Without funds from the provincial government, some farm schools in the region have been forced to close Lynda Gilfillan Schoombee Trust School is one of the luckier farm schools in the Eastern Cape. It’s still open. But throughout the province schools are closing because the provincial education department has paid neither boarding nor transport subsidies, […]
Khadija Magardie A DAUGHTER OF ISIS by Nawal El Saadawi (David Philip/Zed) Islamic feminism is a virtual candy jar of typologies, incorporating pragmatists, radicals, secular feminists and even “neo- Islamists”. With the backdrop of Islamic laws and traditions, the different camps have one common concern – the empowerment of women within a rethought Islam. What […]
Marianne Merten A debt-collecting company, International Debt Control (IDC), chaired by former minister of finance Barend Du Plessis, has been expelled from the industry control body after being found guilty of unconscionable behaviour, acting dishonestly and failing to account for collected money. It is the second time IDC has been censured by the Association of […]
Donna Block President Robert Mugabe’s government is now targeting top Zimbabwean businesspeople who are independent of the ruling Zanu-PF party as land invasions and violence against farmers and opposition supporters continue. The head of Zimbabwe’s third-largest company, Strive Masiyiwa, is now pondering his future surrounded by bodyguards in London after being warned by sympathetic security […]
Richard Tomlinson CROSSFIRE South Africa’s cities are notorious for the exclusion of a significant proportion of the population from economic opportunities and social services. This exclusion has, in part, to do with the apartheid form of our cities: low- density, high-income, well-serviced, formerly white suburbs close to work opportunities; and large, impoverished, sprawling, poorly serviced […]
Glenda Daniels BODY LANGUAGE I’m not a fan of coats of arms because to me they’re symbols of pride – for men at war. But I was curious about the new coat of arms, which took a long time coming. The motto in Khoisan, !KE E: /XARRA //KE – loosely translated to mean Unity in […]
Frank Keating Power inside the International Cricket Council (ICC) may have been rudely wrested from the fuddy dominion’s base at Lord’s, but this week it at least managed a traditional British answer to a thorny problem – set up a committee to report back in the fullness of time. Tell you what, no betting man […]
Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION The new local sitcom, Going Down Gorgeous, will stand to the eternal credit of the SABC. At long last that beleaguered corporation has produced a television programme which not only shows a uniquely South African comedic and satiric genius surmounting the very pinnacle of his powers, but which is, in itself, another […]
Durban will once more play host to a wide range of literary luminaries when the fourth annual Poetry Africa Festival, hosted by the University of Natal’s Centre for the Creative Arts, begins on Monday May 8 at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. It runs until Saturday May 13. There are also additional events outside the theatre […]
Internal union disputes caused the problems at VW’s Uitenhage branch in January Glenda Daniels One of the largest unions in South Africa says it has learned some serious lessons from the strike at the Uitenhage Volkswagen (VW) plant in January – and wants to ensure it can never happen again. National Union of Metalworkers of […]