Staff Reporter

Serious doubts have been cast on the ability of the year-old Kimberley process to rid the global market of conflict diamonds, which have prolonged the worst of the modern conflicts in Africa. Researchers estimate that one in five diamonds traded can be classified as conflict diamonds. The global industry is worth an annual $7-billion.

The Very Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane, bebop-quiffed Archbishop of Cape Town, has been the only native bishop to welcome the gay and humble Gene Robinson to the ranks of primates of the Anglican Church. He has cautioned the dark-skinned heirs of the missionary tradition up and down the continent and across the globe to show Christian charity.

For more than a year the Scorpions kept their investigation of Deputy President Jacob Zuma a tightly controlled secret. When, in November last year, I finally managed to lay my hands on court papers I had been seeking, I was unaware just how explosive they would be, writes Sam Sole, 2003 Vodacom Journalist of the Year.

When it comes to squaring up to the developed world on issues of trade policies, South Africa likes to hang tough with its new anti-protectionist pals Brazil and India.
But when one or both of these partners in the South strategic alliance talks about becoming a permanent member of a reformed United Nations Security Council, South Africa plays as coy as a schoolgirl.

This week South Africa received a timely reminder of how fastidious international investors are. The country was also reminded of how the good we achieve as a country remains overshadowed by history, socio-economics and the burden of HIV/Aids.

Mere wealth transfer does not produce economic growth nor address poverty. We must accept that the meritorious goal of black empowerment may have a negative impact on economic growth and shrink our economic bases. Strategies must be developed to offset this, says Mangosuthu Buthelezi. The Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party spell out their policies on BEE.

The apartheid system bred many vile people. It bred killers, torturers and depraved ideologues. The system also gave succour to corrupt individuals for whom ethics were a distant concept. many disreputable former servants of apartheid survived into the democratic era, some continuing to hold high office. One of these was Steve Mabona, who cut his political teeth in the old KwaNdebele homeland.

President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda sent <i>The Wall Street Journal</i> an impassioned plea for trade from developed nations rather than aid, saying taxpayers in those nations paid twice for development assistance.

The South African Chamber of Business Business Confidence Index continued to increase to another highest level of 116,4 in October after the high of 112,3 reached in September and the 110,9 in August.

For those who havn’t noticed the writing on the wall, the increasing glare from the thinning ozone layer, causing you to need to wear sunglasses and the increasing incidents of skin cancers and cataracts, is a death sentence to all animal and birdlife — who can’t put on protective glasses and thus will gradually be blinded and become extinct. Ian Fraser takes a look at the bigger picture.

Marginal South African gold miner Durban Roodepoort Deep has again come under fire for allegedly causing pollution to the river system next to its Tolukuma gold mine in central Papua New Guinea.

Impoverished areas around the district of Sebokeng, south of Johannesburg, have existed on the doorstep of a major economic hub, without any trickle down of the benefits of South Africa’s macro-economic stability. Now, nearly 10 years after democracy, sanitation services are finally being rolled out to residents in these areas.

Listed South African food retailer Shoprite Holdings (SHP) has opened its first retail outlets in Ghana, the group announced on Monday. Shoprite is the largest retailer on the African continent with operations in 14 different countries and an annual turnover of over R22-billion. It also plans to open outlets in India in the near future.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) said on Monday that it noted the weekend joint rally of its governing partner the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) — and said it would discuss it on a bilateral basis.

In this editorial comment, which was to be published on October 26, <i>The Daily News</i> celebrated the integrity of the Zimbabwean courts. Little did the editors know that this meant nothing to the Mugabe government.

The resolution of land claims remains a key challenge for our young democracy and the land struggle by the Richtersveld community revealed that the courts appear to possess far more wisdom than the government in dealing with this problem. Thanks to the courts, justice has been restored.

A third outbreak of tribal fighting has cost lives and hit revenue streams in the oil town of Warri in the troubled Niger Delta. A heavy troop presence is maintaining an uneasy calm. But this is not enough to create confidence in the oil industry. Authorities said more than a dozen people died in the fighting last week.

Chairmanship of the Kimberley Process diamond certification scheme — the international organisation that regulates the global trade of rough diamonds — has been passed to Canada, with the Russian Federation receiving the vice-chairmanship.

It’s hard to imagine what will be the final outcome of the Hefer commission. Will it produce new information, uncover some previously unnoticed subterfuge or harshly illuminate an existing one? The commission seems hardly able to get itself off the ground. In fact it doesn’t even seem able to find the runway.