South Africans will be celebrating life at the official closing of the Ten Years of Freedom celebrations at the Athlone Stadium on Friday.
The eight-hour long event will follow President Thabo Mbeki's State of the Nation Address on the morning of the same day. It will be conveying the same message heard throughout the year-long celebrations, that we are a people united for a better South Africa and a better world.
Government's Programme of Action for 2004 has been updated with respect to progress in implementation. This will be the final update and a new Programme of Action for 2005 will be developed based on the decisions of the Cabinet lekgotla held in January and the President's State of the Nation Address in Parliament on 11 February 2005.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that 885 people are still unaccounted for and a further six are believed missing following the tsunami disaster in South East Asia.
The official death toll stands at nine, with all fatalities having occurred in Thailand.
No South African fatalities have been reported from other parts of the region.
On behalf of the South African government, Dr Essop Pahad, Minister in The Presidency and Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) political head will on 3 December 2004, acknowledge and honour communicators who have shown commitment, innovation and excellence in government communication. Communicators will be honoured at the annual Government Communicators' Awards (GCA) to be held at the Gallagher Estate in Midrand.
Government's Programme of Action on the government website (www.gov.za) has been updated following the completion on 20 October of the second cycle of reporting by Clusters of Departments to Cabinet on implementation of the programme.
In response to enquiries from the media arising out of Democratic Alliance claims that government is falling behind on delivery deadlines regarding implementation of the Programme of Action, Government wishes to reiterate what is already in the public domain concerning the process of updating the Programme of Action on the web-site.
President Thabo Mbeki, after consultation with the Minister of Finance and members of the Board of the SA Reserve Bank, has decided to re-appoint Mr Tito Mboweni as Governor of the Bank for a period of five years.
The President has also appointed the following government representatives to the Board:
The Minister in The Presidency, Dr EG Pahad and Vice Minister Wang Guoqing, responsible for the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China, today, Friday, 9 July 2004, signed a Letter of Intent on Friendly Co-operation and Exchanges between the two states.
This signing follows the recent second meeting of the South Africa - People's Republic of China Bilateral Commission in Pretoria.
The Letter of Intent is attached, along with background notes on the visit.
From tomorrow, 2 July 2004 the Government's Programme of Action arising from the May Cabinet Lekgotla and the President's State of the Nation Address on, 21 May 2004 will be available on the Government website.
It is with a deep sense of sadness that the government has learnt of the passing away of Minister Abdullah (Dullah) Mohamed Omar.
Having struggled with Hodgkins-Classic, a form of cancer of the lymph nodes over the past 13 months, his body finally succumbed in the early hours of Saturday morning. A patriot has gone to rest, forever. A stalwart has breathed his last breath at his post.
