No image available
/ 10 December 2003
The Advertising Standards Authority in South Africa has banned the Post Office from inviting children to write to Father Christmas, on the grounds that it is misleading the youngsters. The ruling follows a complaint about a Post Office TV commercial giving children an address at which they can write to Santa Claus.
No image available
/ 10 December 2003
Significantly lower Aids drugs prices are expected to result from agreements reached with two pharmaceutical companies. GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to allow a second company to manufacture generic versions of three of its anti-retroviral drugs, and a similar settlement has been reached with Boehringer Ingelheim.
No image available
/ 10 December 2003
Nine percent of companies included in a new survey showed that HIV/Aids has already had a significant adverse impact on their business, the South African Business Coalition on HIV/Aids announced on Wednesday. Forty-three percent envisaged a significant negative impact over the next five years.
No image available
/ 10 December 2003
The Jockey Club of Southern Africa confirmed on Wednesday that the highly contagious equine influenza has broken out in the Western Cape. Cub chief executive Tony Barnes said the last time there was an outbreak of equine influenza, in 1986, horse racing was affected for up to three months.
No image available
/ 10 December 2003
With consumer confidence rising and inflation and interest rates falling in the wider economy, South African retailers are anticipating strong sales for the key December period, making up for a first-half of 2003 characterised by sluggish performances.
No image available
/ 9 December 2003
Zimbabwe’s suspension and ensuing pull-out from the Commonwealth has split Africa, with some peers of embattled President Robert Mugabe accusing the ”white Commonwealth” of bullying and others backing the move. Mugabe severed ties with the club of mainly former British colonies on Sunday.
No image available
/ 9 December 2003
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) is to probe reports that thousands of retired local authority employees have had their pension pay-outs reduced by 12% per month, the union said on Tuesday. If true, this is just the latest in a series of worrying developments at the Joint Municipal Pension Fund.
No image available
/ 9 December 2003
An amateur botanist has discovered a new flower, a member of the iris family, near Kleinmond on the southern Cape coast. The plant, a species of ixia, was found by Louis Mostert on an area of private land that had been cleared of alien vegetation for the first time in about 40 years.
No image available
/ 9 December 2003
Senior police management should take notice of some disquieting perceptions among police reservists contained in newly compiled research, as the South African Police Service (SAPS) considers making more use of reservists. The research delves into the impressions of active police reservists and their role in the SAPS.
No image available
/ 9 December 2003
South African President Thabo Mbeki has questioned the commitment of the United Nations to guaranteeing international peace, especially in Africa. ”Our experience of the discharge of their responsibilities in regard to conflicts on the [African] continent has not always been positive,” the president said.
No image available
/ 8 December 2003
Amid a new wave of circumcision deaths and arrests, Eastern Cape traditional leaders continue to reject the province’s clampdown on illegal circumcision schools. The head of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa in the province said on Monday that chiefs are ”extremely unhappy”.
No image available
/ 8 December 2003
President Thabo Mbeki’s persistent policy of ”quiet diplomacy” toward Zimbabwe is a dangerous game that could ultimately claim his dream of an African renaissance, analysts warned on Monday. South Africa lobbied fiercely for its northern neighbour’s return to the Commonwealth at the weekend.
No image available
/ 8 December 2003
Seven people died instantly when lightning struck the house in which they stayed at Goqwana village, Tsolo, in the Transkei, Eastern Cape police said on Monday. Five others were taken to the St Lucy hospital with injuries. All the victims were in one room at the house when the lightning struck on Sunday.
No image available
/ 8 December 2003
The Civil Aviation Authority said on Monday that the final report into the circumstances surrounding the air crash that killed former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje and two pilots will be released in February. An outstanding report regarding an aircraft component has been received from the United States.
No image available
/ 8 December 2003
South African sugar producer Tongaat-Hulett Sugar on Monday announced that it is looking to cut costs by half as a result of the strong rand, chief executive of the Tongaat-Hulett group Peter Staude said in a statement. These cuts will require the downsizing of its head office at La Lucia in KwaZulu-Natal.
No image available
/ 8 December 2003
Global automobile giant DaimlerChrysler has opted to postpone for several weeks the announcement of the company’s decision regarding the expansion of its South African production plant in East London, originally expected last week. The expansion would involve additional foreign investment of more than R1-billion.
No image available
/ 5 December 2003
The water supply to the southern parts of Bloemfontein is starting to dry up, municipal spokesperson Khadija Richards said on Friday afternoon. Richards first warned on Friday morning of an impending water crisis that could leave the city dry over the weekend.
No image available
/ 5 December 2003
Former judge Joos Hefer announced on Friday that he has decided not to call journalist Ranjeni Munusamy to testify on spy claims against National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=24511">Mona granted respite from charges</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=24457">More about Ngcuka’s passport</a>
No image available
/ 5 December 2003
President Thabo Mbeki on Friday slated South Africa’s leading petrochemical company, Sasol, for bad-mouthing black empowerment in a submission to the New York Stock Exchange.Mbeki said Sasol has presented black empowerment as a potential negative factor in terms of its performance as a publicly listed company.
No image available
/ 5 December 2003
Former City Press editor Vusi Mona on Friday was granted a respite from impending perjury charges for allegedly lying to the Hefer commission. Commission evidence leader Kessie Naidu recommended that Mona be referred to the provincial director of public prosecutions to consider such charges.
More about Ngcuka’s passport
No image available
/ 5 December 2003
Africa and other parts of the developing world are preparing to negotiate better access to the markets of wealthy countries at the next ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation, Ugandan Agriculture Minister Wilberforce Kisamba-Mugerwa said this week after closing a conference on successes in African agriculture.
No image available
/ 4 December 2003
Two more circumcision deaths were reported in the Eastern Cape on Thursday as provincial health authorities continue their battle against illegal initiation schools. The deaths — one at Barkly East, the other at Maclear — brought the total to seven in the past three weeks.
No image available
/ 4 December 2003
The high value of the rand, so damaging in many other respects, offers a rare opportunity to act against exchange controls without fear of money leaving the country too quickly, says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. This step, unlike interest rate cuts, lies uniquely in the hands of the government, he says.
No image available
/ 4 December 2003
Anglo American Farms said on Thursday it has, "after a rigorous two-year process", sold the Boschendal wine farm, located outside Franschhoek in South Africa’s winelands, to a consortium of investors with a 30% empowerment stake for a total consideration of R323-million.
No image available
/ 2 December 2003
Stigma and gender inequality are helping to drive HIV/Aids in South Africa’s traditionally conservative Indian communities. The stigma regarding HIV/Aids — that infection stems mainly from promiscuous sexual behaviour — has stopped many people in the Indian community from acknowledging their status.
No image available
/ 1 December 2003
Several companies, including banks, added their voice to the commemoration of World Aids Day on Monday. DaimlerChrysler’s chief executive Jurgen E Schrempp said the pandemic can only be overcome if all sectors in society, including business, work together.
No image available
/ 1 December 2003
U2 lead singer Bono made a surprise appearance at a sparsely attended Aids Day rally organised by the Treatment Action Campaign and Cosatu in the Cape Town city hall, and told HIV-positive people they were "the real heroes".
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=24282">Good news, devastation predicted</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=24272">Take the test</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=24251">Free drugs offer hope against Aids</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=24270">NGOs challenge govt on rape drugs</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=24253&t=1">China crisis</a>
No image available
/ 1 December 2003
South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma is to visit the United States from Wednesday for talks with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and the UN Security Council, on UN involvement in further advancing the Burundi peace process. The deputy president is due to meet Annan and the council on Thursday.
No image available
/ 1 December 2003
Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula did not attend an anti-crime march in Johannesburg on Sunday because the demonstration had a political motive, his office said on Monday. ”The march was clearly intended to embarrass the government,” said Leslie Xinwa, Nqakula’s spokesperson.
No image available
/ 1 December 2003
A consortium of NGOs has challenged the South African government to legislate treatment for rape survivors who may have been exposed to HIV/Aids. The consortium said in a statement on Sunday that the government has skirted the issue of post-exposure prophylaxis.
No image available
/ 1 December 2003
South Africa’s University of the Western Cape (UWC) has received funding of R1-million to be used to upgrade its infrastructure and finance ongoing training and development initiatives of its department of science and biotechnology from global bioinformatics company Electric Genetics.
No image available
/ 1 December 2003
On World Aids Day, South African opposition party the Independent Democrats has urged politicians to take a public HIV/Aids test. Politicians in the country are not setting an example, the party has argued.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=24251">Free drugs offer hope against Aids</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=24270">NGOs challenge govt on rape drugs</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=24253&t=1">China crisis</a>