No image available
/ 19 February 2004
The SA Communist Party (SACP) on Thursday criticised the R36 000 fine imposed on a Mpumalanga farmer convicted of killing an employee and has called on the Justice Department and the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions to appeal the decision.
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
/ 11 February 2004
"Apart from the snakes, it was great," Mpho Padi said, looking reflective. At 18 life seems huge. Especially when you’ve just had your first real contact with the bush … and the abject poverty of rural Limpopo. A group of teenagers were given a glimpse of what the tourism game is all about.
No image available
/ 6 February 2004
It was about two minutes long, some off-the-cuff comments made in a BBC domestic radio programme at six in the morning. Eventually, so inflated by spin and the media, this short broadcast became the reason the BBC lost its director general, the chairperson of its board of governors and the journalist who made the comments. How long this cull will continue is anyone’s guess. The BBC is said to be in a state of ”meltdown”.
No image available
/ 30 January 2004
South African business has become one of the 10 top investors and trading partners in Africa in less than a decade, despite the many risks and a sometimes hostile environment. Commentators insist, however, that South Africa should reciprocate by opening its markets to the continent more rapidly.
No image available
/ 25 January 2004
Leaders of all major political parties were out and about, encouraging unregistered citizens to take advantage of the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC’s) last voter registration weekend before the election. The voting stations are open from 8am to 5pm on Sunday.
No image available
/ 23 January 2004
Rain over the past few days has helped to ease the drought, but government officials and farmers say much more is needed to break its destructive grip. "The rain was very helpful," said Mike Muller, Director General in the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. "But it is not nearly enough to break the drought."
No image available
/ 20 January 2004
South Africa is not yet facing critical water shortages — but will be "in trouble" if inadequate rain falls over the next three months. The country was hit by severe dry spells in 1992/93 and 1983/84. The Weather Bureau has already declared this season’s drought the worst in 88 years.
No image available
/ 17 January 2004
President Thabo Mbeki has declared parts of six drought-stricken provinces in the country disaster areas, the Department of Provincial and Local Government said on Friday. The disaster areas are in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, the North West, the Free State and the Northern Cape.
No image available
/ 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.
No image available
/ 15 January 2004
In October 1938, the day before Halloween, in fact, Orson Welles made his legendary ”War of the Worlds” radio broadcast. Well, the manne are feeling a bit like members of the Mercury Theatre at the moment, with Oom Robert Kirby as ons eie Orson Welles. And it’s all because of our last edition of 2003.
No image available
/ 14 January 2004
The actual area South African commercial maize farmers have devoted to maize during the current 2003/04 season is expected to be 2,55-million hectares, down 6,4% from the 2,724-million hectares farmers intended to plant in November, a survey of 22 grain traders shows.
The restitution of land to those previously dispossessed of it will not result in a stoppage of agricultural production in South Africa, the Land Claims Commission said on Wednesday.
Hefer and his commission now seem like history. However, amid the dust whirling in his wake, the controversy of confidential briefings remains to be resolved.
In the interim, everyone associated with ”off-the-record” media dealings is treading on tiptoes.
South Africa’s Department of Transport has reiterated its appeal to motorists to reduce their speed on national roads in anticipation of traffic exodus at the end of the holidays, government news agency BuaNews reported on Monday.
No image available
/ 30 December 2003
South Africa’s 2003 national matriculation pass rate has improved by 4,4% to a total of 73,3%, Education Minister Kader Asmal announced on Tuesday, up from 68,9% in 2002, 61,7% in 2001 and only 48,9% in 1999. Asmal said the results ”clearly show that the tide has turned” for South Africa’s education system.
No image available
/ 24 December 2003
As the government announced additional drought relief measures on Tuesday, hopes remained dim for substantial rains in the near future. A comprehensive drought mitigation programme has been put in place following an urgent meeting called on Monday, the Ministry of Provincial and Local Government said.
No image available
/ 22 December 2003
Post-apartheid South Africa has some of the most comprehensive legislation for controlling corruption and conflicts of interest in the world. But the government’s anti-corruption campaign has suffered from a lack of leadership and a serial inability to implement the anti-graft systems that it has put in place.
No image available
/ 19 December 2003
Mpumalanga public works, road and transport MEC Steve Mabona has been cleared of allegations that he benefited from a fraudulent transaction, premier Ndaweni Mahlangu said on Thursday.
No image available
/ 15 December 2003
An estimated 10th of the country is experiencing the driest year on record, agricultural meteorologist Johan van den Berg from Enviro Vision in Bloemfontein said on Monday. Official records, being kept since 1915, show that several parts of South Africa during the past 11 months received the least rain in 88 years, he said.
No image available
/ 12 December 2003
Lemmer is amused by South African government mouthpieces who regularly lambast Australia and other countries for their ”megaphone diplomacy” towards Mad Bad Bob up north, while touting our own approach. Considering how spectacularly unsuccessful the softly, softly method has been, perhaps we should rename it ”pin-drop diplomacy”.
No image available
/ 11 December 2003
The dry spell or drought that the South African maize belt has experienced for two weeks is set to extend to four weeks with very little rain forecast in the two weeks from now until Christmas. "The chances of rainfall in the next two weeks are very, very slim," a South African Weather Service forecaster said on Thursday.
No image available
/ 9 December 2003
More than eight percent of 10 699 pupils in grade 8 to 11 who participated in a nationwide survey reported having forced someone to have sex with them. There was no significant difference in the prevalence among boys and girls, according to the first Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, which was released in Pretoria on Tuesday.
No image available
/ 5 December 2003
Faced with extinction, a small KwaZulu-Natal town has transformed itself into a wildlife reserve. The tourist industry is growing and the local population has embraced the promise of a long-term economic future. More visitors and investors already live and walk among the wildebeest and other game.
No image available
/ 28 November 2003
Last week saw the birthday of another childhood ”celebrity” in Mickey Mouse, created 75 years ago by Walt Disney. Mickey must be engraved on the subconscious of a world. But the Mickey Mouse name was also to gain a sort of acerbic other-life.
No image available
/ 26 November 2003
The Department of Labour has visited more than 250 business sites in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, Northern Cape and Western Cape as part of the nationwide blitz inspections to check on employers’ adherence to the Employment Equity Act.
No image available
/ 25 November 2003
Controversial legislation requiring school governing bodies to apply to provincial education departments for permission to give teachers extra pay or benefits was approved on Tuesday. ”We have too many cases … of ‘perks for pals’, determined only by the principal,” said Education Minister Kader Asmal.
No image available
/ 21 November 2003
South Africa’s mining empowerment legislation and the popularity of platinum has spawned a flurry of empowerment deals, the most recent of which introduced a new player in the platinum industry.
No image available
/ 19 November 2003
Former Stimela lead vocalist Ray Phiri was involved in a car accident that led to the death of a woman passenger — identified as his wife — on Tuesday night, Mpumalanga police said on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 17 November 2003
A rare new ”super” strain of tuberculosis that is costly and time-consuming to treat has been identified in South Africa’s Western Cape province, a leading scientist said on Monday. A team of scientist has found that the strain, DRF150, is resistant to almost all antibiotics used to treat tuberculosis.
No image available
/ 17 November 2003
The SA government’s proposed Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill 2004 would have far-reaching and negative impacts not only on the tobacco industry and millions of smokers, but also on social and economic conditions in the country, say British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA).
No image available
/ 13 November 2003
The two pilots who died after ejecting from their Impala jet on Wednesday have been named as Paul Andrew Martin (28), and Gert Willem Diederick Duvenhage (22). Both held the rank of lieutenant, the SA National Defence Forcesaid in a statement in Pretoria.
Fighter jet crashes into highway