Sello S Alcock
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/ 29 April 2008

SA won’t ban cluster bombs

South Africa considers controversial cluster bombs to be legitimate weapons of war that should not be banned, but rather be regulated to prevent “unacceptable harm” to civilians. South Africa and Egypt were the only two countries to object to a total ban on the munitions at a continent-wide summit a few weeks ago.

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/ 16 April 2008

The sectors most at risk

The first national master scarce skills list — released by the Labour Department recently — logs a comprehensive number of skills that are needed by the country if it is to overcome obstacles that hamper economic growth and, in so doing, undermine job creation.

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/ 7 April 2008

‘Powerless in death as in life’

”In a bid to help me trace my ancestry, my father took me to the Free State town of Qwa-Qwa on the Lesotho border. It was part of the process of welcoming me into his family. It began about a week earlier at sunset on a Friday. My old man spilled the blood of a few beasts and performed several rituals to appease his ancestors.”

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/ 4 April 2008

We need to protect intellectual thought

Academic freedom should go beyond creative teaching and dynamic research. It must include contributions to public discussions and debates. It was in this spirit, arguably, that the vice-chancellor of the University of South Africa, Barney Pityana, addressed the annual general meeting of the Law Society of South Africa.

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/ 3 April 2008

Mother tongues in a twist

Introduced as part of Curriculum 2005 in 1997 and revised in 2006, the education department’s schools language policy sets out to encourage the promotion of African languages by empowering learners to choose the language in which they want to be taught.

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/ 14 March 2008

Concourt says man was wrongfully jailed

The Constitutional Court has ruled that a man who spent five years in jail because of an administrative error may sue the minister of justice for unlawful arrest. Chief Justice Pius Langa, delivering the unanimous ruling this week, noted that the Grahamstown High Court in 1999 forgot to issue a warrant for Jonathan Zealand’s release.

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/ 10 March 2008

Battle over 2010 stadium land

A legal battle for the site of the Nelspruit 2010 World Cup stadium will unfold in the Land Claims Court after a family lodged an application saying the land is rightfully theirs. The Nkosi family will ask the court to review a 2003 government decision to award 6 000ha of land, which includes the site of the Mbombela Stadium, to the Mdluli clan.