A SECOND LOOK Joachim Wehner In its latest submission, the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) presents some valuable recommendations on local government finance. At the same time, however, the commission fails to present concrete figures on the recommended slicing of the fiscal cake. The lack of specificity and seemingly dwindling commitment by the commissioners are […]
Sherilee Bridge Investors spooked by the bloodbath on the global equities markets are being forced to find safer havens for their capital. South African investors have taken so well to the lower risk of the Saitrix 40 a fund that tracks the performance of the JSE Securities Exchange’s top 40 stocks that the unit trust […]
Henrietta Mqokomiso is taking on the City of Johannesburg after she was evicted from her home Nawaal Deane The Legal Resources Centre is preparing a landmark legal battle on behalf of Henrietta Mqokomiso, who was evicted from her house in Alexandra township three weeks ago. The Mail & Guardian reported last month on Mqokomiso’s plight […]
Elvis and John Lennon have monuments, museums and disciples, but Bob Marley’s legacy is less clear. John Aizlewood travels to Kingston to ask his friends and collaborators: what does Marley mean now, 20 years after his death? Native Jamaicans call the administrative district of St Ann, north-west of King-ston, the “Garden parish”. They have a […]
ART Antoinette du Plessis Most frequently, academic literature on the subject of tourist art is concerned with aspects of the production of artefacts for sale to tourists. Less easy to research with any kind of pretence of academic rigour is the other end of the equation the tourist/traveller as patron, as consumer, as communicator. How […]
Thabo Mohlala State prosecutors are to receive huge salary increases backdated to January 1, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Penuell Maduna has announced. This year prosecutors protested against their salaries and working conditions by embarking on a series of go-slows, adding to an already deteriorating problem of a backlog of cases across South Africa’s […]
Ngwako Modjadji National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi is probing allegations of corruption, drunkenness, incompetence and maladministration at the Ennerdale police station, south of Johannesburg. The investigation was launched this week after Ennerdale residents forwarded a complaint to Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete regarding alleged corrupt practices at the police station. Police officials in […]
Ntuthuko Maphumulo “Every game that we play is about winning the three points, prestige and honour,” said Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Queiroz in announcing the squad to face Malawi this weekend in Durban. Since taking over the squad late last year Queiroz has taken every game seriously and he’s not about to change that for […]
In this special report Khadija Magardie opens a window on one of the country’s most dangerous occupations policing, where pressure to fight crime is coming at an increasingly heavy cost There is a claustrophobic yet expansive, rushed yet benign feeling to the onset of early evening in Johannesburg, almost a sense of foreboding. At best […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) this week delivered a scathing attack on one of Zimbabwe’s leading cabinet ministers. In Cosatu Weekly the federation accused Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Jonathan Moyo of being an “immature politician”. Moyo criticised Cosatu last week for supporting the two-day strike organised by the Zimbabwean […]
The tubers of the elephant ear plant might not look good, but don’t let that stop you from trying them, Andrea Burgener The appearance of the tropical-looking elephant ear plant is familiar to most of us, but less known are the truly wondrous edibles it offers. The populations of South America, West Africa, India and […]
The Australian team crushed England in style, proving Tests can be as much fun as one-day internationals Peter Robinson Just over a week ago England and Australia launched the 2001 Ashes series by scoring 427 for 12 in fewer than 90 overs on the first day at Edgbaston. Of the 12 wickets to fall, six […]
Sherilee Bridge Some bears hibernate longer than just the winter. This is the case in the South African bond market, with bonds constantly flirting with all-time best levels despite the weakness of the country’s currency against the United States dollar. Investors burnt by the sell-off in the equities market may only need to be reminded […]
Wilhelm Disbergen Party van Ons: Die Homeros Leesboek compiled by Danie Botha (Homeros) No story can grip the reader if there is no honest investment from the writer in the subject matter. With all the writers in this book openly gay and writing for a gay reader, most of the narratives seem at least semi-autobiographical […]
Few people or institutions come out of the Bredell confrontation well. The government and its policies, the Pan Africanist Congress and the ruling African National Congress and its allies have, each in its own way, demonstrated breathtaking disregard for the plight and purposes of the hundreds of families who settled on this stretch of vacant […]
channel vision Robert Kirby BBC Prime is running a repeat of a splendid documentary series called Peoples’ Century. This was first broadcast in the late 1990s and was an intriguing retrospective, presenting 100 years of history in thematic episodes. For anyone parent wanting to give the offspring a humanly intelligent overview of the last century, […]
AN Egyptian man was alleged on Tuesday to have tortured his wife and shaved off her hair, both with a barber’s electric shears, after she asked for more money to spend on the home. The woman, appearing bald at a police station here, filed a police report alleging her 32-year-old husband used the tool to […]
THE World Bank announced Monday it has approved a $90,3-million interest-free loan to Nigeria to support the government’s three-year HIV/Aids action plan. The loan, which will also assist in the development of a long-term strategy, is to be repaid over 35 years, starting with a 10-year grace period. Nigeria has the fourth worst HIV/Aids infection […]
A FIVE -minute power outage at the closing ceremony of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit during an address by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi sent his security corps into a panic. Minutes before the end of his speech, a power cut plunged the Mulungushi conference centre into total darkness, prompting at least half a […]
A United Nations panel of experts on Monday ended a week-long visit to Liberia aimed at reviewing sanctions imposed by the international body for Monrovia’s perceived support to Sierra Leonean rebels. Martin Chungong Ayafor, who headed the five-member team, told journalists that the panel had held discussions with government officials and private groups. Ayafor said […]
EIGHT pro-democracy groups under the umbrella of the Swaziland Democratic Alliance (SDA) asked King Mswati III on Wednesday to revoke a controversial decree which reinforces his powers over the judiciary. The groups charged that the decree, promulgated on June 23, infringes basic freedoms and liberties. “We urge you, Your Majesty, to revoke the decree together […]
Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTHERN Africa is expected to face an overall cereal deficit this year with only Malawi and South Africa forecast to produce a small surplus, a regional early warning unit said in its latest report. Cereal production, which includes the regional staple maize, is expected to be down by 17%, the Famine Early […]
A NORTHERN Province hospital patient disappeared from his bed on Saturday only to be found dead behind the hospital four days later. Motshine Pheeha (31) of Inveran village was found dead in a trench near the perimeter fence behind Helena Frans Hospital in Bochum on Wednesday morning. Pheeha had been admitted to the hospital with […]
MOZAMBIQUE plans to build a major dam in the southern Maputo province to control flood waters, the government announced this week. The dam in Moamba district, in Maputo province, 70km west of Maputo, is expected to cost $360-million, the ministry of public works and housing said in a statement. The African Development Bank will fund […]
STUDENTS at Zimbabwe’s government universities and technical colleges face skyrocketing school fees, which are to be multiplied by as much as 40 times, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported on Thursday. The increases, which will go into effect next month, follow two months of rumbling protests by students against the government over inadequate allowances. University students […]
GERMANY has pledged 87-million dinars ($59-million) in aid to Tunisia to be spent on environmental, industry and water projects, the Tunisian news agency TAP reported Monday. The accord, covering the period 2001-02, was signed at the weekend by Uschi Eid, a senior official of the German economic cooperation ministry, the official news agency said. State […]
KENYAN Muslim clerics on Wednesday condemned the government’s plans to import and freely distribute hundreds of millions of condoms. “This is a wrong signal the authorities are sending to our youth about promiscuous sex and it proves that sex, any kind of sex, is cool and tolerable,” Kenya’s National Council of Imams chairman Sheikh Ali […]
A FATHER and five children were massacred by an armed group near Tiaret in northwestern Algeria, local residents said on Tuesday. The home of the family of eight in the hamlet of Ziana near the town of Oued Lili, some 340km west of Algiers, was attacked overnight on Monday, the sources said. The assailants shot […]
WEST African finance ministers said on Monday they were concerned about inflationary pressures hanging over the region’s economic activities. The regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said in a statement the economic activity continues to suffer from “unfavourable external and internal conditions”, adding that economic growth in 2001 will be “less important than […]
THE media in Angola is operating under increasingly difficult conditions, Open Society representative and freelance journalist Rafael Marques said in a statement on Monday. The statement coincided with a decision by independent Catholic-run Radio Ecclesia to suspend all news reports in favour of religious broadcasts. The station also counseled Angolans to pray. Marques attributed the […]
CANADIAN authorities, with the help of US officials, arrested three Toronto residents on Tuesday, in connection with a multi-million-dollar letter scam carried out in Canada and Nigeria. An estimated 300 US, European and Asian residents — but no Canadians — have been bilked out of amounts ranging from $52 000 to five million, Ross said […]
ONE of the main armed Hutu opposition groups in Burundi on Tuesday accused the mainly Tutsi government of using a fishing ban for self-enrichment and to starve those its accuses of helping rebel fighters. On June 25, the government banned fishing on two ports on Lake Tanganyika, Runonge and Nyanza-Lac, citing security reasons and claiming […]