<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Nine political parties out of the 21 parties that contested Wednesday’s election at a national level are likely to be represented in Parliament. The African National Congress was on Thursday afternoon heading towards a pivotal 70%, followed by the incumbent official opposition Democratic Alliance at about 15%.
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The Independent Democrats, contesting its first election on Wednesday, surpassed the long-established New National Party in early poll counts on Thursday morning. By mid-morning, the ID had garnered 123 292 votes or 2,24% of the votes counted, putting them in fourth place. The NNP was in fifth place with 121 928 votes, or 2,21%.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Initial results from South Africa’s national election released early on Thursday morning indicated that the African National Congress (ANC) was heading for an unsurprising victory of near two-thirds of the vote, with 63,77%. Working off a low base of votes counted at 16%, the official opposition Democratic Alliance, with 19,75%, appears to be faring far more strongly than in the 1999 national election.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Although long queues were reported across the country on Wednesday morning, South Africa’s third general elections got off to a smooth start, with no major logistical problems reported, says Independent Electoral Commission chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam.
The United States government has committed R19-million to fund a South African satellite health channel teaching about the HIV/Aids pandemic, a US development agency has announced. The channel is to be launched late this year and it is hoped the channel will broadcast to 4 000 public health institutions around the country.
More resources will be released to address a R10-billion backlog to improve the public health-care infrastructure, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Thursday. She was speaking at the opening of the Colesberg hospital in the Northern Cape.
<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.
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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.
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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
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has condemned employers who allegedly threatened and assaulted labour inspectors when they conducted inspections at their businesses. This comes after three inspectors were attacked by employers in Pretoria and the Northern Cape last week.
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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
A third man has been arrested in connection with an incident outside former president Nelson Mandela’s home on Tuesday in which a disgruntled former soldier was shot dead, police said on Wednesday afternoon. The man was arrested in Knysna in the Western Cape around 10pm on Tuesday, according to police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Selby Bokaba.
The police are to shut down a Cape Town employment agency following a visit on Friday by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana, his department said. a spokesperson Snuki Zikalala said Excellence Domestic Employment had been operating illegally for the past five years.
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/ 28 February 2004
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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
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/ 24 February 2004
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The Freedom Front Plus and Cape People’s Congress have agreed on a cooperation strategy for the April 14 general election, the two parties announced on Tuesday. The leaders of the two parties said their aim is to prevent the African National Congress gaining a two-thirds majority in the election.
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/ 19 February 2004
The next Cabinet should include many new faces, despite President Thabo Mbeki’s often conservative approach to reshuffles, political analysts predicted this week. They forecast a big migration from the provinces, with Limpopo Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi leading the way.
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/ 16 February 2004
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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.
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/ 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.
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/ 15 February 2004
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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.
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/ 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.
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/ 11 February 2004
Global resources group Anglo American (Anglo) has embraced black economic empowerment in South Africa, recently appointed Anglo deputy company executive in South Africa Lazarus Zim said an interview. Black empowerment is one of the South African government’s key goals.
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/ 5 February 2004
Although South Africa has scaled up social spending over the past decade, considerable additional funding is needed to improve delivery to the country’s rural poor, a new study has found. One of the key challenges is beefing up service delivery in rural communities such as providing water and electricity.
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/ 2 February 2004
Over 300 000 legal abortions have been performed since the practice was legalised seven years ago, the Christian Democratic Party (CDP) said at an anti-abortion prayer vigil in Braamfontein on Sunday. The vigil was part of countrywide protests against South Africa’s abortion laws.
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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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/ 19 January 2004
African National Congress chairperson Mosiua Lekota let slip on Sunday that the national elections are to be held in April. ”Let us go to the elections in April.” Lekota told a crowd of about 15 000 people at the Northern Cape launch of his party’s election manifesto in Kimberley.
IFP: SA needs a democratic alternative
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/ 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.
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/ 17 January 2004
There is a strong suspicion that a decomposed body police found on the Tradouw Pass, near Barrydale in the Western Cape, is that of missing Dutch exchange student Marleen Konings, police said on Friday. A 46-year-old man has been taken into custody, but not formally charged with Konings’ murder.
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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.
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.
South Africans are less apprehensive about the year ahead than they were a year ago, with only one in every four South Africans (24%) saying that 2004 would be worse than 2003, according to a Markinor. A further 32% said that 2004 would be the same as 2003, and 38% thought the New Year would bring them better things.
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/ 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.
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/ 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.