The giant prehistoric Balancing Rocks that stand 16km from the centre of Harare are one of the great symbols of Zimbabwe, etched on to banknotes and pictured in every tourist guide. Immediately across the road from the rocks is a new symbol of the nation, one that is unlikely to feature in any guidebook.
”There is a pain in the belly of Africa. It is gnawing at our development goals and undermining our economies; yet somehow it is getting forgotten. Hunger is the scourge of Africa and it is advancing, and consuming more lives today than ever before,” writes Nigerian President and chairperson of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Olusegan Obasanjo.
Fourteen months after it was first announced, the sale of the government’s multibillion-rand stake in cellphone giant MTN to a black economic empowerment consortium has still not been sealed. The deal involving prominent businessman Sandile Zungu is still mired in controversy, including allegations of conflict of interest by a former leading executive.
South Africa is poised to seize an expanding share of a booming global business process outsourcing and offshoring market, such as call centres. By 2008 this market is expected to grow from about $10-billion today to about $55-billion and create three million jobs worldwide. The country’s share of this market could reach $0,8-billion and create between 60 000 and 100 000 jobs
On Thursday, Judge Molokomme, who has been appointed that country’s attorney general, declined to have an interview with the <i>Mail &Guardian</i>. "Journalists here know that I have an open-door policy towards the media. But I have refused to give interviews to the local media and they will kill me if I were to give it to you," she said with a cross-border warmness.
In a move that signals a new approach to the labour market, the Department of Labour is declining to issue a certificate of representivity to the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry. The agreement governing the clothing industry expired on June 30.
It is not the place where you would expect to find justice in Rwanda: at the end of a bumpy dirt road leading to a shantytown of red mud-brick homes, where children sit idly on verandas. Yet, deep within this labyrinth of buildings, streets and palm trees in the south of the capital, Kigali, a rudimentary courtroom has been set up.
The front page of the London Observer on June 12 announced, ”-Â billion Africa debt deal ‘a victory for millions”’. The ”victory for millions” is a quotation of Bob Geldof, who said, ”Tomorrow 280-million Africans will wake up for the first time in their lives without owing you or me a penny …”
Here, maybe, is the way the Hollywood world ends: not with a bang, but a stinker. Enter another bloated Spielberg epic, weighed down by -million in computer contrivances and syrupy strings. Stand by for one more dodgy attempt at putting HG Wells on screen. But this time, for this war of this world, there’s a deeper difference.
The landslide victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the second round of Iran’s presidential elections was largely a response to the populist campaign he had waged. His campaign emphasised the large gap between rich and poor in the country, the rampant corruption that exists there, and his own humble lifestyle. His victory was a rejection of the preceding era.