When the first CDs rolled off the presses at the Philips factory near Hanover, Germany, on August 17 1982, nobody realised these newfangled compact discs would revolutionise entertainment. By the 1990s, CDs had not only nearly pushed out vinyl records but also paved the way for other uses of the digital disc.
There is growing tension within the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) about its political mandate. Union leaders appear to be deeply divided over who should succeed Thabo Mbeki as ANC president in December. Although Cosatu will not have voting powers at the ANC’s elective conference, it resolved at its ninth congress last year that its members should actively participate in identifying the ANC leadership that will be sympathetic to the interests of the working class.
Mauritius is an increasingly popular destination for wealthy South Africans looking for a contingency plan when developments in South Africa make them nervous, specifically crime and the destabilisation Zimbabwe might bring to the region. Mauritius is only too happy to oblige these highly skilled workers who are in demand worldwide.
Editing your own entry on Wikipedia is usually the province of vain celebrities, but a new website has uncovered dozens of companies that have been editing the site in order to improve their public image. The Wikipedia Scanner has unearthed a catalogue of organisations massaging entries, including the CIA and the British Labour party.
As South African President Thabo Mbeki prepared to present his progress report on the mediation process in Zimbabwe to regional leaders gathered at this week’s Southern African Development Community summit, Zimbabwean Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa was insisting that there was no need for political reform in Zimbabwe.
Dr Nokuzola Ntshona, deputy manager of the East London Hospital Complex and medical superintendent of the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, was suspended this week for blowing the whistle in the media on baby deaths at Frere Hospital. Zukile Majova spoke to her.
One of the problems with discussing humanitarian intervention is that the term itself means different things to different people. For legal scholars it describes military intervention to come to the aid of people facing acute danger, for humanitarian aid workers it is the impartial distribution of emergency relief.
While the government finesses its plans for sector education and training authorities (Setas), the African National Congress’s (ANC) policy discussion paper has shed light on how 24 Setas could be cut to five. This is being flagged before the Labour Department’s skills-development conference in October.
The floor-crossing window, which opens next month, could diminish further the strength of most opposition parties. For the first time this year the floor-crossing window for national and provincial MPs will coincide with that for municipal councillors. The 11 opposition parties are expected to lose more members to the ruling African National Congress.
Despite turmoil in international markets, the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) raised interest rates another 50 basis points on Thursday, bringing the repo rate to 10% and the prime rate to 13,5%. ”The MPC noted that recent financial market developments in some of the developed economies have had spillover effects on emerging markets including South Africa,” it said in a statement.