A strike in the glass industry entered its second day on Monday with no wage settlement in sight, unions said. Solidarity and the General Industries Workers’ Union of South Africa said workers walked off the job on Friday after refusing a ”miserable 5%” from July 1 and another 0,5% from January 1 next year.
Between 75% and 80% of South Africans have limited or no access at all to health services, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Monday. This inequity is limiting access to medical treatment, she said at the presentation of the draft Charter of the Public and Private Health Sectors of the Republic of South Africa.
As the convoy of lorries trundled through torrents and thunderstorms over the hills of eastern Bosnia into Srebrenica, Mando was puzzled by one thought. ”What’s all the fuss about?” shrugged the young Srebrenica Serb on Sunday as the town swelled with Bosnian mourners.
Israel looked on Monday to international support for its pull-out from the Gaza Strip, requesting a multibillion-dollar aid package from the United States and lobbying for European Union backing from visiting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. The pull-out operation is to begin in mid-August.
Last week’s London bombings have again highlighted the vulnerability of public transport systems to disruption and terror, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said on Monday. He told a Southern African transport conference in Pretoria that this presents a serious and continuing challenge to all states.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton went on the attack against President George Bush in a speech, accusing him of damaging the economy by overspending while giving tax cuts to the rich. The Democrat from New York also accused Bush of depriving United States soldiers of equipment needed to fight the war in Iraq and cutting funding for scientific research.
Four men appeared briefly in the Wynberg Magistrate’s court on Monday in connection with the murder of a six-month-old baby last month. The court proceedings were held in camera because one of the accused is 16-years-old, said police spokesperson Captain Elliot Sinyangana.
The rail safety regulator ”is not fulfilling his role”, the United Transport and Allied Trade Union of South Africa told Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe in talks on Sunday about safety and overcrowding on trains. This makes it ”impossible” for unions to guarantee the safety of their members, the union told Radebe.
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor wishes to introduce legislation early next year giving school principals more power and authority, she said on Monday. School governing bodies have become ”very powerful” and principals do not play a big enough role, she told the seventh International Conference of School Principals in Cape Town.
Lesotho’s economic outlook is expected to lag behind world and African averages, according to Standard Bank economist Jan Duvenage’s mid-year gauge of the country’s economy. Duvenage says growth constraints include food insecurity, soil degradation, lower agricultural efficiency and a high HIV/Aids infection rate.