Former secretary of defence Pierre Steyn has spoken out for the first time about the arms deal, revealing that he resigned in November 1998 over the decision to force through the purchase of British Aerospace (BAE) Hawk jet trainers at twice the cost of those of the Italian bidder favoured by the air force.

A faulty perception persists among black people that environmental issues are, at best, a matter for bored white liberals who have too much time at their disposal. At worst, the same whites are seen as bitter because employment equity and BEE now allows insolent darkies to drive around in large, gas-guzzling 4x4s, when the apartheid superstructure was hell-bent on keeping them poor.

This year marks the 15th since the Rio Earth Summit and five since the Johannesburg World Summit. Looking back, we all need to agree that we have come too far to begin to cast doubt on the contribution of the resource base to development, or to forget that there is a “growth and prosperity case” for sustainable development, writes Pam Yako.

The Development Bank of South Africa is at the forefront of an initiative to tackle the daunting lack of skills faced by underperforming municipalities. DBSA CEO Jeanette Nhlapo said its main drive is to make sure these troubled municipalities have access to engineers, project managers, financial experts and development planners so they can get their infrastructure development project up and running.

News that South African Airways is seeking a R2-billion bail-out from the government has been roundly criticised by its competitors. However, economists say that without it, the troubled airline will be unable to attract much-needed private capital.

President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday stalled South Africa’s self-assessment process under the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) for six months, citing technical problems, which civil society has dismissed as “nonsense”. His decision stalls a process that had been rushed to meet a nine-month time frame.