South Africa will not interfere with a shipment of weapons aboard a Chinese ship that is destined for Zimbabwe, government communications head Themba Maseko said on Thursday. All South African authorities can do is to make sure that ”all proper administrative processes” are followed.
Government departments have generally continued to underspend on their budgets since 2004, the Public Service Commission said on Thursday. Meanwhile, a national government team is to be deployed to help the embattled Eastern Cape housing department fulfil its mandate.
The Cabinet has approved the cancellation of a R926,8-million debt owed by Cuba to South Africa, government communications head Themba Maseko said on Thursday. The debt arose out of insurance cover provided to Cuba by the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa.
The Cabinet is concerned about ”collusive behaviour” in the food industry, leading to higher prices, government communications head Themba Maseko said on Thursday. Meanwhile, thousands of people were expected to take part in a protest against high food prices in Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has used massive bribery, grossly-biased state media and inflammatory language to ensure he wins next week’s polls and the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) grouping has not been able to stop him, a local rights body said on Thursday.
South Africa will send a delegation of 55 observers to Zimbabwe’s general elections, the government said in Cape Town on Thursday. ”The South African contingent will comprise representatives from civil society, business, religious leaders, members of Parliament and government officials,” spokesperson Themba Maseko told journalists.
Low-income households and small-to-medium enterprises will be shielded from proposed electricity tariff hikes of up to 60%, the government said on Thursday. A differentiated tariff structure would be put in place to ensure that these sectors of society were protected, government spokesperson Themba Maseko told journalists in Cape Town.
The Cabinet has dismissed renewed allegations of President Thabo Mbeki’s involvement in arms-deal corruption as baseless and mere speculation. Wednesday’s fortnightly Cabinet meeting had noted media reports regarding the investigation by German authorities into the allegations of corruption in the arms deal.
It is now official: May 2 is to be an additional public holiday. At its fortnightly meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday, the Cabinet endorsed a proposal that it should be declared as an additional day off "to compensate workers for losing a public holiday as a result of Human Rights Day falling on the same day as Good Friday".
Tim Modise’s days at the 2010 local organising committee (LOC) are numbered and the only questions are whether he will fall on his own sword or be axed, say informed sources close to the LOC and in the government. The sources told the Mail & Guardian the one-time star broadcaster is struggling with his role as chief officer of communications and marketing.
South Africa’s Cabinet has approved a Bill that would speed up its land reform programme aimed at transferring 30% of farmland to black ownership by 2014, a government spokesperson said on Thursday. An existing land expropriation act has failed to make significant inroads into land redistribution.
Seven new Bills have been approved by South Africa’s Cabinet to be submitted to Parliament. They include the already controversial Expropriation Bill. The Expropriation Bill seeks to replace the Expropriation Act of 1975, which, Cabinet spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday, does not conform with the Constitution.
The Cabinet has given the assurance that everything possible is being done to address the British government’s concerns about the security of South African passports. ”South African passports are among the safest … in the world, and that’s the reason why they are being targeted,” government communications head Themba Maseko said on Thursday.
The South African Cabinet has condemned recent incidents of racism and sexism around the country, saying they have the potential to undermine South Africa’s Constitution, a government spokesperson said on Thursday. ”The transgressors must know that there will be legal consequences,” government communications head Themba Maseko said.
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/ 20 February 2008
The government has sent an official delegation to the United Kingdom to discuss the electricity crisis. The delegation is led by Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi, government communications head Themba Maseko said after Wednesday’s fortnightly Cabinet meeting.
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/ 30 January 2008
The African National Congress’s (ANC) drive to close the Scorpions is ”myopic and dangerous”, political analyst Professor Adam Habib said on Wednesday. Speaking at the University of Pretoria’s African Dialogue Lecture series, both Habib and fellow academic and analyst Professor Stephen Friedman said the move sent out the wrong signals.
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/ 24 January 2008
The government is expected to outline its plans to deal with the country’s electricity crisis on Friday. Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica and Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin have called a media briefing for Friday on ”plans for electricity generation in South Africa”.
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/ 22 January 2008
The government will look at ways in which members of the Scorpions performing police functions can be absorbed into the police, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. The African National Congress has decided that such members of the Directorate of Special Operations should be absorbed into the South African Police Service.
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/ 22 January 2008
South Africa’s government said on Tuesday it remained firmly under the control of President Thabo Mbeki, dismissing concerns that his defeat in the battle to lead the party had made him a lame duck. Mbeki lost control of the African National Congress last month when delegates chose Jacob Zuma as the party’s new leader.
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/ 22 January 2008
Scorpions investigator Ivor Powell was granted R1 000 bail in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. His case was remanded to April 29 pending the outcome of his blood alcohol tests. He was arrested on Tuesday night, apparently in the company of alleged Americans gang boss Igshaan Davids.
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/ 22 January 2008
A top Scorpions investigator is expected to appear in court on Wednesday morning on charges relating to driving under the influence of alcohol, Talk Radio 702 reported on Tuesday. Senior Scorpion Ivor Powell was apparently arrested with fugitive gang boss Igshaan Davids in Woodstock, on Tuesday evening.
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/ 22 January 2008
The Cabinet has cracked down on departments that persistently receive poor audit reports and given them six weeks to sort out their problems. Briefing the media on Tuesday, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said the Cabinet had noted the Auditor General’s report on the audit outcomes of national and provincial government departments.
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/ 14 January 2008
With 24 hours to go before deadline, the Ginwala Commission of Inquiry into suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli has yet to receive the government’s submission on the matter. According to the commission rules and timeframes, Pikoli has until January 31 to make his submission.
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/ 6 December 2007
Government ministers have changed their minds about referring the forensic report on the affairs of the Land Bank to the police. According to Cabinet spokesperson Themba Maseko, they did so after hearing that a number of board members and senior executives of the bank had challenged statements in the report.
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/ 6 December 2007
President Thabo Mbeki took issue with the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report on South Africa, which suggested that there was an unacceptably high level of violent crime in the country. This emerged when the APRM report was unceremoniously released as part of a post-Cabinet media briefing at the Union Buildings on Thursday.
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/ 22 November 2007
A final decision on which country will host the giant Square Kilometre Array radio telescope is now expected in 2011, the Cabinet announced on Thursday. South Africa was confident it would win the bid, government communications head Themba Maseko told a media briefing at Parliament on Thursday, following the Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting the day before.
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/ 22 November 2007
Four government departments are collaborating to produce a ”comprehensive electricity master plan” for South Africa, says the Cabinet. Such a plan was long overdue, government communications head Themba Maseko told a media briefing at Parliament on Thursday, following the Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting the day before.
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/ 12 November 2007
President Thabo Mbeki has denied that the government is behind the Koni Media Holdings’ bid to buy media giant Johncom. He described as ”irrational” the media storm around the bid by Koni — which is partly owned by Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa, presidential political adviser Titus Mafolo and former chief of protocol Billy Modise.
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/ 8 November 2007
The Cabinet has approved 85% of government spending on a number of products and services procured from small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs). This measure is intended to grow SMMEs and increase demand for goods and services from the sector, government communications head Themba Maseko said on Thursday.
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/ 25 October 2007
All wild abalone (perlemoen) fishing will be suspended from November 1 to ensure the survival of the species, the government announced on Thursday. A social plan to address the job losses resulting from the decision has been approved, government communications head Themba Maseko said.
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/ 24 October 2007
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SA Rugby has confirmed details of the Springboks’ victory tour, starting on Friday, to honour the team’s World Cup-winning performance in France. South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins has appealed to the public to join in the celebrations by wearing green and gold.
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/ 24 October 2007
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Virtually all Cabinet ministers and their deputies turned out for Wednesday’s fortnightly Cabinet meeting at Tuynhuys sporting Springbok rugby supporter’s jerseys, jackets or a cap. One minister, rather conspicuous in a traditional robe among the green and gold attire, was heard to remark: ”My underwear is green.”