For all United States President George W Bush’s courting of Europe, when it comes to women’s rights he is closer to Iran and Syria than the European Union. In 1995 representatives from 189 countries met in Beijing and agreed on a programme on women’s equality and human rights — the Beijing platform for action. But the US has refused to support it unless it is amended to exclude the right to abortion.
The Western Cape created 194 000 new jobs in the three years before 2003. But the official unemployment rate increased to 26,1%, or by 612 000 people, according to this year’s provincial budget documentation. The rate in 2000 was 22,6%, according to the <i>Provincial Economic Review and Outlook</i>, tabled last Tuesday with the Western Cape budget.
Children outside a primary school in Cape Town were approached on Tuesday by animal activists who are trying to persuade young people to stop eating chicken. The activists use cards depicting the downside of chicken consumption. The campaign coordinator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spoke to the Mail & Guardian Online.
I am writing this as a white middle-class professional woman, a lawyer, a slightly detribalised Afrikaner from a long line of respected nationalists — racists, by their own admission, also patriots in their own way. One of the lingering questions for me is, why whites, who claim not to be racist, object so vehemently to allegedly false accusations of racism?
Freshly painted in yellow and blue, Kamohelo Preschool in the township of Rammolutse at Viljoenskroon in the Free State, stands out from the row of shacks that surrounds it. This early childhood development (ECD) centre is, like so many dotted around South Africa, struggling to provide an education foundation to preschoolers in the bleak terrain of dire poverty.
When you’re right, boast about it. In my first column for the year, I pointed out how misguided the notion was that the FirstRand deal was ”social investment” rather than black economic empowerment (BEE). The criticism came about because the three BEE participants were all charitable trusts. I argued that one should look beyond this.
Click on image for full-size view.
South Africa has to make space for policy-making structures to avoid political unrest over land reform, the executive director of the African Institute of Agrarian studies said on Monday. Professor Sam Moyo was speaking at a farmers’ summit held by the National Farmer’s Union in Pretoria.
Russian authorities have blown up the house where rebel Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed last week in a special operation, witnesses and officials said on Monday. It was unclear whether the explosion was meant as punishment for the family that allegedly gave him shelter, a safety precaution or an attempt to cover up sensitive evidence.
Bantu Holomisa, the president of the United Democratic Movement, has fired arrows laced with poisonous words at the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. He has accused the reserve of killing the Kruger National Park’s wildlife. But the TPNR’s management is convinced of the reserve’s innocence and is fighting back, even threatening legal action.