The real test of a leader is not when to make a decision on turning north or south, but choosing which road will lead to one’s destination. For Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the new Liberian President, the dilemma is walking the road to reconciliation and economic recovery that may be barricaded by the indictment of Charles Taylor.
This seems to be the year of changing the guard in the life industry. Roddy Sparks’s resignation as MD of Old Mutual South Africa is the third in the life industry since late last year. As Sparks steps down, Paul Hanratty, head of Old Mutual’s retail business, prepares to take on the role as from July.
A great number of high-level financial services players are leaving the business world to pursue "personal interests". Over the past two years, we have seen Pete Backwell of Nedcor head off to become an avocado farmer, then Wendy Lucas Bull packed up, after heading FNB Retail for four years, to pursue altruistic causes, and last year Laurie Dippenaar, CE of FirstRand, decided he needed to slow down.
Black-owned diversified firm Mvelaphanda Group on Monday announced that the suspensive agreement by which Incwala Resources would acquire a 22,9% in mining group Mvelaphanda Resources had fallen through. The conditions included obtaining the consent of the Mvela board for the transfer of the management agreement to Incwala.
The International Scallywags’ Network (known as the ISN) has been dealt a relatively severe blow with the death of Slobodan Milosevic of a heart attack days before his sentencing at the International Criminal Court at The Hague in The Netherlands, and the arrest of Charles Taylor as he tried to flee into Cameroon from his luxurious exile retreat in southern Nigeria.
While we have made good progress in establishing and consolidating democratic institutions, building legal and judicial respect for the rights of all our people and enacting enabling legislation to give effect to key provisions of the Constitution, we have not yet fulfilled the Constitution’s mandate to give Parliament meaningful control of the national purse strings, writes Eddie Makue.
Shareholders in Illovo Sugar have never had it so sweet. The share price has doubled to more than R16 in recent months as a bidding war was declared between two European sugar producers eager to bag Africa’s largest sugar producer. European producers are looking for less-developed-country supplies ahead of deregulation of the European sugar market.
Western supermarket chains are surging into the fast-growing Chinese market. This week, Wal-Mart — the world’s biggest retailer — declared its intention to lead the charge, announcing that it will hire up to 150 000 new staff in China over the next five years. The plan is the most ambitious attempt yet to convert China to Western consumer culture — albeit with a local flavour.
One would have assumed that the tumultuous chorus that this week accompanied the proposed formation of a human rights commission in Zimbabwe was a response to a presidential decree that any person found without a Zanu-PF membership card would be flogged at two-hourly intervals in a public square.
What started as a dream for 23-year-old Natalia quickly turned into a nightmare. ”I wanted to come to Greece, to go to the islands. They bought me and now I am doing this. They’ve told me that they’ll kill me if I try to escape,” she says, before rushing off towards the hotel where one of her sex-trade clients is waiting.