The nation is a bathtub. Oh my God, it’s brain draining! Recently I heard that somebody was publishing a piece accusing me and others of "selling out to the West". Now, I wish I could announce that I did not care, but in truth my stomach coiled for a while, guiltily.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang will fully resume her duties on Thursday following a three-month break she took to recover from a liver transplant, the Presidency said on Tuesday. Tshabalala-Msimang is expected to deliver her department’s budget vote to the National Assembly on the same day.
The government stuck to its guns on Tuesday in the current pay dispute with public servants, saying the current salary demands of the public servants were not realistic. Public-service unions rejected a revised offer of a 6,5% pay rise by the government on Monday and are demanding a 12% rise.
Former White House aide Lewis ”Scooter” Libby was sentenced on Tuesday to 30 months in prison for perjury and obstruction in a case which also put a glaring spotlight on the flawed United States case for waging war against Iraq. Libby, formerly one of the most trusted aides to US Vice-President Dick Cheney, was convicted in March for lying to federal investigators.
Organisers of the 2012 London Olympics on Tuesday defended its newly unveiled logo following widespread public criticism that it was ”hideous” and a waste of money. The jagged emblem, based on the date 2012, was unveiled on Monday by Seb Coe, chairperson of the London 2012 organising committee.
Plans for South Africa’s first public naked bicycle ride, to protest against global warming, have fallen foul of the public-service strike. So, it appears, has a jobs-for-youth march that the African National Congress Youth League hoped to hold in central Cape Town on Wednesday.
With a new burst of local flavour, the long-anticipated musical, the Lion King, will officially open on Wednesday in Johannesburg. This is the tenth production of the musical worldwide, and the tenth year since it started its first run on Broadway. But many feel that with the South African run, the production has now come home.
Roger Federer dropped a Grand Slam set for the first time since the 2006 US Open but still powered into the French Open semifinals on Tuesday with a 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Spain’s Tommy Robredo. The top seed overcame the rare second set lapse to romp to his eighth consecutive win over the Spanish ninth seed.
Two-time defending champion Justine Henin and world number two Maria Sharapova stormed into the semifinals of the French Open on Tuesday in straight sets. Henin (25) gave United States star Serena Williams a lesson in clay-court tennis that had the Australian Open champion once again smashing her racket in frustration as she fell 6-4, 6-3 to the top seed.
United States President George Bush sought to calm Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Tuesday over plans for a US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, saying on the eve of a big-power summit that Russia had nothing to fear. The Kremlin leader reacted furiously to a US plan to site a radar system in the Czech Republic and missile interceptors in Poland.