”The initial formation of the private security industry was encouraged by the apartheid regime,” says Jenny Irish-Qhobosheane, a private security researcher. ”This was done because the police had to concentrate on political opposition. Private security had to fill the gap that was left by the public police.”
In part two of this feature, Mail & Guardian Online journalist Ellen Hollemans speaks to private security players.
South African farmer body Grain South African has recently met with banking group Absa to discuss the difficult position grain farmers face as a result of the expected huge maize surplus and the current low price of grain, most especially maize, GSA said on Thursday.
Nedcor announced on Thursday that assuming exchange rates remain at current levels, the directors expect headline earnings per share for the six months to 30 June 2005 to be between 15% and 30% higher than the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) restated 245 cents per share.
Incumbent president Francois Bozize is set to defeat challenger Martin Ziguele when about 1,5-million people in the Central African Republic vote in the final round of presidential elections on Sunday, but the outcome of simultaneous legislative polls seem less clear.
Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej is scheduled to officially open a dogs-only swimming pool to provide physical therapy for canines suffering from diseases such as arthritis, media reports said on Thursday. The king donated 2,13-million baht ( 000) towards the construction of the doggy pool at Bangkok’s Kasetsart University.
The New South Wales Waratahs and Wellington Hurricanes will face traditional stumbling blocks as they attempt to secure play-off places on Friday in Super 12 rugby. The 11th — and second-last — regular round of the competition serves up a number of derby contests that will determine how the six teams in play-off contention compress themselves into four semifinal places.
At least 25 people were killed in a series of attacks on Thursday in Baghdad, including nine policemen who were shot and killed in their squad cars and 15 who died in a bomb explosion at an army recruitment centre, an interior ministry official said. In addition, a guard was killed in a car bomb attack on the home of a deputy defence minister in the capital.
Parents groups and children’s rights campaigners demanded changes to Spain’s sexual abuse laws on Wednesday after the country’s highest court ruled that there was ”nothing perverse or extravagant” about a teacher having sex with a 14-year-old schoolgirl.
Frank Sinatra worked as a Mafia courier and was nearly caught carrying a suitcase stuffed with ,5-million, according to the entertainer Jerry Lewis. In an interview for a new biography of Sinatra, Lewis is quoted as saying of the Rat Pack member: ”He volunteered to be a messenger for them. And he almost got caught once … in New York.”
The management committee of South African rugby will meet next week to discuss matters raised at the meeting between senior rugby officials and Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkhesi Stofile in Pretoria on Wednesday. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the African National Congress Youth League.