Nigeria’s daily power requirement is about 5Â 000 megawatts (MW). At most times, however, the National Electric Power Authority (Nepa) is barely able to generate 2Â 000 MW, prompting exasperated Nigerians to give the utility another name: Never Expect Power Always.
”Dude!” exclaimed last week’s Fortune magazine cover, ”Dell’s No 1”. The PC manufacturer named after its 40-year-old founder, Michael Dell, has become America’s most admired company, ahead of General Electric, Starbucks and Wal-Mart.
A new Arrive Alive campaign is to focus on dangerous sections of roads where almost 6 000 people died in accidents in South Africa last year. The project will start before the start of the Easter weekend, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said on Thursday. Eighty new patrol cars will monitor the hazardous locations seven days a week.
More than three-quarters of South African households receive free water and more than half receive free electricity, Statistics South Africa said in Pretoria on Thursday — but two million households are without toilet facilities. The figures are part of a non-financial census of municipalities for the year ending June 2003.
For a games industry expert, Trip Hawkins has had a bumpy career. He was one of Apple Computer’s first employees and one of the founders of Electronic Arts in 1982, before leaving in 1991 to initiate the ill-fated 3DO console, which eventually slipped into bankruptcy.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday stepped up pressure on opposition MPs to back his 2005 Budget, which Parliament must pass within two weeks or the government will collapse, jeopardising his planned Gaza evacuation. The 2005 state Budget has been touted as the last political chance for staunch opponents to scupper Sharon’s plan to quit Gaza.
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As the world focuses on the upcoming Zimbabwean elections, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) on Thursday released startling new statistics that call for politicians and donors to defend children as rigorously as they defend democracy. ”The world must differentiate between the politics and the people of Zimbabwe,” said Unicef executive director Carol Bellamy.
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has the authority to take a decision on the Barclays bid to buy a majority share in Absa — but he may wish to put the matter to Cabinet before the announcement is made, said government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe on Thursday following Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.
It was confirmed on Thursday that a 16-year-old pupil of Randburg High School is suffering from meningococcal meningitis. A spokesperson for Wilgeheuwel hospital, Marietjie Shelly, said Dominique du Plessis is in a stable condition in the intensive-care unit. ”There has been improvement since yesterday,” said Shelly.
President Thabo Mbeki has appointed Judge Sisi Khampepe of the Witwatersrand Division of the High Court to head a commission which will assess whether the Scorpions should fall under the Justice Department — or under the Department of Safety and Security.