South Africans have become vegetally preoccupied with the ramblings of Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, on HIV/Aids. As she tosses her mad Greek salad, we have lost sight of the crumbling of the broader health system. We have visited 26 public hospitals across the country and found a system in crisis.
South Africa’s telecommunications regulator has been roundly criticised by stakeholders for backpedalling on regulations aimed at bringing exorbitant ADSL pricing in line. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s ADSL regulations released recently have been described as "watered down" and "disappointing" by stakeholders.
Activists in Matatiele have threatened to “hit the streets again” over the area’s incorporation into the Eastern Cape, despite winning a Constitutional Court challenge to the Twelfth Amendment Act. And following the judgement the former cross-border municipalities of Moutse in Mpumalanga and Merafong in North West have said they will jointly file an urgent case against the government.
The daughter of Zimbabwean Vice-President, Joice Mujuru, has helped herself to Ashcott farm, situated on prime agricultural land about 150km northeast of the capital, Harare. Armed with an offer letter issued by Intelligence and Land Reform Minister Didymus Mutasa, Kumbirai Madzima and her husband, Tapiwa, arrived three weeks ago on the farm.
Urairat Soimee never thought she would leave her small village in northern Thailand, not even to visit Bangkok. So, she jumped at the chance when a neighbour offered to set her up with a waitressing job in Japan. Urairat, then 29 years old, arrived in Tokyo in 2000 before she was sent to the port city of Yokkaichi, only to discover that she hadn’t been hired to wait tables, but essentially as a sex slave in a brothel.
They didn’t quite chant ”David who?” on the terraces as England banged home four goals to cruise to a comfortable victory against Greece. But just how long can David Beckham retain his celebrity status when the English side no longer seems in need of ”that bendy thing” England’s former captain used to do so well with the ball?
This week the Independent Democrats were calling for reforms after the Democratic Alliance fessed up to accepting large donations from Brett Kebble. Oom Krisjan sees a pattern emerging: when it transpires that Kebble gave the ID half a million bucks, the ACDP will call for reform, until it is revealed by the Freedom Front Plus that the ACDP got R2Â 000.
The global mining industry has never had it so good. Soaring commodity prices — nickel hit a record of R209 a tonne recently — driven by a shortage of supply and increasing demand have led to bumper profits for big and small mining groups. The huge amount of cash generated has led to increasingly audacious mergers and acquisitions.
Whether they were dipping, sipping, watching alone or at one of the thousands of “viewer parties” taking place across the country, last week millions of Americans tuned in to the final episode of Friends. Dan Glaister in Los Angeles and Gary Younge in New York report on the passing of the famous TV series.
‘Now that I’m in it, it’s not nearly so daunting,” says Cape Town mayor Helen Zille of the job she accepted with trepidation six months ago. Zille is perched on a couch in the lounge adjoining her sixth-floor Civic Centre office in the central city.