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/ 25 February 2008
The week-long set of Cabinet briefings in February provide a snapshot of the state of government and of the styles and strengths of ministers. An energy crisis is gripping the country and at its heart is the problem that bedevils both economic growth and effective delivery: a dearth of skills
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/ 19 February 2008
Billionaire philanthropist George Soros made his fortune on the markets and is giving a lot of it to Africa. Last week he hosted an Africa Forum in Dakar on whether the continent is moving closer to his open society ideal. Ferial Haffajee asked him about the global economy, African governance and the role of China in Africa.
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/ 15 February 2008
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula shafted President Thabo Mbeki’s careful plans for the Scorpions when he announced this week in Parliament that the unit would be dissolved. Nqakula also pre-empted a parliamentary process and might have acted unconstitutionally.
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/ 6 February 2008
The right to reply space encourages readers to feel a co-ownership of the newspaper so that it is a public debating space run by a wider forum, rather than just the reporters and editors who run it. So it pains me to intrude upon readers’ space, but the article last week by a group of leaders at the University of KwaZulu-Natal deserves a second look, writes Ferial Haffajee.
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/ 13 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>At his official residence in Pretoria on Wednesday, President Thabo Mbeki gave the first interview of his eight-year presidency to the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>. Looking tired and vulnerable, the president exposed the softer side of his complex personality, which South Africans hardly ever see.
Did Rasool oil hospital deal? This was the headline of a story we published on January 26, to which Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool took great umbrage. In his right to reply, granted by our ombud Franz Krüger, Rasool said the story played into racist stereotypes of Africans, writes Ferial Haffajee, the editor of the <i>Mail & Gurdian</i>.
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/ 11 February 2007
Quiet diplomacy is not the appropriate response from responsible citizens, writes Ferial Haffajee. ”What First National Bank’s detractors appear to be saying is this: we know that government is very touchy on crime, so business should just keep ploughing in the bucks and practising quiet diplomacy.”
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/ 2 February 2007
The straw that broke AM-Live presenter John Perlman’s back was the fact that his bosses did not include him in a decision about who his new co-presenter would be, an SABC insider told the Mail & Guardian. Nikiwe Bikitsha announced her departure and Perlman expected to be included in auditions for her successor.
"We have displayed a consistent inclination since we assumed management of our affairs to opt for mediocrity and compromise, to pick a third and fourth eleven to play for us." South Africa? No. The description by Chinua Achebe was of Nigeria, his homeland, published in the 1983 monograph <i>The Trouble with Nigeria</i>. Yet it is apt for South Africa in 2007.
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/ 20 November 2006
The presidential task team on African traditional medicines has been compromised by the inclusion of Professor Herbert Vilakazi and advocate Christine Qunta, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday. The inclusion of Vilakazi and Qunta is a giant step backwards in developing a regulatory framework for traditional medicines, DA spokesperson Gareth Morgan said.