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/ 1 September 2007
South African unions have wrested hefty wage increases from employers, wielding strikes as weapons at a time of high inflation and strong performance in the key mining sector and government surpluses. The strength of unions, traditionally allied with the left wing of the African National Congress (ANC), could become critical with a looming showdown over who will succeed President Thabo Mbeki as president of the ANC.
No image available
/ 1 September 2007
Archbishop Desmond Tutu berated South Africa’s government on Friday over delays in introducing an HIV/Aids drug treatment plan and said its leaders’ unorthodox views had led to unnecessary deaths. Recalling fallen anti-apartheid heroes, the Nobel peace laureate said they would be shocked by the devastation caused by the pandemic, which he said was killing 900 people every day.
United States stocks rose on Friday amid optimism a White House-proposed mortgage assistance package could ease liquidity conditions. President George Bush set out measures to help homeowners with subprime mortgages refinance into new loans, but warned that the government’s job was not to bail out speculators.
A Cape High Court judge on Friday reserved judgement in Najwa Petersen’s appeal against a magistrate’s refusal to grant her bail. Petersen, who was not in court, is appealing last month’s decision by Wynberg regional magistrate Robert Henney. She and three alleged hired hit men are charged with the murder of her husband, entertainer Taliep Petersen, in December last year.
The Independent Democrats (ID) were riding high on the eve of the floor-crossing window on Friday after Cape High Court judges rejected bids by four would-be deserters to hang on to their seats until midnight. Judge Dennis Davis turned down an application by former ID general secretary Avril Harding to have his summary expulsion from the party reversed.
The opposition frontrunner in Sierra Leone’s presidential election cut short a campaigning tour on Friday after his convoy was attacked by stone-throwing pro-government supporters, witnesses said. Ernest Bai Koroma accused the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party of outgoing President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of trying to derail the election, before a run-off vote on September 8.
The onus is now on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to ”cleanse” her name and counter allegations levelled against her by the Sunday Times, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa-SA) said on Friday. ”Misa-SA believes that it is within the minister’s moral obligation to publicly nullify the allegations and set the record straight,” it said.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is a South African heroine and a true and devoted servant of the masses, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. The recent sustained and merciless propaganda assault against her was frightening, and ”belongs to wild animals”, he said in his weekly online newsletter, ANC Today.
Since 1998, the Buckfever Underground have consistently produced albums of stark originality that make the majority of their peers look like half-arsed chancers, writes Lloyd Gedye.
NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK (OR ANY WEEK): According to Shaun de Waal, Rush Hour III is not funny, the action is dull and it’s not enjoyable at all