South Africa

Education Minister Naledi Pandor will meet with the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) to discuss ”all the matters” raised at a meeting of union leaders in which mass action was threatened. Education spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said on Tuesday: ”The minister has always emphasised that she is willing to meet with Sadtu on any matter.”

South Africa’s ailing Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has been temporarily replaced by the transport minister while she receives treatment for a lung condition, an official statement said. Tshabalala-Msimang, often criticised by Aids activists, entered hospital last week with anaemia and fluid collecting near the lung.

South African tourism statistics for 2006 show a 14,5% increase in tourism arrivals compared with 2005 figures, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Tuesday. ”What we have achieved together is reflected in the exponential growth of South Africa’s tourism industry since our transition to democracy in 1994,” Van Schalkwyk said.

Gun owners wishing to renew their gun licences will be able to do so by taking a test on the internet, a computer-based testing company said on Tuesday. ”With the introduction of the e-Test, it will be the first time that existing gun owners and first-time applicants can take the required test via computer,” said spokesperson Lyn van Haght.

A police officer who raped his teenage daughters has been sentenced to life in prison by the Johannesburg High Court, the Sowetan reported on Tuesday. The officer was on Monday sentenced to three life terms and got a further two years for assaulting one of his daughters with a stick.

South Africa is well on the way to meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi said on Monday. He was addressing the public-private partnership round-table conference in Johannesburg on what the public and private sector can do to redress current backlogs in service delivery.

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has not consulted ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma about its support for him as candidate for the party’s presidency. Speaking at a media conference in Johannesburg on Monday, where it reiterated its support for Zuma, the ANCYL said it did not need Zuma’s permission to start lobbying for him.

The National Association of People living With HIV and Aids (Napwa) is to hold prayer meetings in all provinces on Wednesday morning in support of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. The main meeting will be in Germiston, Napwa national director Nkululeko Nxesi said on Monday.

A proposed pay increase of 4% to 5,3% offered to public servants is an insult, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said on Monday. ”This is an insult to public-service workers,” Sadtu president Willie Madisha — who is also the president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions — told a press conference on Monday.

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has emphatically rejected allegations that it divulged information to the media about the tax affairs of Jacob Zuma. In a statement, it said that the Income Tax Act specifically prohibits any Sars official from engaging in such practice.

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) says its insistence on the president of the ruling party and the country being the same individual has nothing with its support for ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma. ANCYL secretary general Sihle Zikalala said on Monday that it is a policy position that whoever becomes president of the ANC must be the president of the country.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s condition is ”improving speedily”, her spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said on Monday. ”The minister remains in a high-care unit at the Johannesburg General Hospital where she was admitted on Tuesday February 20,” he said. Tshabalala-Msimang is being treated for anaemia and pleural effusion.

The Mozambican government has declared tuberculosis (TB) as a national emergency, Vista News reported on Monday. The Health Minister, Ivo Garrido, in an interview with the national radio service, Radio Mozambique, said public hospitals had limited capacities to treat the more than 35 000 cases that were recorded in the country last year.

Two helicopters and mobile water-purification plants are scheduled to head for Mozambique this week to help with flood relief. Department of Provincial and Local Government spokesperson Luzuko Koti said negotiations are going on between government departments for further items that will contribute to the neighbourly help effort.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela celebrated her 70th birthday with a lavish bash at Vodaworld in Midrand on Sunday night, 702 Talk Radio reported. Although Madikizela-Mandela turned 70 in September last year, celebrations were put on hold so special guests like former president Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel could attend.

Silver Stars beat Jomo Cosmos 2 -0 in a heated Absa Cup game to qualify for the last 16 played at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Sunday. Stars led 2-0 at halftime. Stars put their dismal Premier Soccer League form behind them and were in control of the game throughout.