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The legal battle between former deputy president Jacob Zuma and South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will continue this week in the Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal. Security will be tight at the court where the state will on consecutive days argue in three search-and-seizure appeal hearings related to investigations against Zuma.
Last Thursday I had to take some deep breaths and remind myself to keep calm. The night before the markets had bled even further and the headlines were dire. Newspapers showed market indices plunging straight down and shares I thought I had picked up at a good price the week before were now even cheaper and were showing red on my portfolio, writes Maya Fisher-French.
It was a potent symbol of a new world order on August 21 when China raised interest rates for the fourth time this year in a desperate attempt to cool an overheated local economy. The move comes at a time when central bankers in the West are wondering whether they should be cutting the cost of borrowing to stave off a potential economic downturn caused by the credit crisis.
Most media coverage of Zimbabwe unthinkingly repeats and reinforces a Western and neoliberal perception of the history and causes of that country’s political and economic crisis. The dominant view is that "socialism" explains Zimbabwe’s economic collapse and political repression.
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) ownership deals get the most attention, but their capacity to change the racial bias in the South African economy seems to be limited. Preferential procurement, however, is the sharpest tool in government’s transformation armoury. But it could also increase corruption and cronyism, writes Reg Rumney.
Refugee camps can be dangerous, expensive and degrading. Is this how South Africans want to treat their fleeing Zimbabwean neighbours? The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> ("SA’s Zim exodus plan", August 10) reported that the government may update a 2002 plan to help structure its response to Zimbabweans entering South Africa, writes Tara Polzer.
With returns from virtually all polling stations announced by the National Electoral Commission (NEC), it is clear now that a run-off poll will take place between the two leading presidential contenders in Sierra Leone. In two weeks the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) candidate, Ernest Bai Koroma, will face the current Vice-President, Solomon Ekuma Berewa in a one-on-one contest that will bring the electoral process to its logical conclusion.
A mass free distribution of mosquito nets in Kenya that has nearly halved child deaths from malaria in high-risk areas has led the World Health Organisation to recommend for the first time that nets should be given away, rather than sold, in the developing world. In a project that is being hailed as a model for other African countries, Kenya’s ministry of health has distributed 13,5-million insecticide-treated nets across the country since 2003.
In celebration of Women’s Month, Absa Private Bank has launched a private equity fund for women only. According to research conducted by Momentum, private equity funds have outperformed the FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index by 18% per annum over the past 13 years.
Monhla Hlahla, MD of the Airports Company of South Africa, is riding the crest of the tourism wave. Robust domestic growth, increased business travel and the introduction of budget airlines has sent air passenger demand soaring, which is good news for a monopoly airport operator. Revenue reached R2,564-billion (up 18%) for the year ending in March.