Unrest spread across eastern Uzbekistan on Monday and fears grew of mass arrests as troops surrounded a border village and the state sought to stamp its authority on a region in revolt. The continuing tension came amid growing international outrage at the alleged massacre of up to 500 civilians on Friday.
Four of South Africa’s major clothing retailers — Foschini, Truworths, Woolworths and Edcon — have issued a statement citing their concerns over the state of the local clothing and textile manufacturing industry, but "unequivocally" rejecting calls by unions to sign a code committing them to prescribed local procurement targets.
The chief executive of world number-four gold-miner Gold Fields, Ian Cockerill, on Monday again urged Gold Fields shareholders to reject Harmony’s offer. Harmony’s offer to Gold Fields shareholders closes on Friday, and the offer has garnered 11,8% of Gold Fields’ securities in issue.
Vryburg Hoërskool made head–lines in the late 1990s when it became a symbol for a South African obsession: racism. Located in a predominantly conservative Afrikaner town in the North West province, the resistance by white parents to racial integration at the high school erupted into open conflict in 1998 when a group of black learners organised a protest march against the school’s management.
It was a long, hard battle for the majority of parents in South Africa to have the right to govern schools so plainly recognised. But with the state regularly challenging the limits of influence set out for it in law, the battle for parents to retain the recognition of this right may be equally long and hard.
There are two significant pillars of a school, beyond the fundamental triangle of teachers, pupils and parents, without which it cannot begin to build for the future. The first is the principal and the second the body of people that governs the school. The school governing body’s most significant role, is to select a principal who understands that education is about the future needs of children.
School governing bodies (SGBs) are important democratic structures and can be used as vehicles to transform the education system in South Africa. The National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) has its roots in the broad democratic movement, and believes in the democratic importance of SGBs, as well as their potential to transform schools.
Entrepreneurship studies and courses may seem to some like a theoretical straitjacket for creative business ideas. But a solid business background can give wings to ideas and ensure that practical hurdles in the life of new, growing and established businesses are more easily overcome.
The plight of Tunisian attorney Mohamed Abbou has been in the spotlight for several weeks now. The attorney received a three-and-a-half-year sentence last month for having made statements deemed likely to disturb public order, after he criticised Tunisian President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali’s invitation to Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, to attend the World Summit on the Information Society.
It is significant that our schools are still classified as "former Model C", "urban", "rural" and "farm" schools. The national policies and laws for school governance have very different implications, depending on the type of school in which they are operating.