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/ 4 December 2007
I was shocked – shocked! — to read that comrade Jan Serfontein, recently appointed North West minister for agriculture, conservation and environment, has been accused of being a farmer who closes off water for poor blacks. I have known comrade Jan since I was young, having attended his farm school outside Potchefstroom for part of my primary schooling, writes Andile Mngxitama.
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/ 3 December 2007
Hello kitty kitty kitty … Are you an orphan? Are you Sudanese? Chadian? Are you a sub-Saharan African suffering from mild mental retardation? Are you an African woman suffering from the African male? Would you like an Oxfam biscuit? Organic antiretrovirals? Have you been raped? You might not know it, but you are an orphan, a refugee.
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/ 3 December 2007
The world’s first self-tuning guitar was unveiled to the public in London on Monday — an instrument that automatically detects when a string has fallen out of pitch and corrects it. The Gibson Robot Guitar was unveiled to the public by Mike Peters, lead singer and guitarist from the Alarm, the biggest band to come out of Wales in the 1980s.
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/ 3 December 2007
Higher inflation and deterioration in South Africa’s current account over the past year highlight the need for more balanced growth, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Monday. But it appeared that growth was becoming more balanced, with tentative signs that consumption was easing on higher interest rates, he said in a written reply to a parliamentary question.
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/ 3 December 2007
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has declined to discuss the withdrawal of its protection services for South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande. ”It’s not something we can discuss in the public domain,” said national police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo on Monday.
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/ 3 December 2007
Japanese researchers pitted young chimps against human adults in two tests of short-term memory. Overall, the chimps won. That challenges the belief of many people, including many scientists, that ”humans are superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions”, said researcher Tetsuro Matsuzawa, of Kyoto University.
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/ 3 December 2007
The introduction of prepaid water meters in Phiri, Soweto, was unlawful and violated the residents’ constitutional right to equality, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Monday. Court 6F was filled with members of the Inner-City Resource Centre and the Coalition against Water Privatisation — all in support of the Phiri residents.
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/ 3 December 2007
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South African President Thabo Mbeki and his arch-rival, Jacob Zuma, have both officially confirmed they are candidates for party chief of the African National Congress (ANC), their offices said Monday. ”Mr Jacob Zuma signed the ANC nomination form over the weekend in London,” Zuma’s spokesperson, Ranjeni Munusamy, said.
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/ 3 December 2007
Thieves who stole 16 metric tonnes of ham and bacon from a warehouse in Australia left behind a message taunting the business just weeks before the holiday season. ”Thanks … Merry Christmas,” the crooks daubed on a wall of the Zammit Ham and Bacon Curers warehouse in suburban Sydney as they made off with their haul.
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/ 3 December 2007
The press council, the press ombudsman and the press appeals panel on Monday jointly announced the publication of the South African Press Code booklet. The booklet is intended ”for use by journalists and the public in pursuit of excellence in journalism”.