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/ 20 October 2006

The deputy and the Dutch tycoon

The arrest of controversial Dutch oil tycoon John Deuss has exposed a trail of questionable influence leading to South Africa’s second highest office. The fortunes of Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s political adviser, Ayanda Nkuhlu, are intimately tied to those of Deuss, whose company has seconded him to Mlambo-Ngcuka’s part-time service.

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/ 20 October 2006

You pays your money …

South Africans are about to get hit with an avalanche of pay TV options from next year — some of them delivered to your cellphone. Until now MultiChoice — which owns M-Net and DStv — has been the sole provider of subscription TV in South Africa, but that’s about to change.

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/ 20 October 2006

Media are capitalist triggers

"Today, the overriding importance of media and information has made the pen — or at least the computer — perhaps the most powerful weapon of all," writes Zwelinzima Vavi. South African journalists defend the current capitalist economic system as logical and good, and strive to ensure its survival.

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/ 20 October 2006

Forget oil, look at food prices

Oil has been such an economic bogeyman in recent times, hogging the headlines, that not noticed is as severe a threat — food inflation. Food staple maize has been trading internationally at record highs, driven by the world’s move to energy diversification to produce bio-fuels as an alternative to fossil fuels.