Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana on Wednesday stated that more than 600 000 domestic employers have registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to date. The minister expressed his satisfaction with the process of registering domestic workers.
After being famously dropped by Disney, Michael Moore’s award-winning documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 has finally secured US distribution and will hit American cinemas on June 25. The film is to be released by a partnership of Lions Gate Films, IFC Films and the Fellowship Adventure Group, which was formed by Miramax’s Harvey and Bob Weinstein specifically to market Moore’s film.
The controversial Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, a former favourite of the Pentagon who has recently fallen out with Washington, was on Wednesday embroiled in allegations that he tipped off Tehran that United States agents had cracked the secret codes of its intelligence service.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota’s views on the difficulties of achieving racial representivity were both welcomed on Wednesday and dismissed as having missed the point. Lekota told the National Assembly’s defence committee on Tuesday there would have to come a point when South Africans stopped being black, white, Indian and coloured and were merely South Africans.
‘It’s a difficult thing, transformation’
Botswana ranks as Africa’s top competitive economy, ahead of other powerhouses such as South Africa and Nigeria, according to a survey by the World Economic Forum released on Wednesday at the opening of a three-day conference on business in Africa in the Mozambican capital of Maputo.
Part of an 11-storey department store collapsed on Wednesday in the Thai capital, injuring at least seven people including two seriously, police said. A section of the New World Department Store caved in from the eighth floor where workers had placed rubbish ahead of a planned demolition.
Sudanese government troops and a force of about 600 rebels have clashed in Darfur region despite a ceasefire deal between the two sides, the Sudanese Media Centre reported on Wednesday. The centre said both sides suffered casualties in the fighting that, it said, started when rebels attacked government forces .
Eugene Terre’Blanche’s release from prison next Friday would kick-start the revival of the right-wing Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) he founded 31 years ago, his lawyer said on Wednesday. The organisation was put on ice while Terre’Blanche served more than half of an effective five-year jail term for assaulting security guard Paul Motshabi in 1996 — leaving him disabled.
The Competition Tribunal has confirmed a consent order agreed between the Competition Commission and Toyota South Africa Motors, which followed an investigation by the commission of Toyota’s implementation and enforcement of a maximum discount policy.
Canadian aluminium group Alcan is set to make a decision soon about its involvement in South Africa’s proposed R14-billion Coega smelter, Alcan spokesperson Joseph Singerman said. In February, Alcan completed its $4,8-billion acquisition of French group Pechiney, which had planned to take a 49% stake in the Coega project.