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/ 2 December 2003

Heat and dust in Phalaborwa

Think of Phalaborwa. Think hot. And dry. But not unpleasant. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by the bushveld town, in spite of five hours on the road from Pretoria. Developments have led to a whole new ball game at the Hans Merensky Estate, writes Sharon van Wyk.

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/ 2 December 2003

Rights group accuses Chogm of double standards

A major international human rights group on Tuesday accused the Nigerian government, the host of this week’s Commonwealth summit, of using violence and intimidation to silence its critics. Human Rights Watch accused the 54-nation global body of hypocrisy in honouring the Nigerian regime while excluding President Robert Mugabe.

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/ 2 December 2003

Selling out to infomercials

I’ve been reading with interest in several newspapers some disturbing allegations about a service called Advanced Hair Studio — and my interest isn’t a result of the fact that my own hairline has been doing a strategic retreat for the past few years.
No, the stories caught my eye because I was a fascinated viewer of the company’s television advertisements.

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/ 2 December 2003

Stamping out kickbacks

Kickbacks, often in the form of all-expenses-paid overseas trips, have a long and endemic history in the media planning business. Recently the Advertising Media Forum (AMF), the body representing the interests of local media planning and buying agencies, forcefully restated its intention to correct this history.

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/ 2 December 2003

Celebrating mediocrity

At the recent Pica Magazine Awards, if you listened carefully, you could hear the hollow thud of standards dropping to the floor. Set up 34 years ago by the forebears of the Magazine Publishers Association of South Africa (MPASA) to acknowledge and promote excellence in local publishing, the annual event has become a "homage to mediocrity".

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/ 2 December 2003

Informal sector ‘here to stay’

Only 29% of the South African workforce is formally employed compared to 69% a decade ago, while the informal sector has grown from 14% to 21%, a Human Sciences Research Council study has found. It is no longer correct to view the informal sector as a temporary or transitional stage between joblessness and formal work.