South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni on Thursday emphasised that his concerns about conspicuous consumption did not suggest he meant that the economy was overheating. He said his comments that people find themselves financially overcommitted did not mean "that we are saying that the economy is overheating".
South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni said on Thursday that although things looked good at present, he warned of danger signs in the economy, which could signal "some major inflationary consequences down the road". Speaking to the Parliamentary finance portfolio committee, the governor said while "things generally look good … there are lots of dangers".
South African clothing manufacturers and designers should concentrate on producing high quality, "distinctively South African" clothing that could capture niche markets that were not in direct competition with the efficient Chinese, Free Market Foundation director Eustace Davie and economist Jasson Urbach have argued.
The recently announced amnesty for small business to regularise its tax affairs does not open the door to those who have profited from criminal activities, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel told MPs on Tuesday. He was speaking in a debate in the National Assembly on legislation to provide for the tax amnesty.
At no time has Standard Bank had any knowledge of — or "to the best of its knowledge" been party to — any unlawful actions of a fund administrator that has engaged the bank to provide the benefits of bulking by means of its cash-management service, MPs were told on Tuesday.
Health for all is one of the central goals of South Africa’s reconstruction and development, says South African President Thabo Mbeki, who on Friday indicated that South Africa is putting too few resources into the development of sport, which is currently in the doldrums on the international stage.
President Thabo Mbeki is "not a dictator", but there is no way to hide the dissent within his government over leadership issues, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said it is unfortunate that Mbeki is head of state, government and his political party.
South Africa’s foreign arrivals have jumped from less than one million annual foreign arrivals in 1990 to 7,3-million in 2005, said Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk. Speaking in his Budget vote on Tuesday, the minister noted that there was "little doubt as to why tourism has been identified as one of the immediate priority sectors".
South African President Thabo Mbeki has underscored the World Economic Forum on Africa’s focus on developing agriculture to absorb unemployment and fight poverty on the continent. Speaking in a plenary session on Friday, he said the central issue confronting Africa was job creation.
Internal trade barriers are "not the issue" as far as promoting business growth in Africa is concerned but rather poor communication between member states, says a top delegate and trustee of the newly established African Investment Climate Facility, Ugandan businessman William Kalema.
The African Investment Climate Facility (ICF), which is a public-private partnership aimed at making Africa a better place to do business by removing obstacles to domestic and foreign investment, has been widely hailed as an instrument which will work, government and business leaders told the World Economic Forum on Thursday.
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has defended the high revenue overruns of the state saying it was natural in an environment of strong growth, high corporate profits and more money being about. He was present at the Finance Portfolio committee hearing on Tuesday with the South African Revenue Service — which has reported strong revenue growth for some years.
The number of South African companies doing business in Africa has more than doubled since 1994, Minster of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told MPs on Monday. She noted that the figures were drawn from <i>Who Owns Whom</i> and the South African Institute of International Affairs.
The battle for control of Cape Town goes to the streets of Tafelsig — a poor coloured suburb of Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats — in less than a fortnight in what is becoming a contest between mayor Helen Zille and the Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille. Although the two are not candidates in the June 7 municipal by-election, both parties are investing heavily in the election.
South Africa will be playing a leading part in building an affordable broadband network for the continent, Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri has told parliamentarians. She said the initiative to build the network involves in the initial stages 22 countries in Southern and East Africa.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille has come out firing against the Democratic Alliance over what she describes as its "hypocrisy", by entering into coalitions with its arch-rival African National Congress in towns "all over the Western Cape". De Lille has been sparring with the DA after it accused her of lying.
Recent global events, including high costs of imported oil, have necessitated a review of South Africa’s planned liberalisation of the petroleum sector, outgoing Minister of Minerals and Energy Lindiwe Hendricks said on Thursday. The minister said that the impact of the increases could result in the slowing down of global economic growth.
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has taken a cautious stance on what he termed growing imbalances in world markets, noting that South Africa’s rand currency saw "a lot of movement" in one day on Monday. He was addressing the National Assembly finance portfolio committee during the National Treasury budget vote briefing.
South Africa’s indigenous people who are yearning for land are "running out of patience" and the return of the land to those dispossessed should be accelerated, an African National Congress select committee chairperson said in the policy debate on agriculture and land affairs on Friday.
Cabinet has backed Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils over allegations by the African National Congress Youth League that he may have had an underhanded role in the rape trial against former deputy president Jacob Zuma. The Cabinet issued the statement on Wednesday saying it rejected "insinuations" that any member of the executive or employee of the state may have been involved in illegal "underhand activities … leading up to the trial".
A generic performance contract for municipal managers will be unveiled on May 30 and all their performance contracts must be renegotiated within the next six weeks, says Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi. The minister rejected complaints that some municipal managers were earning packages in excess of ministers "or even the president" — that were over R1-million a year.
South African Airways (SAA) was likely to report its financials as a separate company for the 2006/07 financial year and its separation from its parent company Transnet was well under way, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Tuesday.
Three opposition parties are to hold a meeting at Parliament this afternoon to protest against being excluded from the parliamentary programme on Monday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Constitution. President Thabo Mbeki is to address a joint sitting of Parliament at 2.15pm on Monday.
Constitution Day, May 8, must be a day of celebration — a red-letter day — for South Africa because what it represents took 53 years to achieve, says South African President Thabo Mbeki. This was the entrenchment of the concept of self-determination.
Law enforcement agencies must act far more aggressively enforce the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, which makes it an offence to belong to a criminal gang and recruit others into a gang, official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said after visiting Cape Town’s gang heartland of Hanover Park.
The Department of Home Affairs has slammed the statements of a former senior official who described the department as suffering from "a national crisis" over the issuing of passports. It has also rejected calls made for the resignation of Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and her deputy.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has appeared to endorse the notion of collective guilt for apartheid in comments made about whites, says South Africa’s leader of the opposition. Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said in his regular Friday column, <i>SA Today</i>, that Tutu is, indeed, "no racial nationalist".
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/262374/vote-box_blue.gif" align=left>The African National Congress and the Independent Democrats are keeping mum on an apparent deal that has been struck with a third smaller party for control of the Cape Town metropolitan council, according to the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/262374/vote-box_blue.gif" align=left>Official opposition Democratic Alliance leader, Tony Leon, held out the olive branch to Independent Democrats (ID) leader Patricia de Lille. The DA leader said party was willing, on a case-by-case basis, to enter into opposition coalitions or to participate in minority governments in municipal councils.
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/ 22 February 2006
A total of 1,8-million, or 39%, of workers in South Africa’s six biggest cities travel to work in a motor car, according to Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe. He has warned that a system of reducing single-occupant car use is on the cards and said a travel-demand management strategy is "still being developed".
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/ 15 February 2006
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has allocated R580-million for the development of the pebble-bed modular reactor for the 2006/07 financial year. In the Budget review released on Wednesday, the minister said that the allocation will be made to the Department of Public Enterprises.
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/ 15 February 2006
Spending on social services remains the key component of South Africa’s Budget, rising from R229,8-billion in 2005/06 to R262-billion in 2006/07. Education remains the biggest consolidated Budget item at R110,3-billion in the 2008/09 estimates. Education received R83,5-billion in 2005/06.