South Africa

Pretoria - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's maiden Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) has been welcomed by business and labour.

Durban - Springbok flank Schalk Burger was named the South African Rugby Player of the Year for the second time, having first won the award in 2004.

Pietermaritzburg - The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has spent R900 million in KwaZulu-Natal through its capital program during the current 2012/13 financial year.

Pietermaritzburg - The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government is expected to convene a rural development summit in the next two months, bringing together representatives from all three spheres of government, chiefs and the Ingonyama Trust Board.

Durban - Dedicated and hard working public servants will be rewarded for going the extra mile, according to the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Richard Baloyi. Baloyi was speaking at the 8th Batho Pele Learning Network (BPLN) in Durban yesterday

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has appointed new government representatives to the Board of Directors of the 2010 World Cup Organising Committee South Africa.

Pretoria - Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has appointed a committee that will advise him on the development of policy, legislation and the implementation of the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI)

Pretoria - Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Buyelwa Sonjica will on Thursday launch a cleaning and greening pilot project in Mthatha.

Pretoria - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai announced that his party would end its boycott of the country's unity deal and give President Robert Mugabe's party 30 days to fulfill its commitments under their power-sharing agreement.

Pretoria - Registered political parties have until 2 March before 5pm to submit a list of the candidates they want to participate in this year's General Elections.

Pretoria - Athletics South Africa (ASA) President Leonard Chuene, the Board and its members were suspended with immediate effect over their handling of the Caster Semenya saga.

Pretoria - Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa and leaders in the automotive industry have agreed to set up a joint task team to come up with appropriate responses to potential job losses in the industry.

Pretoria - The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is the Reserve Bank's new inflation measure, dropped by less than expected to 8.1 percent in January 2009, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported, Wednesday.

Johannesburg - Those who died in military conflicts will be honoured on Remembrance Sunday on 8 November.

Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal government has deployed a special police protection team in Umlazi, south of Durban, following the recent taxi violence there.