Staff Reporter
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/ 19 November 2007

DG reports: a view from the other side

The Mail & Guardian’s recent directors general scorecard was interesting, but my experience suggests that the optimism of the accompanying editorial might be misplaced. Certainly, the evaluation of my successor, Jabu Sindane, was somewhat unfair because a flawed process handed him a poisoned chalice, writes Mike Muller.

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/ 18 November 2007

Should we commit to nuclear energy?

An Eastern Cape Parks Board dictum reads: ”We promise the Earth.” As the ruling party’s delegates pack their bags for Polokwane, the daunting question stares us in the face: what promise, if any, does the ANC hold for the Earth? Writing for Mayibuye almost 10 years ago, Pallo Jordan observed that ”while the market can very easily assess and weight the value of a host of other commodities, it finds it difficult or underestimates the value of things we cannot buy and sell.”

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/ 18 November 2007

The politics of redistribution

What does it mean to govern effectively in a highly unequal society? For the ANC, governing is about changing the social and economic conditions created under apartheid, by tackling the structural nature of poverty, in-equality and unemployment. There has been real progress in these areas, evidenced in significant improvements in access to services and a substantial increase in social grants.

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/ 18 November 2007

Chikane warns of criminals in state structures

Criminals have infiltrated sensitive state structures, including security agencies, and ex-agents and ”comrades” were playing the system, a media quoted Reverend Frank Chikane as saying on Sunday. He also said that no ”political faction of any nature” could be allowed to use the levers of state to achieve its own narrow interests.

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/ 18 November 2007

SA secure invaluable lead

Mark Gillespie became the fifth New Zealand to take five wickets on debut as South Africa were bowled out for 383 in their first innings ten minutes before lunch on the third day of the second Castle Lager Test. South Africa resumed play on their overnight score of 272 for three, but Ashwell Prince was caught by substitute Jeetan Petel in the third over of the morning.

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/ 18 November 2007

Former Swapo stalwart launches new political party

A former Cabinet minister and senior stalwart of Nambia’s ruling party, Hidipo Hamutenya, launched a new movement in Namibia on Saturday, promising a different political vision and accelerated economic growth once in power. Hamutenya resigned from the ruling South West Africa Peoples’ Organisation (Swapo) and as a member of Parliament last week.

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/ 18 November 2007

Ukraine mine blast kills 17

Seventeen miners were killed and 14 are missing after a methane explosion ripped through a mine in Ukraine’s Donbass coalfield on Sunday, the latest of a string of accidents in the region’s outdated mines. Ukraine’s Emergencies Ministry said 31 miners had been in the immediate vicinity of the 3am blast at the Zasyadko mine in the coalfield’s main town, Donetsk.

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/ 18 November 2007

Sectarian clashes in Pakistan kill 70

Fighting between rival Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims in north-western Pakistan’s troubled tribal belt has claimed 70 lives, security officials and state media reported Sunday. State television said another 150 people were injured as heavily armed tribesmen clashed in the Kurram district bordering Afghanistan.