South Africa

Mbombela - Heavy downpours have wrecked households, lodges and cut off communities in Mpumalanga's Lowveld and some parts of Limpopo this week.

Badplaas - Mpumalanga education authorities have hailed the success of the 2011 matrics who produced a pass rate of 64.8% - an 8% improvement on the 2010 results.

Cape Town - The Western Cape Education Department says it will focus on reducing the number of underperforming schools in the province this year, following an inspiring performance in the 2011 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.

Cape Town - Matrics in the Western Cape have reason to celebrate after achieving an impressive 82.9% pass rate for 2011, up by 6.1% compared to 2010.

Pretoria - Northern Cape Social Development MEC Alvin Botes has called on parents of learners who did not succeed in the 2011 matric examinations to support and encourage them.

Durban - Soft-spoken Sabelo Zungu was overwhelmed with people wanting to take his picture and ask him questions about his success in the 2011 matric exams.

Pretoria - Matriculants in Pretoria who wrote the National Senior Certificate exams last year are upbeat about their results.

Pretoria - The Department of Home Affairs aims to speed up visa applications for the 2012 academic year to make life a little easier for foreign academics and students.

Johannesburg - Gauteng's improved matric performance could not have happened without the hard work and cooperation of parents, caregivers, teachers and learners, says Premier Nomvula Mokonyane.

Polokwane - Despite being the second worst performing province in the country, Limpopo has improved its results from a 57.9% pass rate in 2010 to 63.9% in 2011.

Pretoria - Road deaths dropped by 75 percent during the festive season on the N3 highway between Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

Pretoria - KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Health Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo has appealed to community healthcare interns, who are to be deployed in the province, to give their patients the respect and dignity they deserve.

Pretoria - The Department of Higher Education and Training has encouraged matrics who were unsuccessful in the 2011 exams not to lose hope as there were many options available to them in the post school system.

Johannesburg - With six distinctions to his credit, 17-year-old aspirant actuarial scientist, Abiedo Shanduka, is looking forward to taking calculated risks at the University of Witwatersrand.

Pretoria - All the files of registered foreign doctors, who have been practising in the country for the past 10 years, are to be re-audited, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) announced today.