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/ 27 July 2007

The perfect fit?

Steven Pienaar’s recent move to English Premiership side Everton has once again highlighted the fact that very few South African players can cut it in Europe’s big leagues. You can count on two hands the number of South African players who have been successful in Europe.

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/ 27 July 2007

Lessons in the rarefied art of schmoozing

Telkom recently flew 393 clients with spouses, senior executives and management to Mauritius for a strategy session. Although Telkom did not disclose the amount spent, based on the average cost per person of a three-day corporate trip to Mauritius, including flights and activities, it would have cost in the region of R7-million.

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/ 27 July 2007

Sorry and thanks

We love our jobs. South Africa is going through a complex, often fraught, but ultimately very exciting transition, and we are right in the heart of the hurly-burly. The paper we bring you each Friday is the product of thousands of decisions, some of them very difficult, and a process of gathering, sifting and managing information on a baffling scale.

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/ 27 July 2007

Mugabe lends business an ear

Recently Zimbabwean business leaders met President Robert Mugabe in an attempt to persuade him to halt a crackdown that is ruining the country’s economy. This is the first meeting between business and Mugabe since he ordered a 50% cut in prices in June, causing a massive shortage of goods and deepening the country’s economic crisis.

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/ 27 July 2007

East Africa feels the butterfly effect

Beating the air with her homemade net, Aicha Ali chases a swirling black and turquoise butterfly. Far from indulging in a frivolous pastime, this Kenyan mother is earning crucial family income. "I like capturing butterflies; it’s fun because I make some money," she says, puffing as she wipes the sweat pearling on her nose after a frantic chase in the forest’s sandy trails.

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/ 27 July 2007

Making government listen

Kliptown in Johannesburg erupted recently — and poor service delivery was at the root of the disturbance. Following similar explosions in Deneysville and Metsimaholo in the Free State, Lenasia South, Eldorado Park and the Khutsong area, poor communities have taken to the streets to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with government’s perceived inability to minister to South Africa’s poor.

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/ 27 July 2007

SABC man accused of milking Post Office

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) legal services head Mafika Sihlali stands accused of milking the South African Post Office of millions of rands in fees that were not earned. Sihlali’s former legal practice charged more than R6-million to restructure the parastatal — an exercise that came to naught.

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/ 27 July 2007

Witch-hunt at SABC

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) CEO Dali Mpofu this week asked his top 20 managers to sign letters consenting to undergo polygraph tests in an effort to determine the source of the leaked internal audit report the Mail & Guardian was interdicted from publishing last week.

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/ 27 July 2007

Research clears cellphone masts

Cellphone masts do not cause harmful short-term health effects, according to a study of people who say they experience symptoms when they are close to them. The study dealt another blow to the notion that low-level electromagnetic fields from cellphones or base stations are dangerous.