Elections in Bolivia and Chile signal changes in Latin America: the emergence of women in prominent leadership positions and the leftward shift in political orientation. More significant than this realignment is the rise of women in a traditionally conservative and somewhat machismo political environment.
Prominent members of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) have been implicated in a R268-million fraud being investigated as part of a forensic audit on companies run by the late Brett Kebble. The youth league has been among the most consistent supporters of former deputy president Jacob Zuma and is likely to be hit hard by these claims against its most prominent business members.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>Jacob Zuma’s lawyers spent much of Thursday trying to establish that Zuma’s accuser is a serial rape complainant who has levelled numerous groundless accusations against men in the past. And after four days of testimony, his lawyers told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> they might be able to apply for the dismissal of the rape charge against Zuma as soon as his accuser has finished giving evidence.
Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana has denied that using the same lawyers as the African National Congress in litigation over Oilgate undermines his independence. ushwana, the ANC, Imvume Management and the Mail & Guardian have been locked in legal disputes over the M&G’s Oilgate exposés.
A vitriolic attack on the Treatment Action Campaign as ”fronting for the pharmaceutical industry, drug-money laundering and pushing toxic drugs” still featured on the website of controversial vitamin peddler Matthias Rath — in violation of a recent court order forbidding him from further defaming the TAC.
In a poignant letter published recently in the Mail & Guardian, Hazel Makuzeni took the government to task over crime in Khayelitsha. Here she reflects on the divergent response of township residents to the African National Congress’s election setback in Cape Town.
Abu Ghraib, the prison which will be forever linked with images of Iraqi detainees stripped naked and humiliated by their United States jailors, is to be closed. The sprawling, low-slung prison in the western suburbs of Baghdad, a torture chamber under Saddam Hussein that gained even more notoriety with the photographs of abuse committed by US troops, is likely to close within three months.
The West’s confrontation with Iran over its nuclear activities intensified on Thursday after Britain claimed that Tehran could acquire the technological capability to build a bomb by the end of the year. Until now, European diplomats have referred to a period of five to 10 years during which Iran might potentially build a bomb.
Were I to name and describe a certain cabinet minister as looking like an emaciated spaniel undergoing a haemorrhoid crisis, I would be guilty of being offensively personal. In describing people — especially important people — journalists are supposed to show restraint when it comes to making fun of things over which the people in question have no control — like their looks.
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi is "furious" at police incompetence in the search for the slain four-year-old grandchild of Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe. "I have never experienced such levels of incompetence before," Selebi said, vowing to hold to account the police responsible.