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RSA petrol price up 22c

The petrol price in South Africa went up by 22c a litre on Wednesday, 7 April, just in time to spoil the Easter weekend for the taxpayers. The petrol price already rose by 30c on 4 February and another 9c on March 3. The total rise in the petrol price for 2004 was 61c a litre. Motorists now pay R4.39 in Gauteng for 93 petrol and R 4.26 at the coast, according to South African radio reports. From 26 February to 25 March 2004 international prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin increased, the South African government explained. PLUS could not obtain comment from the Namibian ministry of mines and energy, if the petrol price will also increase in Namibia. The MME reviews petrol prices every three months.

Land Reform Needs Rethinking

The land reform process should be reviewed according to the latest paper of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) published Tuesday. Presently the land question was a racial issue, the IPPR said. The first step for policy-makers should be a clear framework on the way forward and stick to it. Radical redistribution was always likely to cause uncertainty, damaging investment and growth. Government should clearly state the end-point and the intended speed of the land reform process – 50% of total commercial farmland sufficient within 30 years or 75% within ten years. What was a politically acceptable racial balance? Expropriation would accelerate land reform but creates uncertainty in the absence of clear criteria. The issue of farm workers should be kept separate from land reform since the treatment of workers is a labour issue different to that of land ownership.

If production was a priority, the future of commercial farming should lie in the hands of those best able to farm. To finance the accelerated land reform process Government could introduce long-term land bonds and offer long-term bonds to land sellers in exchange for land at discounted prices to the market price. Donors and international lending agencies could be requested to contribute to this fund for the purchase of land. Commercial farmers could contribution to land reform. Some profitable farmers could club together to purchase and transfer a defined area of land to show that all parties are bearing a certain amount of pain. Aside from economics, this would be more important in terms of making a meaningful political gesture and promoting national reconciliation.

Windhoek City needs N$ 22 000 for postage

A very expensive exercise of the Windhoek municipality has been unveiled during last week’s monthly Council meeting. A total of 10 000 copies of the Council’s 10th anniversary brochure were produced last year. They are to be distributed free of charge. However, mailing has become very expensive. Some N$ 4 135.00 were pent to mail only 582 copies. One copy costs about N$ 7.10 to mail. The City needs another N$ 22 000 to mail the remaining 6000 copies to various partner cities, towns and institutions". Council approved to request approval for over expenditure for this amount.

World Bank supports Nepad

The World Bank had undertaken to give US $500 million to fund the first phase of the Multi-state Agricultural Productivity Programmes (MAPP) in southern Africa. In addition, US $452 million were pledged recently to fund the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). In the field of agriculture, governments are to meet the target of 10 percent of their budgets for agriculture within a five-year period to promote food security, particularly in view of the fact that close to 70 percent of Africans are directly or indirectly engaged in agriculture or depend on agriculture for survival, the SADC / Sub-Sahara News Review reported in its latest edition.