Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's proposed 2012/2013 budget surpasses the R1-trillion rand mark for the first time ever. Tabling his budget in parliament on Wednesday, Gordhan said the bulk of the 1.06 trillion rand budget, or 615-billion rand earmarked for social services. Fuel The general fuel levy will increase by 20 cents a litre of petrol and diesel from April 4, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced in ... read more

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's proposed 2012/13 budget exceeds R1 trillion -- R1.06 trillion -- for the first time ever, with the bulk of spending, R615.7 billion, earmarked for social services. The biggest slice of the budget tabled in the National Assembly on Wednesday goes to education (R207.3 billion), followed by social protection (R157.9 billion), health (R121.9 billion), and housing and community amenities (R120.... read more

Cosatu in the Eastern Cape says all its affiliates are ready for the national strike called by the federaton on the 7th of March. The trade union federation says reports received indicated massive support from workers for the strike. Cosatu in the Eastern Cape issued a wide-ranging statement today following this week's meeting of its provincial executive committee. Commenting on the State of the Province Address by p... read more

The Proteas awarded new caps in the T20 International series against New Zealand to Richard Levi and Marchant de Lange and their performances have given a huge boost to South Africa's prospects ahead of this year's ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. Levi won the second match almost single-handedly with his world record century and on Wednesday it was the turn of De Lange to bowl a nerve-jangling final over, take 2/3, and get ... read more

 The Freedom Front Plus has called for farm murders to be declared a priority crime. The party's north-west leader, Pieter Groenewald made the call today following the murder of a 49 year old farmer on Monday. Groenewald says his party's worried about the increase in farm murders from the beginning of this year. He says a recent government study found that a farmer was three times more likely to be killed in a fa... read more

An Eastern Cape learner was killed and 11 others injured in two accidents near Mthatha today. Provincial traffic department spokesperson, Tsepo Machaya, says the scholar was hit by a car on the R-61 near Mthatha, this morning. He says the second accident occurred on the N-2 between Mthatha and Qumba, when a bakkie carrying schoolchildren collided head-on with another vehicle. Eleven learners and two adults were injure... read more

Western Cape provincial police commissoner, lieutenant-general, Arnoe Lamoer, has welcomed the heavy jail sentences imposed on convicted rapists in the southern cape. Last week a 36 year old Sedgefield man was jailed for life raping his daughter in July last year. In other court cases also concluded last week, three men were jailed for 10, 15 and 18 years resepectively for rapes committed in George, Mossel Bay and Oudtsh... read more

After the shock withdrawal of Andrew Mclean, multiple South African marathon champion Shan Wilson is reverting to Plan B as he bids to win the three-day Garden Route Rocky Mountain 300 mountain bike race that starts in Knysna on Friday. The Team Cycle Lab rider’s ambitions suffered a serious setback on Wednesday morning when his perennial team-mate Mclean announced that he had not yet recovered from an Achilles tendon... read more

Members of the National Prosecuting Authority will be visiting schools in Nelson Mandela Bay this week. NPA spokesperson, Mthunzi Mhaga, says they've initiated a schools programme where they are educating learners about being vigilant about the potential dangers associated with social media sites, like Facebook. He cited the recent case of Thabo Bester, dubbed the Facebook Rapist, who was jailed for 50 years for targetti... read more

Port Elizabeth police have opened an inquest docket after a one month old baby was found dead at her home. Police spokesperson, captain Stanley Jarvis, says police were summoned to a house in Bethelsdorp in the early hours of this morning. He says paramedics were already on the scene and declared the baby dead. A post mortem will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.... read more

The Eastern Cape Transport Department has warned of an SMS scam inviting people to buy tender documents for a R32m road marking project between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown. Department spokesperson, Ncedo Kumbaca, says they have received a number of complaints from people who deposited R500 for the documents. He says the SMS invites people to deposit the money at a well known supermarket, but Kumbaca says they've estab... read more

The South African Local Government Association is calling on all former councillors who were not re-elected after last year's elections, to verify their details with their municipalities. That's to enable government to make a once-off gratuity payment to them after they effectively lost their jobs. Salga's acting provincial executive officer in the Eastern Cape, Mtobeli Kolisa, says the former councillors have to verify thei... read more

A former Western Cape acting judge has appeared in court for alleged drunk driving. Advocate Robert McDougall appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court yesterday, after his blood alcohol level was reportedly found to be four times more than the legal limit. The Star reports that McDougall was also pulled over in Bergvliet, more than a year ago, also for alleged drunk driving. In yet another incident, 66-year-old McDougall ... read more

Michael Schumacher tried out his 2012 Mercedes for the first time yesterday, setting the sixth fastest time in the Formula One testing session in Barcelona, well behind leader Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull. Vettel, the two-time defending F1 champion, was the quickest at Catalunya Circuit with a lap of 1 minute, 23.265 seconds to finish nearly nine-tenths of a second ahead of seven-time champion Schumacher. Nico Hulkenberg... read more

Former EP Amateur Champion Allister de Kock tees off in the biggest tournament of his life this week in the R3.5m Telkom PGA Championship at Country Club Johannesburg. De Kock, who earned his tour card through the Vusi Ngubeni qualifying school last year, earned one of ten spots into the field for the Telkom PGA at yesterday's qualifier with a one-under 71. Kenya's Dismas Indiza lead the qualifier with a 67 and 2011 amate... read more