John Vidal scratched the surface of what is a bigger problem bedevilling the Zimbabwe political debate. The American political philosopher of German descent, Leo Strauss, called it the reductio ad Hitlerum. Noting the increased use of Nazi analogies, he argued that it was fallacious to refute a view simply because Hitler happened to share it.
About 62 000 land claims were settled by June this year, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza said on Monday. About 17 000 land claims still need to be settled under the land-reform programme. Didiza was briefing reporters on the upcoming land summit to be held towards the end of the month.
Many years ago I asked a Ugandan classmate whether horrific accounts of Idi Amin’s regime were true or the result of Western propaganda. Though we were in Senegal, Joe looked around to check if anyone was listening, leaned forward and said in a whisper: ”My sister, the truth is 10 times worse than anything you have ever read in the papers.”
Click on image for full-size view.
These are unusual times for Ny-Alesund, the world’s most northerly community. Perched high above the Arctic Circle, on Svalbard, normally a place gripped by shrieking winds and blizzards, it was caught in a heatwave a few days ago. Temperatures have now soared to the highest ever recorded here.
It was a question the White House press corps once believed unthinkable. Has President George W Bush lost confidence in his political guru, Karl Rove? If simply posing the question was a surprise last week, the answer — or, more accurately, the lack of one — was an even greater shock.
It was as he walked towards the 16th green on Saturday that Retief Goosen knew he had put himself in contention to win the 134th British Open. Having just deposited his seven iron second shot on the green, the South African glanced over and noticed that Tiger Woods, the world number one, had fallen back to ten-under.
The Zimbabwe government has published a draft Bill to overhaul the country’s Constitution and provide for the re-introduction of a two-chamber Parliament, the state-run Ziana news agency said on Saturday. The Constitution has so far been amended at least 16 times.
Ghana’s inclusion in a new plan by the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations for debt relief means that there may be enough money available to invest in improving the health care system, fund new technology and perhaps pioneer treatments for diseases like malaria.
Mamelodi Sundowns started their quest for the Peace Cup’s whopping winner’s prize of R14-million with 1-0 victory over Spanish La Liga giants Real Sociedad at the Daejon Stadium in South Korea on Saturday. Despite the dream start, Sundowns deputy CEO Jose Ferreira is still not a happy man.