It seems that we are really heading for ‘Mzansi fo sho’. A continuous looting spree at the SABC, has been laid bare in explosive forensic reports, board minutes and internal correspondence obtained by the Sunday Times. The newspaper has established that the cash-strapped public broadcaster: Spent R196-million on a deal with Siemens which the SABC’s
Malema attacks Nkandla
Julius Malema on Tuesday severely criticised President Jacob Zuma for the reported R203m upgrades to his Nkandla home in KwaZulu-Natal. This amounted to stealing and was not right, Malema told striking mineworkers in Virginia, in the Free State. “They want to give you [miners] R16 000 but they give another man R250m to build a
Africa faces food insecurity
Three-quarters of African countries and several “Arab Spring” nations are at high or extreme risk of a food crisis, according to an analysis published on Wednesday. In a survey of 197 countries, 59 are most at risk of food insecurity, the British consultancy Maplecroft said. Thirty-nine of these are African, it said. Out of the
White farmers are uniquely vulnerable
Over the past fifteen years it has been taken as a given that commercial farmers have subjected to extremely high levels of violent and often murderous attack in South Africa. Many intellectuals and human rights organisations have however been anxious to underplay the import of this problem: The underlying concern apparently being that farmers might
Another political murder
Bongani Lushaba, an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) member, was shot dead yesterday on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. Police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker said no motive for the murder had yet been established. Naicker confirmed that a number of AK47 cartridges were recovered. This is just the latest in a series of apparently politically-motivated killings
Rape victim offered R1 for her silence
Two black minors were arrested on Monday for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl. The alleged rape took place on Sunday night. Both the boys are from Mookgo Block 7 in Bolobedu According to Bolobedu police spokesperson, Constable Rebotile Shai, the boys aged 14 and 16 were on their way back from watching TV at a
Kim Dotcom says he was spied on without warrant
In the latest episode of the ongoing saga of accused hacker Kim Dotcom, the Megaupload founder says he suspects that the illegal intelligence New Zealand authorities collected on him was shared in real-time with American authorities. The US government says Dotcom masterminded a multi-million-dollar copyright infringement conspiracy by running the Megaupload cyberlocker, and although the
Care centres to protect elderly from rape
Adult daycare centres are being introduced in KwaZulu-Natal to protect grandmothers from rape. The provincial social development department resolved to construct the centres following a spate of attacks on elderly women. Social development MEC Weziwe Thusi said yesterday that the first centre will be in KwaSwayimane, in the Midlands, the village where two grannies were
Corrupt South African prosecutor arrested
The South African Police Service reports that yesterday, 8 October 2012, Ladysmith detectives arrested a 37-year-old Public Prosecutor at the Ladysmith Magistrates’ Court for corruption. It is alleged that the prosecutor was working at a Traffic Offences court when he approached traffic offenders waiting to address the court for a reduction of their traffic fines.
Affirmative action challenge in US Supreme Court
The US Supreme Court is hearing arguments Wednesday on a case that could affect how universities across the United States consider race in their admissions. The case, one of the most high-profile of the court’s agenda this year, pits Abigail Fisher, a white woman, against the University of Texas at Austin, which denied her admission.
‘We don’t need a race box’
Abigail Fisher Abigail Fisher is a slight young woman with strawberry blond hair, a smile that needs little prompting, a determined manner and a good academic record. She played soccer in high school, and she is an accomplished cellist. But the university she had her heart set on, the one her father and sister had
What happened to race-neutral admissions?
Nine years after the Supreme Court said colleges and universities can use race in their quest for diverse student bodies, the justices have put this divisive social issue back on their agenda in the middle of a presidential election campaign. Nine years is a blink of the eye on a court where justices can look
African economies to grow rapidly, says IMF
Sub-Saharan Africa is poised to enjoy the type of high growth rates not seen outside Asia in the next few years, the International Monetary Fund said Monday, as the region’s unbridled economic rise continues. The IMF predicted the region’s economy would grow at 5.0 percent in 2012 and 5.7 in 2013, a little slower than
Breivik’s mother ‘sexualised’ him at four
“The mother and Anders sleep in the same bed at night with very close bodily contact,” psychologists from Norway’s centre for child and youth psychiatry (SSBU), reported after Breivik and his mother spent several weeks there in 1983. The reports also show that when Breivik was just four-years-old, his mother became preoccupied with fears that