had accepted Tenet’s decision with regret.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, is expected to sack two of his hardline ministers on Friday if there is no last minute majority in the cabinet for his plan to withdraw all Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip and parts of the West Bank. The dismissal of ministers would manufacture a majority for Sharon at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, which is scheduled to vote on the withdrawal plan.
United Nations soldiers fired on rioters, killing two people, as violent protests against the international peacekeepers swept the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday. Mobs attacked UN compounds across the country, blaming the international mission for failing to stop the capture of an eastern town by renegade fighters.
Kinshasa paralysed by lack of transport
United Nations under fire in DRC
Backbencher Ismail Vadi, African National Congress MP for the past 10 years, is earmarked to chair the ad hoc committee on the Public Protector report on Bulelani Ngcuka’s investigation of Deputy President Jacob Zuma. It has become almost traditional for the ANC in Parliament to hand political hot potatoes to relative unknowns in its ranks.
South Africa’s failure to reintegrate former soldiers into civilian life is evident in the fate of the 78 South Africans arrested for allegedly plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea. Most of them were members of the apartheid defence force’s 32 and 101 Battalions, while a few were Recces and Koevoet members. New research highlights the desperate plight of former Apla and MK guerrillas.