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/ 17 February 2006
Something may be rotten in the state of Denmark and the stench is being smelt the world over. The spontaneous expression of outrage in Muslim communities around the world, sparked by the Danish cartoons, has surprised many. Its magnitude has led some to question its spontaneity by speculating whether a hidden hand orchestrated this reaction.
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/ 17 February 2006
”The latest round of culture wars does neither side any good. The Western civilisational fundamentalists insist on seeing Muslims as the other — different, alien and morally evil. Jyllands-Posten published the cartoons in bad faith. Its aim was not to engage in debate but to provoke,” writes author Tariq Ali.
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/ 17 February 2006
For many reasons, President Yoweri Museveni’s army is the key to Uganda’s first multiparty election in 25 years. Not surprisingly then, his people are trumpeting his National Resistance Movement as the only party that can control the army. Museveni won elections in 1996 and 2001.
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/ 16 February 2006
There are a few staples in Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s annual Budget speech that seem to get an airing each year. Last year he thanked everyone who offered Budget suggestions, including the person who recommended scrapping income taxes altogether. After giving it due consideration, Manuel decided against it.
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/ 16 February 2006
The removal of the social security grant function from provinces will allow the national government to shift its priority away from social assistance towards welfare services, which it says has been neglected over the past five years as social grants consumed as much as 92% of the provincial equitable share.
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/ 16 February 2006
Denel, the loss-making defence parastatal, is to get a government rescue package that could reach more than R5-billion as it struggles to ward off insolvency, to restructure and to attract new strategic partners. The new funds should clear the way for the announcement of an equity partnership with the Swedish firm Saab.
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/ 16 February 2006
The government is making an extra R9,6-billion available to the provinces this year, but at the same time is cracking the whip on accountability and better service delivery. A nationally applicable performance assessment system for top municipal officials will be in force by the start of the new municipal financial year, from July 1.
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/ 16 February 2006
The South African National Defence Force appears to be escaping somewhat from the stranglehold of expenditure on the strategic defence procurement package as the repayment peaked last year and drops off from 2006 to 2008. Of the total defence costs of R23,5billion for 2005, R9,2billion was allocated to the Strategic Defence Account.