A post template

No image available
/ 9 June 2006

Arrests point to political violence

The arrest of two men in connection with the murder of South African Communist Party member Mazwi Zulu in Durban’s troubled Umlazi township tends to contradict African National Congress claims that the violence is criminal rather than political. Nkosiyabo Ngubane and Sphiwe Nene were arrested at the home of Bhekisasa Xulu, the ANC councillor for Ward 80.

No image available
/ 9 June 2006

The victim always rings thrice

When you’re a small-time lawman run over by the streetcar of life, lying face down on the rain-soaked pavement of opportunity, you recognise some hard truths as they go floating by in the gutter of hope. I’d learned plenty. They were etched on my beaten heart in fine little letters of pain. Guns don’t work underwater.

No image available
/ 9 June 2006

VoIP wars are here

The Internet is starting to deliver its real potential in South Africa with monopolist Telkom now facing competition as a major domestic company, MWeb, offers cheaper phone calls using computer technology. MWeb’s Broadband Talk offers national phone calls from computer to landline at just 50c a minute compared to Telkom’s 99c.

No image available
/ 9 June 2006

Sports-mad SA deficient in betting stakes

The World Cup 2006 will be the biggest betting event in history, surpassing even the United States’s Super Bowl or National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, according to online bookie <i>PinnacleSports.com</i>. To international football fans, betting is an integral part of enjoying a tournament.

No image available
/ 9 June 2006

Eurocentricity in easy steps

Most of the material constituting this column is plagiarised. The difference between my plagiarism and that of the industry trendsetters, Bristow-Bovey/Pamela Jooste/St Antjie Krog et al, is that I am revealing where I stole the material from and not publishing it in the wild hope that no one notices.

No image available
/ 9 June 2006

Maree, governance on trial

Sydney Maree, the former 1 500m world-record holder, is running the race of his life. The former champion athlete and one-time head of the state-owned National Empowerment Fund (NEF) appeared in court recently in an effort to clear his name of charges that he stole R1-million from the NEF.

No image available
/ 9 June 2006

Somalia’s new threat

Somalia’s deadly 16-year game of no-hands government has taken an ominous turn, with warning signs that it might become the new Afghanistan. American interest in the chaotic Horn of Africa waned after the 1993 withdrawal of the United States-United Nations peacekeeping force following the death of 18 troops, but appears to have revived, with portentous results.

No image available
/ 9 June 2006

From brain drain to brain circulation

In the 1960s and 1970s, the flow of scientists, engineers and medical personnel from developing to industrialised nations was thought to have almost entirely negative consequences for the source countries. Recently, there has been growing emphasis on reverse flows of knowledge, skills and money the migrants send home.

No image available
/ 9 June 2006

Mzi, the BEE pimpernel

The tale of Mzi Khumalo’s quick profit from investing in construction firm Basil Read raises many interesting questions about black economic empowerment (BEE) deals — not the least being what makes a BEE investor a BEE investor.That corporate raider Khumalo has successfully struck again will not surprise anyone who has followed the career of this one-time associate of the late Brett Kebble.