South Africa’s much-vaunted right to freedom of information was undermined last year, simply because the directors general of some of the country’s intelligence agencies requested it. Like all government departments, they have, by law, to list all of the records they hold. But this does not mean that access to them is free or automatic — only that reasons should be given for denying access.
For some time now, I’ve been trying to find out where my son goes after choir practice. He simply refuses to tell me. He says it’s no business of mine and it’s a free country. Now it may be a free country, but if people start going just anywhere they like after choir practice, goodness knows whether we’ll have a country left to be free. I mean, he might be going to anarchist meetings or Islamic study groups. How do I know? When Donald Rumsfeld said torture isn’t torture if causing pain is not the objective, he rescued Terry Jones
In recent decades, Nigeria has acquired the unhappy reputation of being one of the world’s most corrupt states. It would also earn a high ranking in a list of the most secretive nations. Virtually all government information in Nigeria is classified as top secret and a plethora of laws prevents civil servants from divulging official facts and figures.
Springbok coach Jake White has made two changes to his starting XV for the one-off Test against Wales at the Loftus stadium in Pretoria on Saturday. Coming into the starting line-up are Brent ”Pocket Rocket” Russell in place of the injured Jacque Fourie, while Eddie Andrews drops to the replacements bench to accommodate a fit-again Faan
Rautenbach.
Athletics South Africa said on Tuesday that Comrades Marathon champion Vladimir Kotov should never have been awarded the R65 000 prize for the first South African home, because he is not a SA citizen. Kotov was applauded when he declined the prize and instead presented it to Willie Mtolo who finished fourth in the race.
One cannot escape the feeling that somehow social movements are not yet speaking for themselves in discussions about their role and importance in South Africa and the world. They have come to resemble the character Friday in JM Coetzees’s novel Foe. ”Friday has no command of words and, therefore, no defence against being reshaped, day by day in conformity with the desires of others”.
The end of the first half was drawing near and coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was scowling on the bench. England was 1-0 down against Croatia and heading out of Euro 2004 if things didn’t change. ”We were not happy on the bench at that time,” he said. When asked what he was thinking, he refused to say. ”It was not very good language.”
Thierry Henry finally found his magic touch at Euro 2004 by scoring twice in France’s 3-1 win over Switzerland here on Monday to earn the defending champions a quarter-final date with Greece. Jacques Santini’s side were pushed hard by the Swiss before setting up a date with the surprise package of these championships in Lisbon on Friday by finishing top of Group B with seven points.
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Parliament’s ad hoc committee, considering the Public Protector’s report on Deputy President Jacob Zuma’s complaint about National Prosecutions Authority head Bulelani Ngcuka, has agreed that Parliament should express its dissatisfaction with Ngcuka’s handling of the investigation and that he should get a ”mild rebuke”.