South African elder statesman Nelson Mandela, who turns 86 on Sunday.
Revenge has been declared against a writer who dares to express an opinion on the overwhelming ”snow-whiteness” of a festival. Quite bizarre, reckons Mike van Graan. Hopefully, this issue will not dwarf others of concern.
Investment in the South African economy appears to be on track, said Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana in Pretoria on Thursday following President Thabo Mbeki’s meeting with big business. A meeting was held at the Union Buildings to discuss progress made since the establishment of goals during the Growth and Development Summit in June last year.
A fire that may have been caused by a short circuit igniting a thatched roof killed at least 70 children and injured more than 100 others in a southern Indian school on Friday. An earlier report quoted a senior police official as saying 77 bodies had been recovered. Most of those killed and injured were four to 10 years old.
The president of the transitional government in Burundi, Domitien Ndayizeye, and representatives of three of the country’s main political parties will be in South Africa this weekend to discuss power-sharing arrangements. In a parallel event, women of South Africa will be holding talks with Burundi women.
Levi Strauss & Co is planning to continue its expansion in South Africa, the group revealed on Friday, despite already being able to claim a 27% share of the local denim market. Levi’s South Africa manufactures its clothing locally and also exports garments to the United States.
A brave new collection of short stories squares up to the challenges of Africa’s current political climate, particularly Zimbabwe’s repressive curtailing of the freedom of speech. Sarah Kiguwa dips into <i>Writing Still: New Stories from Zimbabwe</i>.
”We greet you, Comrades, in the struggle for better education.” The invitation from the South African Union of Student Representative Councils (SAU-SRC) reeked of serious leftist student politics. And the odour didn’t seem too pleasing to the SRCs of a number of universities. Only half the 22 higher education institutions in the country made it to the 10th annual meeting of the SAU-SRC last weekend.
Concern about the concentration of black economic empowerment (BEE) deals in the hands of a few big players is set to increase after Standard Bank’s announcement that it will be selling an effective 10% of its South African banking operations to Safika Holdings and Millennium Consolidated Investments (MCI), among others.
She is the first South African Public Service Minister to declare a dispute with powerful public service trade unions — and Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi’s audacious move a week ago has now divided the representatives of 900 000 public servants. Public service unions are on the back foot as the minister plays hardball.