South Africa’s ruling African National Congress named its candidates for premiers in the nine provinces on Wednesday night, after a national working committee meeting was held in the Mother City. It is the first time that candidates have only been named after the election.
The New National Party and the African National Congress held talks on Tuesday night to discuss the representation of the NNP in the Western Cape government. It is understood that the NNP are unhappy with the offer of two posts in the 11-seat Cabinet.
The jostling over the spoils of Cabinet posts in the Western Cape and possible representation for the New National Party in the national Cabinet will begin this week. The NNP on Monday went out of its way to underscore the point that there was no suggestion of any calls for its leader to resign.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille has emerged as the favourite opposition politician in South Africa, according to a Markinor survey. The survey also showed the ANC has the backing of 72,3% of registered voters.
The South African government signed the sale agreement for 75% of the state Komatiland Forest assets, which will place R396-million in the fiscus, at a ceremony in Pretoria on Wednesday. This follows the Cabinet’s announcement in December to appoint Bonheur as the preferred bidder.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Polls indicate that South Africa’s former ruling party will be lucky to get 15% in the upcoming election — down from about 38% in 1999 — in its stronghold of the Western Cape. But there was no sign of despondency in its ranks when its leader, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, took to meeting voters on the West Coast on Tuesday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
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/ 27 February 2004
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel tore into opposition parties on Friday — particularly the official opposition Democratic Alliance — for promoting populist economics that would not be sustainable in the country. Manuel argued that two million jobs have been created in the past 10 years and that is where the debate should begin.
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/ 19 February 2004
Friedrich Naumann Foundation chairperson Count Otto Lambsdorff on Wednesday questioned the Proudly South Africa campaign to promote the sale of the country’s goods to the domestic market, arguing that it was contrary to the policy of opening the country up to international markets.
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/ 17 February 2004
Manuel was urged last week by a top economist to take "the big bang" with the relaxation of foreign exchange controls when he presents the country’s national Budget on Wednesday February 18.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.
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/ 29 January 2004
South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Alec Erwin, has been tipped by an influential American journal as the favourite candidate for the director general’s post at the World Trade Organisation, which becomes vacant in September 2005. Erwin’s ministry has poured cold water on the speculation.
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/ 27 January 2004
The official opposition Democratic Alliance has reacted to what it has called newspaper speculation about the selection of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary and provincial legislature elections. The candidate list was meant to be kept under wraps until changes were made by party leader Tony Leon.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=30185">Top DA brass low on Gauteng list</a>
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/ 23 January 2004
The affair involving allegations that National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid spy should teach South Africa an important lesson, says President Thabo Mbeki in his weekly letter to the nation. He argues that forgiveness — and the end to labelling — is required.
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/ 23 January 2004
Speaking at a banquet in honour of visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, South African President Thabo Mbeki has toasted the role played by Germans in the building of the South African economy and the continuing role they are playing on the continent of Africa.
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/ 20 January 2004
The Inkatha Freedom Party and the United Democratic Movement on Tuesday slammed the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s dismissal of a complaint against the SABC, which drew the ire of opposition parties after it screened the launch of the African National Congress’s election manifesto.
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/ 19 January 2004
The government needs to review the contradictions between its stated objectives in education and reality on the ground with children of the poor being turned away from schools because they cannot pay school fees, says Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille.
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/ 16 January 2004
The bulk of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress’ supporters are unemployed while 94% of them are black, according to the results of a Markinor poll. Similarly, nearly 80% of Inkatha Freedom Party supporters are jobless. The poll was conducted among 3 500 respondents nationwide late last year and was commissioned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
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/ 15 January 2004
The official opposition has proposed a tax rebate system for both individual taxpayers and corporates to boost employment levels and spur economic growth. The Democratic Alliance’s leader, Tony Leon, introduced a "solutions at work" document on Thursday.
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/ 15 January 2004
The latest available figures on research and development in South Africa show that expenditure is slightly up, but it has not reached the government’s target of 1% of Gross Domestic Product, according to South Africa’s science and technology department.
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/ 12 January 2004
South Africa’s largest opposition party, the Inkatha Freedom Party, will launch its national election campaign in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, on Sunday January 18. The pro-free-enterprise party is expected to underscore the importance of fast-tracking privatisation of state-owned enterprises.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29555">DA eyes KZN, Western Cape</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29493">ANC kicks off election battle</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29547">SA economy ‘not well-managed'</a>
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/ 15 December 2003
South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, attending the China-Africa Cooperation Forum. The forum seeks to build common ground on ways to advance the interests of the developing world in the international political and economic system.
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/ 10 December 2003
Echoes of the controversial arms deal continue in the corridors of Parliament, with the standing committee on public accounts having handed the decision to the Speaker on possible further action against two opposition MPs. One of the MPs has given notice that he would refuse to apologise for his comments if he were called on to do so.
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/ 28 November 2003
South African President Thabo Mbeki says inappropriate rewards for top management were a concern in both the private and public sectors, but the government has no intention of intervening.
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/ 26 November 2003
President Thabo Mbeki says inappropriate rewards for top management are a concern in both the private and public sectors, but the government has no intention of intervening. "Government has neither the power nor the intention to intervene in this matter," he said.
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/ 21 November 2003
South Africa’s International Marketing Council, which has been given the task of promoting a positive international image for the country through an international marketing campaign, will spend about R50-million a year, according to Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad.
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/ 20 November 2003
The National Assembly has given the nod to 12 names recommended by the communications portfolio committee to serve on the new board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The Democratic Alliance, New National Party and Inkatha Freedom Party opposed the recommendations.
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/ 19 November 2003
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has introduced legislation in the National Assembly that provides greater flexibility for foreign corporate reorganisations. The current system of foreign taxation has "the unintended consequence of discouraging the repatriation of dividends", he said.
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/ 19 November 2003
The National Council of Provinces, the second House of the South African Parliament, on Tuesday gave the controversial National Health Bill the green light. One of the most controversial elements of the Bill is the requirement that the government regulate where private doctors can practise.
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/ 13 November 2003
Fiery SA politician Patricia de Lille, leader of the Independent Democrats, has launched an SMS-based service to keep in contact with her voters. De Lille, a former Pan Africanist Congress MP who defected to form the new party earlier this year, launched the service on Thursday.