There has been much speculation in the press about the exciting prospect of a new Sunday newspaper, aimed mainly at a South African readership. I have been lucky enough to get my hands on a so-called ”dummy” of the new paper, the brainchild of neighbouring presidents, Robert Mugabe and Sam Nujoma.
Voters in western Zimbabwe began voting on Saturday in a by-election seen as a test of strength between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition ahead of next year’s legislative elections. Residents in the remote district of Lupane are casting their ballots to replace an opposition lawmaker reported to have died from torture wounds.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=66346">Resurgent Mugabe looks to the future</a>
Google’s float may be grabbing the headlines but slightly further back from all the media attention are plans by five Chinese Net companies to go public and jointly raise -billion. The world’s most populous country is poised to log on, but can the rest of the online business community handle the competition?
One of the salient points black business pioneer and former chaiperson of New Africa Investments Limited Nthato Motlana made recently was that when he started out on the capitalist path, black economic empowerment was unknown — it was all about "black business" back then. BEE deals have, in effect, put the brakes on the growth and development of black business.
The abuse of Iraqi prisoners is the inevitable consequence of occupation and the ultimate responsibility lies at the top. Coalition soldiers and security men are the subject of random, repeated attacks that have resulted in many deaths. The arbitrary nature of those casualties, and the impossibility of seeing the enemy clearly, encourage armed forces to respond in ways that would be intolerable in conventional warfare.
The punch was shocking enough. The result was even more shocking. Antonio Tarver’s left hand out of nowhere stopped Roy Jones Jnr in the second round on Saturday night, giving him the light heavyweight title and handing Jones the most crushing defeat of his illustrious career.
The president punched the sky and leapt into the air as ordinary South Africans laughed, cried, danced and hugged when the country was named the host of the 2010 Soccer World Cup on Saturday. As Fifa president Sepp Blatter in Zurich drew the card stating ”South Africa” from the envelope, the country erupted with jubilation.
Laduma! SA gets World Cup
The West Indies survived a panic attack to scrape a one-wicket victory against Bangladesh in the first one-day cricket international at Arnos Vale on Saturday. Chasing a paltry 145 to win, the West Indies collapsed from 81 for two to 133-9 before all-rounder Ian Bradshaw and last man Fidel Edwards carried the home side to victory.
The Lions put in a superb second-half performance to emerge victorious 35-16 against the Blue Bulls in the Vodacom Cup final at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon. The Lions scored four tries to one in an entertaining second half after they held a narrow 9-6 lead after a tight first period.
Institutionalised, representative democracy in our country is in trouble. This is not because the African National Congress’s sizeable electoral victory supposedly heralds the imminent arrival of a one-party state. It is simply because, only a decade after the introduction of a universal electoral franchise in South Africa, just more than 50% of all eligible voters participated in the formal process of representative democracy.