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/ 27 October 2006
Regional integration is rightly being pursued in the Southern African Development Community as it is a critical instrument to boost economic growth and raise living standards — but it has to be sustainable, says South African President Thabo Mbeki. In his regular Friday internet column, <i><a href="http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/" target="_blank" class="standardtext">ANC Today</a></i>, the president said regional integration in the developing world "has all too often been a graveyard of failed expectations".
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/ 27 October 2006
The Cape Town city council has given mayor Helen Zille a mandate to declare an intergovernmental dispute if necessary in her battle with Western Cape local government minister Richard Dyantyi. The mandate takes the council a step closer to a court challenge to Dyantyi’s plan to strip Zille of her executive powers.
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/ 27 October 2006
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille met Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi on Friday for a second round of discussions on the African National Congress’s plan to change the city’s form of government. The two met last week, with Western Cape provincial minister of local government and housing Richard Dyantyi present.
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/ 27 October 2006
South Africa’s opposition parties, which kowtow to the ruling party, have only themselves to blame ”if the deadening hand of a de facto one-party state threatens” to encircle the country, says official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon. In his regular Friday online column, SA Today, the DA leader Leon slammed Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats.
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/ 27 October 2006
South Africa’s Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was discharged from the Johannesburg General Hospital on Friday, her office said in a statement. The minister — who received treatment for a lung infection — said in the statement: "I am very glad that I have been discharged today [Friday] after being in the hospital for the past three weeks.
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/ 26 October 2006
The 2010 Fifa World Cup holds untold benefits for South Africa and all citizens need to ensure its success, Cabinet urged on Thursday. ”Cabinet would like to reassure all South Africans that preparations are not only on track, but are also at an advanced stage, and that South Africa will be ready to host the first African Fifa World Cup,” government communications head Themba Maseko said.
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/ 26 October 2006
The African National Congress orchestrated Thursday’s taxi violence in Cape Town in a bid to disrupt a Democratic Alliance-led ”save democracy” march, according to city mayor Helen Zille.
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/ 26 October 2006
Much progress is being made in revamping the South African National Aids Council and boosting the fight against HIV/Aids, government communications head Themba Maseko said on Thursday. The revised comprehensive plan to combat and manage HIV/Aids is now being finalised, he told journalists after Cabinet’s fortnightly Wednesday meeting.
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/ 26 October 2006
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The South African government is setting ”an appalling precedent” by paying former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s legal fees, said the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). DA justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer said on Thursday: ” … the government has finally admitted that the taxpayer will have to fork out R10-million to pay for Zuma’s highly publicised trials.”
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/ 26 October 2006
Cabinet on Thursday expressed its deep concern about the spate of attacks on, and killings of, Somalis in some parts of South Africa, as well as the impressions this creates. Briefing the media at Parliament after Wednesday’s fortnightly Cabinet meeting, government communications head Themba Maseko said these attacks had fuelled impressions that South Africans were xenophobic.
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/ 26 October 2006
South Africa’s Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s condition is ”not too serious”, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday. He said the minister’s condition is improving and it is expected she will be released from hospital in the next ”couple of days”. Asked what she is suffering from, Maseko said it was up to the minister to communicate the details of her condition.
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/ 26 October 2006
The South African Cabinet renewed its pledge on Thursday to counter rampant crime around the country, saying ”tremendous progress” is being made, but more community involvement was necessary. ”Government is and will continue to take the fight to the criminals who must be made to feel that crime does not pay,” said government communications head Themba Maseko.
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/ 26 October 2006
A bus was burned and two were hijacked during a violent protest by taxi drivers in Cape Town on Thursday morning, the Golden Arrow bus company said. One of the hijacked buses was used to block off the N2 highway. Bus passengers and drivers were injured by shattered glass due to numerous stonings, the company said.
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/ 26 October 2006
The South African Cabinet has given its approval to the proposal to create six regional electricity distributors (REDs) which will be established as public entities under the auspices of the Electricity Distribution Industry. This was confirmed on Thursday — after the Cabinet’s meeting on Wednesday.
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/ 25 October 2006
The government will be spending close to R2,3-billion on its HIV/Aids programme by 2010, according to the mini-Budget tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. The figure was contained in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, which gave no breakdown of how the amount was arrived at.
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/ 25 October 2006
The African National Congress’s efforts to change Cape Town’s multiparty government is doing ”incalculable harm” to South Africa, city mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. ”They are not damaging the multiparty government, they are doing incalculable harm to South Africa,” she said in an opening speech at a full council meeting.
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/ 25 October 2006
Almost R15-billion of the about R80-billion increase in government spending over the next three years goes to 2010 Soccer World Cup major capital projects, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. This infrastructure will benefit the country long after the final whistle in the tournament has sounded.
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/ 25 October 2006
South Africa’s latest Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, outlined by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday, combines real increases in spending of 9,7% in the current 2006/07 financial year and 7% real average spending rises in each of the next three years, with almost perfectly balanced budgets in all four years.
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/ 25 October 2006
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said at the launch of the latest Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament on Wednesday that South Africans have reason to feel exceedingly proud of what they had achieved as the current fiscal position was "a seriously good story".
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/ 25 October 2006
While CPIX inflation in South Africa may briefly exceed 6% in early 2007, it is projected to remain within the target band thereafter, South Africa’s Treasury said in its Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday. The Treasury said CPIX is expected at 4,6% in 2006 from the 4,3% announced in February.
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/ 25 October 2006
South Africa’s nine provinces are to receive an additional R28,2-billion over the next three years, according to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement. Provincial government is projected to get R178,3-billion this year — 2006/07 — including R150,7-billion from the equitable share and R27,5-billion in conditional grants.
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/ 25 October 2006
A narrowing in the current-account deficit is expected over the remainder of 2006 as oil prices and import volumes ease and as exports pick up, the Treasury said in its Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday. The Treasury said that a deficit of 5,7% of GDP was expected in the current year, with the deficit projected to average 5,6% over the medium term.
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/ 25 October 2006
South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said at the launch of the latest Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament on Wednesday that it did not make sense to provide tax relief at the moment in anticipation of revenue that may not be sustainable.
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/ 25 October 2006
South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has revised upward by R29,6-billion the government’s projected revenue collections for the 2006/07 financial year. The sharp increase — to R486,4-billion from R456,8-billion estimated in February’s national budget — was attributable largely to higher-than-expected collections in corporate and individual income tax.
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/ 25 October 2006
The 2007 medium-term expenditure framework provides for R9,5-billion to be spent on 2010 World Cup stadiums and their supporting infrastructure, raising the total contribution from the national fiscus to R14,9-billion, the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement reported on Wednesday.
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/ 24 October 2006
South Africa swept the boards at the eighth World Masters Squash Championships in Cape Town when the South African players won five gold, five silver and 12 bronze medals. England finished second with six gold, six silver and six bronze while Australia’s tally was five gold, two silver and two bronze.
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/ 24 October 2006
Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour has tabled in Parliament the full executive summary of the final Jali Commission of Inquiry into fraud and corruption in prisons. However, the names of allegedly corrupt officials are omitted.
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/ 24 October 2006
Provincial minister for local government and housing in the Western Cape, Richard Dyantyi, has turned down the city’s invitation to address the full Cape Town city council on Wednesday, according to a statement from Mayor Helen Zille’s office on Tuesday. Zille said he would have had the opportunity to provide substantive reasons for his proposed change of the system of governance in Cape Town.
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/ 24 October 2006
It is kick-off time for the ”real hard work” in preparing for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, President Thabo Mbeki told a workshop in Cape Town on Tuesday. He told the participants that South Africa will spare no effort to make sure that everything necessary for a successful tournament happens on time.
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/ 23 October 2006
South Africa’s Department of Public Enterprises intends to create a broadband infrastructure company — called Broadband InfraCo — based on the long-distance fibre-optic network created by power parastatal Eskom and transport parastatal Transnet, says Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin.
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/ 23 October 2006
Reports indicating that shipping lines are considering a $50 congestion surcharge at the Durban Port could cost the economy about R500-million a year, says the official opposition’s public enterprises spokesperson Martin Stephens. Stephens said on Monday: "The additional costs for consumers could be much more."
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/ 23 October 2006
Parents wanting to decorate their children’s rooms, toys or playground equipment in bright colours should make sure the paint they use is lead-free, the Medical Research Council (MRC) warned on Monday. MRC health and development research group acting director Angela Mathee told the media the occurrence of lead in pigmented enamel paint her team had sampled was ”well over 80%”.