No image available
/ 1 September 2005
There is a keen irony in President Thabo Mbeki’s proposal of an inquiry into claims that he is orchestrating a plot against former deputy president Jacob Zuma. Over the years, Mbeki has himself been a regular proponent of conspiracy theories — that the pharmaceutical industry trumped up the HIV/Aids epidemic, for example.
South Africa recorded a deficit of R1,017-billion for its trade with non-Southern African Customs Union trading partners in July after a R1,33-billion surplus in June, according to the latest customs and excise figures released on Wednesday. Commented Mike Schussler, economist at T-Sec: "The figure is less than I expected."
South African financial services group Investec announced on Wednesday that Investec USA Holdings Corporation, a subsidiary of Investec plc, has entered into a stock-purchase agreement to sell Investec (US) Incorporated, its registered broker in the United States to Israeli banking group Bank Hapoalim BM.
Momentum has declared a special double-digit bonus for smoothed bonus investors for 2005. The above-average final bonus declaration comprises a basic and a special bonus. The final bonus declaration on retirement annuities invested in the Momentum traditional investment range and new-generation Investo product was 17%.
What the world needs now is not another love song, but more consumption by Asia. That is one of many lessons one gleans from listening to Professor Brian Kantor, head of investment strategy at Investec Securities, whose lecture sounds like the musings of a maverick and a maestro rolled into one.
To coincide with National Woman’s Day, <i>The Media</i> magazine once again celebrates the remarkable individuals chosen as South African media’s most influential women. In 2005, as in previous years, each woman listed has made an outstanding contribution to the development of the media industry in an economic, political, social or cultural sense, and each has therefore easily fulfilled the criteria for inclusion.
I always am disturbed by people who seem to take pride in not knowing anything about computers. Especially if they use the things on a daily basis. That’s so passive and victim-like, it’s sick. The more you know, the less you need to be a passive, whiney, helpless consumer, at the mercy of evil geeks who will generally do their best to rip you off.
Western Areas has announced the resignation of Brett Kebble as CEO of the company with effect from August 24, while also unveiling the details of its rights offer. Kebble has also resigned as CEO of fellow mining group JCI, but will remain on the JCI board as a non-executive director.
South African cement producer Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) on Tuesday announced details of its Batsweledi cement-capacity expansion project. PPC will invest R1,36-billion to increase the company’s inland cement capacity in South Africa by just more than one million tonnes a year.
Oil prices remained within striking distance of $70 a barrel in electronic trading on Tuesday on worries that Hurricane Katrina may have heavily damaged United States crude production facilities, dealers said. The contract had struck an all-time high of $70,80 on Monday as the market braced for Katrina’s landfall.
"Although Statistics South Africa conducts exhaustive surveys on a regular basis, an odd reliance on small, private surveys persists in the media and among politicians. Given the economic, social and political divisions in South Africa, smaller surveys are more likely to be inaccurate," writes the coordinator of fiscal, monetary and public sector policy at the Congress of South African Trade Unions, Neva Makgetla.
The author of a book that helped trigger the 1998 sacking of former Malaysian deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim died on Monday of diabetes, the official Bernama news agency said. Khalid Jafri was the author of <i>50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Be PM</i>.
<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>The tripartite alliance is to meet sooner rather than later to discuss President Thabo Mbeki’s proposed inquiry into an alleged plot against Jacob Zuma, African National Congress spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said on Monday, as a call was made for Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s resignation.
Embarrassed Portuguese police said on Friday they had made a mistake when they announced that an early-morning roadcheck in a Lisbon neighbourhood had found 90% of drivers over the alcohol limit. They later reported that the real figure was less than 10%.
A district mayor in Budapest has proposed a dress code for city-hall employees under which only women with "pretty legs" can wear short skirts, the Hungarian press reported on Saturday. Gyorgy Mitnyan, the conservative mayor of the city’s 12th district, is also seeking to ban skirts that are shorter than 2cm to 3cm above the knee.
The annual World Bog-Snorkelling Championships celebrate their 20th year on Monday when competitors don the flippers in one of Britain’s most bizarre sporting events. The championships take place in Llanwrtyd Wells, central Wales, Britain’s smallest town.
The world’s first toilet college is to open in Singapore to teach cleaners how to improve their lavatory-washing skills, according to local broadcaster Channel NewsAsia. The first batch of 30 students from a local cleaning company will start their training at the Toilet College in October, it said on its website.
China’s edition of American tycoon Donald Trump’s reality TV show <i>The Apprentice</i> will drop the mogul’s "you’re fired" catchphrase to avoid upsetting Chinese sensitivities, a report in Hong Kong said on Sunday. Chinese traditionally frown on behaviour that causes embarrassment to others.
Standard Bank is to acquire 25% of RCS Investment Holdings from fashion retailer Foschini for R358,1-million, with an option to acquire a further 20% stake in the subsidiary. The business of RCS Investments was established five years ago when the Foschini group of companies began an initiative to expand its range of financial services.
It seems like I’ve been voluntarily grounded for a long time. People who are used to snooping into this column to find out where I’ve been recently have a pained, disappointed look on their faces. "It seems like you haven’t been anywhere recently," they say.
Despite international oil prices having surged to fresh record highs on Monday, the situation is not yet a cause for panic, according to Absa industry analyst John Loos. He said petrol prices in Gauteng could reach R6 per litre by October, thus pushing CPIX inflation higher to around 5% in October.
Retail chain Mr Price announced on Monday that agreement has been reached for the sale of The Hub division, comprising 12 departmental stores and two shoe stores. The purchaser of The Hub is a consortium of management and a private investor supported by a leading financial institution.
Niger’s food emergency has reached the world’s headlines, but the crisis there is only one part of a much larger disaster. On an extended trip through rural areas in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, on behalf of the United Nations, I visited countless villages afflicted with extreme hunger and struggling to survive against the odds.
The London Zoo unveiled a new exhibition on Thursday — eight humans prowling around wearing little more than fig leaves to cover their modesty. <i>The Human Zoo</i> is intended to show the basic nature of human beings as they frolic throughout the August bank holiday weekend.
A random police check in the early hours of Friday in a Lisbon neighbourhood known for its nightlife found 90% of drivers had a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit. Of the 653 drivers that police stopped between 2.30am and 7.30am, 585 had a blood-alcohol level above 0,5g per litre of blood, police said in a statement.
Mobile operator Vodacom has announced an unprecedented cut in call rates of up to 50% during the peak call time of 5pm to 8pm on weekdays. Dubbed Vodacom’s "Happy Hours", the new tariff, to be launched on Sunday, will see a standard on-network call rate of R1,49 per minute for pre-paid and contract customers.
I cannot hope to contribute in any meaningful sense to the roars and squeals of disparagement already heaped on poor Zwelinzima Vavi’s head; payback with interest for the blunt demands he issued recently on behalf of Congress of Stupendously Asinine Trade Unionists (Cosatu).
The urge of people in the developing world to heap scorn and spleen upon those in the developed is a curious one. In fact, to come across a young man living in a house made of goat dysentery, who spends his days in quivering prayer to a vengeful god (whose divine bipolar disorder ordains everything from thunderstorms to sexually transmitted diseases).
"Speculating publicly about the permutations of a back-line game plan ahead of a Test against the All Blacks is something we haven’t seen very often. But then again, we haven’t seen a Springbok side like the present one in eight years, either. Saturday’s Test at Carisbrook is a decider in more ways than one," writes Rob Davies.
Merck & Co might consider settling some lawsuits over its painkiller Vioxx, whose links to heart trouble have spawned thousands of lawsuits and a $253-million jury verdict, a spokesperson for the company’s legal team said on Friday. The company has previously said it would fight all personal-injury litigation over the drug’s harmful side effects.
Trade-union opposition is believed to have thrown a spanner in the works of an ambitious Public Investment Corporation (PIC) plan to transfer the remaining 3,3% of Telkom it was warehousing to 1,5-million government employees, <i>Business Day</i> reported on Friday. The PIC bought 15,1% of Telkom from the overseas Thintana group last year.
PetroSA, at the centre of the "Oilgate" scandal, got a gentle ride during public hearings of Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts this week.
The committee’s convenor, African National Congress MP Pierre Gerber, described the affair as a "political sideshow" in his closing remarks to PetroSA management.