A M&G investigation into covert party funding has revealed how R11-million of public money was diverted to ANC coffers ahead of the 2004 elections.
The relaxation of ownership rules and the prospect of new licences has Primedia and Kagiso battling one another for private radio’s spoils. Can the shareholders stomach a price war? Kirsty Laschinger reports.
China’s stellar economic growth story continues. Gross domestic product climbed 9,5% in the first quarter this year and industrial production was up 16,2% on the same quarter last year. No wonder then that the Chinese are looking to Australia — the world’s largest exporter of aluminium and coal, to help fuel its long-term economic expansion.
China is dramatically expanding both economic and political involvement in Africa in a bid to secure energy supplies, access to basic commodities and new markets for its manufactured goods. African leaders looking for development models to replace the economic liberalism of the Washington Consensus are increasingly looking to China’s industrial revolution for inspiration.
"Being a bit of a drama queen and a kugel too, I burst into tears when the young black United States Customs and Immigration man at John F Kennedy airport held my hand in a tight grip and rolled my fingers round and round, every one, to allow the computer to take accurate fingerprints. Right then, the drama queen in me imagined myself in Guantanamo Bay, blindfolded and crouching," writes Ferial Haffajee.
”It all seems a very long way away. But what is happening in an obscure island nation in the south Pacific has now become our business. A few weeks ago, BP — the British company that has invested most in ‘corporate social responsibility’ — received final approval to start developing a gas field in West Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea,” writes George Monbiot.
Senior United Kingdom judges fear that a succession of recent laws pushed through by the government could fetter their ability to administer justice and to act as a check on the executive. Their worries at apparent attempts to marginalise the judges are echoed by other senior legal figures, including the former master of the rolls.
Taxpayers spooked by the prospect of a hefty income tax hike to fund the expansion of the private health system can relax. The proposal, already in the works for two years, faces major obstacles. The Department of Health wants to expand the number of South Africans using the private system by raising income taxes.
An internal National Prosecuting Authority audit report has again turned the spotlight on Marion Sparg, chief executive in the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions. The commission has been probing, among other things, her role in the awarding of a R3,2-million tender to a businessman with whom she had prior dealings.
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