A multi-faceted approach by major real estate players toward the formal establishment of black estate agents in the traditional residential markets has been called for by Nedbank’s new head of home loans, Lindiwe Kubeka. Previously disadvantaged agents currently account for about five percent of its 40Â 000 estate agents.
Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane has called for ”creative solutions” in his church’s bid to deal with the potentially schismatic issues of gay clergy and marriage. He made the call in a submission to a special church commission set up to look at the issue, which is meeting in North Carolina in the United States this week.
A visit to Zimbabwe scheduled for Tuesday by James Morris, the United Nation’s top food aid official, has been called off, UN officials said, in a sign of worsening relations between President Robert Mugabe’s government and the world body. "Unfortunately, due to a cabinet meeting, no government officials are likely to be able to meet with the special envoy," a UN spokesperson said.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=117304">Couple beaten by mob</a>
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<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=117303">Zimbabwe factions fight over farms</a>
Geoff, a South African software developer, says that he downloaded about 30 gigabytes of music to his computer over the past year. This collection, which, depending on the quality of the files, would take him about 20 days of continuous playing just to listen to, didn’t cost him a cent — he downloaded it all from the Internet. Until intellectual property rights can be properly enforced, piracy will continue to be ‘part of Internet culture’.
In an effort to develop a classification of marine habitats for South Africa, the marine science community is working virtually round the clock to meet a July deadline for identifying marine priority areas for the country’s first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.
The first round of wage talks between the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and steel producer Iscor hit a snag on Monday. The trade union said the company offered a "starvation" 4,4% wage increase across the board. The parties are expected to meet again on June 24.
The United States House of Representatives voted to extend a trade pact that offers duty-free treatment on some goods and other trade benefits to the poorer countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The legislation, approved by voice vote on Monday, would prolong the life of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, by seven years, to 2015.
The Banking Council of South Africa was disappointed by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s refusal to amend the Financial Intelligence Centre Act for low-risk clients, a spokeswoman said on Monday. ”We really want to discuss the whole thing with them. We are running out of time,” said communications manager Claire Gebhart-Mann.
Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will co-operate with the Commission for Gender Equality on queries about controversial ambassador Norman Mashabane, foreign affairs said on Tuesday. ”The minister of Foreign Affairs has been in contact with the Gender Commission, and will continue to co-operate with it to find an amicable resolution of the matter,” departmental spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said.
If you’re the kind of person who spends hours on build-it-yourself radio-controlled models, you’ll love the Robovie-M walking robot. For the rest of us, well, it seems like more of a chore. I thought robots were supposed to be labour-saving devices. Not this one.