Superintendent Joe Odendaal’s old-fashioned courtesy and gentle air belie his track record as a tough cop who gets things done. "What does safe mean? One incident is one too many," he retorts dismissively. "We are not interested in sitting around patting ourselves on the back. Our goal is to achieve a crime-free area, and we need to improve continuously to get there."
Imported French ingredients, fine wine and rare cigars are to the political and business elite what diamond-encrusted platinum pendants the size of hubcaps are to rappers: a way to flash your newly acquired squillions and your exquisite taste –the culinary equivalent of bling.
Denny Mushrooms landed in hot fat this week when two employees were nabbed for allegedly defrauding the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market. A vendor who buys from the market was also buttoned. The market is deeply worried about the mushrooming losses from suppliers dodging the payment of commission.
Despite its strident objections to the lottery, Cosatu has emerged as one of the major shareholders in Gidani, the consortium recently awarded the licence to operate the national lottery. In 2003 Cosatu made a submission to Parliament objecting to the introduction of the National Gambling Bill, which established the lottery, saying it would have negative consequences on the quality of life of the most vulnerable.
When will the public get its Oilgate money back? Almost two years after Imvume diverted R18-million from a state oil contract — the bulk of it to the ANC — about R12-million remains outstanding. After a history of broken promises and stop-start repayments, oil parastatal PetroSA has instructed attorneys to take action against Imvume.
The R96 000 that Gauteng Provincial Minister Paul Mashatile splurged on a taxpayer-funded dinner at a French restaurant has cast a spotlight on the abuse of government credit cards and is further evidence of the growing high life of our public representatives.
A dog starved at his master’s gate, wrote Blake, predicts the ruin of the state. He was right, of course, but today culturally sanctioned brutality against dogs is usually just weekend overflow, the lads having a Saturday morning out together after five days of culturally sanctioned brutality against women.
The World Bank ranks South Africa among the top 30 countries worldwide in terms of the ease of doing business, but it could boost its position up from 29 with just the "stroke of a pen", according to bank economist Caralee McLiesh. McLiesh is the programme manager of the bank’s Doing Business project, which investigates business regulation and the protection of property rights around the world.
It is disconcerting, even at the best of times, to be called "ma’am". Coming from someone such as Mamphela Ramphele, it’s downright humbling. But when I phone her for our interview, she replies to my "Hi, Mamphela?" with a "Yes, ma’am!" Ramphele’s CV can be summed up as daunting, writes Jocelyn Newmarch.
Nursing her infant on a dusty pavement outside her printing shop in war-weary Gulu, Mary Amito says she isn’t convinced the recent talk of peace for northern Uganda will mean the end of 20 years of war. ”It’s going to start all over again,” she said, casting her eyes at a pile of stagnant rubbish gathering in a pothole.