Public service investigators are probing corruption allegations against struggle hero Marion Sparg, CEO in National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka’s office. The National Prosecuting Authority this week confirmed that Sparg, who is well known for her past role in Umkhonto weSizwe, is being probed by the Public Service Commission for alleged tender misconduct.
This year’s 3 Continents Film Festival features an exciting line-up that includes <i>Original Child Bomb</i> — a poetic and contemplative film about the nuclear bomb and its cost to humanity — and the controversial documentary <i>Zimbabwe Countdown</i>.
After months of breathless anticipation, the Athens Olympics got under way last Friday, presenting a worldwide television audience of billions with an opening ceremony that, in the tradition of Greek drama, had us howling in a mixture of belly-laughter and gut-wrenching pity.
The University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science has appointed former South African Reserve Bank deputy governor Gill Marcus as the Wendy Appelbaum professor of policy, leadership and gender studies from October 1. Marcus was deputy governor of the Reserve Bank for five years until her contract expired on June 30.
Even a hangover can’t dim the enchantment of Luang Prabang. The gauzy tranquillity of the place puts a languid drift into your step and a diaphanous cloak of dreamy carelessness descends on you. Communism kept Laos in a time warp for three decades. It also helped preserve the country’s heritage.
Despite the doomsayers and predictions of a recall for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the charismatic populist recorded a convincing victory in this week’s referendum. Chavez is a people’s candidate who casts himself as a latter-day Che Guevara. He is not without fault, but the referendum outcome carries an important global message.
Traditional practices of polygamy, virginity testing and <i>kugara nhaka</i> (wife inheritance) in Zimbabwe inhibit women’s control over their bodies and increase vulnerability to HIV infection, but activists are split on the best way to tackle the customs. One organisation believes in empowering girls to resist virginity testing.
While most Latin American countries have not yet experienced large-scale HIV/Aids, recent trends suggest the it could reach pandemic proportions.
The move to plastic-based banking products is dramatically increasing, fuelled by the need to bank the previously underbanked and to fulfil the requirements of the financial services charter. But this has led to an increase in crime related to the use of automatic teller machines (ATMs) — and now First National Bank has launched an ATM security week.
Standard Bank has managed to gain a bigger slice of the lending pie. Since June 2003, its share of mortgage loans has increased from 21,2% to 24,5%, while its stake in the domestic credit card market has grown from 26,6% to 30,9%. Its share in the area of instalment finance has ncreased from 21,5% to 22,5%.
Delegates from Iraq’s National Conference arrived at the Imam Ali Shrine on Tuesday, amid heavy fighting, to urge militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr to vacate the city’s mausoleum, an AFP correspondent said. Continuous, heavy gunfire raged throughout the day in Najaf, peppered with mortar blasts.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=120512">Peace mission to Najaf delayed</a>
Ispat Iscor, South Africa’s leading steel producer, said on Tuesday it will need to take several performance-related measures within the next three years to meet the challenges of the global steel industry. Key to this success, said chief executive Louis van Niekerk, is the support of the company’s people
The rand’s recent weakness suggests that the currency is moving back into line with other resource-based currencies, following a period of unsustainable outperformance. With the local unit continuing to trade above its long-term, real, trade-weighted value, some further underperformance is likely.
The technologies to halt global warming for 50 years already exist, according to research published this week in the journal <i>Science</i> — and implementing them should begin immediately. The study focuses on the role of carbon dioxide released when fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are burnt.
Thirteen Southern African leaders have approved a new regional charter on free and fair elections that specifies how they should be conducted to guarantee democracy, officials said on Tuesday. At a summit on the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, all the heads of state and government gave their blessing to the charter.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=120510">SADC has ‘failed democracy'</a>
"Starting off with some interesting reading: to get a good overview of the frightening future that is opening up before all of us, do your mind a favour and take the time to read <i>The Ghost of Orwell is upon Us</i>. Or if you don’t want to face up to reality, you could always go watch a short film clip of a cute little dog with sleeping sickness." Ian Fraser has more where this came from this week.
"Villages die by night. Quietly. Towns die by day, shrieking as they go. Since independence Big Dams have displaced more than 35-million people in India alone. What is it about our understanding of nationhood that allows governments and "national interest", that allows — applauds — the violation of peoples’ rights on a scale so vast that it takes on the texture of everyday life and is rendered virtually invisible," asks Arundhati Roy.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is headed for a public-sector strike after conciliation talks with the government failed. "It is clear that despite all efforts from the side of labour to find common ground, negotiations have reached a dead end," a prepared Cosatu statement said on Monday.
"For decades radical economists have been uneasily aware that the days of full-time employment may be over. It is not easy to admit that we have no way to ensure a job for anyone with some capacity who wants to be employed. So the issue is fudged by ‘if onlys’. What if we have to face the fact that, globally, there will never again be jobs for everyone?", writes Margaret Legum.
I’ve been talking over this “let’s ban Christmas” thing with my daughter. She has been asking, for the first time, whether Father Christmas actually exists. I don’t know where she gets these notions from. She is barely able to read the Koran or the Bible, let alone the newspapers, and has no conception of politics, as far as I know. But it is something that the African National Congress government have brought to our family hearth.
CDs OF THE WEEK: ATB makes a noise with <i>No Silence</i>, Cher says farewell to live performances and "flamboyant gentlemen", the Corrs are as angelic as always, and the Springbok Nude Girls thank God for <i>klank</i>. Here’s a quick guide to some new CDs on the shelves.
The <i>Hellkom</i> website, where the public can voice criticism of telecommunications giant Telkom, is part of freedom of expression, the Freedom of Expression Institute said on Friday. The institute’s remarks come after Telkom threatened <i>Hellkom</i> with a R5-million lawsuit earlier this week.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=0&o=134733">Will Telkom sue?</a>
The Freedom Front Plus joined other political parties on Friday in welcoming the South African Reserve Bank’s reduction of the repo rate by half a percentage point to 7,5%, but expressed concern about the strong rand. "It … will contribute to a more realistic value for the rand on international markets," the FF+ said.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=120354">’Mboweni has shown foresight'</a>
The United Democratic Movement says South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni and the monetary policy committee have shown foresight and courage by lowing the repo rate by 50 basis points. The UDM finance spokesperson said for more than a year the UDM has been advocating against an excessively strong currently.
At least 100 Maasai tribesmen demonstrated on Friday in the Kenyan capital to demand back land ceded to British settlers under treaties signed with the colonial government in 1904 and 1911, which expire this weekend. The protesters, wearing traditional regalia, took to the streets carrying placards that poured scorn on Britain.
The ever-increasing emphasis on the development of small to medium-sized businesses in South Africa, to help combat the high unemployment rate, has led to a rise in the number of small building contractors. However, the existence of many of these registered small contractors is often short-lived.
The owner of the website www.hellkom.co.za on Thursday confirmed that he had received a letter from Telkom’s attorneys threatening to sue him for R5-million, if the website isn’t closed by Friday. Webmaster Gregg Stirton said the high cost and low quality of Telkom’s telecommunication services was hampering South Africa’s economic growth potential.
Sustainable economic development is now seen as the point of departure for all national strategic planning processes and has become a national priority in South Africa. And the new "universities of technology" are best equipped to deal with South Africa’s skills shortage, argues Dénis van Rensburg.
The Boeremag wanted to throw poisoned oranges in the streets of Soweto as part of its strategy to create chaos in the country, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday. Free State potato farmer Henk van Zyl testified about events leading up to "Operation Popeye", a trigger for a Boeremag plan to take over the government.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=120126">Boeremag had breeding plans</a>
Stripped-down news anchors posed outside the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday to launch the latest addition to Britain’s competitive news media — <i>Naked News</i>. The revealing format, in which anchors disrobe while reading a digest of news, sports and entertainment, is due to begin broadcasting on Monday.
The trade union Solidarity has handed a memorandum to South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni calling, among other things, for a national emergency summit to discuss the loss of thousands of jobs because of the rand’s current strength. The union warned that the situation calls for stronger measures than mere observation.
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) secretary general Gwede Mantashe will on Wednesday lead mineworkers in a march to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) in Pretoria. The marchers will meet at 10am in Brown Street in the capital, then march to the Reserve Bank where a memorandum will be handed over to SARB Governor Tito Mboweni.