Dr Frederik van Zyl Slabbert’s position on Afrikaner culture, as influenced and reflected by the Afrikaans press, accords a unique perspective on a country in flux. Kevin Bloom questions the former politician on these matters, and gets his views on contemporary politics, media freedom and Caxton.
"I did not like doing this but the women would come to me crying, some saying that they already had ten children or more, and that they could not care for additional children," says Mariam, an abortion practitioner in Kenya. "One even threatened that if I refused, she would hang herself in my hut." Mariam’s story highlights the shortcomings of reproductive health care in refugee camps.
The residential property market is showing signs of stabilising as activity has dropped marginally. There is, however, robust growth from the middle-income houses, according to the second-quarter FNB Residential Property Barometer. According to Ed Grondel, CEO of FNB Homeloans, the drop in activity can be attributed to seasonality, as winter sets in and fewer houses come to market.
Encompassing subsidiary companies Nedbank and Mutual & Federal, Old Mutual’s black economic empowerment (BEE) deal, announced in April, was among the biggest and broadest-based ever. It also displayed some unusual and innovative features, such as a BEE holding in the London-listed company rather than the local company and the involvement of customers.
Mixed messages from the Angolan government about the timing of elections have raised doubts about whether Angolans will indeed go to the polls in 2006, as promised by the government over the past year. Two senior officials responsible for the country’s first poll since 1992 recently made contradictory statements about whether election preparations were running according to schedule.
It was October 11, 2004, and the world looked beautiful to KMG Prinsika. She had given birth to her third child, a wide-eyed baby girl she and her husband named Pushmi Moonesha. The happy parents told the gynaecologist that they’d had enough children, and it was time for Prinsika to be sterilized. But on December 26, 2004, the world became a horror for the couple.
Hollywood has been remaking old classics for years. But now Coca-Cola is jumping on the bandwagon by relaunching its most famous ad to market its latest incarnation. But the new version is set to dismay fans of the 1971 original, which featured an angelic cast of young people singing: ”I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony / I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.”
”Hackers bombard financial networks”, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. Government departments and businesses ”have been bombarded with a sophisticated electronic attack for several months”. These are just some instances of the reams of twaddle about the dark designs of the G8 protesters codded up by the corporate press, writes George Monbiot.
All seven formula one teams who failed to race in Sunday’s US Grand Prix over fears that their Michelin tyres might be dangerous have been charged with bringing the sport into disrepute. The possibility of refunding fans who paid a ticket for Sunday’s fiasco at Indianapolis has also been raised. A refund was estimated to be around -million.
On June 19 Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Burma, celebrated her 60th birthday under house arrest, leaving her opposition party adrift and powerless for its 16th year. The Nobel Peace Prize winner is the only Peace laureate imprisoned in the world at this moment. South Africa has a moral duty to support Burma in its quest for democracy.