South Africa

Pretoria - As the arm-wrestling match continues for the local government results, political party leaders are keeping their fingers crossed.

Hazyview - Two women from Mpumalanga have made it into the finals of the 2011 Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year awards.

Cape Town - The Department of Energy wants copper theft - which cost the country about R100 million last year - to be made a serious offence, Minister Dipuo Peters said today.

Pretoria- As the day winds down at the Results Operation Centre (ROC), a day after Election Day, the African National Congress (ANC) continues to dominate in the country's fourth Local Government Elections

Pretoria - The South African Police Service (SAPS) and Crime Line have issued new photographs of the gang members responsible for a spate of ATM bombings.

Polokwane - Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela has called on women to promote good governance to help pave the way for the advancement of other women.

Pretoria - As the sun rose on Friday morning, two days after the country's fourth democratic local government elections, the results showed the African National Congress's (ANC) support seemed stable, while the opposition, Democratic Alliance (DA) may be set for its best performance yet.

Cape Town - Thousands of people living in rural Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal have benefited from a government initiative that makes tractors and tractor drivers available free of charge to emerging farmers, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tina Joemat-Pettersson said yesterday.

Pretoria - The Department of Home Affairs is on track to meet the July deadline it set to adjudicate the 275 762 applications received from Zimbabweans wanting to regularise their stay in South Africa.

Pretoria - The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is concerned about the lack of readily available, documented liberation heritage and history on the continent.

Pretoria - KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo has called on community leaders to help stop the killing of ambulance attendants following a rise in the hijacking and killing of attendants.

Cape Town - Government plans to spend over R14.2 billion over the next three years vamping up dams and water distributions systems to ensure the country maintains a sustainable water-supply, the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa said.

Pretoria - Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele has committed his municipality to create 180 000 jobs in the next five years in direct response to President Jacob Zuma's call for job creation.

Durban - The Springboks will once again pursue a much needed morale boosting victory in the historical Port Elizabeth Tri-Nations Test.

Polokwane - Black tourism entrepreneurs from Limpopo have one day left to enter the 2012 Emerging Tourism Entrepreneur of the Year Awards (Eteya) competition.