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/ 27 November 2007
The traffic intersections of our major cities have two permanent fixtures: there are the intrepid, streetwise vendors, who, ducking cars, can persuade you that the cheap sunglasses, cellphone chargers and many other wares they sell are the genuine articles. Less combative, but an equally insistent presence, are the beggars, from other Southern African countries, who operate as individuals or as teams.
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/ 27 November 2007
Lying on the western fringes of Sydney, Penrith, a key battlegound in Saturday’s election, is the epitome of blue-collar Australian suburbia. It is a town of sprawling houses, well-kept gardens with giant barbecues and cars in every driveway; some of the houses are already extravagantly decorated with Christmas lights and Santas on sleighs.
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/ 27 November 2007
Gennady Zyuganov grins at his wrinkled audience as a voice booms out: ”Comrades, let us salute the heroes of the revolution!” A procession of rather ancient men shuffles forward. Zyuganov gives them each a medal. One 94-year-old hero has problems mounting the wooden stairs of the theatre where the election rally is being held. Zygunov bounds down from the stage. ”Ninety-four,” he exclaims, pinning on a medal for long service.
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/ 27 November 2007
In a country with a massive skills shortage in almost every sector, Edcon is one company doing its bit to change that. Aggressively recruiting graduates from across Southern Africa, the company grounds them in the principles of retail through their retail academy; skills with which no university can provide graduates, says Edcon.
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/ 27 November 2007
Only 10 of the 19 ministers of PW Botha’s 1984 Cabinet now survive, after Piet Koornhof’s death. Born in 1925 in Leeudoringstad, North West, Koornhof wanted to be a preacher and obtained a BA degree at Stellenbosch University with an eye to a theology qualification, writes Pik Botha.
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/ 27 November 2007
Reports that HIV-positive prisoners at Durban’s Westville Correctional Centre are receiving inadequate HIV/Aids therapy have caused a stir. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the South African Human Rights Commission (HRC) disclosed last week that they had received reports from prison inmates detailing their plight.
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/ 27 November 2007
Sudanese authorities began questioning a British teacher on Tuesday arrested for insulting Islam after her young students named a teddy bear Muhammad. Gillian Gibbons, a 54-year-old teacher at the Unity High School in Khartoum, was arrested on Sunday after complaints from parents.
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/ 27 November 2007
The intense controversy surrounding the decision of the Judicial Service Commission to end the inquiry into John Hlophe appears to have reached its end. Some legal wailing and political gnashing of teeth might continue, but Hlophe is here to stay as the judge president of the Cape High Court. But in the here and now, what have we learnt from this saga?
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/ 27 November 2007
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The Mail & Guardian publishes the text of Joel Netshitenzhe’s stunningly frank assessment of the deep rifts that have opened up in the ruling party, presented at last weekend’s national executive committee meeting.
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/ 27 November 2007
Ian Smith, the former Rhodesian prime minister who unilaterally declared independence from British rule, has died aged 88. Smith ruled the country for 15 years from 1964 to 1979, in an ultimately futile effort to maintain white minority rule.