22 arrested for xenophobic violence, Ethiopian victim dies
Police have arrested 22 people following another spate of xenophobic attacks around Durban Attacks on foreigners continued this weekend, with two Ethiopian brothers being petrol bombed on Friday evening. AFP reports that one of the brothers succumbed to his injuries last night. “The hospital has informed us that our brother (meaning a fellow Ethiopian) died. […]
Chinamasa: SA banks taking advantage of Zim
By Jenni Evans — Pretoria – Zimbabwe’s finance minister Patrick Chinamasa on Wednesday criticised South African’s banks for wanting to charge more when its neighbour approaches them for loans. “Your financial institutions make it more expensive than when they lend to their own clients here,” he said after agreements were signed between the two countries […]
Mugabe won’t budge on mining compliance
By Memory Mataranyika– Harare – Implementation of Zimbabwe’s indigenisation policy is open to negotiation for regional partnerships, joint ventures with friendly countries and investments in other economic sectors excluding mining, where the government will not accept any variation on the 51/49 percentage threshold, said President Robert Mugabe. The indigenisation policy and other operating constraints have […]
Rhodes statue to be removed from UCT, and Mugabe gives his opinion
By Lauren Hess — The University of Cape Town’s council ruled that the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, the centre of much debate over the last few weeks, must be removed. On March 27, the university said its Senate had “voted overwhelmingly in favour of recommending to council that the statue of Rhodes be moved when […]
Motshekga blocks re-employment of thousands of teachers
By Bongani Nkosi — The department of basic education wants to block the reappointment of public school teachers who have resigned in order to access their pension funds. The trend among such teachers is that they go back to work within a few months of resigning. It was widely accepted that such resignations increased last year […]
Pupils Speak Out: Schools need to make us more aware of our privilege
By Jayna Goldstuck — A weekly series of articles written by pupils who want to contribute to the debate about South Africa’s education system. As a pupil at a religiously alligned, predominantly white, privileged, private school in Johannesburg, I have never been exposed to real hardship. I have lived my life in blissful ignorance of the […]
Too little, too late from government after attacks on foreigners hit KZN
A week after foreigners were chased from communities in KwaZulu-Natal, political leaders are responding to the issue. Yet the underlying causes of xenophobia are likely to remain. Speaking near where xenophobic attacks occurred last week south of Durban in Isipingo, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba is reported to have said on Sunday that the Constitution […]
How much longer for better school infrastructure?
By Victoria John, Jayna Goldstuck — Equal Education along with pupils frustrated by the long wait for better school infrastructure protested outside the department’s office in Pretoria. When pupils picketed outside the basic education department’s office in Pretoria on Wednesday for better school infrastructure, they were told by the department to wait “a few more weeks”. […]
As Craven leaves, Cosatu loses another giant
By STEPHEN GROOTES. So often in politics we subscribe to what historians used to call the ‘big man’ theory. We focus on the newsmakers, the decision makers, the symbols of the various parties. You could examine the national predilection for blaming everything – including bad April Fool’s Day jokes – on President Jacob Zuma, as […]
Nigeria will be Africa’s first global superpower
South Africa has many attributes that make it a worthy representative of Africa on the world stage, but is set to lose its first place If Nigeria plays its cards right, it could become Africa’s only global superpower. It already has the continent’s biggest economy, a huge military budget and a fair record of regional […]
