While the developed world has not yet lived up to its commitment to give 1% of its GDP to the developing South, aid flows have increased since 2000, when the pledge was renewed at the <i>United Nations Millennium Summit. A Southern Africa Trust policy brief, Aid Effectiveness: Trends and Impacts of Shifting Financial Flows to Civil Society Organisations in Southern Africa</i>.
When the Confederation of Indian Industry decided to set up an India Business Forum (IBF) here last March, they were pleasantly surprised to discover that as many as 36 Indian companies have resident offices in South Africa. Surprised because, since 1948, India had enforced economic sanctions against the apartheid regime with such vigour that a flourishing trade in commodities like jute and tea had come to a grinding halt.
Getting into the headquarters of JHC, the Johannesburg Housing Company, is like breaking into Fort Knox, with access control devices on myriad doors. In fact, as we pass through the last door, I realise it actually is Fort Knox — at least according to its name plate. The man at the centre of this African fort is Taffy Adler, JHC’s chief executive. And JHC’s objective could not be more dissimilar to its office’s American namesake.
This is not a good time to be in a deckchair on a pavement on Fifth Avenue next to Central Park. It’s hot and disgustingly muggy and when you are not sitting in a pool of sweat, you are being drenched by torrential rain accompanied by flashes of lightning. The conditions in New York are so extreme they are almost biblical, which is appropriate because the people gathered on the pavement are here on the 21st-century equivalent of a pilgrimage.
With south/south trade strategically growing in importance, India is shaping into one of South Africa’s most important trading partners. Already we have witnessed the successful entry into South Africa of Indian conglomerates such as the Tata group and Ranbaxy, while South African companies seem set to make their mark in India.
40 years ago the Hyundai Motor Corporation created its first car — the Pony — and it was a dismal failure. The few cars that were shipped to Nigeria (and a handful of other countries) experienced a host of problems, which included the vinyl peeling off the roof as a result of the harsh African sun.
Recently, I got an email complaining about an article I’d written. It happens. The angry tone was nothing if not consistent until very near the end. One question. After all that rage, why did she sign off with her first name and two kisses? This week I received an email from a PR woman with whom I had not previously corresponded, let alone met. It started with "Hi Stu" and ended with "warm regards". The "warm" part especially threw me.
Even amid Zimbabwe’s increasing instability, life in suburban Harare has remained more or less predictable. Which is why Sunday morning shoppers at a suburban shopping mall, popular with young professionals and the well-heeled, stood stunned as they watched the store manager of a branch of one of the country’s largest retail chains being dragged out of his store by the back of his collar.
The ANC Women League’s proposal of a special women’s ministry has run into flak from the ANC and from women’s activists who feel it could “ghettoise” women’s issues. The league insists the ANC policy conference last week had agreed to set up a special ministry for women’s affairs.
Hamas has good reason to celebrate the release of the BBC’s Gaza corrrespondent Alan Johnston, for its success demonstrates to the Palestinians and to the wider international community that it can run the show in the Gaza Strip, less than three weeks since taking it over. Jubilant spokesmen wasted no time in making the connection between the BBC man’s freedom and their own wider political ambitions.