No image available
/ 13 November 2007
Members of Parliament heard on Tuesday that the South African Post Office has made 40% more trading profit in the first six months of this financial year than it did last year. Chief financial officer Nick Buick said that the six months’ net profit for this year was R210-million, 20% above last year’s interim result.
No image available
/ 13 November 2007
A 33-year-old Indian man has married a female dog to atone for his ”sin” of killing two canines more than a decade ago, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. P Selvakumar married the dog called Selvi at a wedding ceremony held in a temple in the eastern Sivaganga district on Sunday, the Hindustan Times said in a report.
No image available
/ 13 November 2007
Motorists are set to pay more for fuel during the peak holiday month of December, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday. The latest figures from the Central Energy Fund showed an under-recovery of 34 cents a litre on petrol. On diesel, it was between 31 and 32 cents a litre.
No image available
/ 13 November 2007
At last Mark Gevisser’s long-awaited biography of Thabo Mbeki is out. For a project that began in 1999 and took eight years to complete, the title <i>The Dream Deferred</i> seems especially apt. As a subject, Mbeki is a walking "writer’s block". Not only is he a densely complex person, as the book confirms, but he shimmers in the light, making it all but impossible to have a single thesis to explain the man.
No image available
/ 13 November 2007
The European and American tradition of the political novel is deeply entrenched. From Emile Zola to Gore Vidal, the perceptions and attitudes of citizens in these smug old democracies have long been shaped. South Africa too has a rich history of political fiction, from Alan Paton to Nadine Gordimer, André Brink, Njabulo Ndebele and Lewis Nkosi. But there is, of course, a vast difference between the literary political novel and the "novel of politics", writes Marianne Thamm.
No image available
/ 13 November 2007
Despite a cooling in optimism toward holiday spending, South African consumers still remain more optimistic about their economy than all the other countries surveyed in an annual Deloitte year-end holiday survey and are likely to spend 12% more than in previous years.
No image available
/ 13 November 2007
A home is one of the biggest purchases most of us will ever make, and yet many of us rush into the buying decision only to regret it later on. "Conditions now favour buyers, so they should take their time and make certain that they really know what they are buying," says Saul Geffen, chief executive of MortgageSA.
No image available
/ 13 November 2007
As a result of skills shortages, particularly at top executive level, candidates possessing scarce skills with the necessary experience to back them up are in the highest demand, locally and globally. Yet it is alarming that, in light of the current skills climate, interview processes are becoming more cumbersome and long-winded than ever.
No image available
/ 13 November 2007
Slowly but surely, South African midfielder Steven Pienaar is recapturing the form that made him one of the most sought-after players in Europe in his early 20s. Pienaar is now a regular starter for Everton, and impressed in patches during his team’s creditable 1-1 draw at 2005 and 2006 Premier League champions Chelsea on Sunday.
No image available
/ 13 November 2007
Forwards Danie Rossouw, Wickus van Heerden and Gurthro Steenkamp withdrew injured on Monday from South Africa’s short rugby tour of Britain. Star scrumhalf Fourie du Preez also looks like staying home and missing the Test against Wales at Cardiff and the celebration match with the Barbarians at Twickenham on December 1.