It wasn’t a big event; it wasn’t fabulously well attended, but the Gauteng education department’s plea for help from retired teachers at the Gallagher Convention Centre last week was an event rich in symbolism. The messages it sent were unequivocal: We have messed up. We are desperate. Please help!
Also today: Georgian TV says the Martians (oops, Russians) are invading; Nobel economist Krugman decries Chinese currency policy; Army swarms into Bangkok as 100,000 protest; Netanyahu “regrets” settlement row during Biden visit; Americans uncover own covert ops in Pakistan “war zone”.
The Johannesburg Equality Court on Monday ruled that Julius Malema is guilty of hate speech, has no protection in terms of freedom of speech provisions, denigrated women in general, added to the rape problem in South Africa, and must apologise.
Being the President of the USA is the world's toughest job by a wide margin. It is a job that every day tests how tough, brave, determined or just plain crazy you are. And as the going gets really tough for the current occupant of the White House, the world is trying to assess how much steel is still left in Barack Obama's fibre.
There’s a whiff of the word “recall” in the air at the moment. No one will say it openly, but the terrible precedent set by President Jacob Zuma in allowing the ANC’s national executive committee to unseat Thabo Mbeki means that whenever things are going wrong for someone at the top, we’re going to hear the “R” word.
Also today: Earth shakes as Chile inaugurates president; Obama hammers China over yuan; Suu Kyi fights back against new election laws; Ground Zero workers set to get compensation for illnesses; Iraqi election results on knife-edge; Swedes follow US in Armenian “genocide” vote.
An internationalised campaign against the World Bank lending Eskom $3.75 billion has already cost South Africa the United States’ vote. And though two cabinet ministers on Friday stressed that the loan will absolutely definitely undoubtedly go through, they are clearly worried that the environmental lobby isn’t yet done.
It’s a smart, smart move. President Jacob Zuma has a tough NEC meeting this weekend. And what better strategy than to go back to the people; have them show how much he’s loved, how politically strong he still is. Now, no matter what he has to say this weekend, he can turn around and say: “Hey, who’s the one with the number one hit political song?” And he will have the pictures and the media coverage to prove it.
It may be called a “world-class African city”, but Johannesburg is quite publicly rushing in the opposite direction of late. And at the top of the rapidly-disintegrating structure sits the man who prefers decorum to action and is not responsible to anyone but his own political organisation.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s recent comments have caused a stir, again. But knowing her so well, can we really be surprised? The rash judgements are just another face of one of the most complex people in the already crowded pantheon of conflicted characters of our age.
Also today: US drones kill suspected militants in Afghan border area; American budget deficit swells to biggest ever ; Forbes says Mexico’s Carlos Slim is richer than Bill Gates; Brazil’s Lula in hot water over Cuban dissident comments; Quake may benefit Chile’s incoming billionaire president; Marathon Dostoyevsky play could exhaust even Manhattanites; Google strikes mega-antiquarian book deal with Italy.
KFC, a fast-food artist formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is blasting the Johannesburg airwaves of late, boasting about donating R200,000 to the City of Johannesburg to stop the pothole epidemic. Apart from the fact that they probably spend more money advertising the deed than on the deed itself, it should leave us all with a sick feeling in our collective stomach.
The number of screw-ups by the president’s closest working team is growing with annoying consistency these days. Perhaps people at the highest office in the country should be worried. Perhaps we all should.
On March 10 1959, Tibetan nationalists rose up against their Chinese occupiers in a revolt that was quickly crushed. During the week of March 10 to March 14 2008, the Tibetans exacted a bloody revenge. It’s an anniversary the world now watches closely.
Julius Malema did something really nasty on Tuesday. It wasn’t that it was just aggressive or bolshy. No, it was spiteful, mean and ugly. And, strangely enough, he was just the one saying it loudly.
On Tuesday, Julius Malema was in finer form than we've seen him in weeks. In just score of minutes he told students at the University of Johannesburg that DA leader Helen Zille is a satanist, that Patrica de Lille couldn't possibly have a husband and that FW de Klerk disadvantaged Africans. And that was just the warm-up.
China's ruling elite is now gathered in the National People's Congress, its premier political lekgotla, but the man everyone wants to meet, to whisper a word to, to be seen with, is almost certainly Bo Xilai. Who? Bo Xilai. And if things work out as a lot of China analysts (inside and outside of China) seem to think they might, a lot more people will soon be trying to get some quality time with ole' Bo.
Also today: Iraqis tally votes as some claim election victory and others concede; Big Apple celebrates its superheroes; Cubans decry foreign press coverage of ill hunger-striker; UN asks donors to keep funding Aids efforts; US backs Israelis over existing settlement plan, but peace may suffer; Europeans mull their own version of the IMF as Greek debt woes weigh; Toyota emphatic that electronics are not the problem.
It's a bad joke, but we'll repeat it anyway. Q: How do you tell Chuck Norris's age? A: Cut him in half and count the rings. The man who almost beat Bruce Lee in battle is seventy-years-old on Wednesday, would you believe. We at The Daily Maverick wanted to be the first to wish him happy birthday.
Religious violence, unfortunately, is nothing new in Nigeria. In the latest apparent reprisals over the weekend, scores of women and children, mostly Christians, were killed in villages around the central Nigerian city of Jos.
President Jacob Zuma’s approach to the question of whether he should declare his financial interests illustrates one of South Africa’s biggest ethical problems: legalism.
Just weeks away from a conference where it will ask for $20 billion over three years – twice the record amount ever raised for health – the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria launched a report trumpeting its recent successes. The world is on the brink of eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission, beating malaria (on a public health scale) and containing drug-resistant TB, it says. All it needs is a flood of money, in the middle of a fiscal drought.
Also today: Fantasy takes back seat to reality at Oscars; Iraqis vote amid barrage of rockets; Palestinians agree to indirect talks with Israel: US withdrawing troops from Haiti’s ravaged landscape; Scientists find HIV hides in new places; Annual military drills ratchet up tension on Korean peninsula; Survey finds most people think internet access is a basic human right.
Arts and culture minister Lulu Xingwana's recent outburst over the Constitutional Court exhibition of “dangerous” photographs by Zanele Muholi served one important purpose: It put the spotlight on the South African government’s tragic treatment of arts and culture. Read on and weep.
The past week brought the long-fought battle of the alliance partners out into the open. The ANC was once a reasonably disciplined bunch able to put a lid on just about any anger boiling underneath. Not anymore.
Also today: Israelis to restart indirect peace talks next week; Afghanistan’s a mess, says outgoing UN chief; Turks react angrily to American genocide charges; Palin perfects the soundbite in Hollywood role; Research shows humans are much more than just human; GOP makes fear and loathing part of the campaign trail.
On Friday, the ANC struck back mightily at Cosatu's accusations. What could have been seen as an ideological tennis match between the alliance partners is now turning into a fight of panzer divisions.
Ever since Ebrahim Patel was appointed as economic development minister, he has complained bitterly about having no power. Now it appears he has some. What will he do with it?
While a criminal investigation is still underway as to who committed the fraud that put thousands of unsafe taxis on the roads, those who own them have until the end September to get their vehicles retrofitted or have them impounded. Cue thousands of operators scrambling each to raise R18,000 to comply. Not that their banks can really say no.
We’ve said before that Cosatu's Zwelinzima Vavi is a bellwether, someone who shows the way events are drifting before many others. He may not always be right, but he has a good track record. So it’s pretty damn interesting when he says that current events within the ANC “could plunge it into a an unprecedented crisis which may destroy the party”.
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