Twenty-seven facilities had met the basic requirements for accreditation to provide quality care for Aids patients, the national Department of Health has announced. The 27 facilities will begin admitting patients and performing HIV testing and medical examinations.
The saga of Mpumalanga public works minister Steve Mabona intensified this week when the Scorpions submitted a long-awaited charge sheet in the Pretoria Regional Court against Mabona’s former head of department, William Mthombothi. Mthombothi was arrested and charged with fraud by the Scorpions last November.
How healthy is South Africa’s public health system? And how big are the gaps between promises and practice? We visit the provinces to determine South Africa’s real state of health. This week the <i>M&G</i> looks at Limpopo, the most northerly of South Africa’s nine provinces, where the extreme poverty of the local inhabitants is constrasted starkly with world-famous luxury game lodges.
The Karoo dorp of Beaufort West is a curious mix. It is the birthplace of heart surgeon Christiaan Barnard and has a museum in his honour. It is the place where anti-apartheid activists downed a helicopter in the 1980s. Unemployment stands at an estimated 60% among the about 60Â 000 Central Karoo residents. Taking the Central Karoo from bust to boom needs more jobs that will stay.
![]()
Ten percent to 12% of the vote — that is what Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille predicts her party will get in next month’s general election. The fiery party leader, called the one-woman-show by many of her opponents, on Tuesday introduced her provincial leaders and premier’s candidates to the media.
Special Report: Elections 2004
![]()
The African National Congress won six of nine municipal by-elections held on Wednesday — just four weeks before the national election for provincial and national government on April 14. Two of the seats went to the ANC, two were won by the official opposition Democratic Alliance and one by the Inkatha Freedom Party.
Special Report: Elections 2004
In order to run the African National Congress’s Vision 2004 election manifesto, computer users will first have to install a version of Microsoft’s popular operating programme that has been specially designed for South Africa. The new version is called Shack Windows and is totally compatible with all standard computer systems. Copies may be pirated from the Independent Electoral Commission website.
The Mail & Guardian has again proved its worth as South Africa’s top newspaper by scooping all the nominations in the investigative journalism category of the Mondi Newspaper Awards 2003. The nominations were announced on Tuesday.
![]()
President Thabo Mbeki, on his Mpumalanga election trail on Saturday, dismissed speculation that he would seek to change the Constitution in order to have a third term in office, SABC television reports.
Elections 2004
About 138 people, most of them illegal immigrants, were arrested during an anti-crime operation in Johannesburg on Friday morning, police reported. Inspector Dennis Adriao said at least 130 of those detained were illegal immigrants. About 30 of these were identified as suspects in cases including rape, armed robbery and murder.
No image available
/ 28 February 2004
![]()
The name of former African National Congress Women’s League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela does not appear on the party’s list of candidates for Parliament, released on Friday. Former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni, convicted of fraud last year, is also not on the list.
Elections 2004 special report
No image available
/ 20 February 2004
The government will be hard pressed to meet its land restitution deadline of 2005 with the Cinderella budget Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel awarded to the Department of Land Affairs, a land reform expert told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>.
Ruth Hall, from the Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape, called the allocation disappointing.
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.