South Africa is prepared to increase seizures of white-owned land to fulfil a promise to restore property to the black majority, a regional land claims commissioner said on Wednesday. The government’s aim is to return land taken during colonialism or apartheid by 2008.
South Africa, which takes the chair of the United Nations Security Council in March, said on Wednesday it would urge Iran to show transparency to the UN nuclear watchdog to avert a showdown over its atomic ambitions. The International Atomic Energy Agency says a lack of Iranian cooperation has left it unable to verify that Tehran’s nuclear activities are wholly peaceful.
In a belated response to the success of online booksellers in enticing customers to websites such as Amazon, two publishers have launched features that allow customers to browse through books online. The facility "is today’s equivalent of picking up a book off a friend’s coffee table and glancing through it", said Josh Kilmer-Purcell, author of <i>I Am Not Myself These Days</i>.
First National Bank (FNB) has scrapped its annual credit-card eBucks linkage fee and has simplified the way in which customers earn eBucks. eBucks retains its key benefits enabling a member to spend well-earned eBucks at a wide range of partners, whether it is a flight anywhere in South Africa or shopping at retail partners
A "feel-good factor" is creating a comfort zone for thousands of upwardly mobile families as they add to their personal possessions — but without proper insurance safeguards, these householders could find the good times turning bad. This consumer alert comes from short-term insurer Mutual & Federal.
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/ 28 February 2007
The Free State will spend more than R10,6-billion on social and human development in this financial year, with the education department getting more than half of this, provincial finance minister Tate Makgoe said on Wednesday in delivering the province’s budget for 2007/08 in Bloemfontein. The department of education will get a proposed allocation of R5,6-billion.
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/ 28 February 2007
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will place a full-page advert in the Mail & Guardian on Friday paying tribute to veteran journalist John Perlman. ”We pay tribute to him as an excellent and patriotic journalist,” it said in a statement.
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/ 28 February 2007
The actor and singer Sam Williams has died after a long illness, the Arts and Culture Ministry said on Wednesday. Williams, who died last Wednesday, began his career when he founded a musical group, the Boston Brothers, and was active as a playwright and composer in the 1960s and 1970s.
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/ 28 February 2007
The largest household-based survey undertaken to date by Statistics South Africa officially wrapped up on Wednesday. Survey workers had interviewed more than 232 673 families across the country — 85% of the total number of households sampled, said spokesperson Solly Kganyago.
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/ 28 February 2007
There had been no political conspiracy to oust former National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha from his position, the Hatfield Community Court heard in Pretoria on Wednesday. Inspector General Zolile Ngcakani said the intelligence service does not resort to any method to make its staff leave their posts.