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/ 14 January 2005
A stinging letter sent to Transnet CEO Maria Ramos by staffers attacking her "uncompromising" leadership style throws light on the current management shake-out and the internal resistance Ramos faces in her bid to revamp the parastatal. The letter was sent by staff members under the pseudonym Ms Uekermann.
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/ 14 January 2005
Renault’s Kangoo Multix 1,4 follows a recent trend — it’s an affordable and useful little entry-level MPV based upon a delivery van. The Renault’s panel van heritage shows through in the interior fittings, with loads of painted metal where one would normally expect to find plastic panels. Gavin Foster loved it.
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/ 14 January 2005
Tom Eaton has met the brain drain. "He’s ghastly. He doesn’t challenge his world-view by reading newspapers (or reading anything, for that matter), so I could name him with impunity, but his real name doesn’t quite convey the flaccid provincialism that infects one’s first impression of him. He could be Shane or Chad or Brad or Steve, but for now let him remain Josh, perky and noxious".
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/ 14 January 2005
The irony with the African National Congress statement on the judiciary is that the party is now finding fault with the very system it introduced — a system flowing from the Freedom Charter. Last week’s comments by the ruling party were made in the context of an extensive discussion on the charter.
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/ 14 January 2005
The export boom could be declared well and truly over in 2005. The export sector has come under renewed pressure from the strong rand and, with the exchange rate of R6 to the dollar expected to persist, there is no respite in sight. Last week Statistics South Africa released figures showing that manufacturing production grew 5,8% in the year to November.
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/ 14 January 2005
The Reserve Bank is likely to shut the door on foreign ownership after two of the Big Four retail banks acquire a foreign partner, an analyst suggested this week.
"The question is, when does the Reserve Bank close the door on foreign ownership of local banks? Maybe after two of the Big Four are in foreign hands, maybe three? In the end it may be more of a political decision than a commercial one".
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/ 14 January 2005
The influential chairperson of Nigeria’s ruling party — the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) — has submitted his resignation under pressure from President Olusegun Obasanjo after warning the head of state that his government was becoming unpopular and might be toppled in a coup. Audu Ogbeh said he would quit on February 28.
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/ 14 January 2005
Activists from the United States are heading to Brazil for the upcoming World Social Forum, determined to refute the widespread belief that their country has "gone Republican". They’re also in search of fresh inspiration for the fight against the exploitation of people, and natural resources. "With the re-election of Bush, a lot of people around the world washed their hands of the United States," said a member of Global Trade Watch.
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/ 14 January 2005
Diamond miner De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) could cut 1Â 400 jobs in its South African operations, the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> has learnt from senior industry sources. Sources have also indicated a strong possibility of closure of some of De Beers’s unprofitable mines as the company faces difficulty brought about by the strong rand.
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/ 14 January 2005
Until the tsunami smashed into it, Andalus Cement was the largest firm in Banda Aceh, employing more than 600 people. It exported cement dug out from the neighbouring mountain across Indonesia, churning out a million tonnes a year. This week, however, it was not producing anything.