In his New Year’s message, President Thabo Mbeki has taken note of South Africa’s good economic performance in the past year and says the country has established itself "as one of the best-performing economies in the world". "We are therefore well set to achieve new successes in the new year," he said.
Supermodel Kate Moss — whose career was severely dented after news reports claimed she was a regular user of cocaine — is in Cape Town, media reports said on Friday. But the slinky model didn’t appear to be the world’s happiest catwalk queen as she verbally attacked photograhers who approached her for a picture at a hotel in the city on Wednesday.
Tsunami survivors sobbed and broke down when they met their families at Johannesburg International airport on Wednesday after arriving on a mercy flight from Phuket, Thailand — and praised two young South Africans who coordinated the rescue effort. Meanwhile, the number of people killed in Sunday’s earthquake and tsunamis neared 81Â 000.
The retail price of petrol will decrease by up to 52 cents per litre from next week Wednesday, the Department of Minerals and Energy has announced in a statement. The department said on Wednesday the retail price of 97 Octane unleaded petrol will decrease by 52 cents and the wholesale price of diesel with 0,05% sulphur by 39 cents.
The City of Cape Town is set to impose stricter water restrictions on residents, effective from New Year’s Day, but has stopped short of moving to level-three restrictions, which would have seen the use of hosepipes for watering gardens banned completely.
The battle over the government’s medicine pricing regulations will almost certainly end up on Constitution Hill. But whatever the highest court in the land decides about dispensing fees and single exit prices, the legal community will be watching for clues to the state of relations between the executive and the judiciary.
Police on Thursday morning seized every last examination script written by this year’s Mpumalanga matrics as part of an investigation into suspected exam fraud in the province. ”We seized the scripts of all pupils, in all subjects in all schools in the province,” said police spokesperson Superintendent Izak van Zyl.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille opened her personal bank account records to members of the media on Thursday to refute claims by former ID Western Cape leader Lennit Max that she pocketed about R400 000 meant for party coffers. De Lille has rejected Max’s allegations, saying the ID is very open and transparent.
A giant billboard in Johannesburg is promoting the Homecoming Revolution, a campaign that aims to persuade South Africans who are living abroad to return to their country, and help rebuild it. The initiative has particular resonance at a time of the year when absence does not necessarily make the heart grow fonder.
Two more young girls have been rescued from being sold for sex, and four people have been arrested, Gauteng police said on Thursday. The girls were lured into a child-prostitution ring after they ran away from an orphanage in Johannesburg, said Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.
South African insurance assessors are counting the costs of the damage caused by the pre-Christmas deluge that swept across the drought-ravaged southern Cape on Wednesday, flooding towns, cutting power supplies and washing away roads. Santam said on Thursday that early indications are for a ”catastrophe” rating.
Attempts by the Department of Health to prosecute pharmacists who revert to the old pricing of medicines will amount to a vexatious prosecution and pharmacists will be entitled to sue the state for civil damages, says attorney Anthony Norton, representing the parties in favour of scrapping of the government’s medicine-pricing regulations.
Seven gunmen robbed the South African Revenue Service’s customs offices in Durban on Thursday, escaping with R70 000 in cash, the service said. Staff members who had been held up in the cash hall were being treated for shock. Staff and members of the public took down the registration numbers of the two getaway vehicles.
Power will be restored by Christmas Eve in the district of Piet Retief after a substation was severely damaged by an explosion and fire on Wednesday night, Eskom spokesperson Sithembele Tshwete said on Thursday. Engineers from Eskom and the Piet Retief municipality are investigating the cause of the explosion.
The Department of Health has filed notice with the Constitutional Court to appeal against a judgement by the Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal annulling the government’s new medicine-pricing regulations. The appeal effectively suspends the Supreme Court of Appeal judgement passed on Tuesday.
After three weeks of musing, the Department of Home Affairs has decided to approach the Constitutional Court about legalising gay marriages. ”We are filing our appeal today [Wednesday]. We are a very principled department and believe we cannot pre-empt the process,” said departmental spokesperson Nkosana Sibuyi.
The Department of Health will strengthen efforts to educate consumers and alert them of ”dubious” weight-loss products, the department announced on Wednesday. ”Weight-loss products are of special concern to the department in that to date … there is no existing policy framework for regulation,” a departmental spokesperson said.
Year-on-year consumer inflation less mortgage costs (CPIX) rose to 4,6% last month from 4,2% in October, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on Wednesday. The headline inflation rate for November — the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the historical metropolitan area — was 3,7%.
The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday called the asset forfeiture unit’s reported intention to confiscate vehicles of drivers caught travelling at 30kph over the speed limit ”disproportionate”. ”The possibly unintended consequences of such confiscations should not punish innocent people, the DA said in a statement.
Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Tuesday postponed the deportation of about 2 000 illegal immigrants over the festive period. Mapisa-Nqakula made the announcement during a visit to the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp on the West Rand.
Another youth has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 70-year-old Heidelberg farmer, East Rand police said on Wednesday. Superintendent Andy Pieke said the 16-year-old boy was arrested on Tuesday in the Ramaphosa squatter camp near Boksburg. He allegedly was in possession of a stolen television set.
Anglo Platinum’s corporate communications group manager, Mike Mtakati; his wife, Nonhlanhla; and his four children were killed in a road accident early on Monday morning. Their nieces, travelling with them, also died in the accident, according to a statement by Anglo Platinum on Tuesday.
The United South African Pharmacies, an industry body representing more than 1Â 200 community pharmacies, says Monday’s Supreme Court of Appeal decision to set aside the government’s medicine-pricing regulations provides an opportunity for pharmacies to adopt a pricing model acceptable to all role players.
The Department of Health has rejected media speculation that it is backtracking on its intention to appeal in the Constitutional Court a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal voiding its medicine-pricing regulations. On Monday, the Department of Health gave notice it intends to take its fight further to maintain the regulations.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177004">’The judgement was wrong'</a>
Media fuss about admission tests for universities is unfounded, as the minister of education and the universities are not in disagreement on the matter, the ministry said on Monday. ”It is highly regrettable that certain political parties have chosen to exploit the matter for petty point-scoring,” said ministry spokesperson Rob Turrell.
Police on Tuesday arrested four suspects who allegedly killed a Heidelberg farmer by dragging him behind his own vehicle with a rope tied round his neck, spokesperson Superintendent Andy Pieke said. The body of Joaquim Homem de Gouveia (70) was found on December 18 on a deserted area of the farm.
The Department of Health said on Monday it intends to take its fight further to maintain controversial medicine-pricing regulations, following the Supreme Court of Appeal’s voiding of the regulations. The court found the fixed dispensing fees are inappropriate as they fail to consider the viability of the dispensing industry.
The fuel price is expected to drop by 45 cents a litre from January 5, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Monday. The department attributed the decrease to a drop in international crude oil and refined petroleum products during the fuel-price review period of November 26 to December 13.
Gifts not distributed during former president Nelson Mandela’s annual Christmas party will be handed out to pre-schools early in 2005, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund announced on Monday. The party was called off in the Eastern Cape on Sunday after ”shuffling and pushing” among the 76 000-strong crowd.
A man convicted on a rape charge walked out of custody in Durban on Monday on bail of R50, after serving three years of a 10-year sentence. This followed the admission by his 19-year-old step-niece, who was the alleged rape victim, that her evidence had been a lie, his lawyer, Vassist Sewpal, said.
The Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa welcomed a Supreme Court of Appeal judgement on Monday that set aside government medicine-pricing regulations. ”What the judgement means in effect is that the pricing regulations are no longer in operation,” spokesperson Lorraine Osman said.
The youth league of the trade union Solidarity launched a campaign from behind the bars of an animal enclosure at the Pretoria Zoo on Monday to exempt young people from affirmative-action policies. ”We agree with the concept of affirmative action, but the way it is being implemented is incorrect,” said a Solidarity spokesperson.