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Cabinet held its first meeting of the year today, 20 January 1999. The meeting welcomed the settlement of the dispute around the Dukuduku Forests in KwaZulu-Natal, which will be to the benefit of sustainable development and the residents of the area.

The President in particular and Cabinet in general congratulated the South African Police Service and the Ministry of Safety and Security for the major breakthrough with regard to cash heists. This is an important step towards breaking the back of organised crime in our country. The meeting also noted a report on measures being taken to deal with violent crime in the Western Cape.

Cabinet approved the following appointments:

* Members of the Board of directors of the State Information Technology Agency;
* Municipal Demarcation Board;
* Boards of the Council for Geoscience, of Mintek, of the Atomic Energy Corporation and of the Council for Nuclear Safety;
* Chairperson of the National Electricity Regulator (Dr E Banda) and Chief Executive Officer of the NER (Dr X H Mkhwanazi).

The meeting also resolved to urgently finalise the list of legislation for the coming session of Parliament; and in consultation with the Presiding Officers a date towards the end of February will be set aside for the debate on the TRC Report.

Cabinet was briefed on progress in the negotiations with the European Union and government is confident the outstanding matters should be resolved in a matter of weeks. It was also agreed to transfer the management of the Freedom Park Legacy Project to the Presidency.

A number of far-reaching measures pertaining to housing were decided upon such as the Rental Housing Bill; the National Housing Project deriving from the Jobs Summit; Housing Amendment Bill on structures to deal with specialised functions; Consumer Protection Measures Amendment Bill; and preparation of legislation on fair lending practices specifically for home loans.

Other Bills adopted for presentation to Parliament are:

* Companies Amendment Bill relating to share-holding matters and transparency;
* Land Restitution and Reform Laws Amendment Bill to expedite the work of the Commission;
* Amendments to the Child Care Act and the Probation Services Act to rectify deficiencies on the treatment of child offenders.

Cabinet accepted the recommendation that the National Anti-corruption Summit should be held towards the end of March. At its next meeting, Cabinet will review progress on the implementation of decisions from the Public Sector Anti-corruption Conference held last November.

The meeting also agreed on the need to introduce a new Coat of Arms and implications of this for corporate image as well as a process which will involve public participation and assessment of costs.

Relevant Ministries and Departments will provide details on these and other issues.

For further information, contact: Joel Netshitenzhe 082-900-0083

Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS), 20 January 1999

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