South Africa

Johannesburg - Government on Friday unveiled a plan that authorities hope will turn the country's major cities into sustainable economic hubs.

Pretoria - The West African Cable System (WACS), which is geared towards improving bandwidth connectivity and intra-country trade, among other things, was formally launched on Friday.

Pretoria - The Defence Review Committee, appointed by Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu last year to look into updating the policy of the South African National Defence Force, on Thursday handed over a Draft Defence Review report to the minister.

Pretoria - An HIV testing campaign, targeting first-year students at universities across the country, has spread its message of awareness to young South Africans, with 21 000 students tested since the campaign started four months ago.

Cape Town - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said the country's fiscus was losing billions of rands under the guise of commercial transactions.

Pretoria - The backlog of maintenance at power stations should be resolved at the end of 2013, with the first unit of the Medupi power station expected to come on board in the same year, Eskom said on Friday.

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has appointed nine commissioners to the Commission for Gender Equality.

Pretoria - The Presidency has spoken out on "unfounded allegations about President Jacob Zuma's so-called relationship with Lt-Gen Richard Mdluli" of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

Pretoria - Government, labour and farmers are united in supporting a programme to fast-track the implementation of fair labour practices on wine farms.

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has sent his condolences to the family of the late Reverend Motlalepula Chabaku, who passed away on Friday.

Johannesburg - Mourners from across the country on Saturday bade farewell to former Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka, who passed away two weeks ago.

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has extended good wishes to all South African mothers as the world observes Mother's Day.

Pretoria - South Africa needs to decide now where it wants to be in 2020 in terms of sustainable tourism, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Saturday.

Pretoria - Gauteng Health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe has assured the people of Gauteng that the availability of the antiretroviral drug, Tenofovir, has improved substantially in the province over the past weeks.

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma will on Sunday travel to Benin for the meeting of the African Union Heads of State and Government Ad-hoc Committee on the election of the members of the African Union Commission, the Presidency said.