Jeremy Cronin’s article ("What kind of presidency," May 26) should kick off a real debate. I have always enjoyed reading Cronin and believe his views are sobering for a developmental state like South Africa. However, in this article, he stumbles. To blame South Africa’s problems on a powerfully managed presidency does not add up.
The Competition Commission’s probe into bank fees is yet to be formalised, but already there are signs of major price cuts and new competitive winds beginning to blow in the sector. Nedbank, one of the Big Four, this weekend announces fee reductions averaging 13% across the board.
A colleague recently calculated that if she had used bundled account pricing on her bank account she would have saved R3Â 500 in bank fees a year. That is a huge sum of money. A survey conducted by Pick ‘n Pay banking shows that, while most people feel their banking fees are too high, many have no idea what those fees are, writes Maya Fisher-French.
”I think it’s sexy,” Donald Bradford says of the bushy growth that has adorned his upper lip for the past two months.Largely shunned since the 1980s, moustaches are enjoying something of a renaissance among young New Yorkers, following a comeback trail blazed by such hip role models as actor Nicolas Cage and the ultra-trendy fashion photographer Terry Richardson.
The migration of whales to South Africa’s coastline has begun, just as another annual but far less rewarding spectacle is about to unfold in the Caribbean. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets from June 16 to 20 in St Kitts. Once more the tussle between pro-whalers and anti-whalers is poised on a knife-edge.
Spain is about to take the world into uncharted legal territory. Later this month, a resolution is going before Parliament that, if passed as expected, will give a set of rights to chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans. These great apes will then be regarded in Spanish law as ”legal persons”.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid back below the 11 000 mark in early trading on Tuesday after falling nearly 200 points on Monday, as Ben Bernanke’s baptism of fire as chairperson of the United States Federal Reserve prompted a fresh bout of jitters on Wall Street.
Recently, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told persistent ‘whingers’ about crime to emigrate. Do they include Hazel Makuzeni, who begged him earlier this year in the M&G to do something about runaway crime in Khayelitsha? This is Makuzeni’s latest bulletin from ‘the war zone’
Malika Labazanova crouched on the floor of her house at number 20, Third Tsimlyansky Lane, Grozny. A young man in camouflage fatigues held the muzzle of an automatic rifle against her head. Both were citizens of the same country, Russia, but he represented the government, and she did not.
Daniel Ortega led a rogue state before rogue states were invented. As chief engineer of Nicaragua’s 1980s left-wing Sandinista revolution, he became Ronald Reagan’s favourite Central American whipping boy. The United States government conspired with so-called Contra rebels to overthrow him. He was eventually voted out of office in 1990, beaten by a US-backed candidate.