FALLING interest rates, inflation and petrol prices will bring relief to the embattled economy this year, but conditions for business and consumers are set to remain tough.
Global markets are being buoyed by optimism that official rescue packages will pull the world's biggest developed economies out of recession, which would be good news for emerging markets such as SA.
A few years ago 66-year-old grandmother Regina Fhiceka and her family of five ate vegetables only once a week. They would survive on maize and bread the rest of the time -- the cheapest food available in the poor township of Philippi, just 15 minutes from the affluent business district of Cape Town.
MARKETS are ending 2008 with a whimper, after a severe beating in the second half of the year. Stocks slumped, the rand weakened and the so-called "super cycle" for commodity prices ground to a halt as the credit crunch exploded and predictions for global growth slowed dramatically.
The Congress of the People (Cope) today "selected" Mosiuoa Lekota as president, with Mbhazima Shilowa as deputy president while a woman "from the minority group" was considered for second deputy president.
As Aunesi Omari and her children cowered in her room in Philippi, a low-income section of the South African city of Cape Town, in Western Cape Province, she heard the armed men outside shout: "We're going to kill you because you don't want to listen."
A South African aid package of R300m for Zimbabwe would be withheld until a representative government was in place, the cabinet said yesterday.
Government spokesman Themba Maseko said the cabinet was "extremely concerned" about the political impasse that had deepened the humanitarian crisis there.
Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordaan joined the Makeba family at OR Tambo International Airport to receive the mortal remains of the late singing legend Miriam Makeba on Wednesday morning.
Johannesburg: South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has come under renewed pressure to resign after a High Court judgement.
It has been suggested he used his political influence to prosecute his rival Jacob Zuma.
Mr Zuma was fighting corruption charges in the High Court, but on Friday Judge Chris Nicholson dismissed the charges on technical grounds.
South Africa: A South African judge threw out corruption charges against ruling party leader Jacob Zuma on Friday, clearing the way for him to become the country's next president.
Port Elizabeth: Ike Uche snatched a 70th-minute winner to hand Nigeria a 1-0 win over South Africa in their World Cup qualifier in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
The result all but ends South Africa's chances of qualifying for the 2010 African Nations Cup finals in Angola, a major embarrassment for the hosts of the 2010 World Cup finals.
Cape Town: Runaway bush fires and wind in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province have killed 13 people, disaster officials said on Monday, at the same time the Western and Eastern Cape were hit by rain, floods and gale-force winds.
South Africa: The South African man convicted of feeding one of his ex-workers to the lions has been freed on parole, after three years in jail.
Mark Scott-Crossley was originally given a life sentence for murder but this was reduced after a judge said there was no proof the man was alive.
Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will tour southern Africa to talk with leaders to help end the political stalemate.
South Africa: Police have fired rubber bullets to disperse people after two Zimbabwean immigrants' shacks were set on fire in Bokfontein, South Africa.
The incident occurred after a Lesotho man knifed a Zimbabwean in a tavern on Friday night, police Captain Adele Myburgh said.
Johannesburg: South Africa confirmed here on Friday that Botswana's President Seretse Khama Ian Khama will skip the 28th summit of the Southern African Development Community(SADC) to be held here on Saturday and Sunday.
Speaking at a briefing later in the day, South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said the Botswana's president will not attend the summit.