Percy Zvomuya speaks to Tsitsi Dangarembga about fact, fiction and the cross-currents of storytelling.
The schedule for a potentially massive public-sector strike expected to last a month will probably be divulged after unions meet later this week. Congress of South African Trade Unions spokesperson Patrick Craven said on Wednesday that a programme of marches and rallies would be likely in the run-up to the strike.
South African drug and cosmetics retailer New Clicks lifted first-half diluted headline earnings per share by 34,1% as it boosted market share and said it expected similar gains in full-year profit. New Clicks said diluted headline EPS rose to 53,9 cents.
Diego Maradona said he has kicked his alcoholism and plans to return to playing friendly matches. Maradona was noticeably thinner than before when he appeared on a popular Argentine television programme that ended in the early hours of Tuesday.
The bail conditions of three of the four men arrested in one of the country’s biggest drug busts were amended in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. Scorpions spokesperson Lucinda Moonieya said Stephanos Paparas, his father Dimitrio and Stanley Poonin were only allowed to leave their homes to go to work between 6am and 6pm.
A South Korean local government has stopped awarding prizes to big-spending barflies in the second setback this month for the country’s hard-drinking culture. The Goesan county government had faced criticism over its ”Drinking Culture Prize”, rewarding county employees who boosted the local economy.
Zimbabwe’s government announced 20-hour daily electricity cuts for households across the country on Wednesday as supplies are shifted to irrigate the winter wheat crop amid persistent food shortages. The country has already been experiencing power cuts due to the declining capacity of its aging power plants.
A district surgeon has recommended that the man who allegedly held eight staff members of the Pretoria News daily newspaper hostage for several hours be evaluated by a psychiatrist. The surgeon’s report was handed in to the Pretoria Regional Court where Lionel George (32) of Danville appeared on Wednesday.
France’s President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy rejected opposition criticism of his post-election holiday on a luxury yacht on Wednesday, saying there was nothing out of the ordinary about the three-day break. ”I have no intention of hiding. I have no intention of lying. I have no intention of apologising,” Sarkozy told reporters.
Higher interest rates do not necessarily result in a rapid slowdown in spending, but some of the ”exuberance” evident in consumer demand has been dampened, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. But he warned the South African Reserve Bank would have to raise rates again should consumers continue to spend as they had been doing.