South Africa is proud to boast that it has the highest number of people on anti-retroviral treatment should be a matter of shame, rather than pride. The state and private sectors have been successful in giving ART to about 220 000 South Africans, but this reflects just 20% of the people thought to need it.
In a move that is likely to spark controversy, the government looks set to promote a two-tier system of higher education, with some universities selected for growth and additional funding. In the process, the Department of Education has revised its hotly contested 2004 proposals for capping student enrolments at all universities on grounds of low graduation and high dropout rates.
”Malibongwe igama lamakhosikazi [Let the women’s name be praised]” — the rallying cry of the African National Congress Women’s League first adopted at the party’s national conference in 1957 — is today the name of a trust that appears, through its proximity to the ruling party’s women’s wing, to have landed a string of lucrative empowerment deals.
Media freedom and anti-censorship bodies have won the first battle against a Bill to force pre-publication submission of newspaper articles. Cabinet recently instructed the Department of Home Affairs to get the views of media practitioners and other interested parties before making the Film and Publications Amendment Bill into law.
After being the central figure in the ruling Swapo’s military and liberation mythology for 43 years, former Namibian president Sam Nujoma has suddenly become public enemy number one to his old comrades-in-arms. Former veterans of People’s Liberation Army of Namibia, Swapo’s liberation-era military wing, are publicly demanding payouts of R500 000 each.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>The prosecution of Jacob Zuma and arms company Thint is a mess — but does this justify abandoning the case against them? That’s the question facing Judge Herbert Msimang as the state and the defence gear up for argument on the prosecution application for a postponement of the trial until next year.
Eskom is planning up to 15 extra coal-fired power stations to cater for South Africa’s soaring electriÂcity demand — which would at least double South Africa’s contribution to global climate change. Eskom coal speciaÂlist Johan Dempers identified the Waterberg in Limpopo as a new expansion area.
The Donen Commission investigating abuse of the Iraqi oil-for-food programme is on the comeback trail. It is demanding testimony including how African National Congress secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe intervened with Saddam Hussein’s regime on behalf of the central figure in the Oilgate saga, Sandi Majali.
The government and anti-smoking lobby groups have South Africa’s tobacco companies in their sights as they launch an offensive against the flouting of tight regulations that outlaw the marketing of tobacco. According to anti-smoking lobby groups, tobacco companies are illegally giving away free tobacco products at luxurious secret parties.
What brought the above headline to mind was whimsy, detecting a similarity between Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece of the ridiculous and Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin’s tendency to inflate his fantasies to gigantic proportions. Remember when Alice eats the little cake and starts to grow enormously?