Staff Reporter
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/ 26 October 2007

Time to rethink affirmative action

South Africa confronts a central political dilemma: how to advance redress to deal with historical injustice while simultaneously building a single national cosmopolitan identity. This is the defining element of the national question. Attempts were made to grapple with this issue at the ANC’s national general council meeting in 2005 and the party’s policy conference last year, but the outcomes were unsatisfactory on both occasions.

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/ 26 October 2007

Talking nuclear with Jalili

Saeed Jalili, who replaced Ali Larijani as Iran’s top nuclear negotiator at the weekend, is a man of strong moral views who believes spiritual values should inform political actions. His absolute conviction of the rightness of Iran’s cause, and his loyalty to his old friend, Iran’s hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, may make him an awkward interlocutor in nuclear talks with the European Union in Rome.

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/ 25 October 2007

Mediator appointed for UJ fee talks

An independent mediator has been appointed to facilitate talks between students and management at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), its Student Representative Council (SRC) said on Thursday, The Department of Education had on Monday appointed mediator Onkgopotse Tabane, said SRC president Mhlobo Hoyi.

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/ 25 October 2007

Two cows, one Fiat Uno and a case of overloading

In a bizarre case of overloading, two policemen in northern KwaZulu-Natal impounded a blue Fiat Uno on Thursday that was being used to transport two cows and two goats. Police spokesperson Captain Jabulani Mdletshe said two off-duty policemen were informed by residents of the Phelindaba area near Emanguzi that they had seen a man loading a cow into the small vehicle.

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/ 25 October 2007

Icasa rules against FXI over SABC blacklist report

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on Thursday dismissed an application by the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) to get the full record of the blacklisting inquiry at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The FXI had asked Icasa to subpoena the record to help it defend its complaint that the SABC had violated licensing conditions.

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/ 25 October 2007

Rand Water to spend R4bn on infrastructure

Rand Water intends spending R4-billion on upgrading and refurbishing its distribution infrastructure in the next five years, the company announced in releasing its results on Thursday. Of this, 57% would be allocated to augmentation projects and the rest to the renovation and upgrading of existing infrastructure, said Rand Water acting chief executive Zvinaiye Manyere.