For six weeks, Andre van Zijl has been pumping petrol around the clock at a petrol station in Knysna. Why? To raise awareness about HIV/Aids. The 57-year-old Aids campaigner aims to log 1Â 000 working hours this week in his latest publicity stunt to highlight the devastating scale of the Aids epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.
France’s right-wing presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy was embroiled in a free-speech row on Friday after a defeated candidate accused him of stifling a televised election debate. Francois Bayrou said Sarkozy had subverted basic democratic freedoms of free speech by using contacts to pull the plug on Saturday’s scheduled debate.
At least 200 000 people die every year from cancers related to their workplaces, mainly from inhaling asbestos fibres and second-hand tobacco smoke, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday. The United Nations agency said every 10th lung cancer death is related to occupational hazards, and about 125-million people worldwide are exposed to asbestos at work.
There are signs that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is mulling a policy shift that could tilt Africa’s booming economic powerhouse to the left after more than a decade on a centrist course. The ANC is under growing pressure from trade-union allies and its own rank-and-file to make income redistribution and nationalisation the lynchpins of its programme.
The African National Congress (ANC) membership should reject a key draft document that will be presented to the party’s national conference in December, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Thursday. The draft Strategy and Tactics document will be discussed at the ANC policy conference in June ahead of the December conference.
The process of identifying potential candidates to lead the African National Congress (ANC) has officially begun within the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). ”The discussion is being declared open,” said Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Former National Intelligence Agency boss Billy Masetlha has subpoenaed African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe to hand over the ruling party’s ”hoax” email report. The report, sealed and classified as confidential, will form part of Masetlha’s defence in his fraud trial in July.
If ordinary African National Congress (ANC) members want a say in their party’s leadership in December, they have until June 30 to get organised. Briefing reporters in Johannesburg, ANC spokespersons on Wednesday outlined the process of electing the new leadership — including the hotly contested race for the top job.
The South African financial system, based on an analysis of various indicators, was assessed as sound during the six months to December and overall confidence in the financial-services sector remains high, the South African Reserve Bank said on Wednesday. In emerging-market economies, financial markets continued their strong performance in 2007.
Starting on Wednesday, businesses in 30 towns and cities across South Africa will be checked for tax compliance and briefed on the government’s tax amnesty, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said. Spokesperson Adrian Lackay said about 10Â 000 Sars officials and police officers will check if enterprises are on the business register, and inform them of the tax amnesty.