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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Last year alone, 1,6-million people were arrested by United States-Mexico border protection authorities and at least that many escaped detection and made it into the US. It is an issue that is splitting the Republican and Democratic parties as they grapple with new laws to regulate this movement of people.
A fatwa issued by Egypt’s top religious authority that forbids the display of statues has art lovers fearing it could be used by Islamic extremists as an excuse to destroy Egypt’s historical heritage. Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa issued the religious edict that declared as un-Islamic the exhibition of statues in homes.
The fire in which 12 people died in Johannesburg’s CBD last week has highlighted the dangers faced daily by residents of the city’s numerous condemned buildings, who live without electricity or sanitation and are forced to cook on primus stoves and open fires.