”The M&G‘s cover story last week (‘Furore over ”mutant” Aids vaccine’) is a source of dismay, writes Ed Rybicki of the University of Cape Town’s department of molecular and cell biology. ”Put simply, without all the negative spin, the story is this: the South African Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, and various partners, will attempt to produce various vaccines and monoclonal antibodies in plants.”
Health workers in the northern Nigerian state of Kano will on Saturday launch a drive to immunise more than four million infants against polio, despite ongoing opposition from Islamic radicals. Since August last year, Kano has become the epicentre of the world’s fastest-growing outbreak of the crippling virus.
Scorpion investigators were moving in on parliamentarians this week after arresting seven travel agents in the unfolding multimillion-rand travel voucher scam. ”Further action is imminent,” confirmed Scorpions spokesperson Sipho Ngwema on Thursday, refusing to be drawn beyond saying that ”the next phase is concentrating on MPs”.
Microsoft may be best known for its dominant Windows product, but on Thursday Bill Gates touted software that’s far afield from your basic operating system. How about software that can recognise a picture of a bar code taken with your cell phone, and provide you with product information?
The Democratic Alliance has called for a halt to the Western Cape’s multimillion-rand film city project, claiming that wrong decisions were ”deliberately made”. However premier Ebrahim Rasool’s office says due process was followed, and that anyone unhappy with what happened can launch a court challenge.
The government is setting out to tackle the slow pace of land reform — one of the country’s most politically sensitive issues — by including it in the agriculture broad-based black economic empowerment framework. Patterns of land ownership have remained largely unchanged, said last year’s South African Human Rights Commission report on human rights violations in farming communities.
Young South African politicians are rebelling against the established leadership of their parties as they struggle to revive organisations that, in some cases, seem to be on their last legs after suffering serious setbacks in the last general election. And political youth groups have a patchy record when it comes to protecting their members’ interest. We take a closer look at some of the bigger players.
Dr Ziba Jiyane was elected national chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party at its annual general conference last week. He was nominated from the floor and comprehensively beat party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s choice, Lionel Mtshali, by about 600 votes. Jiyane returns to leadership after he left politics in 1997 because of ill-health. The M&G has a word with him.
As part of its year-long celebration of its 70th birthday, South African Airways is offering a 70% discount on all domestic fares for the month of September. Passengers wishing to take advantage of these discounted fares must book on August 2 or 3 for travelling between September 1 and 30.
Amazon.co.uk was on Thursday night criticised for refusing to stock a book that examines the links between United States President George Bush’s circle and rich Saudis. Major bookstores including Waterstone’s and WH Smith are carrying House of Bush, House of Saud, which was published in Britain on Thursday after becoming a bestseller in the US.