Staff Reporter

Growing signs indicate that local government elections are being planned for the week before the March 6 constitutional deadline. No date has been given, and there has been speculation that failure to resolve the demarcation lines for cross-border municipalities could delay voting. But chief government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe insisted this week that the deadline would be met.

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>Jacob Zuma’s lawyers are preparing an application to set aside charges laid against their client, based on arguments that he will be denied a fair trial. Zuma’s attorney, Michael Hulley, confirmed that such an application was being prepared and would be launched some time before Zuma’s corruption trial next year.

The three big black economic empowerment deals announced this week suggest South Africa’s empowerment process is in a transitional phase. Some interesting new models are being tested. But this does not change the fact that deeply disturbing trends are being entrenched. The upside is clearest in the case of De Beers, which announced what looks like the most thorough staff empowerment scheme yet.

The De Beers empowerment deal announced this week appears to be on shaky blue ground, and heavily dependent on solid dividend flows and rand depreciation. This week, the world’s largest diamond miner unveiled a R3,8billion deal in which the Ponahalo consortium will acquire 26% of De Beers Consolidated Mines, the South African arm of the group.

Like many other citizens, I wait anxiously for the latest news on the condition of the South African Constitution, which was admitted to intensive care yesterday afternoon. According to a statement issued by the head of the Critical Political Afflictions Centre in Midrand, the Constitution is in deep coma and has been on life-support since admission to the centre.

<i>Insig</i> magazine out of New Media Publishing has won the Rossi Trophy for the best consumer title in the country. The announcement was made at last night’s Sappi Pica Awards, hosted by <i>Sunday Times</i> columnist Barry Ronge. <i>Finweek</i>, entered under its former name <i>Finance Week</i>, was a virtual runner up in the category with a "highly commended" mention.

You have to hand it to Microsoft. No, really, you do. When it leaps into the fray, it does so in a big, bold way. Last week the software giant stepped to the plate to announce some new initiatives designed to put it back in the running at a time when all the good things on the web can be summed up in just a few words — Google, Skype, eBay, Amazon, blog and Yahoo!.

"It is a struggle for the reconciliation of public and private that this book charts," JM Coetzee wrote of Nadine Gordimer’s essay collection <i>The Essential Gesture</i> in a 1989 review. "This book has attempted to chart that as well," says Ronald Suresh Roberts on the penultimate page of <i>No Cold Kitchen</i>, his unauthorised account of the Nobel Laureate’s life and work.

The African Union is determined to take the issue of Security Council reform down to the wire at this session of the United Nations General Assembly. Observers differ on whether this is stubborn or shrewd. About a month from now, Africa will know exactly what support it has for its aspiration to occupy two permanent seats, with veto rights, and five rotating seats on a reformed Security Council.

Pregnant women with malaria produce increased quantities of a chemical called TNF-alpha in their placenta, which nourishes the foetus as it develops, say scientists in Cameroon. This chemical boosts HIV replication and might explain why more children are born with HIV after the rainy season there.

Every year, more than a half-a-billion people suffer agonising pains and fevers because of malaria, a disease that is entirely preventable and curable. In Africa, someone — normally a child — dies every 30 seconds from this disease, causing unimaginable grief, human suffering and economic stagnation.

Sixty-four percent of South Africans have had unprotected sex without knowing their partner’s sexual history, according to the Durex Global Sex Survey. "When compared to last year’s results, this statistic is higher, which means that South Africans continue to take risks and put their lives in danger," said a statement.

Four Norwegians entered a movie theatre early on Friday and emerged on Monday, 38 movies, 70 hours and 33 minutes later, with a new world record in "movie-guzzling", Norwegian public radio NRK reported. The four pale and exhausted movie enthusiasts beat the previous known film-watching record of 70 hours and nine minutes.

Centuries ago, great kingdoms adorned the hills and plains of the Vhembe valley, representing a unique civilisation of socio-political organisation, production and trade. Their prowess and ingenuity are only now starting to be afforded the recognition they deserve. But much of their essence remains a mystery that still needs to be explored.