In all the fervour attending the death of Pope John Paul II, another and quite important demise didn’t get nearly the recognition it deserved. Last Saturday, Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk took time off from his Cabinet devotions and gathered the remaining faithful to a low-key ceremony in which he formally switched off the last remaining life-support of the New National Party.
When his father became an alcoholic, fell into debt and was in no position to work, 11-year-old Veeramallu Kesaboina Biksham from India had to leave school to become a bonded labourer. Biksham is not an isolated case. Today there are more than 250-million working children aged five to 17 in the world, according to the […]
Zeena Hussein (11) sits in an empty classroom at the Qairuran school in Kirkuk, Iraq. Teachers at the school said it has been open for days but only a handful of students have shown up for class. The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) director Carol Bellamy said ‘One of the best things you can do […]
Unlike some newly developing countries, Mongolia is not burdened with a low literacy rate which could hamper its economic growth. In fact, at 87%, Mongolia can claim one of the highest literacy rates in the world. However, with the transition from a Russian soviet-dependent economy to a market-driven one, Mongolia’s education systems and its envied […]
For educators thirsty to experience life in different countries, there are overseas teaching-exchange opportunities. One such programme is the Visiting International Faculty (VIF), which has 168 South African educators currently teaching in the United States (US) this academic year. VIF was started in 1987 and has a total of 1 800 teachers from across the […]
You are in a very strange place: the weather is odd, the language just a jumble of weird sounds and the food almost inedible. If all this does not bother you, then you are the right person to apply for an overseas learner-exchange programme. These are programmes that allows learners to expand their world by […]
The Old Mutual empowerment deal, concluded last week, comes pretty close to satisfying the Department of Trade and Industry’s upcoming empowerment codes of good practice — tough requirements on ownership. Stopping short of giving it full endorsement, Philisiwe Buthelezi, the department’s chief director for empowerment, praised large parts of the deal’s funding at its unveiling.
Former Zimbabwean minister of finance Simba Makoni was due in South Africa this Friday in a bid to shore up support for his campaign to head the African Development Bank (ADB). Makoni, who ran the Zimbabwean economy between 2000 and 2002, is Southern Africa’s preferred candidate for the post, and has the backing of seven Southern African Development Community countries.
Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has filed petitions with the electoral court challenging the results of 13 of the 78 constituencies won by Zanu-PF in last month’s parliamentary election. MDC spokesperson Paul Themba-Nyathi said on Wednesday that his party had filed the petitions as a test case to show how the poll was rigged.
Dadu Abdi Mohamed wasn’t jumping up and down with the rest of the cheering, flag-waving mass when the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the Sudanese government signed a "comprehensive peace deal" to end Africa’s longest conflict. The former SPLM/A guerrilla, living in exile in Kenya, believes they were sold out by their leader.