When is a company empowered? For me, this goes beyond a mere stamp of verification. It is when there is a sustained sense that there are no unfair obstacles preventing you from realising your potential. As this is a sustained state, there is no need to celebrate occasional events of affirmation, writes Nkosinathi Chonco
The Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies based in Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal, has received a major funding boost of £15-million over a five-year period from the Wellcome Trust in the United Kingdom to undertake cutting-edge research in HIV/Aids. The Africa Centre is a joint initiative of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and the Medical Research Council of South Africa.
Image processing is being developed around the world for the manufacturing environment, but a South African research team is pushing the boundaries and finding ways in which the technology can be used to provide better healthcare. Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, the chair of systems engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, says his passion for science became deep-rooted when he won the National Youth Science Olympiad in 1989.
This month the University of the Western Cape (UWC) formally approved the formation of the Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics (IMBM). Comprising more than 30 researchers and support staff, the institute is led by Professor Don Cowan of UWC’s department of biotechnology.
During Ramadan, a time of well-being and positive thoughts, my world seems governed by food, sleep and work. As the weeks pass, you start wondering what Ramadan really is all about. It’s not just the eating, though it is an integral part of my fasting day, writes Zahira Kharsany in the second of a three-part series on Ramadan.
”What did you bring to read?”: the usual question I put to my academic guests. For renowned Marxist critic Terry Eagleton’s week of classes at the University of Cape Town last month, there were three authors: Marcel Proust, Fredric Jameson and John le Carré. ”It’s funny, isn’t it?” notes Eagleton. ”You mention the name Proust and it’s so immediately offputting.”
There is a tacit belief in a number of archival disciplines that making documents related to the history of liberation struggles in Southern Africa more widely accessible via the Internet and stockpiling new resources on the web will result in new and better histories. However, a survey of a range of digitisation projects currently underway in Africa suggests that this may be a naïve expectation, writes Premesh Lalu.
A recent Supreme Court of Appeal judgement poses a conundrum for minimum sentencing legislation. When a judge or magistrate sentences, he or she must treat the offender as a unique individual within the context of the crime committed, the effects on the victim and family and the interests of the community.
Most of us barely cope with the day-to-day onslaught that technology brings. Everything is faster, but not necessarily better. The inaugural, 2007 Flux Trend Review was held in Jo’burg recently and offered delegates an opportunity to hit the pause button and get a sense of "the state we’re in" by editing out the barrage of information flung at us.
Premier Soccer League (PSL) members have not been paid any commission from the television broadcasting and Absa sponsorship deals, PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza said on Tuesday. Indeed, the issue of the payment of commissions had not even been finalised yet, he told reporters in Johannesburg.