South Africa’s Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is standing firm on her government’s interventions aimed to bring down the price of medications — in spite of legal action being taken against her department. Speaking during her vote in Parliament on Thursday she said: ”Our research indicates that large profits are being made on the sale of medicines.”
Nurses to start community service
‘Dispensing not picked up on the job’
Cheap, low-quality wine sold in foil bags and inferior plastic containers will be phased out over the next year, the South African Wine and Brandy Company (SAWB) said on Tuesday. The company’s chief executive, Johan van Rooyen, said in a statement that this step was necessary to curb alcohol abuse in South Africa.
Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane has called for ”creative solutions” in his church’s bid to deal with the potentially schismatic issues of gay clergy and marriage. He made the call in a submission to a special church commission set up to look at the issue, which is meeting in North Carolina in the United States this week.
In an effort to develop a classification of marine habitats for South Africa, the marine science community is working virtually round the clock to meet a July deadline for identifying marine priority areas for the country’s first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.
Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will co-operate with the Commission for Gender Equality on queries about controversial ambassador Norman Mashabane, foreign affairs said on Tuesday. ”The minister of Foreign Affairs has been in contact with the Gender Commission, and will continue to co-operate with it to find an amicable resolution of the matter,” departmental spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will not accept any unconstitutional change of government in the region, and reserves the right to intervene in such an event, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Monday. The announcement comes after renewed concerns over the developments in Bukava in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Black economic empowerment in South Africa is set to ”significantly progress” following the signing into law earlier this year of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, says government. In this regard, trade and industry’s first task would be to appoint members to a BEE advisory council.
Activists on Sunday called for a comprehensive audit of Africa’s crippling debt burden, currently estimated at more than $300-billion. The call was made by representatives of social movements from ten African countries, as well as Brazil, Argentina and the Philippines, at the end of a three-day workshop held in Cape Town
Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister, could be called to testify for the state in the Roodefontein corruption trial which resumes next Monday. Former Western Cape premier Peter Marais and former development planning MEC David Malatsi are accused of taking hundreds of thousands of rands in bribes to smooth the way for provincial approval of a gold estate at Plettenberg Bay.
Official opposition communications spokesperson Dene Smuts says Telkom is disingenuous when it argues that its profits were not only derived from revenues but also cost savings. Telkom, which appeared before the parliamentary communications committee on Friday, argued that fixed line profits were the product of cost cuts.
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool will have to pay back nearly a quarter of a million rand paid to him as an extra car allowance while he was the province’s finance MEC, his office said on Thursday. Meanwhile, a Democratic Alliance MPL said she had told Rasool a year ago that his allowances — as printed in the budget — seemed too high.
The last few tahrs on Table Mountain could get a reprieve if South African National Parks is presented with a viable plan for their capture and removal. However SANparks spokesperson Wanda Mkutshulwa warned on Friday that the plan would have to be ”watertight” as SANparks did not want to be exposed to further legal action.
Parliament’s special committee considering Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana’s report on the complaint by Deputy President Jacob Zuma against National Prosecuting Authority head Bulelani Ngcuka will finally get down to substantive discussions on Monday.
The June 30 deadline banks have to re-identify their clients could be extended, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel indicated on Friday. During an address to the National Assembly on his department’s budget vote, Manuel said he was aware that the ”Know you Customer” campaign had caused some controversy.
United Kingdom- and South Africa-listed Old Mutual plc is looking to improve the performance of its South African operations through a combination of strategies, including cost cutting in its back office and implementing more efficient systems, as well as boosting the numbers of its sales force, according to CEO Jim Sutcliffe.
Almost all the tahrs on Table Mountain have now been killed, South African National Parks chief executive David Mabunda announced on Thursday. ”With 109 Himalayan tahrs removed we estimate that the operation is 95% complete,” said Mabunda.
Swiss-based, South Africa-listed luxury goods group Richemont has outperformed market expectations for its financial year ending March 31 2004, analysts said on Thursday, reporting a 3% rise in fully diluted earnings per unit of €1,193 and boosting its dividend by 25% to €0,4 per unit.
African National Congress MP Ismail Vadi, who was elected unopposed as chairperson of the ad hoc committee on the public protector on Wednesday afternoon, said he undertakes to conduct his responsibility with humility and in a manner that will ”bring dignity” to Parliament.
Engen Petroleum, South Africa’s largest fuel retailer, has launched its Dynamic Unleaded fuel in South Africa, the latest in its range of fuels marketed under the Dynamic product line, the company announced on Wednesday. From Wednesday, Dynamic Unleaded will be available nationwide at approximately 900 Engen sites.
Sanlam, one of South Africa’s largest insurance and financial services groups, and the Professional Provident Society Insurance Company (PPS) have formally extended the agreement governing their relationship, with PPS reaffirming Sanlam as its preferred provider in its endeavour to broaden its range of products and services.
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon on Wednesday called for immediate action on Zimbabwe following the latest land grab moves by President Robert Mugabe’s regime. ”It is absolutely crucial that South Africa ends the silence of silent diplomacy. There is an urgent need for both words and action on Zimbabwe’s latest economic anarchy,” he said.
Communities in the Western Cape should get traditional knowledge royalties on rooibos tea products, provincial economic development minister Lynne Brown said on Wednesday. Brown has already promised she will lead the fight to reclaim the rooibos name from the company that has copyrighted it in the United States.
KWV Limited, South Africa’s second-largest wine and spirits producer and exporter, has concluded an agreement with a broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) consortium in the local wine industry, Phetogo Investments, for Phetogo to make a share purchase offer to acquire a 25,1% stake in the company.
South African Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota said any blurring of functions between the state arms procurement agency, Armscor, and the state arms manufacturing entity, Denel, must come to an end. He noted that he has already held preliminary discussions with the minister of public enterprises in this regard.
South Africa’s Department of Transport told MPs on Tuesday that more than 500 000 traffic accidents occur annually on the country’s roads and of these 80% are a result of driver-related offences. Furthermore, the state loses about R750-million a year in uncollected fines as only 28% of issued fines are collected.
South Africa’s Advertising Standards Authority has ruled in favour of retail group Pick ‘n Pay regarding a complaint from a member of public that the company’s Hypermarket marketing campaign was misleading by claiming Pick ‘n Pay is "always cheaper". The authority found that the "always cheaper" slogan is backed up by independent research.
A South African NGO, the Social Change Assistance Trust was on Monday placed on the shortlist for the $1-million Alcan Prize for Sustainability by The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum. Of almost 500 entries received from 79 countries around the world, only 12 organisations made the shortlist.
When he turns his telescopes towards the sun on Tuesday, Boland skywatcher Willie Koorts will be at least partly fulfilling the wishes of a long-dead astronomer. He will be observing the transit of Venus, an event so rare that no person alive today has witnessed it, and doing so from almost the same spot in his home town Wellington as an American scientific expedition in 1882.
New National Party Gauteng leader Johan Kilian has resigned from the party but says it has nothing to do with weekend talks the party held with the African National Congress. Kilian, who has been with the party for 24 years, said he is leaving politics to return to the business world.
Listed South African retailer Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon) is optimistic that it will attract good investor interest, as well as a lower price, for its second securitised debt issue from its OntheCards securitisation programme, based on its customers’ store card debt, according to CEO for group services, Mark Bower.
The ambiance at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 14th annual Africa Economic Summit, which took place in Maputo last week, was markedly more relaxed than previous gatherings in Durban, as participants and the media fell under the spell of the Mozambicans’ slower but friendly pace of life and took advantage of the city’s excellent food and nightlife.
As Venus tracks slowly across the face of the Sun on Tuesday, it may be fitting to remember one of the most unlucky astronomers in the history of the science. The Frenchman Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisiere risked death in the 18th century to travel half way across the world to observe a pair of transits of Venus.