Key African National Congress provincial structures are poised to reject two seminal discussion documents at the national general council this weekend — a move that could derail ANC president Thabo Mbeki’s ambitions to legislate a dual economy and redesign the ruling party.
Sudan confirmed its unwillingness to cooperate with the international criminal court on Thursday when a Sudanese minister rejected calls to extradite suspects accused of crimes in Darfur. The justice minister, Ali Mohammed Osman Yassin, told BBC radio that 10 suspects, most of them accused of rape, were already on trial in Sudan.
Spain is now the fourth country in the world to allow same-sex couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples. Canada approved gay marriages on Thursday, while The Netherlands and Belgium legalised them in 2000 and 2003. The landmark ruling in Spain gives married gay couples equal rights to inheritance and allows them to adopt children.
Four of South Africa’s top tourism companies were at the forefront of a Pro-Poor Tourism pilot project that aimed to increase the benefits of the industry to include poverty reduction and skills development. The project, which was established in May 2002, hoped to improve links between poor people and the businesses that drive the industry.
Gideon Nieuwoudt, the former security policeman notorious for his involvement in the murder of Steve Biko, has for a second time been denied amnesty for the Motherwell Four bombing — this time by a specially convened amnesty panel. Co-accused Marthinus Ras and Wybrand du Toit are expected to be granted amnesty.
The African National Congress’s national general council opened with a show of unity on Thursday, but senior leaders renewed the criticism of patronage and factionalism within the party that have dominated communication from Luthuli House in recent weeks.
When Pip the black cabin boy went overboard and was left behind to tread water during a whale hunt in Moby Dick, he witnessed the terrible beauty of God’s ocean, infinitely deep and wide, teeming with submarine insects and predatory leviathans. It was an insight that could only unhinge the limited human mind
Newspaper headlines have suggested that Schabir Shaik, the Durban businessman who has been convicted in one of the highest-profile cases in the country’s history, has amassed R30-million in assets. This is the figure that the Asset Forfeiture Unit has indicated it will attach.
A video/DVD rental store in South Africa pays nearly five times that of its US counterpart. The Competition Commission announced last week that because of perceived non-compliance with an undertaking of the commission, signed last year by Nu Metro and Ster Kinekor, it was recommending further investigation into the video and DVD distributors, which together hold a 95% share of the market.
Despite Vodacom’s six-month head start, MTN says it is happy it delayed its third-generation (3G) offering because it was waiting for the right handsets and user experience. During the launch this week, MTN was at pains to defend its much publicised choice of a 2,5G data service called Edge.