With the world marking International Women’s Day this week, women in South Africa might find themselves asking what benefits 10 years of democracy have brought them — especially in the important area of reproductive health. The country still faces problems relating to abortions, prophylactics and access to health care.
The National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) on Monday rejected claims made by the Democratic Alliance regarding South African arms sales to Haiti. ”Accusations of impropriety by the DA’s [federal council chairperson] Mr James Selfe, as reported in the press, are simply untrue,” an NCACC statement said.
DA calls for arms shipment details
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is in the process of launching litigation against the government, TAC national chairperson Zackie Achmat said on Monday. Achmat said the TAC wants an urgent resolution on government procurement policy for Aids medicines.
W Cape extends Aids treatment
The Western Cape is to extend its anti-retroviral treatment to include every child under 14 who needs it, Premier Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Monday. The province is acknowledged as having one of South Africa’s most effective treatment programmes.
The Democratic Alliance is using the Promotion of Access to Information Act to ”get to the bottom of the Haiti arms shipment fiasco”, it said on Monday. On Sunday, Minister of Education and National Conventional Arms Control Committee chairperson Kader Asmal said the shipment left South Africa with the full consent of the committee.
The sole survivor in the Sizzlers gay massage-parlour massacre on Monday told the Cape High Court that he and those who died were promised they would not be killed. Before Judge Nathan Erasmus and two assessors are Victoria and Alfred Waterfront waiter Adam Roy Woest and taxi operator Trevor Bazil Theys.
Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa has promised to speed up the issuing of valid taxi permits after facing a crowd of protesting taxi drivers in Johannesburg on Monday. In the meantime, those with temporary permits would not have their vehicles impounded except when they are found to be unroadworthy.
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The long-running strike by airport baggage handlers continued on Monday while the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) considered a revised pay offer. Equity this weekend made its sixth revised offer over pay and conditions, which Satawu had taken to its membership for consideration.
Several thousand National Taxi Alliance members have converged on the offices of Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa, reportedly demanding the sacking of provincial minister of transport Khabisi Mosunkutu. Police said about 5Â 000 protesters marched to Shilowa’s offices in Johannesburg.
South African Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana has warned farmers not to threaten their workers with retrenchment in the wake of the severe drought that has negatively affected the farming sector in most parts of the country. "The law does not allow farmers to retrench workers at their whim," the minister said.
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.
Urgent action is needed halt the humanitarian crisis caused by drought and Aids in the Southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho, a United Nations official said on Friday. In February, the government of Lesotho had declared a food emergency when it became clear that the harvest would cover only 10% of food requirements.
Leaders and supporters of rival political parties put aside their differences on Friday for the opening of a refurbished rural high school in the village of KwaNxamalala in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Thousands of children, their parents and villagers walked long distances to the Mnyakanya secondary school opening.
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.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota has denied that a South African Air Force (SAAF) aircraft, or one chartered by the SAAF, is in Haiti. Lekota was responding to a letter by the Democratic Alliance’s James Selfe on Thursday, asking him to confirm or deny that the South African National Defence Force currently has aircraft in Haiti.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>The next government needs to put more money into further education, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. Visiting Tshwane North College’s Mamelodi campus outside Pretoria, Mbeki braved the driving rain to meet the staff and students as part of the African National Congress’s election campaign.
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Not all prisoners are happy about the Constitutional Court’s decision to allow them to vote in the April 14 election, the Department of Correctional Services said on Thursday. ”There are quite a number of inmates who are there under different names to those which they are known outside,” a spokesperson said.
Special Report: Elections 2004
Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (Ecaar) says it intends to challenge Thursday’s Cape High Court dismissal with costs of its bid to have South Africa’s multibillion-rand arms deal scrapped. ”Obviously we’re disappointed,” said Ecaar spokesperson Terry Crawford-Browne.
Manuel hails failure of application
Johan van Zyl, CEO of Sanlam Limited, South Africa’s second-largest financial services group, says the outlook for the country’s insurance industry in 2004 is a positive one, and he is expecting an improvement in performance from Sanlam going forward.
The African National Congress has reacted sharply to demands by the Landless People’s Movement in the Eastern Cape to either give it land, or see farms in the region occupied forcefully on election day. The ruling party said on Thursday it will not tolerate hooliganism aimed at misleading people and creating chaos and discord.
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All political parties contesting the April 14 election have been allocated a free political advertisement and party election broadcast (PEB) on the SABC’s radio stations. The parties will be given 132 PEB slots from March 9 to April 10, each one for a two-minute recorded message.
Special Report: Elections 2004
Revised terms of reference for the ombudsman for banking services (OBS) were unveiled in Johannesburg on Thursday. The terms outline the OBS’s principles, powers and duties. The OBS exists to provide individual and small-business bank customers with a fair, quick and effective dispute resolution process, free of charge.
The New National Party on Thursday criticised Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon for his latest stance on the death penalty, saying his opportunism knows no end. ”He knows full well that the DA as a party does not support the death penalty,” NNP secretary general Daryl Swanepoel said in a statement.
The South African government has reiterated its concern about events in Haiti and the ousting of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The government is seriously concerned at the manner in which Aristide was forced to resign, as it was effectively a coup d’état, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The South African Police Service refuted on Wednesday statements by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that the country is one of the largest cannabis (dagga) producers in Africa. ”How can this be when Morocco has 133Â 000ha of dagga and we only have 1Â 200ha?” asked a narcotics police officer.
The increase in the number of deaths on the population register is an indictment of government’s handling of the Aids pandemic, the United Democratic Movement and Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. The number of deaths on the register rose by 68% over the past six years to 457Â 000 in 2003.
The patience of the poor should not be taken for granted, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said at a business meeting on Wednesday. Manuel told his audience they are privileged. Part of that privilege is the fact that poor South Africans are patient and have placed their trust in a better future.
A senior member of the London Metropolitan Police Service (LPMS) will assist South Africa in fighting corruption within its own police service, LPMS commissioner Sir John Stevens said on Wednesday. A British detective inspector will be seconded to the Independent Complaints Directorate for a year.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday questioned the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s motives in declining to "take the lead" in organising the series of election debates between President Thabo Mbeki and DA leader Tony Leon as requested.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
In January, South African media estimated 1Â 500 former soldiers and police officers were operating in Iraq, in defiance of legislation forbidding the practice. Most are said to be members of former elite units, disbanded following the end of apartheid, their skills no longer required in the new South Africa.
Former security policeman Johannes ”Slang” van Zyl arrived at the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for an appearance in connection with the murder of three anti-apartheid activists known as the Pebco Three in 1985, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
A virtual blitz of worms is descending on the internet, report antivirus software vendors. In the past four days, six new variants of the mass-mailing Bagle worm and two new variants of the Netsky worm have been spotted. One of the new Netsky variants, Netsky.D, is described as the worst new worm to emerge since Friday.