GDP turns the corner with 0.9% growth

A long hoped for recovery in manufacturing has helped South Africa emerge from recession. Statistics SA yesterday reported growth of 0.9 percent in the third quarter, after adjustment for inflation.

Stats SA deputy director-general of economic statistics Rashad Cassim said the figure represented a turning point in the economy, after three consecutive quarters of contraction. But he warned it should be treated with caution.

"It is a seasonally adjusted quarterly change of 0.2 percent, which has been annualised (multiplied by four), which exaggerated the trend," he said.

When gross domestic product (GDP) is measured against the same quarter of last year, the economy contracted by 2.1 percent...
- Business Report

R1m dagga bust in the Eastern Cape

Three men were arrested when police discovered dagga plants worth R1-million in Pola Park near Mthatha, Eastern Cape police said.

The men were arrested on Saturday during an operation in areas around Mthatha which started at 8am until 6.30pm, said spokesman Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela.

The men aged 21, 30 and 32 would appear in the Mthatha Magistrate's Court on Monday.- Sapa

Matric bust with R1.8m of dagga

East London - A matriculant and three others were arrested at the weekend for being in possession of dagga worth R1.8m, the Daily Dispatch reported on Monday.

Eastern Cape police spokesperson Captain Stephen Marais said the four were arrested on Friday night at a local shop at Chalumna, East London.

The group were in possession of 47 and a half bags of dagga weighing 1.117 tons.

The suspects were aged between 18 and 38.

Marais said the 18-year-old was in Grade 12 and busy writing his matric exams.

The four were expected to appear in the East London Magistrate's Court Monday. - SAPA

SA includes illegal, underground economies in GDP

Statistics South Africa has decided to include illegal and underground economies, when calculating the countries’ gross domestic product.

Cannabis farming will now form part of the agricultural sector while prostitution falls within the personal services sector.

It is understood the inclusion of illegal economies into GDP is already a global practice.

“Theoretically it is absolutely correct to include as much of the production in the economy as possible when you calculate GDP growth, so theoretically there is nothing wrong with including things like dagga sales in your economic statistics,” says Efficient Group Economist Dawie Roodt.

- Eyewitness News

Wikileaks South African CDA Cannabis position paper

Herewith the South African Central Drug Authority Cannabis Position Paper. - Wikileaks

Please note those in charge in “the know” – wrote this paper

SAFERCIA is not responsible for the misrepresentation of the Canadian Senate report; or the glaring absence of number of related deaths; No serious consideration of a drug would exclude the number of deaths... or not.... from that drug

It would pertinent to note that the CDA are the people who reported back to the UN for the 2009 World Drug Report:

The only systematic monitoring of drug use in Africa is taking place in South Africa, based on treatment demand. Data for South Africa suggest that treatment demand for cannabis use increased over the first two quarters of 2008.

Including alcohol, cannabis accounted for 23.5% of substance abuse-related treatment demand in South Africa during this period. - UN World Drug Report 2009 Cannabis Market

Excluding alcohol, What is the demand for cannabis substance abuse treatment?

I thought we were talking about systematic monitoring ... considering 51% of the people that die in South Africa do so DRUNK.

Science chief backs cannabis view

The UK government's chief science adviser has told BBC News that he supports the former chief drugs adviser's scientific view on cannabis.

Professor John Beddington, the UK's chief scientist, would not be drawn on whether the Home Secretary was wrong to sack Professor David Nutt.

David Nutt was chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

He was fired after using a lecture to say cannabis was less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.

Asked whether he agreed with Professor Nutt's view that cannabis was less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol, Professor Beddington replied: "I think the scientific evidence is absolutely clear cut. I would agree with it."

“ This is a single instance where there has been a problem. In my two years in government there has only been an instance with the ACMD ”
Professor John Beddington

Professor Beddington is the man ultimately responsible for scientific advice in government.

He said that he believed that the sacking had occurred because of a breakdown in trust between Professor Nutt and the Home Secretary Alan Johnson.

"I think it's very difficult - when clearly trust had broken down between the Home Secretary and Professor Nutt - to see how that could go on," he told BBC News.

He stressed the importance placed by government on obtaining clear-cut scientific advice from experts.

He added: "I think it's fair to say we need to make a distinction between scientific advice and evidence - which is the role of experts and scientific committees and the role of ministers - which is to make policy."

Inner workings

He said he did not believe that the incident revealed an underlying problem in the way government used scientific advice.

"There has been a lot of concern in the media that this is in some sense an undermining of the way in which government uses scientific advice. Let me put it in context: there are more than 75 scientific advisory committees," he said.

"This is a single instance where there has been a problem. In my two years in government there has only been an instance with the ACMD."

Professor Beddington said that he would urgently consult with other heads of expert committees to see if they had experienced difficulties in their role.

However, some senior scientists who advise government feel that the Nutt affair is reflective of the inner workings of providing scientific advice in Whitehall.

Many of the advisers I spoke to felt that their committees produce reports whose conclusions are inadequately reported because the publicity is tightly controlled by government press officers. These advisers did not want to be quoted.

Scientists are sometimes required to sign confidentiality agreements - a practise said to exist for commercial reasons. But critics claim the agreements can act as a legal gag on scientists who speak out on government initiatives.

"I'm going to be talking to the advisory committees, I'm going to get feedback from the chairmen. There are going to be cases where there has to be non-disclosure," Professor Beddington said.

"I want to know whether those cases are appropriate - if there is commercial confidentiality or there are sensitivities - or whether they are blanket."

He added: "If there was so many problems, we would not get the quality of scientific advice we get." - BBC NEWS

Kid killed for a joint.

Pretoria police have again been accused of shooting and killing an innocent man, according to a newspaper report.

According to The Sowetan, the family of Kgothatso Ndobe (21) say he had been polishing his shoes when the police arrived and said they wanted to question him and his friend, Xolani Bhoya.

Ndobe apparently panicked and ran away. A trainee officer then shot him in the head.

The trainee officer allegedly fled the scene after he realised what he had done.

Bhoya says the reason Ndobe ran away was because he had been smoking dagga when the police arrived.

Eye-witnesses say a senior officer on scene, Inspector Skosana, refused to call an ambulance or transport Ndobe to hospital.

Later still, officers at the Atteridgeville police station apparently told Bhoya that he could not open a case because the person who was supposed to open it was dead.

The latest shooting comes after Pretoria police shot at the unarmed occupants of a VW Golf last weekend after they mistook the occupants for robbers. A fortnight before that Pretoria police shot and killed Olga Kekana (29) after mistaking her and her companions for hijackers.

- TimesLive