The tail is wagging a howling dog. All the enraged energy in the Premiership’s closing weeks comes from the swishing and flailing of the clubs in the relegation zone. Norwich, Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Brom all went unbeaten at the weekend and no one was dumbfounded.
”Opinion in England is divided over whether Jimmy Hill is an institution or ought to be put in one. We found out what Jimmy Hill would do if he ran the country and, as a follow-up, I’d like to hear what the country would do if it ran Jimmy Hill. I have only ever seen Hill once in public,” writes Harry Pearson.
Old Mutual, South Africa’s largest financial services group, is in preliminary talks to acquire Skandia Insurance Company of Sweden, Old Mutual confirmed on Friday. In a statement, Old Mutual said discussions are at an early stage and may or may not lead to it making an offer for Skandia.
Bulelani Ngcuka’s Amabubesi Investments company has acquired a majority stake in a lucrative golf and luxury residential estate industry near George — in a development headed by a former Special Forces operator and employing as conservation consultant Colonel Jan Breytenbach, the recce who founded 32 Battalion.
So South Africa’s most notorious journalist, Ranjeni Munusamy, has officially crossed the line. Munusamy was a conspicuous member of Schabir Shaik’s team at the Durban High Court last week where she was seen quarrelling with journalists about a leaked defence document. While her affiliation with the Shaik brothers is no surprise, it is harder to establish the exact service she provides.
Despite the government’s R500 million investment in nuclear technology, South Africa has no final policy to deal with nuclear waste. No deep-level depository, the final resting place for waste, has yet been identified by the government. All waste is currently stored on-site at Pelindaba and Koeberg.
The World Health Organisation and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids have written to the Dr Rath Health Foundation demanding that it remove from its website all reference to their names within three weeks, or ”appropriate action” will be taken.
There can be little doubt which of the FA Cup finalists is feeling more confident. Twenty-four hours after Manchester United lost at home to Chelsea, Arsenal gave an awesome reminder that they can play a brand of football unmatched by anyone. Everton — the fourth best team in the land, remember — were lucky to lose by seven.
National chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party Ziba Jiyane has lashed out at party members who are ”fighting to undermine” him, and has branded the IFP youth brigade’s recent attack on him as ”a pack of lies”. This is the latest salvo in an acrimonious leadership tussle plaguing the party.
The African National Congress is aiming to return disgraced Northern Cape provincial chairperson John Block to the provincial legislature — despite the fact that police are investigating him for fraud and corruption. The ANC provincial executive recently decided to rehabilitate Block.