The once-powerful South African Youth Council (SAYC), which represents more than 60 youth structures in the country, is facing management turmoil and a financial crisis that could lead to its collapse. The civil organisation, largely funded through taxpayers’ money, was forced to vacate its Braamfontein, Johannesburg, offices in July after it failed to pay rent and telephone bills for three months.
Sarah Simatlane came to Johannesburg in 1978, from Kimberley, hoping for a better life. Instead, she was instantly arrested for violating the Group Areas Act and sent to the notorious Number Four prison in Braamfontein. Simatlane still shivers every time she steps into the jail, even though she thought she had laid her ghosts to rest.
The sentencing this week of Donovan Moodley for the murder of Leigh Matthews has brought into the spotlight the efforts by the police to solve other highly publicised murders. On Thursday, Moodley was sentenced to life by the Johannesburg High Court.
Before Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana released his Oilgate findings at a press conference last Friday, selected journalists received a three-hour briefing. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> was not invited. The <i>M&G</i>’s allegations about a party funding scandal had to be vanquished by spin.
Opposition parties are united in fear as the floor-crossing period approaches, with many afraid that the African National Congress will once again swallow up their members. The United Democratic Movement and the Inkatha Freedom Party appear to be the most vulnerable, with internal unhappiness rendering their representatives most likely to be poached.
Barely 10 months after its seventh national congress, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is embroiled in an organisational crisis that threatens the unity of the union. Tensions reached boiling point this week, when a faction comprising the regional leadership accused the current Numsa leadership of abusing power.
A confidential Inkatha Freedom Party discussion paper, which calls for a change in the party’s old guard leadership, has been leaked to the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> in the week in which national chairperson Ziba Jiyane was given his marching orders because of his drive to revolutionise the dying party.
You have to keep a close eye on all the euphemisms that are flying around these days. A euphemism, for the benefit of younger readers, is a figure of speech that allows its user to call a spade a shovel, or even a trowel, rather than a spade. It allows you, in the words of the dictionary, to give a more pleasant, public-friendly spin to something that might otherwise have been considered unpleasant.
A string of unrealised multimillion-rand investments with shady financial traders based in South Africa has left some Namibian state-owned companies embarrassed by the fact that they may have been conned into signing away at least R130-million in public funds.
The first study of the film sector in almost five years says it is "particularly important that the restrictive tax and labour legislation is addressed", if the industry is to maintain its stature and increase its competitiveness. According to the Microeconomic Development Strategy Report, which will be officially released later this month, the sector’s worth stands at a turnover of R1-billion per annum