Three of De Beers Consolidated Mines’ underground Kimberley operations, that together are forecast to deliver a loss of R150-million for 2005, are to be closed. Recently De Beers confirmed an "in-principle" decision to close the Wesselton, Dutoitspan and Bultfontein mines.
The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> this week reveals the key strategies of leading
tripartite alliance leaders for dealing with the trial of Jacob Zuma and the presidential succession. Senior leaders want to convince African National Congress president Thabo Mbeki and his deputy Zuma not to stand for election as party president and to find a compromise candidate to preserve unity in the ruling party.
Rallying behind former deputy president Jacob Zuma is a coalition of trade union, communist, youth and regional interests organised into the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust. Borrowing the idea from the anti-apartheid struggle, the trust will raise funds from sympathetic business people and members. It plans a million-signature campaign as well as rallies and protests during Zuma’s October trial.
Swashbuckling miner and financier Brett Kebble has lost control of his empire, and the future looks bleak for the network of empowerment companies he has cobbled together. A Western Areas spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday that Kebble was forced by his shareholders and bankers to relinquish control of JCI, the citadel at the heart of his family’s beseiged empire, stepping down as CEO.
The government, having identified import parity pricing as a prime economic evil, is turning a blind eye to this practice in the fuel industry, which is making spectacular profits on rampant oil prices.President Thabo Mbeki has been leading the charge against import parity pricing.
The legal noose being used to lasso Jacob Zuma appears to be tightening as the Scorpions’ investigation widens to include Zuma benefactors other than Schabir Shaik — centrally influential businessman Jürgen Kögl, Durban tycoon Vivian Reddy and prominent Mpumulanga businesswoman Nora Fakude-Nkuna.
Faced with D-Day on September 23 when the International Monetary Fund may expel Zimbabwe, the government put on a brave front, claiming that because South Africa and the IMF had approached it to take a loan, Harare would not accede to political conditions attached to the bail-out.
A prominent group of Iraqi women who backed the United States-British invasion recently met the American ambassador in an effort to pressure the politicians drawing up Iraq’s constitution not to limit women’s rights. Western feminist groups and some Iraqi women activists fear that Islamic law, if enshrined as a main source of legislation, will be used to restrict their rights.
If Independent Democrats deputy leader Themba Sono reverts to the Democratic Alliance, as suspected, the latest colour-change by this political chameleon should surprise no one. Sono is currently away in Australia on Gauteng legislature business and is expected back on Wednesday.
It turns out that Jews do expel Jews after all, and without the descent into anarchy predicted by leaders of Israel’s once indulged settlers. Following dire warnings that the forced removal of 8 000 settlers from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank would provoke civil war, opponents of the pullout have been left reeling by its speed and relative ease.