A black economic empowerment company led by Mutle Mogase, chairperson of Vantage Capital, has bought a 28% stake in the Goedemoed, Vredendal, grape and tomato farming business run by Abrie Botha, a leading figure in Western Cape agriculture.
Research across the world shows that involved parents enhance children’s achievement. This also increases the resources available to children, teachers, parents and the school, and often leads to collaboration with businesses within the community.
"As so often, a momentous development creates a shorthand. The rise of ‘Bric’, as the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China are known, is, by common political currency, the biggest strategic issue facing Britain. And the implications are cultural as well as economic," writes Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London.
Twenty wooden classrooms surrounding a grass patch and flanked by poplar trees constituted the Pretoria Indian Primary School. It was built in the heart of the bustling, thriving, sometimes dangerous and always exciting Marabastad, just outside the Pretoria city centre. The year was 1964, writes Jody Kollapen, chairperson of the SA Human Rights Commission.
I have not yet seen the film <i>Tsotsi</i>, but last week I read my page-mate John Matshikiza’s strong reservations about the adaptation of the 1950s novella on which the film is based. Director Gavin Hood modernised the story, setting it in a contemporary South Africa. Matshikiza says much of the drama and authenticity have thus been disowned.
One in four married women in Syria is a victim of domestic violence, noted a report released recently by the state-run Syrian General Union of Women. According to the study, funded by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, 22% of married women were assaulted either verbally or physically, with 50% of these citing verbal abuse and 48% saying they were beaten.
Chad on Thursday claimed it had repulsed rebels from the capital seeking to oust President Idriss Deby Itno and blamed neighbouring Sudan for fomenting a coup attempt. "The rebel columns have been completely destroyed … The situation is completely under control," Itno told Radio France Internationale on Thursday morning.
South African Breweries Limited (SAB), a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller, on Thursday announced that it has finalised, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, the sale of 40% of its crown (bottle top) manufacturer, Coleus Packaging, to the Nokusa Consortium, led by Nokusa Investments in a black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction.
Sudan denied on Thursday offering any help to Chadian rebels, who were closing in on the capital N’Djamena in an attempt to topple the government of President Idriss Deby. "We do not support any Chadian party against another and we have nothing to do with what is going on in Chad," an army official told Agence France-Presse
Chinese police have concluded 121 skulls found in a ravine with their tops missing were byproducts of a local handicraft industry using human bone as a vital ingredient, state media reported on Thursday. A farmer surnamed Qiao, a resident of the northwestern province of Qinghai, had hacked the skulls from the bodies of unmarked graves and sold them to two artists in neighbouring Gansu province.
Sony shares rose on Thursday following a newspaper report that the Japanese electronics giant is set to beat its own profit forecast thanks to strong sales of flat-panel televisions. Sony could exceed its operating profit forecast of ¥100-billion ($844-million) by 10 to 20% in the year to March, the <i>Nihon Keizai Shimbun</i> said.
So Cape Town city manager Wallace Mqoqi has been fired. Though the Mother City’s new mayor, Helen Zille, may disguise her rationale in the techno-speak of contract law, she wants her own manager in place. And preferably one who talks DA. Zille fired Mqoqi because he toyi-toyi’d with the then ruling African National Congress ahead of the election.
Like other government institutions that were neglected during years of civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the justice system is in dire need of reform. Since 2002, the country’s judicial officials have produced reports on ways to reform the justice system. However, these reforms have not been implemented because the government has been focused on efforts to move beyond the turmoil of civil conflict.
International community representatives on the board of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria have voiced concerns over grants.
Members of the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) at Telkom are planning to down tools on April 18 and 19 after rejecting Telkom’s latest wage offer. Talks between the two sides remain deadlocked after failing to make any headway at a meeting in Centurion near Pretoria on Tuesday. CWU said it had indicated to Telkom at the meeting that its offer of April 6 was unacceptable.
The Standard Bank-issued Edcon MasterCard no-fee credit card has become the fastest growing MasterCard in the AEMI region (Africa, Middle East and Europe) with take-up of almost 340 000 cards in the five months to February. "The take-up of the Edgars and Jet branded cards … has exceeded all our expectations," said Ian Wood, Edcon group financial services executive.
Hundreds of rare snails were given their marching orders on Wednesday by the New Zealand government after an eight month battle between conservationists and a mining company. Up to 250 powelliphanta augustus snails — only discovered in 1996 — live on a mountainous ridge containing five million tonnes of coal worth about NZ$400-million.
The dollar extended losses in Asian trade on Wednesday following Iran’s announcement that it had joined the nuclear states, with the market cautious also ahead of United States trade data, dealers said. The dollar fell to ¥118,03 in Tokyo morning trade from ¥118,21 in New York late on Tuesday.
Two policemen died in a suspected Tamil Tiger mine attack in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, the third in as many days, raising to 21 the number of people killed in the latest wave of bombings, police said. The policemen were on their way to Trincomalee to buy provisions for colleagues stationed further north of the main city in the eastern coastal district when they were ambushed.
A vigilant First National Bank (FNB) employee on Monday became a millionaire in this year’s Vow of Vigilance campaign, which saves the bank and customers millions of rands by preventing fraud. Mother of two Celeste Els (26) was entered in the competition for stopping a fraudulent cheque.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is launching a massive national and international campaign in opposition to a proposed agreement on Non-Agricultural Market Access (Nama) which is being vigorously pursued by the developed countries and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). "We will also be opposing the proposed further liberalisation of services through the WTO negotiations," the union said on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa on Tuesday ratcheted up pressure against the opposition, threatening to "use guns" to thwart anti-government protests and warning opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai he will pay with his life if he called such protests.
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor’s interim defence lawyer is in Sierra Leone to challenge attempts to move the warlord’s trial to The Hague, sources close to Taylor said on Tuesday. Karim Khan filed an urgent application to the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone to ask that no decision be made on the trial venue until the defence is allowed to comment on the issue.
Oil prices breached $69 a barrel in Asian trading on Tuesday on concerns of a possible United States military strike against Iran, dealers said. At 12.43pm New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for May delivery was at $69,01 a barrel, up 27 cents from its close of $68,74 in the United States on Monday.
<i>The Teacher</i>, the monthly newspaper distributed to schools and educators by M&G Media, publisher of the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>, turns 10 years old this month. "Happy birthday to a newspaper that is dedicated to servicing the most important people in our society: the architects of tomorrow’s generation," said <i>M&G</i> editor Ferial Haffajee. "Long may <i>The Teacher</i> continue to educate and shine its torch."
Financial services institutions worldwide are recognising and embracing a new era of banking, instigated by Basel II, according to a new survey published on Tuesday by leading professional services provider Ernst & Young. Processes and systems will significantly change, along with the way risks are managed, signifying a new era and fresh dynamic in the global financial services market place.
Chinese writer Li Jianping will go on trial for subversion on Wednesday for posting political essays on the internet, a rights group said. An intermediate court in Shandong province will hear Li’s case after charges against him were upgraded from "suspicion of defamation" to "inciting subversion of the state," the China Rights Defenders said in a statement.
The overall award for the Mondi Shanduka Journalist of the Year went to cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro – or Zapiro. This should spark some debate in the media industry about whether or not the definition of a journalist is broad enough to include a cartoonist; and whether cartoonists and journalists fulfil the same role.<
Whistle-blowers under the Protected Disclosures Act (PDA) were not being safeguarded enough against reprisals from their employers, Open Democracy Advice Centre (Odac) Chief Operating Officer Alison Tilley said on Monday. Even though corruption was widespread in South Africa, not enough employees were coming forward to disclose what they knew about wrongdoing in the workplace, Tilley said.
Junior platinum-mining company African Platinum (Afplats) on Monday announced that it was withdrawing its application for a secondary listing on the American Stock Exchange (Amex). Afplats is already listed on London’s Alternative Stock Exchange or AIM.
A powerful explosion at a hospital complex in northern China’s Shanxi province early on Monday killed at least 17 people with up to a dozen more missing, state media and local police reported. The explosion occurred in a garage at the hospital and damaged buildings within one square kilometre "to various degrees", Xinhua news agency and police said, without giving a reason for the blast.
European group Arianespace said on Monday it had been picked by Mitsubishi Electric to launch the first commercial telecommunications satellite to be built by a Japanese company. The contract to put into orbit the Superbird 7 satellite is the 270th won by Arianespace, the world’s biggest satellite launcher.