Tumi Makgetla
Guest Author
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/ 24 January 2006

Women for mayor: The way forward?

Of Gauteng’s 15 municipalities, only those led by women — Lesedi, Midvaal, Westonaria and the West Rand — received unqualified audit reports for 2003/04.
"It is encouraging that the four municipalities that have performed with regard to their finances are led by woman mayors," says Gauteng local government minister Qedani Dorothy Mahlangu.

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/ 13 January 2006

No clear guidelines on gravy plane

There are no clear written or recorded guidelines that specify the conditions under which the government can authorise the use of South African Air Force jets for the deputy president, the Mail & Guardian learned this week. This despite presidential spokesperson Murphy Morobe’s insistence that the deputy president family trip to Dubai last December was in line with Cabinet guidelines.

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/ 6 January 2006

Documents contradict loveLife

Documents released to the Mail & Guardian by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria contradict recent loveLife claims that its funding was cut primarily because of United States-led right-wing ideology and pressure from ”progressives” critical of the South African government.

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/ 25 November 2005

The IEC and the Indian ink tender

A senior government official has conceded that a major Independent Electoral Commission tender for indelible ink, used in last year’s national elections, might have been marred by conflict of interest. In addition, a Mail & Guardian investigation suggests the tender requirements were breached.

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/ 25 November 2005

Al-Jazeera’s fresh eye on Africa

If wars and genocides were Africa’s only news, African newspapers and international news networks like CNN would run the same stories. But Al-Jazeera International aims to be different. As part of a "fresh 360 degree [change] to news coverage," the soon-to-be-launched television network plans to run African news stories as part of its normal news cycle — not just when violence occurs.

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/ 21 November 2005

NGOs fear skewed peer review

The African Peer Review Mechanism’s appraisal of South Africa will be skewed and lack credibility if resources are not urgently allocated so that the process reflects the daily hardships of ordinary South Africans. Civil society activists are adamant that soliciting input takes time and money.

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/ 8 November 2005

Crossing the (species) line

Luke Woodham’s self-described ”first kill” was his pet dog, Sparkle; a year later, in 1998, he murdered his mother and two schoolmates in Mississippi at age 17. Woodham was not the first serial killer to target animals and, since the 1970s, research by criminologists has found links between violence against humans and cruelty to animals.

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/ 4 November 2005

The season for stealing

Like tinsel in the shops and Christmas carols on the radio, an increase in cash-in-transit heists signals the onset of the festive season. The recent spike in such robberies — there were 13 across the country this week — reflects the growing volume of cash being transported in South Africa’s major cities as the Christmas shopping season looms, say experts.

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/ 21 October 2005

DIY Aids tests: Why bother?

I draw blood from the tip of my finger, transfer it to a plastic diskette, add six drops of a clear chemical solution and wait for five minutes while a red blush spreads across an area marked T (for test) and C (for control). No vertical bar appears on the T, meaning that I am HIV-negative.