The wind whipped at my exposed ears as I tried to focus on the diminutive dynamo that is SA Tourism CEO Cheryl Carolus. All around me fellow hacks and travel fundis shivered miserably in the bitter Jo’burg morning. Welcome to the launch of Tourism Month and the concrete cold of SA Tourism’s head office in Illovo.
The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa (JSE) was drifting in the red at midday on Thursday as a strong rand took its toll on a market from which buyers were absent.
The Zuma affair and ongoing controversy over the arms deal reinforced the argument that political parties’ funding sources should be made public, Idasa analyst Richard Calland said on Wednesday.
The Minister of Social Development Dr Zola Skweyiya has expressed shock and concern about the disappearance of a teenager from a government place of safety 24 days ago. The teeenager had apparently been forced to have sex with a dog.
Another possible legal suit against South African mining houses loomed on Wednesday when a British legal firm announced its representation of former gold mineworkers.
The Southern African Development Community has launched a mutual defence pact to promote regional cooperation in politics, defence and security. The pact allows for enforcement action to be taken "only as a last resort, and with the authorisation of the United Nations Security Council".
The price of fuel in Zimbabwe went up by more than 500 percent on Wednesday as the government announced a deregulation of the petroleum oil industry.
Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, is building a lavish palace costing R43-million (£3,75-million, ,8-million) on the outskirts of the capital, Harare. Furnishings and security are expected to send the cost to more than R69-million (£6-million, ,4-million) at a time when nearly half of Zimbabwe’s population is dependent on international food aid.
Fuel price up by 500%
Harrowing transcripts of emergency calls made from the World Trade Centre during the terrorist attacks will be released under court order today, revealing the last words of people trapped inside after the towers were hit and before they collapsed.
An eleventh hour deal to provide cut-price drugs for the world’s poorest people was being finalised in Geneva last night in an effort to save next month’s trade summit in Cancun, Mexico, from collapse.