Gov Directors` Salaries Upped

11 January, 2009 in Botswana

source: The Botswana Gazette

Salary Gap Widens

A Cabinet directive has re-designated certain government positions and adjusted certain salary scales for directors and deputy directors.

The move has been received with mixed feelings by some union leaders and government employees.

A Cabinet savingram circulated recently announced that all government directors will be moved from the E2 salary scale to the E1 scale. This includes the Establishment Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, who all along was on a much lower scale compared to other officers with comparable responsibilities in other government departments.

The savingram also created the position of deputy establishment secretary, who will be on the E2 scale. The post is to be advertised.

Deputy Directors will move from D1 scale to E2 , a scale originally occupied by [continue reading]

Zimbabwe: Gold and the General`s daughter

11 January, 2009 in Zimbabwe

source: ZimNews
author/source:SW Radio Africa
published:Fri 9-Jan-2009

“It’s no problem, we can change the origin of the gold to gold from Kenya”

Gerry Jackson, standing in for Violet Gonda on Hotseat

We speak to Mr. Felix Eimer who says he was recently contacted by the daughter of Vice President Joice Mujuru, Nyasha del Campo, who tried to set up a deal involving illegal gold from the DRC

The history of the Democratic Republic of Congo has always been one of greed and corruption. In 1998 a 5 year conflict erupted between government forces, backed by Angola , Namibia and Zimbabwe , against rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda . The fighting was fuelled by the enormous mineral wealth of the DRC and everyone took advantage of the chance to plunder the natural resources, which included gold and diamonds. The war has been described as Africa ’s world war and Robert Mugabe’s support in this conflict saw the beginning of the collapse of Zimbabwe ’s economy, when he committed Zimbabwean troops to the conflict. An estimated 5 million people died in the DRC , mainly because of the humanitarian crisis that resulted.

For its support, Zimbabwe was given a number of concessions by [continue reading]

2009 Full Of Challenges

11 January, 2009 in Botswana

source: The Botswana Gazette

“Turn Slowdown Into Opportunities”

ImageThe President Lt General Ian Khama has said 2009 will be full of challenges.
In his New Year message, the President said the country’s economy was already feeling the negative impact of the global downturn in mineral commodity prices.

The current global economic crisis alluded to by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning to Parliament late last year had caused a slowdown on world economies forcing organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to trim down world economic growth projections.

“Our economy is already feeling the negative impact of the global downturn in mineral commodity prices, therefore some of our programmes and projects will have to adjust their targets and timeframes to the reality of a general slowdown in [continue reading]

South Africa: Would you pay for your luggage to be safe?

11 January, 2009 in South Africa, World Cup 2010

source: IOL
January 09 2009 at 03:00PM
By Clayton Barnes

Repeated complaints and reports about ongoing baggage theft and pilferage at South African airports have prompted an international high-security luggage company to set up base in South Africa ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Hundreds of pieces of luggage are either stolen or damaged at airports across the country every year, resulting in distressed travellers and airline companies having to fork out hundreds of thousands of rands for claims.

But this could soon be a thing of the past, especially with the 2010 soccer showpiece in sight, after British courier company First Luggage introduced a high-security luggage service for international travellers between the UK and [continue reading]

BCL Mine to Retrench 348 Workers

11 January, 2009 in Botswana, Business, Mining

source: The Botswana Gazette

348 BCL Mine employees in Selebi Phikwe face retrenchment as the company embarks on cost reduction.

BCL Mine General Manager Mr. Montwedi Mphathi told a media briefing recently that labour was 40% of their costs and due to the metal prices melt down globally, the company had to reduce costs. He said labour was looked into critically and it was agreed that it is one area where scaling down must be adopted.

“We are also looking into reducing suppliers and were possible we will negotiate for low prices. At the moment we have held negotiations with our diesel and oil supplier, BP. We are not the only company that has been affected by this crisis. A lot of mining companies around the world have been hit hard because they cannot sell their products,” he said.

Another reason for reducing costs is to [continue reading]

Zimbabwe: Government Imposes Steep New Fees On Foreign Media

11 January, 2009 in Zimbabwe

source: allAfrica
Media Institute of Southern Africa (Windhoek)
9 January 2009

The government has gazetted steep new fees under the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). The move will see foreign-based media houses fork out more than US$30,000 in application and permission to operate fees.

Foreign media organisations wishing to establish a representative office in Zimbabwe will pay an application fee of US$10,000 and a further US$20,000 and US$2,000 in permission to operate and permit administration fees, respectively.

Local journalists working for foreign media organisations will pay US$1,000 and US$3,000 in individual application and accreditation fees.

Temporary accreditation for a foreign journalist has been fixed at US$1,500. This contrasts sharply with the [continue reading]

South Africa: Motorists revel in petrol price decrease

11 January, 2009 in South Africa

source: IOL
January 10 2009 at 10:27AM
By Fiona Gounden

Owners of petrol stations, car washes and quick shops in Durban are overjoyed after the 18 percent drop in fuel price this week and are looking forward to a boom in their businesses.

On Wednesday the KwaZulu-Natal price for 95 Lead Replacement Petrol (LRP) and 95 Unleaded Petrol (ULP), which was previously R7.11 a litre, decreased to R5.77 after it dropped by a whopping R1.34.

In Gauteng, 95 ULP, which was previously R7.35, was reduced to R6.01 after the decrease. The cost of 93 LRP and 93 ULP, which was previously R7.18, was reduced by R1.36 to R5.82.

This came after various other price cuts since it soared to R10.40 in KwaZulu-Natal in [continue reading]