Major slashes to humanities courses at Unisa are in the pipeline, and job losses are sure to result. But, as with Unisa management’s recent and controversial downgrading of some academic posts (see accompanying story), academics say they have scarcely been consulted and remain in the dark about the future of their jobs and the courses they teach.
The Robert McBride drunk-driving imbroglio got murkier this week, as it was revealed that the three metro police officers who have accused the Ekurhuleni police chief of intimidation are themselves the subjects of a string of criminal investigations.
On display among the bold African patterns and chunky jewellery, a carved giraffe flashes a price tag of 20Â 000 Tanzanian shillings (about R100). Handicraft trader Rose Mfinga says she will have to bargain hard to get half that price. ”People refuse to pay. I [inflate] my prices. That is what we are used to doing,” she says.
Emboldened by a resurgence of international communism and the ANC’s leftward shift, the South African Communist Party has proposed far-reaching constitutional amendments that it hopes will swing its position in the tripartite alliance from poor cousin to ruling coalition partner.
Protestant churches reacted with dismay to a new declaration approved by Pope Benedict XVI insisting they are mere ”ecclesial communities” and their ministers effectively phonies with no right to give communion. Coming just days after the reinstatement of the Latin mass, the document left no doubt about Benedict’s eagerness to back traditional Roman Catholic practices and attitudes.
Driving alone on Gauteng’s highways might soon be unaffordable. Tolls, big brother cameras for traffic offenders and electronic devices attached to cars are to become the rage if the provincial government has its way. This is one of government’s strategies to force Gauteng residents to make use of public transport.
The world’s carbon dioxide emissions did not plummet to zero after Live Earth and rock stars did not rise as one to trade their private jets for bicycles. Yet the scandalous possibility presented itself that Al Gore’s seven-continent, 24-hour concert series had been rather impressive and might yet prove important.
South Africa’s mobile operators are stretched to capacity trying to meet the rapidly increasing demand for voice and data services and are laying their own fibre-optic networks. Until now, MTN and Vodacom have relied on Telkom to provide their fibre network needs but, with Telkom unable to meet the increasing demand quickly enough, the mobile giants are taking matters into their own hands.
There might be method in the madness going on in Harare — reports suggest the government is considering slashing the salaries of public-sector workers by 50% in line with the price cuts that have rocked the retail industry. Business, the government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe are behind this latest move to control money supply, says the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
While peace in Côte d’Ivoire might be delayed because of the attempt on Prime Minister Guillaume Soro’s life, it will not be denied, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. July 2007 should register itself as an important month in Côte d’Ivoire’s history, as the flame of peace is lit in Bouake, Mbeki said in his weekly newsletter on the African National Congress website.