No image available
/ 23 February 2004
United Kingdom- and South African-listed financial services group Old Mutual plc CEO Jim Sutcliffe has reiterated the group’s commitment to retain its 52% stake in South African banking subsidiary Nedcor, saying that the stake is not for sale and that Old Mutual is even happy to further increase its shareholding in the group.
No image available
/ 20 February 2004
President Thabo Mbeki said the 2004/05 Budget, tabled in Parliament earlier this week, takes South Africans a step closer to realising their dreams of development and prosperity. Writing in the weekly online publication ANC Today, Mbeki said the Budget has provided for increased expenditure to meet the needs of the people.
No image available
/ 20 February 2004
A R20-million hospital-sharing partnership between the Eastern Cape health department and the private sector, the first of its kind in South Africa, was launched on Friday.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
Dangerous awaiting-trial prisoners swapping identities with inmates wanted on lesser charges is one of the scenarios a pioneering correctional services programme intends to eliminate. The Department of Correctional Services is expected to start a ”tagging system” among awaiting-trial prisoners by the end of April.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
President Thabo Mbeki’s assurances to the world that a resolution to the economic crisis and political impasse in Zimbabwe is imminent are meaningless, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday. Media reports earlier on Thursday quoted Zimbabwe state radio as saying Mugabe had no plans to retire from political life.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=31473">Mugabe: ‘I’ll never be defeated'</a>
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel does not appear to have applied his mind fully before rejecting the call to scrap value-added tax (VAT) on books, Care campaign coordinator Terry Bell said on Thursday. Manuel said the case for reducing tax on magazines or coffee-table publications was not very compelling.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
A prankster working for Cape Town’s former South Peninsula municipality who put an envelope supposedly containing anthrax on a colleague’s desk was sentenced on Thursday to a fine of R2 000, or 90 days in jail.
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
Judgement has been reserved in the Cape High Court matter where an NGO is trying to overturn the government’s decision to enter into the multibillion-rand arms deal. The NGO is challenging a decision by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to enter into foreign loan agreements that finance the deal.
‘Minister Manuel lied under oath’
No image available
/ 18 February 2004
Various political parties on Wednesday reacted to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s 2004/05 Budget speech in Parliament. "The Budget showed that after several years of plenty, now the pantry is getting empty," said Pieter Mulder, head of the Freedom Front Plus.
No image available
/ 17 February 2004
South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel is likely to unveil some reductions in personal income taxes as part of the government’s 2004/05 Budget when it is released on Wednesday, but these reductions will be smaller than those in previous years, according to Old Mutual Asset Managers.
No image available
/ 17 February 2004
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel is expected to announce a rise of about 10,8% in excise duties on tobacco products — or 42 cents per pack of 20 cigarettes — when he unveils the Budget for 2004/05 in Parliament on Wednesday. He is also expected to announce substantially higher increases in excise duties on alcoholic beverages.
No image available
/ 17 February 2004
![]()
The New National Party in the Western Cape on Tuesday became the first of the party’s provincial structures to release its candidates lists for the coming elections. Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk tops both the national and provincial lists by virtue of his position as provincial leader.
No image available
/ 17 February 2004
Just 24 hours before Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel announces his 2004/05 Budget in Parliament, a United Nations-accredited NGO called in papers before the Cape High Court on Tuesday to have the government’s multibillion-rand arms deal declared null and void.
No image available
/ 16 February 2004
![]()
The Democratic Alliance on Monday accused the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) of ”brazen hypocrisy” in airing a radio advertisement for the African National Congress’s election launch in January, while refusing to accept a comparable add from the Inkatha Freedom Party.
No image available
/ 16 February 2004
The South African Budget to be presented by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday is expected to be in the region of R363-billion according to the projections in the Budget Review of 2003. Education spending is expected to remain the largest category of expenditure.
No image available
/ 16 February 2004
![]()
Two political minnows announced on Monday their coming together to contest the general elections, united in their ”fight against moral decay and godless government”. The New Labour Party and the Christian Democratic Party signed their cooperation agreement on Sunday evening, following months of negotiations.
No image available
/ 16 February 2004
![]()
President Thabo Mbeki’s ”refusal” to debate with Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon on television is a sign of growing presidential arrogance, disregard for the democratic process, and disrespect for the people, the DA said on Monday. The DA also said Mbeki is taking advantage of the calendar to elude tough questions.
No image available
/ 16 February 2004
Environment Minister Mohammed Valli Moosa has announced his intention to designate five new marine protected areas, according to his department staff at Parliament on Monday. The areas will be designated in the government gazette on Tuesday.
No image available
/ 16 February 2004
![]()
The New National Party has committed itself to building almost a quarter of a million houses by 2010 as part of a blueprint for eliminating the Western Cape’s housing backlog. The plan is contained in the party’s 92-page manifesto for the province, released on Monday by NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk.
No image available
/ 16 February 2004
The People’s Budget Campaign, representing NGOs, church groups and trade unions, has motivated for a modest increase in taxes relative to gross domestic product and an increase in state borrowing and a cancellation of the third tranche of fighter jets for the South African National Defence Force.
No image available
/ 16 February 2004
South Africa’s 2004/05 government Budget, set for release on Wednesday, should reveal a "go for growth" strategy, tolerating an increase in the Budget deficit in the coming years, according to investment bank Lehman Brothers. This expansionary fiscal policy could prove to be crucial to sustain economic growth in 2004 and beyond.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=31237">Budget could bring positive surprise</a>
No image available
/ 16 February 2004
An off-duty policeman was shot and killed while he was visiting his family in Khayelitsha in Cape Town on Saturday, Western Cape police said on Sunday. Inspector Elliot Sinyangana said Constable Siyabulela Leon Mcengwa (27) was killed when several shots were fired at him around 7.15pm. He was hit in the head and died at the scene.
No image available
/ 15 February 2004
![]()
The Democratic Alliance list of candidates for the 2004 election, to be contested on April 14, holds some surprises and a few predictable placements. DA leader Tony Leon predictably heads the Gauteng national list, followed by sitting MPs Ian Davidson, Richard Ntuli, Janet Semple and Chief Whip Douglas Gibson.
No image available
/ 12 February 2004
All eyes in South Africa are on Hollywood’s Oscar favourite Charlize Theron — even in Parliament, it was reported on Thursday. Parliament’s National Council of Provinces adopted a motion asking that Theron, who stars as a serial killer in the film Monster, to speak ”a little Afrikaans” should she collect an Oscar award this year for her role.
No image available
/ 12 February 2004
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>The Democratic Alliance on Thursday accused the government of using drought aid to buy the votes of farm workers. "The ANC [African National Congress] government’s ‘drought assistance’ to farm workers who still receive salaries and haven’t lost their jobs amounts to buying votes," a DA agriculture spokesperson said.
No image available
/ 12 February 2004
Kumba Resources is missing out on the rapid expansion of demand for iron ore from commodity behemoth China due to South Africa’s rail and port infrastructure not keeping pace, says Kumba CEO Dr Con Fauconnier. As a result, Kumba’s competitors that can more easily raise output are increasing their share of iron ore exports to China.
No image available
/ 12 February 2004
In a windswept but joyous ceremony, former South African president Nelson Mandela on Wednesday handed over symbolic keys to the first two homeowners to resettle in Cape Town’s District Six. Ebrahim Murat (87) and Dan Ndzabela (82) will be the first of an estimated 4 000 homeowners to resettle in the area over the next 36 months.
No image available
/ 12 February 2004
The African National Congress in the Western Cape has won Wednesday’s ward 42 by-election in Guguletu with an 86% majority. The Independent Electoral Commission spokesperson, Courtney Sampson, confirmed the result on Thursday morning. The only other party that contested the poll was the Pan Africanist Congress.
No image available
/ 11 February 2004
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>South African President Thabo Mbeki told Parliament on Wednesday afternoon that the upcoming April election will be a test of whether doomsday theories about the failure of the economy are true. Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon on Monday said for millions "life [in South Africa] is actually worse" than in 1994.
No image available
/ 11 February 2004
South African Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Wednesday gave the strongest hint that he was unlikely to be reappointed to President Thabo Mbeki’s government after the national election in April. "Should I leave my department, as is likely, I am now confident that it has adequate administrative leadership and a man of integrity at its stewardship," said the minister.
No image available
/ 11 February 2004
![]()
The Cape High Court on Tuesday reserved judgement in an urgent application launched by Nicro to secure voting rights for prison inmates who were jailed without the option of a fine. Nicro, the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders, took the case to court on behalf of all such prisoners.
No image available
/ 11 February 2004
There is likely to be continued competition among the world’s major gold players for the remaining listed quality bullion assets, says world number-four gold miner Gold Fields’s director of international operations John Munro. During the past decade global gold mining has seen consolidation that has left about six major producers/