South Africa’s cellphone giants have fired their own shots in the price war triggered by Virgin Mobile, but despite price reductions and simplified packages, the incumbents have still to go a long way to catch Virgin, which leads by far in the money-for-value stakes.
Up to 450Â 000 chanting soccer fans will be shoehorned through South Africa’s airports during the 2010 World Cup Soccer tournament, creating a logistical nightmare for the airports, immigration officials and police. Tourists looking for a piece of African tranquillity are likely to plan their trips on either side of the event so as to avoid the crush.
<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>Jacob Zuma’s upcoming fraud and corruption trial threatens to become the next round of the ugly power struggle in the African National Congress, with the trial potentially being used to embarrass President Thabo Mbeki by placing him on the witness stand.
In May 1942, one of the Nazi regime’s most notorious mass murderers, Deputy Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich, was assassinated by Czech partisans. The Nazi response was to demolish the nearby village of Lidice house by house and either shoot its inhabitants or send them to death camps. What, in principle, is the difference between the collective punishment visited on Lidice and the indiscriminate bombing of Lebanese roads, bridges and homes?
<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK</b>: George Clooney’s new oil-industry drama, <i>Syriana</i> offers engrossing and informative viewing, writes Shaun de Waal.
Act 1, Scene I. A desert place, courtesy of Operation Murambatsvina. Thunder and lightning. Enter three Zimbabwean Witches … “When shall we three meet again, in thunder, lightning, or in rain?” “How about after <i>Generations</i>?” “That will be ere the set of the sun. Sevenish.”
South Africa’s liquid fuels industry could face serious reform and possible windfall taxes, according to a discussion document released this week by a Treasury task team. The report, which suggests that Sasol generates "supernormal profits" at the consumer’s expense, will be followed by a public hearing before recommendations are forwarded to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
Government critics who expected the African peer review team to ride into town last week cracking the whip on the South African government, blaming it for the high crime levels and criticising the unacceptably high unemployment figures were probably disappointed.
Clutching an assault rifle, Ekai Lokipeng shows off six marks on his chest, the result of ritual scarification ceremonies to indicate the number of people he has killed. The scars symbolise the pride that Kenyan pastoralists along the country’s volatile border with Ethiopia take in protecting their herds from rustlers, and have made the 30-year-old Turkana tribe member a hero in his community.
Many times in the past the Israeli peace movement criticised Israeli military operations. Not this time. This time the battle is not over Israeli expansion and colonisation. There is no Lebanese territory occupied by Israel. There are no territorial claims from either side.