With the introduction of the National Arts Fund of Namibia Bill in Parliament a few weeks ago, San artists stand to gain from state funding in Namibia. Mike van Graan takes a closer look.
The death toll in an outbreak of the deadly Ebola-like Marburg virus in Angola has risen to 113, with 111 deaths in a northern province and two in the capital, Luanda, health officials said on Friday. Three-quarters of the deaths were children under the age of five, according to the World Health Organisation.
Kyrgyzstan’s new acting head of state, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, said on Friday that fresh presidential elections in the Central Asian nation will take place in June. The announcement came a day after the regime of president Askar Akayev collapsed after thousands of opposition protestors overran the country’s main seat of power in the capital.
We all stood up stiffly and attempted to sing the new national anthem that most of us have not bothered to memorise as yet. ”Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika,” we sang, slightly off-key in the usual way, under the oppressive weight of the plastic tent that had been hastily erected to protect us from the thunderstorm that never materialised as the ruling party launched its latest book of common sense, entitled Legacy of Freedom.
A horrified diner bit into part of a human finger, complete with its nail, when she tucked into a bowl of chilli in a California fast-food restaurant, health officials said on Thursday. The woman was so sickened by the grisly discovery on Tuesday that she began vomiting. Police were summoned to take the offending digit into custody.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) on Thursday condemned the unilateral decision by its employers to terminate the union’s ”organisational rights”.
The decision by the South African Local Government Association (Salga) affects the right of the union to meet with members during working hours, among others.
An African National Congress branch chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal was shot and wounded on Thursday night, the party said. ANC provincial spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu said Nqobizwe Magwaza, chairperson of one of the Ulundi branches, ”miraculously escaped death” when he was attacked by two gunmen.
Given the somewhat depressing start to the season, the Easter weekend seems a good time to be pondering whether South African rugby can rise again. In week four of the Super 12, the Stormers played poorly and lost, the Cats played well and lost, the Bulls played out of their skins and won, while the less said about the Sharks the better.
”When we got to the stadium, the malevolence was palpable. The organisation was chaotic and the state of the stadium, built for the 1935 Great Exhibition, gave cause for concern. For those bent on trouble, this was going to be easy.” Guardian reporter Charles Burgess recalls the horror of Heysel.
Liverpool’s Champions League quarterfinal with Juventus will take place in the midst of football’s blackest memories. There will be renewed grief and perhaps suppressed guilt over the 39 deaths at the Heysel Stadium, in view of the blame attributed to some Merseyside fans for the tragedy at the ground in which the 1985 final was held.