No image available
/ 17 September 2004
”Moleketi you chicken shit!” read one of the hundreds of posters denouncing Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi for her failure to meet demands of striking public service unions. Lydia Briedenhann (61), a clerk in the Department of Safety and Security, said the fact that civil servants of all races marched together showed workers were truly united.
No image available
/ 17 September 2004
A six-month power struggle between the government and public sector unions has culminated in a strike by civil servants that appears to have left the two sides further apart than ever. And it is clear that the contest of political wills has now largely superseded the basic considerations of wage negotiation — namely whether the offer on the table is fair and affordable and whether it represents real improvement.
No image available
/ 17 September 2004
A husband and wife have been arrested in connection with last week’s bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, which killed nine people and injured 180, Indonesian police said on Thursday. Rahmatullah, his wife Farida, and another man, Agung Yulianto, were arrested on Wednesday night on suspicion of helping to recruit and coordinate the suicide squad thought to have conducted the bombing.
No image available
/ 17 September 2004
Raghda Alassar’s classmates did not hear the Israeli bullet that tore into the nine-year-old’s brain as she wrote an English test. But as a pool of blood spread across her desk and spilled on to the floor, a wall of screams rose from the classroom of the United Nations elementary school for girls in Khan Yunis.
No image available
/ 17 September 2004
There have been exaggerated projections about the impact of 2010 on South Africa’s tourism industry, including one assertion that "millions" of new jobs will be created and another that the obligation of playing host will galvanise the government into finally controlling the country’s crime rate. <i>Escape</i> explores whether the 2010 World Cup will translate into economic victory for South Africa.
No image available
/ 17 September 2004
"It was in a bathroom at the top of the Soutpansberg mountains that I met my Venda prince — and I knew at first glance that I wouldn’t be able to resist him. He had a deliciously rounded bottom and wore a simple, stylised loin cloth." Intrepid travel off the map can provide unexpected dividends. A journalist realises some of her deepest fantasies in a bathroom on top of the Soutpansberg.
No image available
/ 17 September 2004
It seems everyone’s heading east to visit the European Union’s closest neighbours. We’ve heard about how cheap it is, about the cheery disposition of the people and the fabulous architecture. But no one’s been raving about the restaurants. It’s time they did — and over Hungarian cuisine in particular.
No image available
/ 17 September 2004
The tactics of Peter Tatchell of gay rights pressure group Outrage! to persuade fans to reject the homophobia of the Jamaican ghetto will hardly have endeared him to the black community at large. Homophobia in the music industry is no reason to pull out the race card, writes Joseph Harker.
No image available
/ 17 September 2004
"It was to be the biggest post-apartheid era arts scandal since the investment of millions of rands in a scam that led to the temporary closure of the State Theatre in Pretoria and the loss of hundreds of jobs," writes Mike van Graan.
No image available
/ 17 September 2004
The national public service strike did not succeed in shutting down South Africa on Thursday. But the government was wrong-footed by the strike turnout and the extent of public sympathy for the action, according to a strategically placed observer. While the strike call appears to have drawn a patchy response, the government was caught on the hop by the extent of public sympathy for teachers, nurses and other civil servants.