The South African Reserve Bank’s two-day monetary policy committee meeting got under way in Pretoria on Wednesday morning, the central bank confirmed. The key decision on interest rates is expected to be announced by governor Tito Mboweni at around 3.3ppm on Thursday afternoon.
Convicted of aspiring to overthrow the government, sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on Robben Island, sacked from Parliament by Mbeki and accused of corruption while in office — we take a look at the key events in Jacob Zuma’s chequered past.
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency said on Monday he regrets that Iran began conversion activities before the agency’s surveillance system could be tested on site. Iran on Monday resumed uranium conversion at its nuclear facility in Isfahan.
Books about boy wizard Harry Potter have become favorite reading material among Islamic terror suspects at the United States detention centre at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, <i>The Washington Times</i> reported on Monday. "We’ve got a few who are kind of hooked on it," said a librarian working at the centre.
Cape Town’s central business district, which has already been the recipient of about 1 100 new hotel rooms in the past five years will be the site of at least nine more new hotels in the next two years, according to the Cape Town Partnership.
The price-structure report released by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) last month on Telkom’s ADSL service has solicited further political backing, with the Independent Democrats also joining the fray on Monday. The Patricia de Lille-led ID endorsed Icasa’s report on "inflated" fees.
Four Chinese airline companies have agreed to buy 42 Boeing 787 jets for a total of $5,04-billion, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday. The purchase comes ahead of an expected visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to the United States and is a coup for Chicago-based Boeing over European arch-rival Airbus SAS.
About 300 grannies pulled up their rocking chairs in a small Finnish town square on Wednesday to tell stories to small children in a bid to bring the generations together, organisers said. They came from across Finland — and five of them even travelled from as far away as Spain — to take part in the hour-long event.
An envelope leaking a strange pinkish powder sparked an alert in a Paris suburban post office this week, but tests revealed the substance to be nothing more than desiccated elephant dung, police said on Thursday. With France on high terrorism alert, postal workers took no chance when they noticed the strange envelope.
An 81-year-old Portuguese woman remarried her former husband, who is 10 years older, on Thursday, more than three decades after she left him because of his womanizing, a daily newspaper reported. "He behaved badly and out of jealousy I left him after three years," Silvina Azenha told <i>Correio da Manha</i>.
Before Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana released his Oilgate findings at a press conference last Friday, selected journalists received a three-hour briefing. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> was not invited. The <i>M&G</i>’s allegations about a party funding scandal had to be vanquished by spin.
Barely 10 months after its seventh national congress, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is embroiled in an organisational crisis that threatens the unity of the union. Tensions reached boiling point this week, when a faction comprising the regional leadership accused the current Numsa leadership of abusing power.
You have to keep a close eye on all the euphemisms that are flying around these days. A euphemism, for the benefit of younger readers, is a figure of speech that allows its user to call a spade a shovel, or even a trowel, rather than a spade. It allows you, in the words of the dictionary, to give a more pleasant, public-friendly spin to something that might otherwise have been considered unpleasant.
The BBC’s headline read “Bolton appointed US envoy to UN”, and suddenly I found myself hoping that it was Michael Bolton. What a splendid envoy he would be! Crimped mane streaming behind him, its middle parting as white and straight as the American Dream, his linen shirt open to the medallion-line.
Pioneering empowerment company Worldwide Africa Investment Holdings, traditionally a discreet player in a game dominated by high-profile individuals, is having to deal with intense scrutiny as its assets expand and public attention focuses on two of its founders: South African Airways CEO Khaya Ngqula and MTN chief Phutuma Nhleko.
Nedbank, one South Africa’s top four commercial banks, has reported a 44,5% rise in its headline earnings per share for the six months to the end of June to 354 cents, from 245 cents a year earlier. The group declared an interim dividend of 105 cents per share, representing a 139% increase on the 44 cents declared at the halfway stage last year.
It is an unusual spat, to say the least: four places in Scotland all vying to be the recognised home of someone not even due to be born for another 200-plus years. Nonetheless, a spat has broken out over boasting rights to fictional <i>Star Trek</i> engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott following the death last month of the actor who played him.
A Florida man confessed to a murder that never happened, hoping it would persuade his wife to leave him, the <i>Ocala Star Banner</i> reported on Wednesday. Teddy Akin (28) told his wife he had killed a hitchhiker and stolen his wallet, and later repeated the same story to investigators after police arrested him.
The tragic situation in Africa has led Aids researchers to ignore the realities of other regions of the world, including Latin America.
You may have heard of consumerism, but I thought it’d be fun (and happily depressing) to take the time to describe what it means in your life. You should understand that all advertising is based on a big lie — that you need the product. Here’s a simple truth: consumer goods of real value do not need to be advertised. Ever.
India’s National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) is asking soft-drink manufacturers to include HIV/Aids awareness messages in their advertisements in an attempt to reach 15- to 49-year-olds.
Malawi has launched a comprehensive welfare plan to mitigate the impact of poverty and HIV/Aids on its estimated one million orphans. The National Plan of Action (NPA) for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), launched by President Bingu wa Mutharika last week, provides a common platform for the government, NGOs and donors to address the myriad problems facing children.
On Google’s news page recently, Matthew Buckland saw the name of East London’s <i>Dispatch Online</i> above some world famous brands. But could they cash in on it?
The 11-day strike by about 20 000 workers at Pick ‘n Pay ended late on Monday, with the food retailer estimating total turnover losses at R73-million, according to CEO Sean Summers. Summers said the settlement would result in an overall increase in the company’s labour bill of about 7,2%.
South African motor manufacturers on Tuesday said all indications were that the vehicle market would retain its momentum over the next quarter. According to Brand Pretorius, chairperson of McCarthy Motor Holdings, should sales recorded by Associated Motor Holdings be included, total sales again exceeded the 50 000 mark to end the month on 51 447 units.
Are South Africa’s print media giants silencing independent local newspapers by offering drastically reduced advertising rates? Mbuyisi Mgibisa speaks to some disgruntled voices.
A team of divers is searching at the bottom of the Baie des Ha! Ha! in north-eastern Canada for 800kg of cheddar sunk by an entrepreneur hoping to revolutionise cheesemaking. Dairy owner Luc Boivin was inspired by a fisherman’s tale to dunk 10 barrels of cheddar into the water to test the effects of cool temperatures and high pressure.
Trap of mental illness Thanks for publishing David Le Page’s brave account of what it means to suffer from bipolar disorder (“Mindful of mania”, July 29). But spare a thought for people who love those who suffer from mental illnesses. We are also caught in the mind-body dualism trap Le Page describes. Because we are […]
Popinjays lead the left Let me get this absolutely straight: “Jacob Zuma deserves his day in court in order to clear his name of spurious accusations that he somehow knew the source of half a million rand a year paid into his bank account, and that he somehow read the contents of a letter that […]
Holier than thou The end of apartheid opened the way for many opportunities for black South Africans, the most important having to do with the realisation and confirmation that our African cultural practices and names must be valued and allowed to prosper after decades of being trampled on. There are now, finally, more African language […]
It seems that the venerable <i>Mail & Guardian</i> (well, at 20 years old, you’ve got to be able to claim the right to be a little venerable) was having a bad hair day last week. In the middle of the paper there was an old photo of the founding granddaddies of the establishment, Anton Harber and Irwin Manoim, disguised respectively as Elvis Presley and Art Garfunkel.
In an event held in Johannesburg recently Libby Lloyd, chief executive of the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA), was named MTN Media Woman of the Year 2005. The choice was made on a majority vote of <i>The Media</i> magazine’s editorial board.