With minimal interruption to traffic flows, not having to build any new stadiums and the vast amounts saved by MPs on travel vouchers, there are some advantages to not having won the Olympic bid for this year, writes Mike van Graan.
On Wednesday miners and their bosses marched to demand lower interest rates. On Thursday the Reserve Bank lowered rates. Also drawing attention to the currency were last week’s comments by Bobby Godsell, CEO of AngloGold Ashanti. The Mail & Guardian asked four pundits to respond to Godsell’s three pertinent posers.
The rand lost about 20 cents against the United States dollar on Thursday at the news that the South African Reserve Bank dropped the repo rate at which it lends money to commercial banks from eight percent to 7,5%. The move, which saw commercial banks lowering their interest rates by the same margin to 11%, has taken economists by surprise.
Mboweni surprises, cuts interest rates
South Africa, riding the wave of a tourism boom, is bracing for record numbers by promoting the neglected African side of one of the world’s most beautiful and culturally diverse nations. The brains behind the strategy is the chief executive officer of South African Tourism Cheryl Carolus, who has shifted the focus from game reserves, wildlife and what she calls the ”pseudo-European” attractions that had been touted so far.
Operation Gcin’amanzi (conserve water) was launched by Johannesburg Water last year as a fail-safe solution to retrieve billions of rands in arrears that accumulated from the flat-rate system used during apartheid. Gcin’amanzi’s centrepiece is the roll-out of prepaid water meters to "conserve water and stop the bleeding in arrears", says Brian Hlongwe.
January 2005 will be a nerve-wracking month for hundreds of newly qualified professional nurses who will be waiting to be told where they will serve a year’s community service. But it will be an even bigger logistical nightmare for the Department of Health with just five months to ensure the latest programme of compulsory community service kicks off smoothly.
A summit to be held early next month will have to address the potentially divisive issues of a proposed basic income grant (BIG) and the pace and direction of black economic empowerment (BEE). In a recent meeting of Tripartite Alliance members, there was a debate on the need for decisive state intervention to overcome the divide between the country’s first and second economy.
"The Awakening Film Festival is so-called because we believe this programme of films will evoke powerful memories of the past and stimulate imagination of possible futures." A showcase of African film provides an antidote to the Hollywood propaganda machine, writes Nadine Botha.
Suresh Roberts has spent the best part of the last decade on Nadine Gordimer’s authorised biography. Now it is no longer "authorised" and the contract has been cancelled. Gordimer’s disagreement with her biographer is an issue of authority, writes Shaun de Waal.
The California Supreme Court on Thursday declared the marriages of thousands of same-sex couples in San Francisco void, after ruling that the city’s mayor exceeded his authority by granting them marriage licences. The ruling was the latest setback to efforts by the gay community to challenge laws that restrict the institution of marriage to heterosexual couples.