Six hours of negotiations between striking unions and Metrorail were a ”total disaster and waste of time”, said United Transport and Allied Trade Unions (Utatu) general secretary Chris de Vos after Wednesday’s meeting. The strike, which has left thousands of commuters inconvenienced, will enter its fourth day on Thursday.
Want to stay for free in 134 countries, and have your own local tour guide? Then try couchsurfing. This unorthodox idea was kindled by an article I read about a new website. It is called the Couch Surfing Project and the premise is simple: need a place to stay? Couchsurfing.com will match you with someone who will let you bed down at their place for free.
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Durban businessman Schabir Shaik said he would resign as director and chief executive officer of his Nkobi group of companies immediately after he was sentenced to 15 years in jail for fraud and corruption in the Durban High Court on Wednesday.
At least 22 people were shot and killed on Wednesday as Ethiopian security forces clashed with stone-throwing protesters accusing the ruling party of fraud in last month’s elections. Hospitals in the capital, Addis Ababa, were filled with people injured in the demonstrations, while crowds of relatives wept outside.
Electronic drawings that give comprehensive details of how to build and test equipment essential for making nuclear bombs have vanished and could be put up for sale on the international black market, according to United Nations investigators.
General Motors (GM) South Africa will not be affected by job cuts intended for the corporation’s United States operations, GM US spokesperson Toni Simonitte said on Wednesday. Simonitte said the group’s chairperson and CEO, Rick Wagoner, has stated categorically that other regions, including South Africa, are performing quite well.
A total of 25 183 businesses came into being during the financial year ended February 28 2005, says Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel. The minister said that during the same period — March 1 2004 to February 28 this year — 3 449 businesses were liquidated.
This week South Africa was caught in the maelstrom of its gravest post-apartheid political crisis. It is a defining moment — what we do now will determine what kind of country future generations of South Africans inhabit. As it grappled with what to do about Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the African National Congress was more publicly split than on any other issue it has faced in government.
Why is it that the public gets so silly and hysterical when the issue of language in education is raised? Suddenly there’s an unholy tizz played out in the media, shrieks of incoherent distress that you’d expect only when the cockroaches finally take over the world.
By the slow-moving Tapajos River, monkeys murmur in the forest and Munduruku Indians with bows and arrows tiptoe along the riverbank, hunting turtles. Two boys fish for the family lunch, not even bothering with bait. To attract the piranha, they simply bang on the side of their boat.