Zimbabwe’s consumer prices dipped 31,7% in July against the previous month but were still 362,9% higher year on year, the official statistics bureau said on Friday. ”The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of July as measured by the all-items consumer price index (CPI) stood at 362,9%, shedding 31,7% points on the June rate of 394,6%,” the Central Statistics Offices (CSO) said.
Daredevils including Austria’s Felix Baumgartner will jump off a 73-storey hotel next week as part of a skydiving festival — marking the first time the sport is allowed in Singapore, organisers said on Friday. Baumgartner and three American members of the aerobatics exhibition team called the Red Bull Air Force will be showcasing their skydiving feats next Friday until Sunday.
A group of youngsters brought a hush to Parliament chamber this week when they spoke about their lives of poverty and hardship and how they think the Children’s Bill could create a happier future for them. They call themselves Dikwankwetla, meaning heroes, and this is how they see themselves in the face of the Aids epidemic.
The announcement of a successor to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Bulelani Ngcuka is imminent — within days, some say. President Thabo Mbeki is most likely to look inside the NPA for a replacement. It is an open secret that Ngcuka recommended one of his four deputies, Silas Ramaite, although another deputy, Willie Hofmeyr, may also be a contender.
Ngcuka tipped for Old Mutual
Prepaid water meters are at the centre of a war for water waged by a group of informal settlement residents who will challenge Johannesburg Water in court over the lawfulness of these devices. The residents have enlisted leading constitutional lawyer Wim Trengove, SC, to fight their corner. The case is likely to be precedent setting, with implications for municipalities and the delivery of services around the country.
The two South Africans detained in Pakistan as suspected al-Qaeda terrorists are now effectively in American hands, according to a range of sources in Lahore and in South Africa. Asif Shahzad, crime reporter for a Pakistani daily, The Dawn, who has followed the arrests closely, said the interrogation of Feroz Ganchi and Zubair Ismail was being driven by the United States, with Pakistani intelligence only assisting.
The Medicines Control Council has pulled the generic anti-retroviral drug Duovir off the shelves because of concerns about the manufacturer’s studies that deal with the drug’s efficacy. The tablet, which combines zidovudine and lamivudine, is widely used by NGOs. This week the Treatment Action Campaign and Medecins Sans Frontières expressed concern about the council’s decision.
Mpumalanga’s ”romeo mayor” Jeri Ngomane now faces possible censure from his own comrades within the council. The Enhlanzeni District Municipality has established a five-person committee to probe allegations of wrongdoing against Ngomane and any other councillor implicated in multi-million rand wrongdoing in the province’s second largest municipality.
African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president-elect has warned that ”there is no room for careerists and opportunists who merely seek to advance their own interests and disregard the collective” in the lead-up to the league congress next week. Fikile Mbalula is standing unopposed for the position of president of the league at its national congress, to be held in Johannesburg from Wednesday.
Part of the forensic audit carried out at the instruction of Parliament into ”Travelgate” — the parliamentary travel voucher scam — points to a potential legal nightmare for investigators to unravel. At first glance, MPs’ travel vouchers have been misused through the booking of flights and cancellation of tickets. But it remains unclear whether the MPs are guilty of anything other than a lack of attention to detail.