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/ 6 July 2005

Language policing not on

The Mikro Primary School case has generated astonishing levels of noise and mud-slinging, ostensibly over language rights, in schools. Last week the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the Cape High Court’s judgement in February that the Mikro school governing body had acted lawfully in arriving at its language policy — namely, instruction in Afrikaans.

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/ 6 July 2005

Documentary claims Zuma innocent, media guilty

A <i>Citizen</i> lead story entitled “Documentary claims Zuma was plot victim”, written by executive editor Martin Williams and published on July 4, has elicited a range of animated responses from the media industry. The piece, which refers to “an explosive TV documentary alleging former deputy president Jacob Zuma is the victim of a trial by media orchestrated by people within the ANC."

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/ 6 July 2005

Everything you ever wanted to know about movies

You should understand that there’s a serious lack of genuine choice in the films we see in South Africa. This is something that’s hidden in plain sight. Almost all the films you see advertised reflect the product chosen by two distributors. Here are some sites where you can browse through vast numbers of current and past films that you’ve been deprived of without knowing.

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/ 6 July 2005

Growing a power giant

Thulane Gcabashe possesses the modesty to realise that being CEO of a company such as Eskom merely offers a chance to make a small contribution to a phenomenally huge project. He is about to lead Eskom into what he calls "a new era of growth" in the form of a R93-billion capital expansion phase, which, he readily admits, "will never be completed in my time".

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/ 6 July 2005

Zambia works to shed corrupt image

In an African context, Zambia’s level of corruption is hardly the worst, but it is a problem and politicians, church leaders and ordinary Zambians are starting to speak out against it. With its new status as a highly indebted poor country and the recent scrapping of its debt to Paris Club creditors boosting hopes of an economic upswing, perceptions are everything.

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/ 6 July 2005

Happily never after

It was the tale of Bluebeard that scared me to death. The tale of the wife unable to resist the temptation of opening the forbidden door at the end of the gallery and finding beyond it a room lined with the mutilated bodies of former wives and — a nice touch, this — ”clotted blood all over the floor” shook me more than somewhat. And I was 24 at the time.

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/ 5 July 2005

G8: ‘Don’t get your hopes up’

Live 8 organiser Bob Geldof, heading to Scotland on Tuesday, said it would be ”grotesquely irresponsible” for politicians to back down from promises of aid for Africa. But Britain’s Treasury chief Gordon Brown warned that anti-poverty campaigners may be disappointed when G8 leaders announce their package of aid to Africa.

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/ 5 July 2005

Shipwreck in Cameroon claims 30 lives

A boat carrying 60 passengers has sunk off Campo on Cameroon’s coast, leaving 30 people dead or missing, Cameroon’s national radio reported on Tuesday. The ramshackle vessel went down on June 30 in the West African Gulf of Guinea waters as it was on its way from Nigeria to Gabon, the radio report said.