No image available
/ 14 October 2003
South Africa can afford a higher inflation target than the 3% to 6% range currently set, and 5% to 7% would be ideal, Standard Bank group economist Dr Iraj Abedian said on Tuesday. ”If the target range cannot be adjusted upwards, at the least it should not be lowered,” he said.
No image available
/ 13 October 2003
Financial services company Alexander Forbes has said no claim for payment of any amount had been made against it regarding alleged fraud during the apartheid era, following reports that American lawyer Ed Fagan is to file a -billion lawsuit against at least five companies accused of defrauding South African workers in the apartheid era.
Ed Fagan files bn SA lawsuit
No image available
/ 13 October 2003
The Hefer commission said on Monday it has no mandate to inquire generally into the exercise of Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Penuell Maduna’s powers. This is particularly in regard to liquidations and other matters affecting the office of the Masters of the High Court.
No image available
/ 13 October 2003
The Hefer Commission of Inquiry’s investigation would be incomplete without hearing evidence from Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday. ”The deputy president is inextricably linked to the investigation,” DA justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer said.
No image available
/ 13 October 2003
The African National Congress says it is surprised by Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Penuell Maduna’s announcement that he will not be available for Cabinet nomination next year.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=21812">’The ANC is hurting bad'</a>
No image available
/ 13 October 2003
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has rejected a report that there is a rift between him and KwaZulu-Natal Premier Lionel Mtshali. The controversy follows a speech in which Buthelezi reportedly described Mtshali as a man who "seems not to have had the wisdom or prudence to follow the leadership which I gave him".
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has extended the deadline for obtaining capital gains tax (CGT) valuations to September 30 2004, auditing firm KPMG said on Thursday. KPMG also reminded its customers that valuations of assets acquired before October 1 2001 had to be done before September 30 2003.
The Department of Defence has denied discriminating against people living with HIV/Aids, saying there is no ban on such individuals doing civilian jobs in the military. Some organisations have expressed outrage over a statement by Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota that the army could not accept people living with HIV/Aids.
Mining magnate Brett Kebble announced on Thursday he is instituting legal action against Bulelani Ngcuka, following allegations of fraud made against him by the head of the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions. He said the allegations stem from a July 24 meeting Ngcuka held with editors.
South Africa effectively has two economies and interventions made in the last nine years of democracy have addressed only one of these, said South African President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday. Speaking at a Black Management Forum conference, Mbeki used a double-storey house as a metaphor for the South African economy.
South Africa’s ”democracy deficit” is increasing as the African National Congress focuses on grabbing more and more power for itself, says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon. Writing in his newsletter, Leon said while the ANC had committed itself to transparent government in 1994, it has become accountable to no one but itself.
Opposition parties want the minister of transport to send the government’s taxi recapitalisation programme back to the drawing board, saying the ”wheels have come off” the programme. This follows a court interdict granted on Wednesday to stop the signing of a memorandum between the government and the South African National Taxi Council.
Aids drug lobby group the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) lost 100 of its leaders to the disease over a four-month period, chairperson Zackie Achmat said on Thursday. Most of those who died were women younger than 24. Only one was taking anti-retroviral drugs.
The emergence of the Group of 20+ developing countries at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Cancun was an "important moral and political victory" that strengthened the bargaining power of developing countries, according to South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel.
The South African Department of Public Works is to spend millions of rands this year to upgrade various museums around the country, including the renovation of the Kruger House museum in central Pretoria. More than R20-million is also to be spent on the harbour at the Robben Island museum complex.
The Pretoria High Court has granted an urgent interdict to stop the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the government and the South African National Taxi Council on the taxi recapitalisation programme barely 40 minutes before the signing ceremony was to take place at 3pm on Wednesday.
Witnesses summoned by the Hefer Commission of Inquiry — which is investigating spy allegations against National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka Bulelani Ngcuka — may not refuse to testify or refuse to answer any question, commission secretary John Bacon said on Tuesday.
There is no alarm in South Africa about Aids, Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota said on Tuesday. "All of this noise every day about HIV/Aids and so on … is really unfounded," he told senior foreign envoys in Pretoria. Lekota said programmes run by the government will enable it to contain the disease.
Vaal Rand police have identified 10 sports journalists and the driver involved in an accident on the R59 outside Alberton on Saturday that claimed the lives of six reporters. Fourteen journalists and a driver were returning after covering the Masakhane games in Vanderbijlpark.
Crash claims lives of six journalists
Mining giant Anglo American has announced a R30-million community partnership project to help accelerate the provision of comprehensive HIV/Aids services in about 200 public clinics, especially those in rural areas. The overall goal would be to enhance the health-sector response to the pandemic at community level.
South Africa has condemned an Israeli airstrike on a suspected militant base in Syria, saying it would inflame the situation in the volatile region. "I think we are sitting on a powder keg right now," said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=21507">Syria opts for diplomacy</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=21482">Israeli jets hit Syria camp</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/CContent/l3.asp?ao=21475">Israel strikes back</a>
Two sports journalists are still in a serious condition and one is stable following an accident on the R59 outside Alberton on Saturday that claimed the lives of six reporters. Fourteen journalists and a driver were returning after covering the Masakhane games in Vanderbijlpark.
Johannesburg has been named South Africa’s premier city. Mandy Jean Woods, director of tourism and marketing, has announced Jo’burg has been named the most popular town or city in South Africa during the Markinor/Sunday Times Top Brands Survey 2003 awards ceremony this week.
President Thabo Mbeki has warned those ”peddling false stories” about various members of the African National Congress having been apartheid spies that they would face the wrath of the masses. He said during pre-1994 negotiations it had been agreed ”that all of us had the responsibility to let bygones be bygones”.
The United Democratic Movement has called for hearings into spy allegations against National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka not to be conducted in camera. ”The investigation ought to be conducted publicly … so that claims made by those wearing balaclavas could be avoided at all cost.”
The retrenchment of about 3 000 workers at the Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) gold mine in the North West is continuing as planned, company spokesperson Ilja Graulich said. About 155 workers have been offered voluntary retrenchment packages and another 129 have been retired.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela has congratulated South Africa’s latest Nobel Prize winner, author JM Coetzee, Mandela’s office said on Friday. Coetzee’s winning of the prestigeous literature accolade was announced by the Swedish Academy on Thursday.
Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo has unveiled a 2,5m-high bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi Square in the city centre, coincided with the 134th anniversary of Gandhi’s birthday. The statue has alarms, sensors and bleepers, as well as 24-hour security, to protect it from vandalism.
Companies that did not comply with the October 1 deadline to submit reports on employment equity can expect no mercy and face a minimum fine of R500 000, the Department of Labour has announced. A spokesperson said an extension of the deadline is not an option and no late submissions would be accepted.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has had to shut down computers in two of its office buildings in Pretoria in an attempt to contain the MSBlaster worm computer virus. The worm quickly rendered machines unusable, with e-mail and internet access being refused or very slow, and computers crashing.
The African National Congress has heaped praise on author JM Coetzee after it was announced that he had won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the Democratic Alliance has hailed the award as a ”huge honour” for South African literature. ”Mr Coetzee has made us all proud,” the DA said.
A quarter of all older people living in South Africa may be classified as chronically poor, with most living in households earning less than about R700 per month. According to a recent report commissioned by HelpAge International, South Africa has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in Africa.