President Thabo Mbeki and his government are desperately trying to limit public embarrassment over the widely publicised political conditions they have reportedly attached to an emergency bail-out for President Robert Mugabe. They should have followed the diplomatic principle enunciated by classical Greek dramatist Euripides.
According to Visdorp mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo, this week’s taxpayer-funded R200 000 makietie for women in the city’s administration was all about empowering the fairer sex. Empowerment is a crummy job but someone’s got to do it, and luckily our Nomaindia’s been empowering people for years.
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South Africa could learn about speedy land reform from its neighbour Zimbabwe, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Wednesday. ”We’ve got lessons to learn from Zimbabwe — how to do it fast,” she told an African distance-education conference in Pretoria.
Sasol’s future transformation and black economic empowerment (BEE) plans received approval from the minister of minerals and energy in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Company CEO Pat Davies met Minister Lindiwe Hendriks to discuss the company’s future role in BEE initiatives.
A week before Israel’s upcoming withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came under attack on Wednesday from one of his strongest rivals, who polls show could challenge him for the leadership of the ruling Likud party. Former finance minister Benjamin Natanyahu called on legislators to block the pull-out.
On the eve of the Springboks’ departure to Australia for the away leg of their Tri-Nations campaign, coach Jake White rejected allegations made by former Sharks coach Kevin Putt that lock Victor Matfield wears a metal plate under the bandage on his arm. White said these rumours are a malicious act because the Boks are doing well.
Rivers run low, crops wither, livestock starve to death and wildfires rage on the Iberian peninsula in the grip of a devastating drought that makes it look like the Sahara is reaching out across the Mediterranean. The peninsula’s fiercest drought in 60 years is seen as a further sign of desertification in the region.
Former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano has been appointed the African Union’s mediator for Zimbabwe, tasked with brokering talks between the ruling party and the opposition, a state-run newspaper reported on Wednesday. The report was confirmed by AU spokesperson Adam Thiam in Addis Ababa.