By Bathandwa Mbola

Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Gijima development initiative - meant to stimulate economic activity in the province has reported paying out its largest batch of funding for any quarter to date since its inception in 2003.

Over R12 million has been disbursed to successful grant beneficiaries during the period October to December 2007, Programme Manager, Ranveer Persad indicated.

The average per quarter has been about R7 million.

By Bathandwa Mbola

Pretoria - South Africa and Qatar are to advance South-South co-operation by consolidating bilateral political, economic and trade relations.

President Thabo Mbeki, accompanied by the First Lady Zanele Mbeki, will on Monday depart for Doha, Qatar, for a two-day state visit.

President Mbeki with his high powered government and business delegation will visit Qatar within the context of South Africa's priority to strengthen relations between both countries, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

By Bathandwa Mbola

Port Elizabeth - The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan has called upon all sectors of the society to work together with government to build a caring society through effective service delivery.

"We fully understand that we need to address our current challenges so that we keep alive the dream that sustained us along the uncharted road towards the creation of South Africa visualised in our Constitution," the Municipality's Executive Mayor Nondumiso Maphazi's Freedom Day message read, quoting from President Thabo Mbeki's State of the Nation Address.