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/ 28 January 2004
One of South Africa’s largest medical aid administrators, Medscheme, has welcomed proposals for restructuring the public service’s medical-aid schemes. A proposed new public-service medical-aid scheme would bring a welcome one million new medical-aid patients into the industry.
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/ 28 January 2004
The Boeremag High Court treason trial was once again delayed on Thursday to enable defence counsel to study possible further evidence. Police spy Johan Smit revealed, during cross-examination, that police had secretly taped some of the Boeremag meetings at which a coup plot was allegedly discussed.
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/ 28 January 2004
Disgruntled parents and their children gathered in front of the Western Cape provincial legislature on Wednesday to express their dissatisfaction with provincial education minister Andre Gaum and his ”disregard for pupils on the Cape Flats”. Allegedly no classes have taken place this year at Norwood Central Primary School in Elsies River.
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/ 27 January 2004
South Africans on Tuesday noted Charlize Theron’s latest success as she was nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role as a serial killer in Monster — but some couldn’t resist raking up the dark past of the former model who left the country a traumatised teenager.
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/ 27 January 2004
Last week South African President Thabo Mbeki said Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party had agreed to enter into formal talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. This may not have been true. ”Why should we be talking to them? We do not recognise them as anything,” said a Zanu-PF MP.
Mugabe confirms trip to SA
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/ 27 January 2004
The Aids Law Project has slammed suggestions that the transmission of HIV/Aids be made a crime, saying that such a move would create the dangerous impression that carriers of the virus are alone responsible for ensuring safe sex. ”It is very unrealistic to believe that a draconian law such as this will get people to test [for Aids],” it said.
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/ 27 January 2004
The first public verbal battles in South Africa’s election campaign between the traditional parties of the white minority have focused not on domestic economic policies or development issues — but on the perennial problem of neighbouring Zimbabwe.
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/ 27 January 2004
The official opposition Democratic Alliance has reacted to what it has called newspaper speculation about the selection of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary and provincial legislature elections. The candidate list was meant to be kept under wraps until changes were made by party leader Tony Leon.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=30185">Top DA brass low on Gauteng list</a>
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/ 26 January 2004
The provisional Gauteng province list for South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance has placed front-benchers in the National Assembly, including shadow finance minister Raenette Taljaard, too low to be re-elected. DA leader Tony Leon is at the top of the list, with Gauteng leader Ian Davidson at number two.
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/ 26 January 2004
Millions of South Africans stand to gain from proposals aimed at extending the benefits of medical aid schemes, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Monday. ”What we seek to do is ensure that there is equity and fairness in the health care system in South Africa,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.
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/ 26 January 2004
Police spy Johan Smit revealed for the first time on Monday that police had made secret tape recordings of several Boeremag meetings at which an alleged coup plot were discussed. Prosecutor Paul Fick, however, said the state could not use the tapes as evidence as they were not audible.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=30163">Boeremag back in court</a>
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/ 26 January 2004
The man at the steering wheel of the National Electricity Regulator, Dr Xolani Mkhwanazi, has asked not to have his contract renewed. The nuclear physicist, who has also spent time at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, has not explained his decision to leave the company he has headed since 1999.
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/ 26 January 2004
The Boeremag treason trial resumed on Monday on a lighter note after a delay of more than two months when one of the accused asked for his discharge because of an administrative bungle about his identity. The cross-examination of a state witness, police spy Johannes Conrad Smit, resumed on Monday.
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/ 23 January 2004
The affair involving allegations that National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid spy should teach South Africa an important lesson, says President Thabo Mbeki in his weekly letter to the nation. He argues that forgiveness — and the end to labelling — is required.
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/ 23 January 2004
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Friday wrapped up his visit to South Africa with a tour of a health centre named after a black activist and lunch at a German-run factory. President Thabo Mbeki applauded Schroeder’s ”concern to support our continent to meet its political and social goals”.
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/ 23 January 2004
The labour union that has been trying to ”blockade” Cape Town International airport on Friday accused the police of causing traffic jams there. ”The police have started pulling out cars of all our comrades with aims to issue them with tickets,” said a South African Transport and Allied Workers Union spokesperson.
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/ 23 January 2004
Opposition parties should refrain from trying to score cheap political points, the Office of the Presidency said on Friday. Spokesperson Bheki Khumalo denied that President Thabo Mbeki’s upcoming trip to KwaZulu-Natal is part of the African National Congress’s election campaign.
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/ 23 January 2004
Efforts to criminalise human trafficking in terms of South African law received a kick-start on Friday with the release of an issue paper on the topic by the South African Law Reform Commission. South Africa is viewed as a country of destination for trafficking victims, but existing legislation does not deal with the problem.
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/ 23 January 2004
In addition to the actions the South African wine industry has taken in the past to curb alcohol abuse, a combined effort by the industry and others is needed to rid the country of the ”tot” system, where farm workers receive part of their wages in the form of liquor, according to the CEO of the South African Wine and Brandy Company.
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/ 23 January 2004
A 71-year-old Durban doctor and a 29-year-old woman were arrested on Friday for their involvement in the international smuggling of human tissue, police reported. Trafficking in human tissue and body parts made headlines last year when it was discovered South Africa was a major destination for human body parts.
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/ 23 January 2004
Healthcare-related shares on the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa have come under selling pressure in the past week, sparked by investor fears that company profits and margins will be harmed by draft regulations from the government that would see the listed manufacturer’s selling price of all medicines cut by 50%.
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/ 23 January 2004
Gauteng province has become the first province to switch on to Sentech’s broadband wireless (BBW) high-speed, no-limit internet access via regulated high-powered radio frequency, Sentech announced on Friday. Sentech launched its affordable BBW service, also known as MyWireless, in Gauteng on January 19.
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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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/ 22 January 2004
National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka will not sue those who accused him of having been an apartheid spy, nor resign his post, he said in Johannesburg on Thursday. ”There is a bigger battle to be fought and won in courts. That is the battle against crime,” he said.
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/ 22 January 2004
Evita Bezuidenhout handed out koeksisters and campaign donations to political parties on Thursday at a ”fun raiser” to encourage South Africans to register to vote. ”If you want this to become a dictatorship, don’t do anything this weekend,” said Bezuidenhout.
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/ 22 January 2004
The Inkatha Freedom Party on Thursday asked whether South African Broadcasting Corporation spokesperson Paul Setsetse had received intensive training from Zimbabwe’s Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo. The SABC refused, on Wednesday, to meet with the Democratic Alliance about its election coverage policy.
SABC gives DA cold shoulder
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/ 22 January 2004
The proposed acquisition of media group New Africa Investments Limited (Nail) by the Tiso consortium comes before the Competition Tribunal next Wednesday, January 28. The rationale for selling Nail’s shares is that its shares have traded below its net asset value.
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/ 21 January 2004
Former transport minister Mac Maharaj and ex-African National Congress intelligence operative Mo Shaik have welcomed the release and content of the Hefer Commission of Inquiry’s report regarding allegations that national prosecutions head Bulelani Ngcuka might have been an apartheid spy.
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/ 21 January 2004
Black professionals are leaving the country to compete with the overseas qualifications of many returned exiles, a recruitment company said on Wednesday. There is a perception that ”employers give preference to people with international experience”, said Brian Khumalo, a recruitment executive.
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/ 21 January 2004
Chronic unemployment and the fact that less than 25% of last year’s matric class will find employment in the formal sector are reasons why 50Â 000 school leavers are expected to try to falsify their matric certificates. Employers who fall for the ”modified” certificates have little recourse.