Life expectancy in Southern Africa, the world’s hardest-hit region by Aids, has dropped to 49 and without large-scale treatment programmes it could plummet to below 35 in some countries, says a new United Nations Aids report. Food shortages hitting at least six countries are also giving Aids a ”magnifying effect”.
Retiring South African Army Chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Ramano bade the institution farewell on Tuesday, hailing its achievements and urging for its rejuvenation. Perhaps the biggest challenge the army faces is the introduction of programmes to attract young blood, he told a military parade in Pretoria.
South Africa has received approximately -million in additional United States government assistance to combat the HIV/Aids pandemic. This new injection of funding completes South Africa’s -million allocation for 2004 under the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.
The situation in Diepsloot remained tense after violence in the area on Monday, the police and members of the South African Civic Association (Sanco) said on Tuesday. "The situation is very bad for now. What I see is people running through the streets," said Nkosana Dube, the spokesperson for Sanco in Diepsloot.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118259">Rubber bullets fly in Diepsloot</a>
Leading alcoholic beverages groups Diageo, Heineken and Namibia Breweries have finally unveiled details surrounding their new South African joint venture company, which will trade under the name of brandhouse. The new company will be a formidable competitor in the local market, boasting sales of about R3-billion a year.
A lawyer acting for self-proclaimed victims of apartheid abuses will file papers with a United States court on Tuesday to dismiss a motion before it to throw out their case against a list of multinational companies. US attorney Michael Hausfeld is representing about 32 000 South Africans affiliated to an apartheid debt and reparations campaign.
Seven armed men robbed the Pick ‘n Pay Hypermarket at the Northgate Shopping Centre on Monday morning, West Rand police reported. The men held up 250 staff members at gunpoint for more than two hours. Later, two suspects were shot and injured during a shoot-out with police and seven were arrested.
The African National Congress urged the government on Monday to intervene to ensure that the majority of South Africans benefit from the country’s stabilising economy. ”Despite evidence of a stabilising economy, the majority, particularly African people, continue to suffer,” the ANC secretary general said in Johannesburg.
A member of listed financial services group Alexander Forbes, Lane Clark & Peacock LLP, has acquired Libera AG, Switzerland’s largest independent employee benefits consulting business, from Ernst & Young for a consideration of approximately 20-million Swiss francs (R98-million).
South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma has urged the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to exercise strong oversight of local governments to improve service delivery as a matter of national importance. He was speaking at an NCOP workshop in Cape Town on Monday focusing on challenges facing the council.
The way the Eastern Cape provincial government spent its health budget has significantly contributed to the health-care crisis in the province, a new book demonstrates. Key findings include that more than 81% of the provincial health department’s budget from 1996 to 2003 was not properly accounted for.
Warders at the medium-security prison and the C-Max prison in Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal, as well as warders at St Alban’s prison outside Port Elizabeth, have embarked on a strike, SABC Radio News reported on Saturday. The warders were reportedly demonstrating outside the prisons.
A liquidator appointed to investigate corruption in the liquidation industry appeared in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Friday for alleged fraud and corruption, police said. Captain Ronnie Naidoo said Enver Motala was arrested on Friday by the serious economic offences unit.
The Competition Tribunal has approved the merger between New Africa Publications and Johnnic Publishing. The transaction paves the way for Johnnic Publishing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnnic Communications, to acquire New Africa Publications, the tribunal said on Friday.
"We must congratulate Rwanda for achieving 48,8% of women representation in Parliament. This is the highest in the world. It means gender parity is no longer a dream but a reality in Africa," told Lulu Xingwana, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy, more than 1 000 women in Pretoria this week.
The South African Human Rights Commission has subpoenaed Limpopo’s provincial minister of housing, Mahwene Semenya, and Lepelle Nkumpi’s municipal manager over the eviction in May of more than 200 families from Lebowakgomo. It is alleged the families were not given adequate sewage and water facilities at their new homes.
The third assembly of African Union heads of state and government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, next week will have to pay serious attention to providing funds to enable the AU to function as it should, South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday in his weekly online newsletter, ANC Today.
The wife of Malan Moyo, one of the South Africans among the 70 suspected mercenaries being detained in Zimbabwe, died in Phalaborwa on Wednesday, a KwaZulu-Natal radio station reported on Friday. Moyo’s daughter said that they have been battling to get word of her mother’s death to her father.
Medical doctors will consider appealing against the Pretoria High Court’s dismissal on Friday of their constitutional challenge to regulations obliging them to acquire special licences to dispense medicines. Should an appeal be pursued, the process could be initiated as soon as next Monday.
An application challenging the constitutionality of regulations obliging doctors to acquire special licences to dispense medicines was dismissed with costs in the Pretoria High Court on Friday. Doctors contend that the regulations infringe on their constitutionally protected rights and those of their patients.
Doctors may appeal ruling
About 150 school children were hospitalised with suspected food poisoning after attending an event at the Dome in Randburg on Thursday, education authorities said. ”We understand from the emergency services that most of them are safe,” spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi said in the afternoon.
The New National Party on Thursday warned ”certain individuals and institutions” that they are exposing themselves, through unfounded accusations, to possible civil and criminal defamation claims. This came after two Democratic Alliance Western Cape MPLs laid charges of bribery and/or corruption against senior NNP members.
Two Democratic Alliance Western Cape MPLs on Thursday laid charges of bribery and/or corruption against members of the New National Party, including party leader and Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk. The charges relate to planning permission in exchange for donations to the NNP.
NNP calls charges ‘sewer politics’
Two NGOs working with the poor and working classes demonstrated on Thursday against their eviction by the Johannesburg Development Agency from a building in Newtown, Johannesburg. Approximately 50 people from Khanya College and the Workers’ Library demonstrated outside the old municipal compound.
The Western Cape public works and education departments may sell off some state and school properties to raise money for a school-building initiative that could cost R500-million. The provincial government is looking at alternative means of generating funds to build new schools.
Soweto’s entire road network will be tarred before the end of 2005, Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo promised on Wednesday. ”More than 300km of road surface will be upgraded in the R500-million project that the mayor identified as a city priority in his budget last week,” the Johannesburg Road Agency said.
The Chinese embassy in South Africa on Wednesday dismissed allegations that its government was involved in the shooting of a Falun Gong practitioner outside Johannesburg on Monday. But a group of Falun Gong spokespeople said the shooting is another example of the way the Chinese government persecutes them.
Ministerial intervention has finally led to the release of documents by Armscor to researchers for the Swiss National Science Foundation project on Swiss-South African military relations under apartheid. ”The requesters had to threaten Armscor with legal action,” said the director of the South African History Archives.
The possible exit of Deputy South African Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus follows "close on the heels" of the departure of Barbara Hogan as chairperson of the National Assembly finance portfolio committee, Democratic Alliance shadow finance minister Raenette Taljaard said on Wednesday.
Gun owners came under fire in the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday for the late filing of an application to have the implementation of the Firearms Control Act delayed beyond midnight. Their application was dismissed by Judge Ben du Plessis, who found there was no merit to the application.
The conservative African Christian Democratic Party has come out firing in support of a Christian picket against the Firearms Control Act outside Parliament on Wednesday. The picket was aimed at expressing opposition to the Firearms Control Act, which comes into operation at midnight on Wednesday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=117976">Gun owners ‘hold court to ransom'</a>
The Presidency has confirmed that the five-year contract of the Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Gill Marcus, expires on Wednesday. President Thabo Mbeki has consulted with Marcus about the renewal of her contract and she has indicated she would like to discuss other matters with the president regarding her future.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118008">Marcus follows Hogan exit, says DA</a>