In a poignant letter published recently in the Mail & Guardian, Hazel Makuzeni took the government to task over crime in Khayelitsha. Here she reflects on the divergent response of township residents to the African National Congress’s election setback in Cape Town.
The West’s confrontation with Iran over its nuclear activities intensified on Thursday after Britain claimed that Tehran could acquire the technological capability to build a bomb by the end of the year. Until now, European diplomats have referred to a period of five to 10 years during which Iran might potentially build a bomb.
Abu Ghraib, the prison which will be forever linked with images of Iraqi detainees stripped naked and humiliated by their United States jailors, is to be closed. The sprawling, low-slung prison in the western suburbs of Baghdad, a torture chamber under Saddam Hussein that gained even more notoriety with the photographs of abuse committed by US troops, is likely to close within three months.
Were I to name and describe a certain cabinet minister as looking like an emaciated spaniel undergoing a haemorrhoid crisis, I would be guilty of being offensively personal. In describing people — especially important people — journalists are supposed to show restraint when it comes to making fun of things over which the people in question have no control — like their looks.
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi is "furious" at police incompetence in the search for the slain four-year-old grandchild of Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe. "I have never experienced such levels of incompetence before," Selebi said, vowing to hold to account the police responsible.
If the lethal form of the H5N1 bird flu currently spreading across Asia and Europe mutates to become a specifically human killer, it is thought that a third of South Africans could become sick, 8% of whom could require hospitalisation. This means that more than a million could die within a year, and the country could virtually be closed down.
The African National Congress Youth League and Brett Kebble’s other political clients must face facts: the vast scale of the murdered businessman’s crimes has become inescapable. What has also become clear is that Kebble could not have looted and manipulated the companies he controlled without the active or unknowing participation of others.
On Monday morning, it was celebration time in South Africa as <i>Tsotsi</i> won an Oscar for best foreign film. It was a national high-water mark. At the same time, real political tsotsis — called "comrade tsotsis" in the old days — were running amok outside the Johannesburg High Court, threatening the rape complainant in Jacob Zuma’s trial.
"Tragedy is knowing the right thing to do and not being able to do it. President Yoweri Museveni’s February 23 election victory is tragic. He changed the Constitution to eliminate the presidential term limit. Most people knew that if he stood for president, he would ensure victory by hook or by crook," writes Godfrey Chesang.
The way to make a small fortune in the movie industry — including with hits such as <i>Tsotsi</i> — is to start with a large fortune. Despite its Oscar, <i>Tsotsi</i> will not be a great moneymaker, says Peter Fudakowski, producer of <i>Tsotsi</i> and head of the UK Film and Television Foundation, which financed 50% of the movie.