McDonald’s iconic ”golden arches” are being trumped by the blue and white of Israel’s flag after the hamburger chain bowed to pressure from Tel Aviv’s chief rabbi to distinguish its kosher restaurants and save religious Jews from accidentally chomping on a cheeseburger.
The death of Slobodan Milosevic was shrouded in mystery and deepening controversy on Sunday night as Dutch pathologists examined his corpse and it emerged that he had claimed he was being slowly killed by doctors. On Sunday night a preliminary post-mortem report said that he had died of heart failure. His remains were to be released to his family on Monday.
The trucking industry is being allowed to ride roughshod over the South African motorist. Truckers pay more in toll fees, but very low amounts considering they are responsible for 10 000 times the damage to roads. Toll fees for heavy-duty trucks travelling on the N3 between Jo’burg and Durban add up R408. Motorists travelling in light passenger cars pay R110 for the same trip.
One of the more eyebrow-raising, intriguing executive moves of recent times has been that of Peter Moyo, who last November gave up his position as deputy MD of Old Mutual South Africa to become Alexander Forbes’s Africa MD, in charge of 14 countries. The move was intriguing because many saw it as Moyo turning his back on an opportunity to head OM, a brand-name monolith.
First National Bank (FNB), the country’s largest vehicle and one of the four largest retail banks, is being sued for R145-million over one of banking’s most innovative products. Leon Parkin, a Rustenburg-based businessman, claims that FNB stole his idea for InContact, a free SMS service that informs cheque account, credit and debit card customers of all transactions as they happen.
In a corner of Joubert Park in Johannesburg’s inner city, a secret garden is blossoming. "GreenHouse’s vision is to become a demonstration of green living," says Dorah Lebelo, the executive director of the GreenHouse People’s Environmental Centre, an inner city environmental resource centre.
”We must recognise and respect each other. We must understand what unites us: the need to fight and defeat the Zanu-PF regime, the Zanu-PF culture. I do not have time to condemn and fight other soldiers,” says Arthur Mutambara, the new president of the pro-Senate faction of the MDC.
The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) threatened that Monday’s Transnet workers’ strike could go on for another three days if the union did not get a ”decent” response from the parastatal. Satawu president Ezrom Mabyama said: ”We will make sure no one is left in the workplace.”
”A heavy metal door guards the entrance to the women’s section of the Nardeen lighting company in Riyadh. To gain admittance, you press the bell and wait. In my case it is a long wait because the arrival of a male visitor brings production to a halt inside the factory while the workforce of 30 women shroud their faces in black,” writes Brian Whitaker.
All staff at the Vaal University of Technology were forced to buy a photograph of vice-chancellor Aubrey Mokadi, with university funds, to hang on their office walls. And all departments had to buy birthday presents for him, also with university funds, and to celebrate another occasion he created called ”The Day of the Vice-Chancellor”.