Pretoria, Feb 22 - National Health Insurance (NHI) will be phased in over a 14-year period beginning in 2012/13, the National Treasury said on Wednesday.

Pretoria, Feb 22 - As flagged by the Treasury in last year's Budget, major changes to the taxation of retirement contributions are being implemented, but only from March 1, 2014 and not from March this year as was stated in last year's Budget.

Pretoria, Feb 22 - Motorists beware, driving is going to cost at least 28 cents a litre more from April 4, thanks to a rise of 20 cents a litre in the fuel levy on petrol and diesel and an increase of eight cents a litre in the Road Accident Fund levy.

Pretoria, Feb 22 - Anyone trying to dodge taxes, watch out, SARS is on a concerted drive to nab you and the penalties will be harsh.

Pretoria, Feb 22 - Following public consultation, the National Treasury has revised its concept design for a carbon tax with a draft policy paper due for publication and comment during 2012 and implementation planned for 2013/14.

Johannesburg, Feb 22 - The about-turn by the Treasury in upping the April dividend tax to 15% from 10% is likely to irk foreign investors, according to a tax analyst on Wednesday.

Pretoria, Feb 22 - Taxpayers will be pleased to know that one of the tax administration measures being introduced this year is the establishment of a dedicated Tax Ombud.

Pretoria, Feb 22 (I-Net Bridge) - In a comprehensive overview of the existing capital gains tax environment, the National Treasury has announced some sweeping amendments to tax-free exemptions, but it has also increased capital gains tax rates for the first time since this form of tax was introduced in South Africa.

Cape Town, Feb 22 (I-Net Bridge) - The government will provide the SA National Roads Authority (SANRAL) with R5.8 billion to reduce its debt, so that the toll fees on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project highways could be reduced to 30c/km for light vehicles from the original envisaged 66c/km, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday.

Cape Town Feb 22 (I-Net Bridge) - South Africa's budget deficit is projected to narrow from 4.8% of GDP in the current fiscal year to 3.0% by 2014/15, reflecting a strong recovery in revenue and moderate growth in spending.

The People's Budget Campaign is calling for a budget that is first and foremost pro-poor and supports fundamental changes to the structure of the economy, it said on Wednesday, just hours before Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was set to deliver his Budget Vote Speech.

There won't be any big surprises contained in this year's National Budget, Johann Els, senior economist at Old Mutual Investment Group SA says.

Tight tax revenue collections may lead to additional taxes in order to increase revenues in the coming years, says Susann Louw, a partner at leading professional services firm Deloitte.

THE R150-million invested by FNB in the construction of its state of the art new building in Newton Park was ring-fenced for Eastern Cape service providers. That was one of the key messages communicated at yesterday’s (February 22 2012) launch of the Newton Street building, which will house 16 FNB business units and 350 staff.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s agreeable manner was just what South African President Jacob Zuma needed to keep the peace between warring factions of the ruling ANC, but his affability may ultimately cost Africa’s biggest economy dear.

NELSON Mandela Bay traffic wardens have threatened to go on strike today - because they are not happy with their new uniforms.

WHILE schools in the Eastern Cape struggle with temporary teachers not having returned to work yet, a group of dedicated Nelson Mandela Bay educators have made their way back to classrooms for no pay - despite not being officially reinstated.

A HIGH-PROFILE suspected northern areas gangster is fighting for his life after being shot four times in the chest in a rival attack that authorities fear will spark chaos in Port Elizabeth’s gang-ridden Helenvale community.

PREMIER Noxolo Kiviet’s government and relevant stakeholders are investigating the feasibility of buying a ship to transport goods between East London, Durban, Port Elizabeth and the Port of Ngqurha.

JEFFREYS Bay residents are so fed up with the quality of the town’s water that they have now taken their plight to President Jacob Zuma, hoping he will at least attempt to bring the Kouga Municipality to book.

A SHADOWY group of guerilla gardeners is set to strike this week under the cover of darkness, somewhere in Nelson Mandela Bay. The Secret Sowers, a national group with its roots in the bay, will this time be targeting a school, the co-founder, known only as Capt Sanjeev, told The Herald yesterday (Feb 20, 2012).

The effort to clean-up after cyanide spilled into the raw water supply of towns in northern KwaZulu-Natal has been completed, Karbochem said on Tuesday (21/02/2012).

The drinking water in Carolina, Mpumalanga, was still contaminated by acid mine water seepage, the water affairs department said on Tuesday (21/02/2012).

SAN FRANCISCO - Revelations last week that Google Inc, Twitter and other popular Internet companies have been taking liberties with customer data have prompted criticism from privacy advocates and lawmakers, along with apologies from the companies.

The trial of six youths accused of setting two girls alight in an alleged satanic ritual was postponed by the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday (21/02/2012).

Five Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) employees have been fired for luggage theft at OR Tambo airport in the past week, it was reported on Tuesday. (21/02/2012)

A PORT Elizabeth businessman has described his anguish at being accused by police of being the prime suspect in his fiancée’s murder shortly after finding her fatally stabbed and desperately trying to resuscitate her.

EASTERN Cape police are on the hunt for Mandla Mandela, who they claim is evading arrest. A warrant was reportedly issued for his arrest last Friday after the former Mvezo chief failed to appear in court on charges of bigamy.

THE mercury hit sweltering levels in many parts of the Eastern Cape yesterday, with the weather bureau calling for schools to cancel sport and for the “elderly and infirm to stay indoors, near a fan”.

ZOMBIE fever gripped Grahamstown yesterday as hundreds of paranoid Rhodes University students fought running campus battles with the living dead.

A 37-year-old woman with elephantiasis has laid a complaint against the Livingstone hospital in Port Elizabeth after she was turned away without treatment, the Eastern Cape health department said on Monday (20/02/2012).

MANDLA Mandela has 15 days to declare to the high court whether he sold the television rights to the funeral of his grandfather, former president Nelson Mandela.

LOCAL Government MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane says Eastern Cape municipalities are battling to attract and retain skilled professionals who have the know-how and experience to turn local government around and fast-track service delivery.

THE Correctional Matters Amendment Act, which comes into effect next month, will strip correctional supervision and parole boards of their discretion in the granting of medical parole.

THE South African government is investigating the danger posed by a crop pesticide following a landmark ruling in France where agri-business giant Monsanto was found guilty of chemical poisoning of a farmer.Since the incident which led to the poisoning, the Monsanto pesticide, called Lasso, has been banned in France, and a number of other countries.

President Jacob Zuma’s remarks about corruption show he is “completely disconnected from reality”, the Democratic Alliance said on Friday (17/02/2012).

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi offered insight on Friday (17/02/2012) into why many politicians suffer the curse of bulging stomachs and widening waist lines.

Eastern Cape health superintendent-general Siva Pillay has not resigned, his department said on Friday (17/02/2012).

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has stopped a scheme in which live rabbits were allegedly to be sold with loaves of bread to people in townships, the Cape Times newspaper reported on Friday (17/02/2012).

The mitigation hearing for ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema and two other league members has ended, an ANC spokesman said on Friday (17/02/2012).

IN a massive boost for Nelson Mandela Bay, Transnet is to embark on a R7.1-billion and R1.9-billion upgrade of the Port of Ngqura and the Port Elizabeth Harbour respectively, the parastatal announced yesterday.

THE government is investigating the danger posed by a crop pesticide following a landmark ruling in France where an agri-business giant was found guilty of the chemical poisoning of a farmer.

SUPER-ATHLETES are poised to compete in the 10th annual OCC wheelchair race in George tomorrow, organisers said yesterday.

The closing down of a Port Elizabeth refugee centre by the home affairs department was unlawful, the city’s high court ruled on Thursday (16/02/2012).

The executive and the legislature do not have the power to amend or review the Constitutional Court’s powers, the Black Lawyers’ Association (BLA) said on Thursday (16/02/2012).

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema will not be removed from his position by anyone but the structures of the league, his deputy Ronald Lamola said on Thursday (16/02/2012).

The Soweto teenager apparently killed by a student policeman was shot three times, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) said on Thursday (16/02/2012).

Western Cape police commissioner Lt-Gen Arno Lamoer says reported absenteeism levels at the Maitland, Cape Town, police station are incorrect, according to a report on Thursday (16/02/2012).

Northern Cape police in Kimberley have impounded a 1976 Toyota bakkie whose only roadworthy part was its windscreen, Beeld reported on Thursday (16/02/2012).

THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is investigating why, over the past six months, it has been unable to account for more than R47-million spent on electricity.

BASIC Education Minister Angie Motshekga has admitted her department has failed in its intervention to solve the crisis in Eastern Cape education, citing an impasse with the provincial department as the reason.

PORT Elizabeth police admitted yesterday they could not deny torture allegations by a Joe Slovo family who were dragged from their beds, assaulted and held at gunpoint while the house was searched for an illegal weapon - which was never found.

AN angry Port Elizabeth father has turned to the police and the Education Department after learning that closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras had been installed in the toilet at Dr Viljoen Primary School in Sydenham.

THE Eastern Cape Health Department yesterday dismissed claims that superintendent-general Siva Pillay offered to quit in a letter to premier Noxolo Kiviet. It was reported the health boss delivered a letter of resignation to the premier - triggered by Cosatu’s call for his head.

BILLIONS of rands will flow into South Africa if it and eight African partner countries win the bid to host the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope.

A FORMER Umkhonto weSizwe veteran is free to walk the streets after he shot the mother of his children at her workplace before handing himself over to the police.

THE knives are out for Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Zanoxolo Wayile as members of the ANC in the city are calling for the first citizen to be ousted.

BITOU municipal manager Lonwabo Ngoqo was dismissed yesterday after being found guilty in December on four counts of misconduct.

THE bail hearing of Chanelle Henning murder accused and former police officer Andre Gouws has been postponed to next week.

WHEN the mother of kidnapped baby Kgosietsile Morobe walked into a Hillbrow creche yesterday morning and saw her child she broke down and sobbed.

IN A major blow to decades of tradition in Nelson Mandela Bay, the annual Shakespeare Festival held in the open air at St George's Park has been moved indoors because of vandalism and cable theft.

A CLARION call for “personal and ecological leadership” was issued at a biodiversity celebration function at Kirstenbosch on Thursday night.

NELSON Mandela Bay will soon have its own Kirstenbosch, creating the possibility for a major upswing in environmental protection, tourism and job creation.

TWO rare, pint-size wild cats are due to be begin a long journey this weekend from the Eastern Cape to Denmark, to join a captive breeding programme to add vital resilience to their gene pool. Black-footed cats are the second smallest wild cat in the world behind the rusty spotted cat of India and Sri Lanka.Counts are difficult because of its nocturnal, highly secretive behaviour, but it is estimated that there are only 10000 of them left in the wild.

AN ESTIMATED 2000 people gathered at NMMU on Monday night to listen to a seminal address by celebrated Nature documentary film-maker Sir David Attenborough, 84. The audience packed the university’s main auditorium to watch him live on stage, as well as into two other satellite auditoriums, also at the Port Elizabeth stadium, and a hall at the George campus, where they watched his screened address.

AN OLD university chum was one of the reasons famous natural history documentary maker, celebrity broadcaster and “hero of our time” Sir David Attenborough was so pleased to get an invitation to come to Port Elizabeth. Speaking yesterday to The Herald at the beachfront hotel where he is staying at the invitation of NMMU before the honorary doctorate due to be bestowed on him today, Sir David explained that one of his good friends when he was studying at Cambridge in the 1940s was Patrick Niven.

IN A milestone event yesterday, the horns of the two rhino at Kragga Kamma Game Park were surgically removed, to make them safe from the threat of poachers. The outrage of rhino poaching was brought home as top wildlife vet Dr William Fowlds knelt by the anaesthetised mother rhino and used a chainsaw to remove her enormous horn, while her eight- week-old calf trotted around her, whimpering piteously.

WE HAVE reached a development T-junction. We can either accept, without thinking, the proposed R80-billion oil refinery, Project Mthombo, without an environmental impact assessment having been done - never mind Durban South and the pollution there, never mind scrutinising that extraordinary 18500 permanent jobs’ promise by our premier.

MINERAL Resources’ Minister Susan Shabangu has told Pondoland opponents of a titanium dune mining project that she needs another month to consider their appeal against the Xolobeni coastal dune mining project. Shabangu had been scheduled to announce this week her decision on the appeal by the Amadiba Crisis Committee, which is based on the alleged failure of the applicant mining company to properly consult on the project with either residents of the area or the king and queen of Pondoland.

CHRIS Hani District Municipality is set to do what Treasure the Karoo Action Group is hoping the national government will still decide is necessary. The step? To appoint a team of experts to investigate fracking, the controversial drilling method Shell wants to use to explore for and extract gas from shale beds deep beneath the Karoo

THE department of water affairs says it will be investigating the bridge-broadening project at Sunday’s River because the national roads agency should not be working on the bank or extracting water from the river without a permit. Mcamile Dweni, a scientist in the department of water affairs’ Port Elizabeth office, was responding yesterday to questions about the project and reports that a work team contracted by the agency is piling sand on the bank next to the existing bridge, and water is being extracted from a spot up-river.

A HUMBLE little Port Elizabeth school claimed a momentous first yesterday with the installation of a wind turbine and a linked borehole on their grounds. The 12m turbine has been established at Settlers’ Park Primary School in Walmer, and the power it generates drives a pump that draws water from an adjacent borehole.

THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) has called on the Green Scorpions to investigate a Parson’s Vlei stone quarry project which, they say, is flouting several key metro conservation and development plans. The controversy over the project has erupted, ironically, a few days after the metro’s celebration of its bio-regional plan. The milestone plan seeks to chart a path for sustainable development by overlaying conservation and development needs.

THIRTY young people from the Eastern Cape have been given the chance of a lifetime to enter the hospitality trade, in a new partnership programme funded by the government. The programme was officially launched this week in Bathurst and Grahamstown, where a section 21 company, Hospitality Youth Initiative (HYI). has been based for eight years.

NMMU and the national environment department signed an agreement yesterday which gives the Eastern Cape a unique opportunity to contribute to government’s coastal and marine policy. The department has traditionally enjoyed a strong relationship with UCT because of the focus on fisheries on the west coast.

HAS anyone ever wondered how the importers of our manganese ore deal with the air pollution that Transnet and the mining companies seem so completely unable to deal with here in Port Elizabeth? Well, in South Korea, at Hyundai Steel in Incheon, imported manganese and iron ore goes straight from the ship into giant domes.

ABOUT a hundred eager young swimmers from Port Elizabeth’s northern and township areas will miss out on what is considered to be the highlight event of their sporting year.

Pupils and parents flocked to Newspaper House to snap up The Herald Matric Results supplement. Now we make available to you pdfs of the supplement pages.