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/ 18 February 2008

‘We will intervene’

”There are numerous cases of no-fee schools that did not receive their allocations. Some things require checking and monitoring and I include myself in some of the failings. Now, every week I want a report on no-fee schools and I don’t take things at face value, ” education minister Naledi Pandor tells Ferial Haffajee.

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/ 18 February 2008

Don’t say the ‘M-word’

Travelling in private jets, helicopters and bulletproof limousines, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, a staunch supporter of President Pervez Musharraf, is hard on the campaign trail for Monday’s Pakistani general election. But at his lavishly funded, tightly guarded rallies there is a striking absence: any mention of Musharraf.

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/ 18 February 2008

Makoni’s bold hope

Presidential candidate Simba Makoni used the word “renewal” a total of 13 times during an exclusive interview with the Mail & Guardian, saying Zimbabwe needed fresh leadership to “heal the wounds” of 28 years of President Robert Mugabe’s rule. Makoni, who declared his candidacy recently, predicts a landslide win against Mugabe.

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/ 18 February 2008

‘What the goddess has joined …’

If your religious festivals follow lunar phases and seasonal solstices, you will be happy to know that marriage under pagan rite and ritual is now a possibility for South Africans. The South African Pagan Rights Alliance (Sapra) has been designated by the department of home affairs a religious organisation under section 5 of the Civil Union Act (17 of 2006).

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/ 18 February 2008

Don’t say the ‘M-word’

Travelling in private jets, helicopters and bulletproof limousines, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, a staunch supporter of President Pervez Musharraf, is hard on the campaign trail for Monday’s Pakistani general election. But at his lavishly funded, tightly guarded rallies there is a striking absence: any mention of Musharraf.

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/ 17 February 2008

A serious slap in the face

Pity the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). Fifteen years ago this court — then led by the chief justice — was the highest court of appeal in South Africa. The prestige and standing of the judges serving on this court were unchallenged among the majority of influential South African lawyers and judges, and academics pored over their decisions and wrote learned articles about their decisions.

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/ 17 February 2008

Decisively dissed

Decisively dissed and dismissed in the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>, the conference on the Paradoxes of the Public Sphere that took place at Wits University recently was ­written off by an offended journalist as a grilled-prawn, wine-swilling affair that left the great minds of the Native Club off its guest list, writes Carolyn Hamilton.

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/ 17 February 2008

Picnic-site blast kills over 80 Afghans

A suicide bomber killed more than 80 people at a picnic spot in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Sunday in the most deadly attack since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, the government said. The attack will add urgency to a debate about how the United States and Afghanistan’s other allies can help stem militant violence and promote stability.