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/ 22 February 2007
As I have learned from reporting on budgets, what’s really interesting is what is left out of the minister’s budget speech or is glossed over. The two areas I always look for somewhere in the budget documentation are black economic empowerment and privatisation, writes Reg Rumney.
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/ 22 February 2007
This year could be the most difficult for farmers in all of South Africa’s history, a grim AgriSA president, Lourie Bosman, said this week. The burden was getting too heavy for many farmers and they "want out", he said. Bosman’s comments come in the context of a strained relationship between white farmers and the minister of agriculture.
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/ 22 February 2007
With the budget allocation of R1-billion for the advancement of libraries, the sector can now look forward to a happier future. For a division used to harping on about lack of infrastructure, outdated books and limited access to information technology the conditional grant, to be spent over three years, is the stuff of which dreams are made.
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/ 22 February 2007
Several tax announcements in the budget will have an impact on investments. Many companies will be celebrating the phased removal of secondary tax on companies that will, over the next two years, be converted to a dividend tax in the hands of the shareholder.
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/ 22 February 2007
Despite collecting R29-billion more in taxes than expected, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel was not as generous to taxpayers as he has been in the past. The R8,4-billion of personal and R12,4-billion in total tax relief has only offset inflation and partially offset the effects of changes last year to the taxation of medical aids and car allowances.
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/ 22 February 2007
While this year’s budget gave significantly increased allocations to police, education and housing, it once again fell short of bold, direct interventions for the poorest in our society. One disappointment in the budget was the paltry increase in excise duties on alcohol, writes Réjane Woodroffe.
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/ 22 February 2007
This week’s budget indicates that some progress has been made in re-aligning the posture and make-up of the South African National Defence Force and leaving behind some of the fiscal drag associated with the conventional force design of the 1998 Defence Review and the Strategic Defence Procurement programme.
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/ 22 February 2007
The Northern Cape Afrikaner enclave of Orania has launched a chequebook as part of its own currency system, a spokesperson said on Thursday. ”The Orania business chamber launched the chequebook last night [Wednesday], during which the first ten chequebooks were auctioned off,” Eleanor Lombard said in a statement.
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/ 22 February 2007
The government’s ”narrow focus” on land is counter-productive, prominent Afrikaner businessmen and academics told President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday. It is often the cause of failure and lack of sustainability in land reform, they argued during talks in Cape Town with Mbeki and Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Lulu Xingwana.
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/ 22 February 2007
The Cabinet on Thursday objected to ”highly personalised” comments in the media on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s well-being. She is currently in a stable condition in Johannesburg Hospital. The African National Congress (ANC) parliamentary caucus also lambasted a Democratic Alliance MP for her ”insensitive” remarks about the minister.