South Africa

Los Angeles - The 54th annual Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday night began with a tribute to pop superstar Whitney Houston, who was found dead on Saturday afternoon.

Pretoria - More than R700 million has been paid by the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development to service providers needing urgent payment.

Higher Education South Africa (HESA) has welcomed the Budget Vote delivered by Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande in Parliament on Tuesday, saying it commits to on-going funding to enhance the capabilities and capacities of public universities.

South Africa stands ready to work at bringing in necessary investment that will ensure the success of the massive infrastructure roll-out plan, says Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba.

Pretoria - The Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality says it will continue with the process of changing street names following the ruling by the Northern Gauteng High Court in favour of the city allowing it to continue with street name changes.

Pretoria - The Department of Basic Education is inviting all education stakeholders to submit comments on the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit Bill (NEEDU), which was published for comment on 23 December 2011.

Pretoria - South Africa and Saudi Arabia have agreed to increase total trade between the two countries to a targeted R60 billion within the next five years.

Universal health coverage is a worldwide phenomenon supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi reiterated on Tuesday when tabling his department's Budget Vote in Parliament.

Pretoria - The Small Enterprise Development Agency's (Seda) Public Sector SMME Payment Assistance Hotline has facilitated R300 million worth of late payments on behalf of SMMEs for services rendered to public sector institutions.

Pretoria - Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, says people in rural areas do not have to relocate to the cities in order to access a better life.

Cape Town - The Department of Social Development is looking to recruit 10 000 service providers over the next three years to help care for orphans, the Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini said on Wednesday.

Pretoria - The Gauteng Department of Education has called on parents and guardians to participate in the third-largest elections to fill over 30 000 School Governing Bodies (SGBs) memberships throughout the province.

The South African Football Association (Safa) has refuted media reports claiming that its President Kirsten Nematandani has been toppled as the chairperson of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Local Organising Committee (LOC).

Pretoria - Trade conditions started off the year low, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said in its January Trade Conditions Survey.

Pretoria - Visible policing, improved detective services, cooperation with communities and rooting out criminal elements within the police are just some of the ways in which Gauteng police are dealing a blow to crime.