Thai parents often mark the birth of a child by heading to a bank to set up a savings account. Now some wealthy Thais are using a different kind of bank they hope will help protect their children’s future well-being — a medical bank that saves stem cells from a baby’s umbilical cord in hopes of providing a cure to any major illnesses that could develop later in life.
The Investec banking group is poised to succeed where Brett Kebble failed: to sweep up the mess left by the biggest corporate fraud in South African history with a minimum of disclosure and accountability, leaving shareholders to grin and bear it.
A three-month dry spell could drive maize prices up to R2 000 a ton by the end of the month, in what farmers are calling “the worst drought in 40 years”. Maize farmers in North West and Mpumalanga have watched in horror as their crops have withered during the current drought. The Crop Estimates Committee put the forecast for the harvest at 7,757-million tons.
About 40 minutes from Cape Town, close to Kuils River, a Coca-Cola sign cheerfully announces: “Welcome to Happy Valley.” The notice is a tad misleading, judging from the daily queue outside the Afrika Breadline soup kitchen, the blocked toilets and the streets of wood and plastic shacks.
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool faces a crisis after his own party, the ANC, supported a Democratic Alliance call for an investigation into whether he lied to the Western Cape legislature. ANC national spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama told the Mail & Guardian that President Thabo Mbeki was as surprised as Rasool by the ANC’s support of the motion.
Two very different South Africans have grabbed the headlines in Britain this week. One is at the peak of his career, enjoying his first goal in England and is responsible for unfashionable Blackburn Rovers becoming the first side into the last four of the FA Cup. The second admits to old legs and ”feeling like a grandad”.
A new ANC faction has emerged in North West which plans to oust leaders of the dominant grouping from ANC party structures and government positions in the province. Nicknamed the “Potch mafia”, the grouping is allegedly led by Ndleleni Duma, provincial deputy secretary of the ANC and sports, arts and culture provincial minister.
The SABC may have reached a turning point in its attitude to gay content on the airwaves. This is the message from commissioning editors, who told the audience at the Out in Africa gay and lesbian film festival how gay and lesbian issues are being increasingly positively portrayed on the broadcaster, and have arrived on widely watched programmes.
Five broadband internet providers are competing for a share of the South African market, but the benefits of the price war are cold comfort for consumers who still face an uphill battle in deciphering the different broadband options on offer. Even when you find the option that suits you best, you might just be buying a lemon.
Recently, the national consultation conference on the draft HIV and Aids and STI Strategic Plan for South Africa 2007-2011 revealed the long awaited plan, which provides a blueprint for a cohesive national strategy to prevent further infections and alleviate some of the impacts of the epidemic.