Street vendor Fanafuthi Sidi is chuffed that his daily profit has risen from R12 to R40 since competitors in the hit TV show <i>The Apprentice</i> South Africa came visiting. The contestants were given the task of finding a street vendor and increasing his or her turnover.
President Thabo Mbeki has confidently set out his stall with the appointment of his protégé, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, to the deputy presidency. He has opted neither for the seniority of African National Congress national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota nor the popularity of Trevor Manuel, nor for the trust he places in Sydney Mufamadi.
The African National Congress (ANC) goes into its national general council meeting (NGC) next week facing a convergence of policy debates and leadership battles that is unprecedented in its decade-long rule. Unity — or the lack of it — is likely to colour the entire debate.
A more streamlined, technocratic ANC, with unruly regions and branches brought firmly under the control of Luthuli House, is at the centre of plans to align party structures with those of the government. But the plan is likely to face stiff resistance; some provincial leaders told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> they have already resolved to contest it.
Some three billion years ago, planetary explosions saw stars fall from the sky into the oceans that flanked Godwanaland, the great land mass of our infant planet. Deep below the waves, the carbon of shattered stars merged with the Earth’s mantle to form hard crystalline diamonds.
Being a grown-up doesn’t mean you’re too old to love the idea of living in a tree house. Knysna’s Phantom Forest Eco-Reserve offers the ultimate tree-house fantasy. Built overlooking the indigenous forest and an estuarine wetland, these elevated luxury tree-house suites offer the perfect weekend playground.
You could say Mbijane Ngubane lives on a golfing estate. In fact, her neighbour, Sibongile Jiyane, has a stream running past her front door. Yet both women cannot wait to move to a new settlement. Life at this golfing estate is nothing to envy. Property prices are rock-bottom and it has been too long since the grass was cut.
Under South Africa’s old regime the Afrikaans magazine market was fiercely contested territory. Rich, white, homogenous; the coloured community was ignored and it was an advertiser’s dream. Naspers built a mighty empire out of serving it, and over the years many others shared in the loot.
First the good news: the oil price spike witnessed recently is a temporary phenomenon, set to last only a few months. The bad news is that, because the greenback has strengthened over the past month, there is no inflationary shield usually offered by a weaker dollar.
President Thabo Mbeki has opted for a minimalist Cabinet reshuffle after the promotion of minister of minerals and energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to Deputy President, but he has sent some signals on the management of the economy.