Johannesburg - South African Deputy President Baleka Mbete told people at a World AIDS Day event in Durban on Monday they should use a condom with each partner and each time they have sex.

Speaking at the Sahara Stadium to some 2,000 people, she said "always use condoms with all your partners."

Mbete said that having sex under the influence of alcohol increased the risk of infection, the SAPA news agency reported.

She said women should insist that their partners take HIV tests before they start a sexual relationship.

Johannesburg- The number of visitors to Cape Town is expected to
dip this southern summer season as the international financial crisis
grounds many Western travellers, South Africa's Business Day reported
Wednesday.

South Africa's "Mother City", with its spectacular Table Mountain
backdrop, sandy beaches and nearby vineyards, is the country's top
tourist destination.

The city is particularly popular with moneyed Europeans. In 2007,
1.7 million people visited Western Cape province, where Cape Town is
located, according to the provincial tourist authority, Cape Town
Routes Ltd.

Johannesburg, Nov. 26 : As South Africa gets ready to take on Bangladesh in the second Test at the Centurion Park, one of the oldest cricket grounds in South Africa, South African skipper Graeme Smith is looking ahead to the tour of Australia, and has warned that the class of exciting Proteas pacer Dale Steyn will be on full display.

A much mellowed Smith said that his team and he would arrive in Perth next month with the most potent South African pace attack since Allan Donald struck fear into the hearts of Test batsmen in the mid-1990s.

Johannesburg - South Africa's economy grew at its lowest rate in ten years in the third quarter of this year, slowing dramatically to 0.2 per cent from 5.1 per cent in the second quarter, public radio reported.

Statistics South Africa reported three out of ten sectors actually shrunk over the quarter - mining, manufacturing and retail.

The slowdown was more acute than had been predicted. Analysts were expecting GDP growth to reach 0.4 per cent in the quarter. The quarterly growth rate is the slowest recorded since 1998, SAfm public radio reported.

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's political rivals were due to hold talks in South Africa on Tuesday to try to resolve their months-long standoff over the formation of a unity government, but it was unclear whether the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would participate.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was meeting Tuesday morning with senior members of his party in Johannesburg to discuss their stance on the planned meeting with representatives of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.

Johannesburg - Child welfare authorities in South Africa are investigating the case of an Austrian man, who kept his 8-year-old son prisoner in his home for four years before he was discovered abandoned and hungry by neighbours, The Star newspaper reported Tuesday.

South Africans have been shocked by the story of the boy, dubbed Tarzan of Suburbia after he was discovered on November 17 at home alone in suburban northern Johannesburg, wearing tattered clothes and fearing contact with people.

Neighbours became aware there was a boy alone in the house when he pushed two 5 rand cent coins through a gap in the wall and asked employees from a business across the road to get him something to eat.