What kind of a name is Noam Chomsky, anyway? I have no "Noams" in my address book. There are none in the telephone directory, and none elsewhere in my direct or indirect experience.

The last thing I remember, I was casting rather cold words on the spectre of Johannesburg’s billion points of electric light sprawled smugly across the dark Highveld, rising up to meet me as I prepared for my final descent.

Suddenly, our time in Cameroon is drawing to a close. It has been a year and a half – a long year and a half, at times, plagued by Third World frustrations that could sometimes be taken as personal affronts: the thudding heat, the hideous airport, the dysfunctional roads.

Like paradise, Equatorial Guinea is made up of equal parts of charm and horror. The sign on the wall of the quaint seaside restaurant reminds citizens that September 27 is the international day for tourism.

Union activists have forced three doctors to resign from Middelburg hospital in Mpumalanga. Mpumalanga’s Department of Health says it is investigating clashes between the doctors and members of Nehawu at the hospital and is considering taking action against the union.

One of the five strategic investment projects Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel mentioned in his mini-budget to emphasise South Africa’s investment friendliness had already fallen by the wayside when he rose in Parliament on Tuesday.