No image available
/ 25 February 2005
Concern is mounting over Ethiopia’s flagship ”safety net” policy set up to end dependency on aid for five million people, the United Nations said. Paul Herbert, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the needy have still not received any food or cash under the scheme.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
The Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition on Friday said that Finance Minister Trevor Manuel should get his facts and figures straight. The coalition was responding to the remarks made on Thursday that it will cost the country an estimated R90-billion per year to provide an income grant to all South Africans as a means of poverty alleviation.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>Thanks to an unexpected increase in revenue of more than R11-billion this year, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel again played Mr Nice Guy and cut individual taxes by a further R6,8-billion. This bonanza is aimed at the lower-income earner, with 62,8% of the benefit going to people who earn less than R200Â 000 a year.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
"Going once at R27 000, twice at R27 000, gone!" That’s the price paid at auction this week for Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s 2005 Budget speech and neckwear. The speech and the red-and-cream striped tie fetched about half of last year’s price at the traditional African National Congress post-Budget fund-raiser.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
The downfall of Jim Miller, a British-born technology salesman, may be his frankness. When a partner objected to his large expense claims, he admitted to paying what amounted to kickbacks. Miller started working for a United States technology company in South Africa in 1974. When it divested he set up local operations to fill the gap.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
Shares in South African gold miner DRDGold on Friday plunged 20% following the group’s results for the half-year ended in December 2004, which were released on Thursday, and which analysts and brokers termed "shocking". At 10.15am on the JSE Securities Exchange, DRDGold was quoted down 20% or R1,60 at R6,25.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
The chief executive and two senior managers of arms procurer Armscor have been suspended, the News24 website reported on Friday. They were told on Thursday to vacate their offices immediately, and were prohibited from speaking to employees or the media about the matter.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu said he hopes South Africa’s experience in coming to terms with apartheid will be an inspiration for a new peace centre bearing his name to be built later this year. The centre has collected -million in donations, and another -million is needed to complete the facility.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
An IT group close to the Inkatha Freedom Party has been implicated in a web of corruption spanning the outsourcing of a university’s IT functions and a controversial tender to monitor ”corner shop” gambling machines in KwaZulu-Natal.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
Hunter S Thompson, at the age of 67, took his life with a gunshot to the head at his home in Woody Creek, Colorado.
Obituary