A post template
The project of rebuilding District Six floundered as a result of lack of funds, but late last year the clouds parted, when a bank agreed to lend financial muscle to the rebuilding. A scheme to sell bonds secured against the value of the new homes is now expected to resurrect the project.
Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones tore through the South African batting line-up to have the home side reeling on 247 for nine in their first innings when lightning interrupted play on the second day of the fifth and final Castle Lager/MTN cricket Test at Supersport Park on Saturday.
The government flouted procurement procedures in signing a commitment to purchase up to 12 new military transport aircrafts at a cost of about R1-billion each. The Mail & Guardian revealed last year that the government was to buy A400M heavy transporters from Airbus Military.
Perhaps Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile is just dumber than a bag full of hammers. But whatever half-formed notions flitted through what we will, for the sake of charity, refer to as the minister’s brain, the result was a prediction that genocide was imminent in South African rugby.
The doors of learning were slammed shut against many pupils in various parts of the country as schools re-opened last week and again this week. In many cases the lock-outs were illegal, some provincial officials said this week. Unions said work on the ground suggested illegal exclusions still affected thousands of children.
America’s second biggest bank, JP Morgan Chase, has made a rare apology for its subsidiaries’ involvement in the slave trade 200 years ago, admitting that it accepted slaves as loan collateral and ended up owning several hundred. In a letter to employees it expressed contrition for involvement in a ”brutal and unjust institution”.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party has ”serious reservations” about the credentials of the man chosen to head a new election commission to supervise crunch legislative polls in March. But the MDC , in a statement issued late Friday, said it hoped the body would do its job without fear or favour.
Thwack! With one mighty blow the comic-book creator Stan Lee took a swipe at Marvel comics this week. Ugh! A judge in the United States awarded the 82-year-old deviser of Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and X-Men a 10% share of the profits from films and television productions based on his characters.
The new Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has presented Hamas and its allies with proposals to end their war on Israel in return for international guarantees of a ceasefire, a political role in the Palestinian government and a commitment not to surrender the claim on east Jerusalem and other territories in peace negotiations.
The biggest influx of illegal immigrants to Australia last year came not from Asia or the Middle East but from Britain and the US, according to a government report. More than 10 000 British and American visitors outstayed their welcome by June 30 last year, about a fifth of all foreigners on expired visas.