Parties that campaign only to oppose the African National Congress are also opposing its efforts to deal with poverty and unemployment, President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday. He was speaking to Rharhabe King Maxhoba Sandile and chiefs and counsellors at the Mngqesha Great Place north of King William’s Town.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=33497">A cow and an ox for Mbeki</a>
The South African Revenue Service was just more than R500-million short of its revenue target of R303,3-billion at the end of the 2003/04 financial year, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Thursday. The Budget deficit for the financial year is likely to be less than the 2,6% of gross domestic product estimated in the February 2004 Budget.
On April 3 it will be 25 years to the day since the first white Government Garage lorry rumbled on to Klipfontein farm, and the recollection is still etched in Desmond Njajula’s memory. Njajula still lives at Glenmore, where he was relocated, now an established settlement of about 550 households. But the difficulties that Glenmore faces, Njajula says, are in many ways the same as those of 25 years ago.
The decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal to reduce a life sentence imposed on a woman who hired hitmen to kill her abusive partner has given new hope to the 169 women in jail for killing their partners and could set a precedent. The court on Thursday took a history of abuse into account when it reduced the life sentence imposed on Anita Ferreira in January 2001 to six years.
The Bush administration has condemned as ”despicable” the killing of four American civilians working in Iraq, whose charred and mutilated bodies were dragged through the streets in front of a cheering crowd. The White House however was defiant, vowing that there would be no u-turn in policy.
Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi issued a statement after Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting — the last before the national election — indicating strongly he thought it would be his last as part of the government. In the statement, he admitted that at times Inkatha Freedom Party participation in the Cabinet had ”not been easy”.
Zimbabwe’s real gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by about 30%, while poverty levels have doubled over the past five years, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF also reports that school enrolment has fallen by 35%, and inflation has doubled each of the last three years to reach 600%.
Government funding for HIV/Aids programmes was sufficient in terms of the country’s current spending capacity, but there needs to be better transparency and accountability regarding what provinces are allocating to the disease from their own budgets, says the Institute for Democracy in SA (Idasa).
Twenty-seven facilities had met the basic requirements for accreditation to provide quality care for Aids patients, the national Department of Health has announced. The 27 facilities will begin admitting patients and performing HIV testing and medical examinations.
A bold agrarian reform pledged 10 years ago by the new dispensation in South Africa to rectify the injustices of colonialism and apartheid has progressed slowly with 80% of the land still held by the white minority, fuelling rising impatience among the landless black majority.