Newly appointed Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk is to visit the Eastern Cape’s Pondoland coast to assess the impact a plan to mine titanium from sand dunes will have on the area, known for its biodiversity and scenic beauty.
Soaring international crude oil prices could drive local fuel prices up by between 30c and 40c a litre, a Department of Minerals and Energy official confirmed on Tuesday. ”There is no doubt we are staring a hefty price increase in the face at the moment,” said Theunis Burger, director of petroleum and gas regulations.
Empowerment and transformation in South Africa’s telecommunications sector has shown a remarkable degree of maturity, Deputy Minister of Communications Radhakrishna Padayachee said on Tuesday. He was speaking at the opening of Futurex 2004, a trade fair held in Sandton.
A delegation from China’s ruling Communist Party on Tuesday held talks with President Robert Mugabe on increasing trade and economic cooperation and closer political ties, state media said. "We discussed ideas of extending cooperation to a new stage," said Cao Bochun, the leader of the visiting delegation.
They came mostly in couples, holding roses, banners, rainbow flags and each others’ hands to join a throng of about 10 000 people. And as the clock inched towards midnight, on the steps of the city hall in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gay couples counted down the seconds to the moment when their unions would be legally validated.
The New National Party’s federal council is to meet in three weeks — on Saturday June 5 — to assess the party’s future after its poor showing in the national and provincial elections. A newspaper report on Tuesday said the Free State region of the party will motivate that the party should disband.
The United States government appeared to have performed a u-turn on Monday by opening the way for American approval and purchase of cheap ”pirated” copies of Aids drugs to save the lives of the poor in the regions of the world hardest hit by the pandemic.
South African satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys was on Monday night awarded a prestigious Obie at the 49th Annual Village Voice Obie Awards held in New York. This coveted Off-Broadway accolade was presented to Uys for his one-man show Foreign Aids that he performed at the legendary La Mama Theatre last year.
The South African PC market experienced a 56,5% year-on-year growth in units while it increased by 56,6% in value, BMI-TechKnowledge said on Tuesday in its latest PC quarterly update research report. In the first quarter in 2004, sales of desktops increased by 51,9% compared with the first quarter of 2003.
A former economy minister hand-picked by President Bakili Muluzi is tipped to win the presidential election on Thursday in Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries. Muluzi is touting Bingu wa Mutharika as an ”economic engineer” and has been energetically campaigning on his behalf, at times even hogging the limelight from his political protege.