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/ 28 January 2005
Two companies with strong links to the African National Congress Youth League and the ANC in the Western Cape have emerged as beneficiaries of a disputed deal involving prime beachfront land. The City of Cape Town has sold the land to a hand-picked group of 17 empowerment companies, at least two of them either directly owned by the youth league or by major donors to the provincial ANC.
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/ 28 January 2005
Aids activists have removed some of the glitter from the first Oscar-nomination for a South African feature film, complaining that the movie lacks nuance, is sentimental and comes "10 years too late". In what has been hailed as a major coup for the local film industry, the Darrell Roodt film <i>Yesterday</i> was nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign film.
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/ 28 January 2005
Former Independent Democrats (ID) Western Cape leader Lennit Max, who lost his post at last Saturday’s provincial party congress, on Thursday dropped his legal action to stave off a disciplinary hearing. In a settlement minutes before the Cape High Court hearing was to have started, legal teams agreed to drop the matter.
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/ 28 January 2005
<i>Presentation: Each board should be clearly marked in the top right hand corner with the entrant’s name, the page number (eg. “pg 1 of 5”) and the category name and number. Entry forms (originals or photocopies thereof), as well as letters of motivation for journalism entries, should be pasted flat on the reverse side of the first page of the entry.</i> Kafka, himself, would have been floored by such foetidity of bureaucratic flatulence.
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/ 28 January 2005
Old Mutual has bought a 20% stake in Amabubesi Investments, the company chaired by former director of national prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka. Making the announcement in Johannesburg on Thursday, Old Mutual MD Roddy Sparks said the deal continues the work the company has done since 1996, when it began investing in empowerment companies.
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/ 28 January 2005
With the backing of regional leaders, Deputy President Jacob Zuma went to play hardball in Burundi this week. Zuma told the country’s transitional President, Domitien Ndayizeye, that there would be no tampering with the interim Constitution before it is tested in a referendum next month. He was at pains throughout his visit to emphasise that he was talking for the regional peace initiative.
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/ 28 January 2005
Only 500 protesters turned out for a two-day strike in Swaziland called by the country’s trade unions to demand political reforms — but organisers claimed police roadblocks intimidated others intending to join in. The stayaway was called to protest against "a non-democratic Constitution that retains the powers of sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy".
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/ 28 January 2005
Election fever is picking up. Almost every single wall in the city is covered by hundreds of posters, some pasted over others, giving a sense that Baghdad is itself one big collage of big heads, white beards and moustaches mingled with the Samsung phone ads. By far the most distributed poster is that of the Shia list.
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/ 28 January 2005
Gerhard Schröder this week used a ceremony commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz 60 years ago to declare that ordinary Germans were responsible for the Holocaust. Speaking to an audience that included several Auschwitz survivors, Schröder said that the horrors of the concentration camp could not be explained by merely blaming the ”demon Hitler”.
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/ 28 January 2005
Colonel Rocklyn Williams passed away in his sleep from natural causes last Sunday at the age of 44. Soldier, policymaker, government official, civil-society activist, academic, teacher, freedom fighter and father, he made an indelible impact on everyone he met. He never really thought of himself as white and the political angst of the ”white left” was a mystery to him.