Retro Fresh puts the sounds of South African pop and rock of years gone by back on the shelves. Shaun de Waal spoke to Fresh’s Benjy Mudie.
South Africa is the only country in the world that does not have a policy for the treatment of HIV/Aids. As such, millions are dying from a disease for which there is treatment. Consequently, SA’s government, medical profession and society are effectively part of a system that is committing genocide.
" The French Interior Ministry said it is planning to outlaw Unité Radicale, a far-right group. A spokesperson said the government would invoke a 1936 law that allows the president of the republic to dissolve private militias and "combat groups" by decree. Unité Radicale, formed in 1998 to federate France’s extreme-right factions, denies it is a paramilitary organisation. The shadowy group has refused to distance itself from Maxime Brunerie (25), who pulled out a .22 rifle during the Bastille Day parade and fired a shot at President Jacques Chirac before being wrestled to the ground by bystanders and police.
Irish tax authorities this week signalled they want to pursue scandal-ridden offshore banking group Ansbacher for back taxes — contradicting Ansbacher and its owners, local finance giant FirstRand.
A formal investigation into possible disciplinary steps against the Western Cape regional director of the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) will get under way next week. The probe to determine whether internal disciplinary action should be taken against Riaz Saloojee is scheduled to begin on Monday.
The peace deal signed this week between the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda gives hope of an end to Africa’s biggest war, but implementation of the agreement faces profound obstacles. The deal was brokered by Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Maurice Tempelsman, a leading New York diamond merchant, has offered to obtain a secret offshore loan of $80-million for Namibia if, and only if, the government agrees to drop its plan to check the prices De Beers pays for its diamonds against the prices available on the open market.
Genetically engineered (GE) food was not even on the radar screens 10 years ago at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. And the topic will not be on the agenda at the Johannesburg Summit for Sustainable Development later this month, though it will be one of the hottest issues in town.
Of all globally traded commodities, agriculture is most subject to rigged rules and double standards. In the early 1990s there was some optimism that agricultural trade would become fairer: for the first time agriculture was included in the Uruguay round of Gatt.
Rural housing got another boost this week with R125-million from a German development bank, KfW. Its first donation of R50-million, in 1996, led to the establishment of the Rural Housing Loan Fund (RHLF), which helped improve the living standards of 34 000 rural households.