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/ 17 October 2003
It was supposed to honour his resistance to racism in South Africa, but a new statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Johannesburg has triggered a row over his alleged contempt for black people. The 2,5 metre high bronze statue depicting Gandhi as a dashing young human rights lawyer has been welcomed by Nelson Mandela, among others, for recognising the Indian who launched the fight against white minority rule.
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/ 17 October 2003
As the ferry headed towards the Staten Island harbour at the wrong speed and the wrong angle on Wednesday afternoon, its pilot, Richard Smith, sat frozen at the moment he was supposed to be guiding the boat in. The captain, Mike Gansas, knew something was wrong and tried to call Smith, first on his walkie-talkie, and then simply yelling his name ”Richie”.
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/ 17 October 2003
Ragged, exhausted and scarred, 74 children apparently sold into bondage were on their way home on Thursday after being rescued from Nigerian granite quarries. The children, some just four years old, told aid workers at least 13 of their companions had died and been buried in shallow graves after succumbing to beatings, hunger, illness and exposure in the pits near the south-western Nigerian city of Abeokuta.
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/ 17 October 2003
It went long into the night. First they met on the lush lawn outside City Lodge hotel in Bloemfontein. Mo Shaik, with his Sherlock Holmes-type pipe; Mac Maharaj, with his briefcase; and Yunus Shaik, with his cellphone. But when it came to the crunch, Mo Shaik and Mac Maharaj backed out of testifying, opting to be given time to obtain documents before they could give evidence.
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/ 17 October 2003
The focus of the battle between the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the deputy president this week shifted to the Hefer Commission of Inquiry in Bloemfontein, where NPA head Bulelani Ngcuka faces spying and abuse-of-power claims. But developments in Parliament show that Zuma himself is far from off the hook.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=22143">Commission lures ANC factions into open</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=22144">No love lost at Hefer commission</a>
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/ 17 October 2003
"She ignited the match that started the fire that resulted in all of us coming to this beautiful city." Those words, uttered by Hefer Commission evidence leader Kessie Naidu, were among the welter of arguments that eventually convinced the commission that journalist Ranjeni Munusamy would have to testify.
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/ 17 October 2003
In a fashionable catchphrase, it is always time to move on; in our headlong rush forward there is no moment allowed for pause, for reflection, for taking stock. Like the technology that pervades our lives, we must continually seek betterment, offer more options and features to each other: be more like our cellphones?
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/ 17 October 2003
First the bad news: this week’s interest rate cut marks the end of the party for bond holders. Next, some mild consolation: another razzle is getting under way in the equities market, if you can just hang in. "I think it’s close to going home time. It’s been a long party," Jonathan Myerson, bond analyst at Rand Merchant Bank, said this week.
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/ 17 October 2003
As tasteless and unseemly as the Hefer inquiries proceedings may be, it is welcome. It will allow us as a nation to remove the red herrings and diversions that powerful individuals have placed in the way of legitimate investigations into their affairs.
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/ 17 October 2003
Asked once again what the Commonwealth will be doing to get rid of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, the organisation’s Secretary General, Don McKinnon, points out with wry humour, and a touch of frustration, that after 40 years of trying, the United States has still not been able to get Cuban leader Fidel Castro out of office.