Index
index a day in pictures It happened overnight South Africa Africa WorlD Business LIFE, ETC Sport
friday – 23 september 2011
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a day in pictures
friDAY – 23 september 2011
a day in pictures
israel/palestine
An undercover Israeli policeman runs after making arrests during clashes that erupted between Israeli troops and Palestinian stone-throwers at Qalandiya checkpoint September 21, 2011. The clashes erupted after a rally in the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah in support of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' bid for statehood recognition in the United Nations. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside
friDAY – 23 september 2011
a day in pictures
new york
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton listens to U.S. President Barack Obama speak at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York September 21, 2011. Obama was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
friDAY – 23 september 2011
a day in pictures
yemen
Anti-government protesters attend a mass funeral for protesters and defected army soldiers killed in recent clashes with security forces in Sanaa September 21, 2011. Snipers, shelling, and gunfire killed at least five people in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday, violating a truce reached a day earlier between state troops and defected soldiers who joined protesters. The killings raised the death toll to 75 in four days of bloodshed, shattering a prolonged, uneasy stalemate that was set in place during fitful efforts to mediate the crisis. REUTERS/ Khaled Abdullah
friDAY – 23 september 2011
a day in pictures
mexico
Suspects, including a minor (L), stand against a wall after police clashed with members of a drug gang in Ayotlan September 20, 2011. Police went to raid a house after they were tipped off and upon their arrival, the police were attacked with firearms by a group of hitmen. Two people were killed and two arrested along with a minor, according to local media. REUTERS/Alejandro Acosta
friDAY – 23 september 2011
a day in pictures
pakistan
Residents carry the coffin of a man, who was killed in a shootout by unidentified gunmen a day earlier, for his burial in Quetta on September 21, 2011. Gunmen opened fire on a bus in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan in a suspected sectarian attack on September 20, killing at least 26 Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims travelling to Iran, police said. REUTERS/Naseer Ahmed
friDAY – 23 september 2011
a day in pictures
russia
Believers light candles during celebrations for the religious holiday of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg September 21, 2011. Believers also marked the 200th anniversary of the construction of the Kazan Cathedral (Kazanskiy Kafedralniy Sobor). REUTERS/Alexander Demianchuk
friDAY – 23 september 2011
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IT HAPPENED OVERNIGHT
friDAY – 23 september 2011
it happened overnight
briefs
President-elect of Zambia, Michael Sata (Reuters)
Politics Zambia The 74-year-old Michael Sata has ended Rupiah Banda’s presidential reign, a role Banda’s party has had its hands on since 1991. According to the Zambian electoral commission, Sata hauled in 43% of the electorate (1,150,045 votes) to Banda’s 36.1% (961,796) with 95% of the vote counted. Sata is not as pro-Chinese investments as Banda was, so Zambia’s very near future has some interesting twists ahead. United Nations Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as usual, caused a 30-nation walkout during his speech at the United
Nations general assembly when he criticised the US for the raid which killed Osama bin Laden instead of bringing him to trial, denounced Israel and made some questioning remarks about the Holocaust, laid into Western nations for weakening developing countries and forcing them to be dependent to “plunder their resources”. The White House and David Cameron (who spoke after the Iranian President) both returned the compliment by listing how Iran treats its own citizens. Libya Libyan government forces (the anti-Gaddafi ones) have taken the town of Sabha, strategically important as the road to Niger, south of
Libya, passes through it. Some Gaddafi family members previously escaped over the southern border. USA President Barack Obama used a particularly scenic venue for his latest speech to get backing for his jobs plan: a decommissioned bridge on the border of Ohio and Kentucky which his plan would re-instate as it relies in infrastructure upgrades. It is complete coincidence that this bridge links the states of Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell. Thaddeus McCotter ended his presidential campaign
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it happened overnight
briefs
and backed Mitt Romney. We would have done the same if no-one had heard of us too. The head of the CIA’s Global Jihad Unit has been identified on the Internet, which isn’t good for the reputation of the agency as she, Alfreda Frances Bikowsky, has been linked with some of its most disastrous balls-ups, including partial responsibility for intelligence lapses which led to 9/11, the apprehension and torture of Khalid El-Masri who actually didn’t do anything. The name of the secret agent was discovered by two documentary filmmakers who used intelligence they had gathered to piece the identification of the woman together. South Africa President Jacob Zuma asked police commissioner General Bheki Cele to provide reasons why he should not suspend him until an inquiry into the dodgy police headquarters deal is complete. According to a statement made by the Presidency last night, the request was made of Cele on 29 August and the police head has submitted his answers to the president who is currently mulling them over. ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa has claimed the
Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev (Reuters)
current binary nationalisation debate in South Africa is not healthy and asked to hear mining companies’ points of view on the matter when he spoke at the Exxaro Resources dinner in Johannesburg. Venezuela The Venezuelan government has poured praise upon President Hugo Chavez who, they claim, was responsible for the release of two US hikers held in Iran on spy charges, who were released yesterday. The Venezuelan transport minister said Chavez asked President Ahmadinejad to release the pair as a humanitarian gesture, and the closeness of the countries’ relationship helped sway the Iranians’ decision.
Russia A two-day conference of the United Russia party kicks off today where both Vladmir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev will address the gathering and give us a far clearer insight into who will run for president. Both men have declared interest in the presidency, but do not want to run against each other. Putin is the more powerful in the party, having already served two presidential terms.
Business USA Hewlett-Packard announced that Meg Whitman, recently back from a failed bid for the California governorship, will
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it happened overnight
briefs
replace Leo Apotheker as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Apotheker has only served for 11 months, but was sacked after repeatedly cutting sales forecasts, watching the stock price nearly halve and confusing investors with company strategy. Whitman said she does not intend to diverge from HP’s decision to reduce its reliance on personal computer sales. Nike’s results aligned themselves with analysts’ expectations with a net profit of $645 million in the quarter ending 31 August, a 15% increase against the same quarter last year. This was on top of revenues increasing 18% to over $6 billion. Profit margin decreased because of the higher cost of raw materials, but a rise in sales offset the bulk of this. International Thursday was a nasty one for traders as fears over the global economy promoted selling: the Dow dropped 3.5% to a 2011-low of 10733,83, but other major indices plummeted further such as the FTSE (down 4.7%), Brazil’s Bovespa (4.8%) and the Hang Seng (4.9%). The Nikkei and the Shanghai Composite Index shed just over 2% each while Argentina’s main index saw nearly 6% wiped out.
A tough time for the markets.9 (Reuters)
Australia, Japan and South Korea saw the trend continue early on Friday morning. Australia SABMiller acquired Australian brewer Fosters in a hostile takeover with shareholders agreeing to AUS$5.10 a share after SABMiller opened with an AUS$4.90 offer. SABMiller CEO Graham Mackay made it clear though that Fosters was an Australian beer and would be run out of Australia, in spite of the buyer looking to cut around AUS$150 million from its books. Fosters share price rose to AUS$5.26. Russia Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin reckoned on Thursday that Russia’s north coast would rival the Suez Canal as the fastest route between Europe and Asia,
particularly as its icy polar caps are at their lowest level. The route is allegedly a third shorter than the journey through the Suez Canal.
Sport UK BBC’s Newsnight investigative show accused the International Amateur Boxing Association of receiving a $9 million payout from an Azerbaijani source on condition that two people from the country won gold medals at the 2012 Olympics. Naturally everyone denied this, spoke about their zero tolerance and transparent policies and said they would sack whoever was responsible after an investigation.
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it happened overnight
briefs
AC Milan’s Brazilian striker Pato has been ruled out for four weeks with a leg injury suffered against Udinese on Wednesday.
Life France Amnesty International heavily criticised French laws regarding fining women who wear face-coverings as the country’s first court-issued fines were made. Police have issued on-the-spot fines before. Two women who appeared in court on Thursday have vowed to appeal their sentences and are prepared to go all the way to the European court of human rights, which could get rather interesting as that authority has European Union-wide jurisdiction, which could affect other countries’ anti-Muslim-dress laws. UK Reuters reports that three people close to the goings on of the phone-hacking debacle in the UK claim that News of the World hacked into the voicemails of the Europe minister, Dennis MacShane, in Britain’s former Labour administration. The skeletons are further out the closet than Elton John and beginning to arrive more frequently.
Was Albert Einstein wrong? (Reuters)
USA The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested two hackers from prominent groups: one from Anonymous and the other from LulzSec. The charges relate to technical offences such as causing damage to international computers, impairment of computers and so on. Basically this is the precursor to the FBI site being bliksemmed by the people they haven’t arrested yet, one would think. Morocco The main suspect in the bombing of a tourist café in Marrakech, Morocco in April denied all charges against him, having changed his story
since he originally admitted to murdering the 17 victims of the blast. The trial has been adjourned for another week – the third postponement so far. Switzerland Scientists at the world’s biggest lab may have dashed Einstein’s scientific principle, which needs to stand for E=mc², that nothing can travel faster than light. Scientists at the CERN laboratory have seen a sub-atomic particle which is actually moving quicker that physics should allow. The discoverers want their claims verified before they declare an actual discovery. We expect an episode of “The Big Bang Theory” based on this.
fridAY - 23 september 2011
SOUTH AFRICA
friDAY – 23 september 2011
south africa
briefs
Dubula Ibhunu heading to Constitutional Court (Reuters)
Hundreds of unroadworthy vehicles pulled off SA roads Gauteng’s department of community safety has pulled 50 vehicles used to transport students off the road. The vehicles were found to have various defects including brake failure and worn tyres and shock absorbers. A total of 54 such vehicles were inspected at the Krugersdorp testing centre on Thursday and only four were deemed to be roadworthy. Transport minister Sibusiso Ndebele said that more than 800 unroadworthy buses and taxis have been pulled
off South Africa’s roads in the past two weeks as part of a nationwide special public transport operation.
Anni Dewani’s family hand over extradition petition to British home secretary The family of slain honeymooner Anni Dewani has handed over a petition with 11,300 signatures calling on UK home secretary Theresa May to sign the order that will see Shrien Dewani extradited to South Africa to face trial for the murder. May has until 10 October to confirm
the extradition, which was approved by a London court last month. Shrien Dewani’s co-accused, the hitmen he allegedly paid to kill Anni, are scheduled to appear before the Cape Town high court on 10 February 2012.
ANC to take “dubula ibhunu” ruling to ConCourt In granting Julius Malema leave to appeal last week’s hate speech ruling against him, Johannesburg high court judge Colin Lamont said that it is a reasonable prospect that
fridAY - 23 september 2011
south africa
briefs
Young people make up majority of South African population (Reuters)
another court would come to a different conclusion. Malema and the ANC’s legal team plan to take the appeal directly to the Constitutional Court, but can have the matter heard by the Supreme Court should the highest court in the country decline. Afriforum and TAU SA, who brought the matter, plan to oppose the appeal all the way to the Constitutional Court.
Motsekga: Basic education department ready for matric exams Basic education minister Angie Motshekga told reporters on Thursday that her department was ready for this year’s matric exams starting on 24 October. She said about 620,000 students will write
132 question papers in 6,540 examination centres across the country. Marking will start on 2 December with 35,000 markers grading the papers. Motshekga promised her department would deliver credible matric exams – big ask given the controversy that surrounds the exams each year.
Suspended head of crime intelligence charged with fraud and corruption Richard Mdluli, suspended crime intelligence head, handed himself over to the Hawks on Tuesday and appeared in the commercial crimes court in Pretoria on charges of fraud and corruption. He was released with a warning, reports said. Mduli has been on suspension and is out on
R20,000 bail after he was charged with orchestrating the murder of a rival for the affections of a love interest.
Report: Young people make up majority of SA population Jimmy Manyi presented a progress review on the implementation of the population policy white paper to members of the media at a post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday. The review indicated that South Africa’s population growth had slowed, leading to changes in the age structure of the population. Young people now make up the majority of the population. Manyi said this highlighted the need for government to
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south africa
briefs
participating in the economy. He said these problems of racial and gender disharmony inhibit the country’s business sector from creating jobs and fulfilling its obligations to society. He called for an end in the stand-off between the Black Management Forum and Business Unity South Africa.
Mahlangu-Nkabinde: I was misled
Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde (Reuters)
step up the services it provides to young people.
MTN defrauded of millions potentially Metro police spokesman Wayne Minnaar said that ten people were arrested on Thursday in Johannesburg on suspicion of having committed as much as R200 million in airtime fraud, according to a Sapa report. Police recovered 560 sim cards with at least R1,000 in airtime value each. MTN’s fraud and forensic department is still
determining the extent of the fraud and said that the R200 million figure is inaccurate and misleading. The scam did not affect current customers, the company said.
Motsepe: Racial disharmony bad for business Patrice Motsepe told journalists on Thursday that black entrepreneurs, professionals and women in the country are growing despondent over being excluded from fully
Public works minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabide is fighting back against accusations that she is responsible for the rot in the department she presides over. She now claims that staff in her department had misled her by concealing incidents of maladministration and, potentially, fraud and corruption from her. At an engineering council summit on Thursday, she said that when she took over the department from Jeff Doidge, she discovered that it was being used as a “cash cow”. The special investigating unit’s preliminary report into her department found irregularities in tenders worth about R3 billion.
fridAY - 23 september 2011
cover story
zuma vs cele
Zuma to Cele: Tell me why you shouldn't leave President Jacob Zuma has taken yet another step to flex his muscle and finally attempt to build a legacy of firm leadership amidst criticism of his indecisiveness and paralysis. In part three of his decision-time “revival”, he’s established an enquiry into the controversial police leases and asked the police chief to defend himself against suspension. CARIEN DU PLESSIS reports on the thickening plot. He isn’t even back in the country yet from his outing to the United Nations in New York (to attend the same annual sitting former president Thabo Mbeki missed after he was unceremoniously sacked by the ANC three years ago this week) - and President Jacob Zuma is getting tough already. Or rather, his recent streak of putting his foot down is continuing, with Zuma announcing in a statement that landed in
inboxes early on Thursday night (usually it’s the kind of missive that’s supposed to preempt some PR disaster looming in the weekend papers) that he’d been having a little chat with his police boss, General Bheki Cele, who was implicated by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela in the mismanagement of two office building leases worth more than R1.7 billion in Pretoria and Durban. Photo: General Bheki Cele. (Reuters)
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cover story
A police chief, which holds one of the country’s top security positions, is someone you’d rather have on your side, and you’d want to have his trust, even if you do play Rambo with him. “The President informed the national commissioner that he intends to institute an inquiry into allegations of misconduct in relation to the procurement of both leases as per the findings of the Public Protector. The national commissioner was afforded an opportunity to make representations as to why the President should not suspend him pending the outcome of the inquiry,” Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj said in the statement. Cele, who was sick in hospital recently for more than a week, and emerged much thinner for it, “is cooperating fully” with Zuma in this process, Maharaj said. Zuma’s notice about the commission of inquiry was issued to Cele at the end of August, just after his recovery from illness, and complies with legislation. Cele’s cooperation must come as a relief to Zuma. A police chief, which holds one of the country’s top security positions, is someone you’d rather have on your side, and you’d want to have his trust, even if you do play Rambo with him.
zuma vs cele
For more than eight months now, since the first stories on the police lease scandal surfaced in Sunday papers, journalists have been bugging Zuma to take some action, and now he’s eventually doing just that. The suspense over whether Cele would indeed be suspended or not is set to continue for another few days, or weeks, or even months (the president really takes his time when it comes to thinking and reading), as Zuma is now considering Cele’s response to his request. Maharaj in the statement added Zuma “continues to process other recommendations relating to other parties”. This probably means the South African public would be seeing some action related to public works minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, whose PR machine of late is in such overdrive that a newly-arrived alien from Mars would think she’s the country’s number one corruption fighter. In fact, she’s also been implicated by Madonsela as guilty of lease mismanagement, and the Public Protector has recommended action be taken against the minister. Cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister Sicelo Shiceka, who Madonsela had been investigating for an unrelated matter in connection with alleged misspending of public funds, and who has apparently been ordered by Zuma to remain ill and on sick leave for a bit longer despite his protestations to the contrary, is also waiting with bated breath. Madonsela on Thursday handed her provisional findings related to Shiceka to Zuma’s office as well as Shiceka himself for a response. The final report – which would include the response – is expected to come out in the first half of October.
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cover story
“Most of the matters the President is working on cannot be discussed in full without prejudicing affected parties. He will continue to follow due process to ensure the matters are disposed of using correct procedures,” Maharaj said. Earlier in the week Mahlangu-Nkabinde announced that she’d “unwittingly” inherited a “poisoned chalice” when she was appointed to head the department, as corruption among officials was rife and they were apparently uncooperative and deceptive – and she said they love to shred things. She has since gone to court to have the two police leases with businessman and not-Zuma’sfriend Roux Shabangu, cancelled, a move that was both praised and slammed by the DA, which said she should never have reinstated the leases when she was appointed in October last year in the first place. This move indicates Zuma or someone in his office must have had a “shape up or ship out” kind of chat with Mahlangu-Nkabinde lately. On Thursday morning she defended herself on radio, telling SAFM’s Xolani Gwala that the legal advice she received in the beginning was that the leases were valid, but state law advisor Enver Daniels later told her they were invalid and should be cancelled. She admitted she’s made representations to Zuma twice on the matter. Zuma’s announcement on the inquiry on police leases comes exactly a week after he dropped the bombshell that he would appoint an inquiry into the controversial multibillion-rand arms deal. He is yet to appoint a head (rumoured to be former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo) and he is expected to announce its terms and conditions
zuma vs cele
This move indicates Zuma or someone in his office must have had a “shape up or ship out” kind of chat with MahlanguNkabinde lately. after he returns to the country by weekend. Experts say these are crucial as they would indicate whether the commission would have any teeth. Another recent indication that Zuma is drawing a line under accusations that he is an indecisive leader, and that he is in this way starting his campaign for election to a second term by the ANC in just over 14 months’ time, is the disciplinary hearing he instituted against ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema. Zuma isn’t so much involved in the details of the hearing, but it certainly was likely to have had more than his blessing. As disillusionment with Zuma’s leadership within the party grows, and the ANC remembers how it sacked its former president this week three years ago, Zuma would be keen to do things by the book without alienating the wrong people to ensure himself a second term. His one-time ally and confidante, Cele, is either well-looked after already by means of an international deployment as has been rumoured, or else the police chief is, after all, disposable. It’s up to Zuma to do the right thing.
Read more: 1. Zuma’s redemption on Timeslive
friDAY - 23 september 2011
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south africa
schubert park
Tshwane gets rid of its high-rise slum – for now Late on Thursday night, the High Court in Pretoria ruled that the Schubert Park complex of apartments was too dangerous to allow "evacuated" residents to return. That presents a long-sought opportunity for the city of Tshwane, and is probably in the best interests of the legitimate erstwhile residents, if against the wishes of the majority. But was it really happenstance exploited, or a crisis engineered? And will other city governments substitute the paperwork of evictions for the ease of evacuations? By PHILLIP DE WET. Shortly before midnight on Thursday, a pair of buses with a police escorts made their way from the Pretoria CBD towards Saulsville, a township on the outskirts of the city. As the convoy departed, a couple of bottles and many insults were hurdled in its direction. The small group of people inside the buses were on their way to emergency shelters provided by the city of Tshwane. The far bigger group outside, on
the streets, had refused an offer of the same. Neither will be returning to their former homes in the Schubert Park complex soon, and if the city and an urgent court have their ways, they won't be returning permanently for what could be years. This is not the end of the long-running Photo: Phillip de Wet for iMaverick.
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south africa
After a five-hour hearing on an urgent application by residents that they should be allowed to return, Prinsloo said especially children should not be living there. saga of Schubert Park, four 21-storey buildings that have become the worst high-rise slums in the city, and among the worst in the country outside of hijacked buildings. The complex is owned by the city, and at least some of the residents there held formal rental contracts, but conditions were horrific: festering piles of garbage three times the height of a man, pools of raw sewage and, for the past week or so, no electricity or running water. There are many ways to injure yourself or die, from fires to which residents would not be alerted and which could not be contained to falling down a pitchdark stairwell. It was those conditions, and the associated risk to life and limb, that saw Judge Bill Prinsloo rule on Thursday night that the city's closure of the complex would stand. After a five-hour hearing on an urgent application by residents that they should be allowed to return, Prinsloo said especially children should not be living there. Four different experts from the city, on fire hazards, electricity, policing, and structural
schubert park
engineering had told him so. They had told him the problems with the buildings simply could not be fixed while they were inhabited. And the city had offered alternative accommodation with amenities equal to or better than residents had had before. Under the circumstances, Prinsloo said, the court would not take responsibility for possibly sending people back to their deaths. But even though it is patently unfit for human habitation, many of the Schubert Park residents wanted to stay. It is close to the city, they say, and the economic opportunities it holds. They have raised families there, they are settled there, and they consider it their own. Much like residents of many squatter camps around the country (which Schubert Park resembles in just about every sense except the vertical) they want better conditions – but in the same spot. So on Monday, those residents hope to take the matter directly to the Constitutional Court, where they remain convinced they will win. If they don't do so very rapidly, though, the issue may become academic. As things stand, Tshwane is under court order to provide temporary accommodation to every former resident for as long as it takes to refurbish the buildings, and by the end of Friday that order should be extended to require free transport to the city and the storage of furniture. Once the refurbishment is completed (and it is not yet clear how long that would take, or whether the court will set a deadline, but would be a massive undertaking), everyone will have to be returned – everyone legal, that is. The authorities believe, and our informal polls have confirmed, that many of the
friDAY - 23 september 2011
south africa
schubert park
With that in mind, hundreds turned down the offer of buses and shelter for the night, instead gathering in groups soon scattered by police with the threat of rubber bullets. Then they drifted through the city, unable to go home, unwilling to be relocated and, with shelters already bursting at the seams, nowhere else to go.
now 8,000 estimated residents are illegal immigrants. They are not entitled to housing, and could face deportation instead. Others, who are not formally renting from the city (occupying either informally sub-let or hijacked apartments) will have a hard time returning. Still more who were living in very over-crowded flats will probably find themselves limited to the specified maximum number of inhabitants for each apartment, likely making living there too expensive for a big fraction. Schubert Park may end up being a much better place to live, years down the line, but none of these groups will be living there. That was the motivation for some who refused the offer of emergency shelter; sticking it out now in hopes of returning legally or otherwise holds better hope for the future. For many, though, the reasoning was more immediate. Flats that sometimes contain all their worldly possessions (and, in some cases, pets) were on Thursday broken open by either police or marauders. Those doors that have
not yet been forced open soon will be. Having not been allowed back in since Wednesday afternoon, residents don't know what, or how much, they'll be coming home to. With that in mind, hundreds turned down the offer of buses and shelter for the night, instead gathering in groups soon scattered by police with the threat of rubber bullets. Then they drifted through the city, unable to go home, unwilling to be relocated and, with shelters already bursting at the seams, nowhere else to go. Their plight is a legally tricky one, and could set important precedents both politically and legally. The city of Tshwane says they were not evicted, but evacuated in the face of imminent danger from fires linked to riots on Wednesday. The urgency of an evacuation means no court order is required before people are removed from their homes, as with an eviction. Accepting temporary shelter, and being moved voluntarily, would weaken the argument that this was, in fact, an eviction without due process.
friDAY - 23 september 2011
south africa
schubert park
And while the city unquestionably has the duty to protect its citizens from harm in deathtrap buildings, it didn't let the opportunity to solve a decade-old problem slip away, but took advantage of the crisis.
It goes deeper than that, though. Some Schubert residents are convinced this whole episode is an elaborate conspiracy, complete with agitators deployed to start the rioting this week. That is unlikely. It is true, though, that things need not have got so out of hand as to require forceful evacuation; while even journalists could tell trouble was brewing on Wednesday afternoon, there was no significant police presence and no effort at crowd control (whether by negotiation or force) until after the situation had turned ugly. And while the city unquestionably has the duty to protect its citizens from harm in death-trap buildings, it didn't let the opportunity to solve a decade-old problem slip away, but took advantage of the crisis. Not that the residents of Schubert Park are blameless. They may not have believed they had other means at their disposal, but still chose to use violence to try to secure services. They may also be guilty of a conspiracy of their own; on Thursday night tyres were burnt in Saulsville, the location of the emergency shelters, in a preemptive protest at Schubert residents being shipped there. Rumour (utterly unconfirmed, and virtually uncomfirmable) had it that some
of the more devious Schubert Parkers had deliberately ignited those Saulsville protests to make it impossible to move them there. Spontaneous or not, there could well be more trouble to come in Saulsville. Like so many others, the township has a large number of people demanding housing and services. Now they will have a relatively coddled group installed in their midst, a pretty sure recipe for unhappiness. Others fighting evictions in various parts of the country will be watching the Schubert saga, and may change their tactics accordingly. Other municipalities that have slum problems will also be watching, perhaps considering some emergency evacuations of their own, whether it be on the basis of dolomitic land that could develop sinkholes such as in the Bapsfontein case, or because of health fears, or any of a number of other grounds. Still, even if that could provide a loophole in the strict requirements for evictions, the principle that equal-or-better accommodation must be provided still stands. Doing things the Schubert way may be faster, but it isn't cheaper, and it may not end up being easier in the long run.
friDAY - 23 september 2011
planet grootes
sa demographics
South Africa’s future in black and white – and full colour In a complicated country like South Africa, demography is always interesting. It tells you about what we will need in the future, and about what we will be like. It's a great starting point for big debates about what we actually are, and what our future will be. On Wednesday, Cabinet touched on the Population White Paper. We didn't get many details on Thursday, and don't forget, there's a census happening soon. But still, there are some big facts we can examine. By STEPHEN GROOTES. There is a common misperception that countries at our stage of what we shall for argument's sake refer to as "development" are destined to have ever-increasing populations. It is assumed that no matter what happens, more and more people will have more and more children. It's your standard Malthusian nightmare: that we will not have enough resources in the future. The good reverend
Thomas Malthus was writing in 1798 when he made his prediction that overpopulation would literally kill us all. The latest figures show South Africa is no different to the rest of the world in proving his prediction wrong. Our growth in population is beginning to slow. Between 1996 and 2001, our population Photo: REUTERS
friDAY - 23 september 2011
planet grootes
... the number of people who are seen as natural supporters of say, the ANC Youth League, is about to peak – and will drop fairly quickly once it does. grew at the pretty fast clip of 2.1% a year, before slowing to 1.3% between 2001 and 2007. It's now likely to slow further, to just 0.9% annually between now and 2014. That's a big drop. What this tells us (apart from the fact that we are now in the mature stage of the Aids pandemic) is that our population is becoming more middle class. As the proportion of the population that enters the middle class grows in a country, so its population growth slows. That we all know. Our population, currently hovering around the 50 million mark, will still grow. The people who are children now are still likely to have several siblings, rather than just one. So the peak will come when these families have two or three children. Then the number will come down quite quickly, as people put their resources into things other than having more children. What seems to be a golden rule of demography is that, usually, women who have access to birth control use it. Then we have the other fact dropped before us. The population bulge that has led to there
sa demographics
being a larger than usual number of people between 15-ish and 32-ish is coming to an end. That means that we will have a sort of dividend, a high number of people in their productive prime, and a lower than usual number receiving pensions or nappies. There is, of course, a political dimension to all of this. These numbers appear to indicate that the number of people who are seen as natural supporters of say, the ANC Youth League, is about to peak – and will drop fairly quickly once it does. Those same people who are currently pushing for "radical policy change" are themselves going to start having children pretty soon. Having a baby often changes one's priorities. That hasn't always been the case here – if you look at the numbers of single parent households, that much is obvious. But still, there should be an impact over time. To sum it up, our political balance is currently overly tipped towards the young. You didn't notice? It is, over time, going to push back a bit, towards the more middle-aged. Because so many of our voting patterns are centered around race, it's useful to take a look at racial demographics there. Forget, for a moment, the usual arguments about what defines what etc. and let just look at what seems to be a really important fact. In the 1904 census of the then four colonies that came to make up South Africa, black people made up just under 68% of the population. Now that figure is heading past the 80% mark. As a footnote, whites back then made up around a quarter of the population, compared to just over 4.5% today. So overall, the majority is becoming much more the
friDAY - 23 september 2011
planet grootes
sa demographics
For one, it would appear to give the ANC, or whichever party claimed hegemony on black voters, reason to be even more confident going into the future. The opposite would appear to hold for the DA. majority, and the minorities are becoming much more in the minority over time. Yes, that means that minority voices are becoming less in number. That has all sorts of implications. For one, it would appear to give the ANC, or whichever party claimed hegemony on black voters, reason to be even more confident going into the future. The opposite would appear to hold for the DA. It would seem that the opposition would become even smaller going forward. But that's not how it will actually turn. Because at the same time as the majority is growing, so too is that other process of becoming more middle class is continuing – and hopefully getting stronger. This means that the politics of the majority, if we can call it that, is changing. What we should see is that the majority starts to be less of a monolithic bloc, politically speaking, and more fragmented. In other words, there will be distinct groups within the majority, in a process that is already underway, but hasn't yet finished. I'm not talking language or that kind of thing, I'm talking about class. Class stratification is perhaps the most important thing that needs to happen in our society. It will lead to differing viewpoints, differing priorities and differing needs. This
will feed into a vibrant conversation that has nothing to do with race or identity. Rather, it will have more to do with something even more fundamentally unequal and important. Money. As Patrice Motsepe said on Wednesday, we are going to see huge changes in this economy. And part of that will be the creation of black owned businesses. With a bit of luck, the difference will be that those black business owners won't be the more political animals that we've seen of late. Rather, they will be capitalist first and foremost. And making money will be what drives them, rather than any political agenda. That class will have interests hugely different to the interests of their workers, and of the unemployed. Up until now, the ANC has always said it is a multi-class multiracial party. That much is true. But it's also evident that its bias towards the "African in particular" is becoming more pronounced. As things progress, it would appear that the struggle to remain both of these things is going to be much harder. And that will lead to more political dynamism. Or, to put it another way, when Gwede Mantashe starts to claim that his job has become even harder, he will have demography to blame.
friDAY - 23 september 2011
south africa
DASO
One small step for Daso, one young leap for the DA The Democratic Alliance considers a win by its student organisation at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University as the first step to a victory for the party in the metro of the same name, and is encouraged by the shift in the demographics of its support. CARIEN DU PLESSIS reports. All week the DA has been gushing about the SRC campaign of its student organisation, Daso, more or less a newcomer on the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) campus. Late on Wednesday night, the news came through: the organisation took over control of the council, unseating Sasco which had been in control for eight years, with a slim but not unconvincing majority.
Daso got 1,637 of the votes, the ANC Youth League-aligned Sasco got 1,422 and the Azapoaligned Azasco had 224 of the votes cast by the students. Traditionally the polling percentage on campus is small – around 12 to 16% – Daso campus leader Yusuf Cassim said, but what is Photo: REUTERS
friDAY - 23 september 2011
south africa
daso
Their issues range from bursaries, loans, access to accommodation, and in general getting support to up pass rates. Currently only half of the students who register for studies walk away with a degree from the university, Cassim said.
significant about these votes is that they are mostly cast by black students. “The majority of students who vote are black, because the majority of students who have needs that they need help with are black students from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. “The SRC elections are more significant to these students,” he said. Their issues range from bursaries, loans, access to accommodation, and in general getting support to up pass rates. Currently only half of the students who register for studies walk away with a degree from the university, Cassim said. “Many of these issues had not been championed for years. This shows a huge shift in the youth towards the DA. The significance is in the change in mindset amongst students, because they are not so much interested in the politics of the past, around which Sasco has been campaigning. In Daso we are not saying forget the past, we acknowledge it, but it’s important to vote for an organisation of the future,” he said. Asked whether a like or dislike of ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema played a role in the
elections, Cassim said it was unlikely. Malema had, however, gone to the university in previous years to campaign, and he was received reasonably enthusiastically, but of late some of the ANC-aligned youth leaders in the metro have been opposing him. Sasco is also not equally supportive of the League on all campuses, but an attempt to speak to the leader of this organisation on campus, Hlumelo Ncopo, failed as he was about to go into a meeting. What is significant about the NMMU is that it is in the metro of the same name – the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro (Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch), an area that the ANC has to hang onto as a matter of pride, at least – and that it is in the Eastern Cape, a province seen as at the heart of ANC politics, or at least the Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela version of this politics. The DA has been eyeing the metro since at least 2009, when the emergence of Cope following the ousting of Mbeki (this week it’s been exactly three years) meant that the ANC lost a significant number of disgruntled votes in
friDAY - 23 september 2011
south africa
... The bad governance by the ANC in the Eastern Cape in general meant that people were becoming disillusioned with the ruling party, and that’s why the DA believed it had a strong chance to grow. the province. In fact, it only mustered just over 50% of the votes here, with the rest going to opposition parties.For the first time a victory in this metro looked possible. In this year’s local government elections, the DA got just over 40% of the votes, following a full-on elections campaign by the ANC, which roped in Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi to give its campaign some credence. DA leader in the legislature and Port Elizabeth resident Bobby Stevenson said Daso’s victory this week boded well for the party’s future in the metro and the province. “In Cape Town, the DA won at the University of Cape Town first before it took the city,” he
daso
said. “South Africans across the board are looking for an alternative.” He said the DA, also in the Eastern Cape, put a lot of effort into recruiting possible young leaders and ensuring that “a new generation of young, dynamic leaders emerges that will take this party forward”. He said the DA estimated that at least half of the black people who voted for the party were young people under 30. Stevenson said the bad governance by the ANC in the Eastern Cape in general meant that people were becoming disillusioned with the ruling party, and that’s why the DA believed it had a strong chance to grow. The party on Thursday said through its national spokeswoman Lindiwe Mazibuko that Daso’s win “points to a significant and continuing shift in campus politics, in which students have grown tired of Sasco’s bully politics and are choosing Daso, which has become synonymous with clean and efficient SRC government”. She said although student politics, where a term is only a year long (and not five years as in local or national and provincial government), changed “dramatically from year to year, the exponential growth of Daso at a number of key campuses around South Africa in a few short years points to a significant consolidation of our support from young South Africans.” The party’s student branch also did well at the recent SRC elections at Rhodes University in nearby Grahamstown, where it won four seats (the only political organisation with enough votes to be represented on the SRC) and at Wits in Johannesburg its voter support grew by 573%.
friDAY - 23 september 2011
AFRICA
friDAY – 23 september 2011
africa
briefs
Libya welcomes relations with China According to the Xinhua news agency, chairman of Libya’s National Transitional Council Mustafa Jalil voiced his aspirations to develop good relations with China. Jalil told this to Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. There has been speculation that relations between the two countries would be difficult following China’s non-support for the Nato-led intervention in Libya, and allegations that Chinese companies were trying to sell weapons to Gaddafi.
Mauritius finance minister arrested for fraud Pravind Jugnauth, Mauritius’s finance minister and son of President Anerood Jugnauth, was arrested in the capital Port Louis on Thursday on charges of fraud. The charges relate to the purchase of a private hospital, the price of which was inflated artificially. The country’s health minister was arrested in July on
Libya (Reuters)
fraud charges relating to the purchase, prompting Pravind Jugnauth and other six ministers from the Militant Socialist Movement to quit the coalition government in protest.
Sudan rebels deny losing support of key town The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, the rebel group battling government troops in the contested Blue Nile state, denied on Wednesday that it had lost control of the city of Dindidiro. According to Reuters, Sudanese army spokesman Colonel AlSawari Khalid had claimed that government troops had “liberated” the city. Sudan’s government has recently accused the South Sudan government of providing support to the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement, raising fears that the newly independent state could be drawn into the battles in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan.
Two killed in east Sudan protests Two people were killed in Sudan’s eastern region on Thursday in clashes with police who were dispersing a protest by the Bani Amer ethnic group. The police are reported to have used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd who were protesting a cattle removal from the day before. The Bani Amer is the dominant group in the east, and has accused the government of not developing the region. The country’s interior minister said in a statement that one policeman had been injured in the protest.
fridAY - 23 september 2011
africa
briefs
China and Tanzania sign $3 billion investment deal Chinese company Sichuan Hongda has signed a $3 billion resources-for-infrastructure investment deal with Tanzania, according to the African country’s state-run newspaper Daily News. The deal grants the Chinese company coal and iron ore mining rights in exchange for a 600 megawatt thermal power station. The deal is believed to be the biggest investment deal in east Africa, according to Reuters. The Chinese company will own 80% of the project and Tanzania’s state-owned National Development Corporation will own the balance.
Senegal’s President sues Sarkozy advisor for defamation Africa Review reported that President Abdoulaye Wade, his son and a senior minister have lodged a defamation lawsuit in a Senegalese court against
Abdoulaye Wade (Reuters)
Robert Bourgi, one of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s advisors. In an explosive 11 September interview, Bourgie, a Senegalese-born Lebanese lawyer, told France's Journal du Dimanche that Wade had offered him $10 million in dirty cash to fund former French President Jacques Chirac’s 2002 re-election bid. Bourgi named Burkina Faso’s Blaise Compaore, Congo’s Denis Sassou Nguesso, Gabon’s Omar Bongo and Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo as African leaders who would send cash through him to Chirac and ex-Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.
Supersport signs Uganda Rugby Union deal South African satellite TV
channel Supersport has signed a $750,000 three-year deal to televise Uganda Rugby Union games, according to reports. Expectations are that Uganda’s fledgling rugby league will increase in professionalism as a result of the interest and revenue generated from the broadcasts.
Ivory Coast’s opposition pulls out of electoral body Former President Laurent Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front has suspended its participation in the country’s Independent Electoral Commission, party secretary Laurent Akoun said in a statement. The party accused President Alassane Ouattara’s government of
fridAY - 23 september 2011
africa
briefs
been sold or leased on the African continent since 2001. The charity says that women and vulnerable communities in Uganda and South Sudan have been affected, and accused investors of engaging in a blinkered scramble for land by ignoring the needs for those who live and depend on the land.
Disturbing video of gang rape in Nigerian university dorm room put on the web Caption (Reuters)
refusing to engage on security and preparations for the December legislative elections.
Uganda author detained for five days by police for “incitement” Ugandan author Vincent Nzaramba alleges that he was arrested on Saturday, beaten and detained for five days by police for writing a book about President Yoweri Museveni. Police confirmed that they had interrogated him for incitement over his book, “People Power: Battle
the Mighty General”, which calls for a peaceful end to Museveni’s 25-year rule. Nzaramba says he was arrested without a warrant and that police had warned that they could kill him.
“Blinkered scramble” for land displacing vulnerable communities Oxfam has warned that land deals on the continent are displacing farmers and leaving poor communities landless. About 35 million hectares have
The head of Nigeria’s youth ministry has called on police to find and arrest the men shown in a grainy video gang raping a woman in a university dormitory room. The video has apparently been doing the rounds for weeks at Abia State University, and was recently posted on the internet. The woman pleads for the men to let her go and at times asks for them to kill her, according to reports. The men just laugh in response. Police say that no one has reported the incident, which is hardly surprising as rape is rarely reported in Nigeria because victims fear being blamed.
fridAY - 23 september 2011
africa
Eligibility challenge throws Liberia’s ‘vuvuzela politics’ into confusion Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf always promised she’d serve only one term – until she announced her plans for re-election. But the incumbent president, along with most of her major rivals, might not be allowed to run after all as serious questions about their eligibility are raised before the supreme court. By SIMON ALLISON.
Liberia
With elections in October, the Liberian election campaign – memorably described by one frustrated critic as “vuvuzela politics” (loud and full of hot air) – was in full swing. Until it wasn’t. The supreme court this week ordered a halt to all campaigning as it dealt with a case that could change the face of Liberian politics. On the surface, the issue is simple. The Liberian constitution contains a residency requirement, which states that all presidential candidates must have lived in the country for 10 years. This clause was recently confirmed in a referendum, where voters rejected the government’s proposal to halve the time period to five years. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia and running for a second term despite promising not to in her first campaign, does not meet these residency requirements. Neither does her main challenger, Winston Tubman, or four of the other presidential candidates. They’ve all spent time in exile during Liberia’s long unrest and civil war, returning only once Liberia’s new democratic dispensation had been established. If the court upholds the constitution rigidly, all six candidates will be prevented from running for office and political parties will have to find new leaders - and quickly. But the requirement has been waived before, in the 2005 elections, which Sirleaf-Johnson won. The rationale here was precisely to allow candidates who’d been out of the country during the fighting to participate. Johnson-Sirleaf and Tubman – with whom she finds herself agreeing for once - will be arguing that the 2005 waiver still holds firm for her political generation. Despite their initial ban on campaigning, the supreme court has permitted parties to continue their election preparations as it hears the case. A decision is expected on Friday or early next week.
Read more: Photo: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (REUTERS)
1. Liberia mulls Sirleaf’s poll eligibility on Reuters Africa 2. The 2011 Liberian elections and the advent of vuvuzela politics in Liberia’s Daily Observer
friDAY - 23 september 2011
africa
DRC’s Kabila caught out by his own campaign spin DRC President Joseph Kabila, on the campaign trail, learnt the hard way that you can’t make promises you’ve already failed to keep, after the country’s magistrates went on strike until they get the massive pay rise he claimed he gave them two years ago. By SIMON ALLISON.
DRC
Kabila is a consummate politician; he has to be to have successfully navigated his way through the sticky morass of Congolese politics. But he made a rookie error in the run-up to November’s presidential elections, in which he’s expected to cruise to victory against his divided (and divisive) opponents. In a campaign speech last week, boasting of his achievements while in office, he told the audience that under his administration “the salaries of magistrates have been increased from $704 in 2006 to $1,600 in 2009”. This came as news to the country’s magistrates, who aren’t earning anywhere near $1,600 a month. As they see it, there are two things that might be happening: either Kabila made up the salary rise statistic, or somebody’s been quietly pocketing the difference between the two figures. And if the latter is true, whoever’s guilty shouldn’t expect a fair trial from the DRC’s irate jurists, who are on strike until the matter is sorted out. “We have to trace the issue so as to denounce the mafia network which is supposed to take our money should he (sic) be the minister or the chair of the supreme magistracy. The mafia involved will be discovered and prosecuted.” Either way, it reflects poorly on Kabila. He might be lying, or he can’t even make sure his judges get paid properly, or he’s skimming off the top himself. Not exactly an encouraging sign from the man expected to lead one of Africa’s poorest countries for the next five years.
Read more: Photo: REUTERS
1. DRC magistrates still on strike as pay rise remains unclear on African Review
friDAY - 23 september 2011
africa
Ugandan writer released from jail accuses police of brutality Vincent Nzaramba was recently detained for five days over his book calling for an end to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's rule. Although he's now been released on bail, this was only after his jailers took the opportunity to beat him up. And with charges of incitement to violence likely to be brought against Nzaramba soon, his life isn't going to get any easier. By THERESA MALLINSON.
Photo: President Yoweri Museveni. (REUTERS)
uganda
Writer Vincent Nzaramba was arrested on Saturday by Uganda's rapid response unit, and denied access to his family or lawyers until Tuesday. His crime? That he's the author of a book called People Power – Battle the Mighty General, calling for President Yoweri Museveni to be ousted by non-violent action. The cover shows Museveni in full military regalia, and states underneath his picture “He is finished”. On Tuesday Nzaramba was finally allowed to speak to his wife. “I spoke to him today but he's badly beaten and he said he no longer feels safe at RRU and will not eat until they release him or take him to court,” she said. On Wednesday, he was released on bail, after a far-frompleasant stay in jail. “I was arrested without an arrest warrant, which is illegal, he told BBC Network Africa. “I was beaten up. I was flogged. They told me: 'Don't you know we can kill you?'” Despite his release, Nzaramba's troubles are far from over. Police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba told the Daily Monitor: “He has been given police bond as the director of public prosecution peruses the file”. Nzaramba faces potential charges of inciting violence, and he could be jailed for up to 14 years. “Every dictator fears this concept (peaceful resistance),” Nzaramba told the BBC. Sadly, as Nzaramba has personally experienced, that fear usually manifests itself as violence against detractors.
friDAY - 23 september 2011
WORLD
friDAY – 23 september 2011
world
briefs
IRAN The two American hikers freed from Iranian jail after two years in detention have been flown to Oman. There, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal enjoyed an emotional reunion with their families, including Bauer's fiancĂŠe Sarah Shourd, who was arrested with the two but freed last year. Shourd and Bauer became engaged in decidedly unromantic circumstances in prison. The two men made a statement describing themselves as "so happy" and "relieved", and also gave thanks for the role played by the Sultan of Oman in securing their release. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad was meanwhile gearing up to address the UN on Thursday, where he was hoping to allay fears back home that he is a "lame-duck" leader.
USA Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy both attempted to persuade Palestine to drop their bid for statehood at the UN in their addresses to the General Assembly on Wednesday, but took different tacks. Obama
Sarkozy and Obama on Palestinian statehood bid (Reuters)
is adamant that the only way to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine is via the resumption of direct talks. He did not explicitly call for Palestine to drop the bid, but it is known that the USA will veto the UN action if it comes to the table today. Sarkozy suggested Palestine seek an upgraded "observer state" status for now rather than full membership. The USA disagrees that this would be desirable. It will all come down to events at the General Assembly today.
telling the US that this action would damage US-Chinese military and security ties. The issue, of course, is that China considers Taiwan to be part of their territory that will eventually be brought back under the Chinese wing, and if this had to be achieved by force, they'd rather not have their island neighbours possessing a strong military. Washington says, however, that they are obliged by law to help Taiwan defend itself.
TAIWAN
It turns out that ex-Pakistani President Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed via the use of a Trojan horse. The horse in this case was a CD containing a "message of peace" from the Taliban which the attacker had sent to Rabbani to persuade
American Congress confirmed on Wednesday that it would upgrade Taiwan's fleet of F16 fighter jets. On Thursday China stepped up condemnation of this move,
PAKISTAN
fridAY - 23 september 2011
world
briefs
Yemen (Reuters)
him to meet with him. When Rabbani met with the messenger, he blew himself and the former president up using explosives concealed in his turban. President Harmid Karzai and senior officials heard the message in advance too, and were all duped into believing its authenticity. "It was a trick," Karzai told reporters on Thursday. Afghan intelligence says tthe plan must have taken months to develop.
news was broadcast by Libya TV, which has been taken over by the rebels. However, their story was backed up by the footage they screened of fighters raising the flag of the transitional government over the city. CNN also confirmed the news, saying the rebels met little opposition. Interestingly, some international media outlets have started referring to the rebels as "former rebels", now that the revolution is the status quo.
LIBYA
YEMEN
Supporters of the Libyan rebels were celebrating at the news that the rebels have captured the southern city of Sabha, a Gaddafi stronghold. Admittedly this
There are new clashes on the streets of the Yemeni capital Sanaa between pro-government forces and protestors. By late Thursday, reports suggested that at least ten people had
been killed, bringing to 80 the number of casualties since Sunday. The majority of those killed have been unarmed protestors. Schools, banks and businesses in Sanaa have now been shut, with a resident telling AFP: "The ghost of war looms over Sanaa".
GERMANY The Pope is travelling again. This time it's to his home country, in his first official visit as the Pontiff. Benedict XVI received a warm reception from German MPs, although some boycotted the event. The rest of his trip is unlikely to continue in this friendly spirit, though, with strong protests expected. The Pope is in Germany to attempt to plug
fridAY - 23 september 2011
world
briefs
French are getting serious over niqab ban. (Reuters)
the flood of German Catholics leaving the Church in protest at child abuse – 181,000 quit in 2010 alone. Speaking about the priest sex scandals in an interview just before his arrival, the Pope said: "The Church is a net of the Lord that pulls in good fish and bad fish". Yes. Unfortunately sometimes the good fish wilfully cover up the wrongdoings of the bad fish, Benedict.
GREECE Greece's title as most beleaguered country in Europe is not under any threat just yet. On Thursday, a 24-hour public transport strike kicked off to add to their woes. They were joined by taxi drivers, teachers and air traffic
controllers walking off the job. The industrial action was in response to the announcement of another round of spending cuts which include the suspension of 30,000 civil servants. You have to feel for Papandreou's government: they're under enormous pressure from the IMF to make the necessary cuts to qualify for aid, yet every time they try to do so the entire country grinds to an angry halt.
to explain his full judgement, but is expected to do so. The two women were arrested while carrying out a protest against Jean-Francois Cope, the head of the right-wing UMP party and the architect of the ban. The women's lawyer said that they would immediately appeal to the Supreme Court of France and escalate it to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.
FRANCE
LIBYA
France banned the niqab in April, but nobody has received a fine for donning the veil – until now. On Thursday a judge in Meaux fined two women 120 euro and 70 euro fines respectively. He has yet
Nato has extended their mission in Libya for at least 90 days, meaning that they could be in there until Christmas. Nato secretary-general Anders Rasmussen was at pains to stress, however, that the troops
fridAY - 23 september 2011
world
briefs
Hugo Chavez (Reuters)
could be called home at any time if Libya was deemed secure enough to stand on its own two feet. In a message to the Libyan people, he said: “we will be there for as long as necessary but not a day longer, while you take your future in your hands to ensure a safe transition to the new Libya". South Africa has criticised Nato's involvement in Libya but it is indisputable that their presence has assisted the rebels in gaining victory.
VENEZUELA President Hugo Chavez is in chipper mood, about to finish off a fourth round of chemotherapy in Cuba. Wednesday was said to be his last day in hospital in Havana. Chavez is missing the UN General Assembly because of
his health issues, but they're probably not missing him – he used the platform in 2006 to refer to George W. Bush as "the devil". Chavez was as upbeat as ever about his health prospects in an interview on Wednesday, but he tends on the side of exaggeration on this topic – mere weeks before his last round of chemo he said he was in "the best health of his life".
USA US stocks fell again on Thursday as a result of a bleak outlook from the Federal Reserve and continued concerns about Europe. The prospect of a second recession for the global economy is making everyone understandably edgy. News that China's manufacturing sector contracted for the third straight month in September
did nothing to ease anyone's worries, since we're talking about the world's secondbiggest economy.
UK The UK Ministry of Defence has said that it will pay compensation to the families of the 13 Irish protestors killed by British soldiers in Londonderry on 30 January 1972: the infamous “Bloody Sunday” massacre. The ministry says that it hopes to resolve the claims as quickly as possible, but it has not yet been announced exactly who will be compensated or how much they will receive. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown officially apologised for Bloody Sunday in June of last year, calling the shootings "unjustified and unjustifiable".
fridAY - 23 september 2011
world
iraq
To stay, or to go: Obama mulls his options in Iraq
As a presidential candidate, US President Obama vowed to remove all US service members from Iraq by 1 January 2012. With just three months left to fulfil that promise, there are still 45,000 American troops in Iraq today. By the end of September that figure should be down to 40,000. Obama is of course ready to hit the campaign trail again with an eye on a second term in the Oval Office, but his government is stalling on its promise of a full withdrawal. Obama is reportedly considering leaving about 3,000 American troops in Iraq after this year as a “training force” but if the Pentagon had its way, there would be 10,000 or more military personnel in Iraq beyond this year. By KHADIJA PATEL
In Washington as in Baghdad, politicians worry that Iraq's army and police, despite being propped up by billions of dollars in international aid, are unable to adequately protect the country. These politicians believe once the US leaves Iraq, violent sectarianism between the rival Muslim sects, the Sunni and Shia, will worsen and render the country ungovernable. Violence is of course a mainstay of Iraqi life even with the American troops in the country so the threat of worsening violence is well founded. Some commentators however argue that besides sectarian violence, America fears that the exodus of US troops will embolden Iran. Most Iraqi officials back a full withdrawal of American forces but those who remain more sympathetic to Washington pronounce fears of what may happen without the Americans – though not actually asking them to stay. Politicians from the autonomous Kurdish region have shown no such qualms. They have travelled to the US to meet with lawmakers and foreign policy professionals in an effort to persuade the Americans to stay. The Kurds argue that violence will likely increase after the American withdrawal, jeopardising their hard fought gains toward democracy and human rights.
Read more: Photo: REUTERS
1. Iraqi Leaders Urge U.S. Against Extending Troop Presence in The Atlantic 2. Iraqi budget crunch slowing US troops decision in Associated Press
friDAY - 23 september 2011
world
Chinese journalist killed probing oil scandal Here's a top tip: next time you're in China, you might want to consider not eating at a small restaurant. Want to know why? Because the oil they fry your food in may have been scooped out of a sewage drain. By REBECCA DAVIS.
china
This story reads a bit like an unpublished Stieg Larsson novel. A Chinese journalist investigating the issue of illegal cooking oil was this week found dead, stabbed at least 10 times, and his laptop was missing. Li Xiang, an employee of Luoyang Television, was on the trail of restaurants illegally recycling cooking oil. He had yet to make any report on it, but he had written about it on his personal blog. His last post reported how the food safety commission had failed to find any instances of outlets using the dodgy oil, despite the fact that at least 2 million tons of cooking oil are recycled illegally in China each year. The oil is known in China as "gutter oil", for reasons which are unfortunately self-explanatory: other than the sewage drains, the other source for it is the gutter. Oil peddlers scoop oil out of the ditches and then sell it on to small restaurants. Thirty-two people were recently arrested for peddling the oil, believed to be carcinogenic. Police in Henan, the region where Li lived and worked, on Wednesday claimed the murder was a straightforward case of robbery and unconnected to the reporter's investigation. They have arrested two suspects, one of whom was found to be in possession of Li's laptop. For robbery and murder, the suspects will likely receive the death sentence. The case appears to be closed now. But anyone who has ever read a detective novel may still harbour suspicions.
Read more: 1. China reporter killed after 'gutter' oil news, on Emirates 24/7
friDAY - 23 september 2011
world
Not even Twitter is safe for Mexicans You may have read about the horrific episode in Mexico this week, where drug gangs murdered 35 people and dumped their bodies under a busy overpass. Terrified motorists used Twitter to warn each other - but not even social networking sites are safe spaces for expression in Mexico. By REBECCA DAVIS.
Photo: REUTERS
mexico
Writing about the drug trade in Mexico is a project fraught with so much personal danger for journalists that they have largely abandoned any attempt. In September last year a newspaper in the heartland of the drug war, El Diario de Juarez, ran a front-page editorial asking drug cartels for guidance on whether they should publish stories on the drug war or not: a sign of the utter desperation of the media. With conventional media powerless, Mexicans have turned increasingly to Twitter and the blogosphere to give each other information about the drug conflict and, often, safety advice – as was the case this week. One of the blogs which aims to provide the facts that the media cannot is the Blog Del Narco, which says,“This project consists of two young people struggling objectively to publicise what really happens”. But two weeks ago the bodies of a young man and a young woman were hung from a bridge in the city of Nuevo Laredo, with a notice saying "This will happen to all the gossips on the Internet", and specifically mentioned El Blog del Narco. They had clearly been tortured before being murdered. But violence from the drug gangs isn’t the only threat users of social media face in Mexico. Two people were recently arrested in Veracruz for falsely saying on Twitter that children were being kidnapped from local schools. The two will be charged with "disrupting public order" and may face up to 30 years in jail.
Read more: 1. Be careful what you Tweet, in The Economist
friDAY - 23 september 2011
world
palestine
Palestinian statehood bid reveals old cracks between Hamas and Fatah When Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the United Nations on Friday, he will make a history by applying to the United Nations for membership of a Palestinian state. Abbas is a wily operator who is said to have been driven to the UN by sheer pragmatism and not romantic vision. Abbas has already shaken the ideological paradigm that has governed peace efforts in recent times, but he faces stiff competition. Not alone is Israel and the United States virulently opposed to the PA’s grandstanding in New York, Hamas, is also not in favour of the bid. KHADIJA PATEL finds out why Hamas is offended by the PA’s statehood bid. In April this year, rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a landmark, Egyptian-mediated reconciliation pact aimed at ending their bitter four-year rift. At the time, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the accord ends "four black years" that hurt national Palestinian interests. He also said at the ceremony that he would soon visit
the Hamas-held Gaza Strip. According to the agreement, both parties had agreed to form a joint caretaker Palestinian government before participating in national elections next year. The interests of the Palestinian people instead of the egos of their rulers seemed to Photo: Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (R) speaks with President Mahmoud Abbas (L) during their meeting in Cairo May 4, 2011 REUTERS
friDAY - 23 september 2011
world
One of the greatest criticisms of the statehood bid is that it does not truly represent the will of the Palestinian people.
have been finally placed back at the centre of Palestinian politics, but some sceptics doubted the credibility of the agreement, predicting that it would not last long enough to see elections being held next year. When iMaverick spoke to Dr Mustafa Barghouti, a prominent Palestinian activist and politician during his trip to South Africa in August, he was put off by a question about the credibility of the reconciliation agreement. “I was a mediator between them and I can assure you that the agreement that was reached was a good one,” he said. Without revealing who exactly hindered peace between Hamas and Fatah, Barghouti implied that it served the interests of Israel to have rival Palestinian factions squabbling. “Of course there are lots of external interventions that are preventing the implementation of that agreement. Many Palestinians sides are pressured from outside
palestine
not to fulfil the agreement,” he said. Israel, in response to the agreement, denounced the plan for Fatah to join forces with Hamas. Hamas is considered a terrorist entity by Israel, the US and the European Union for the group's history of attacks against Israeli targets. When Fatah shook hands with Hamas, Israel believed Abbas had renounced any efforts towards making peace with Israel. And yet the agreement was made. “People demanded it,” Barghouti said. “It was possible to sign it because there was a kind of popular uprising in Palestine demanding unity and threatening both parties that their popularity will be affected if the division continues,” he went on to explain, “Today, it is an objective need that we have a unified Palestinian leadership.” Just weeks later, on the eve of one of a historical moment for the Palestinian people at the United Nations, its leadership is once more divided. Hamas complains that it was not consulted by Fatah before the PA made the overture to the international community to recognise a Palestinian state. Quoted by The New York Times in an address to the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ismail Haniya, the Hamas Prime Minister, said that Hamas would not stand in the way of President Mahmoud Abbas, but added that Hamas opposed the recognition of a state by the UN that required a Palestinian recognition of Israel. “We support establishing a Palestinian state on any part of Palestinian land without giving up an inch of Palestine or recognising Israel,” he said. The Syrian branch of Hamas led by Khaled Meshal issued a statement objecting to the United Nations move, saying the application
friDAY - 23 september 2011
world
was an extension of Fatah’s “path of compromise and insisting on dialogue while distancing itself from resistance and holding strong cards. We affirm our deep conviction that resistance is the main path that must be pursued together with political and public struggle”. Mohammed Awad, the foreign minister in the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip speaking to Euronews on Wednesday further clarified the Hamas position. “Firstly I’d like to point out that it’s not a refusal, rather the clarification of a position. It’s the lot of the Palestinian people that’s being played with here. We’re demanding that Palestine is a full member of the UN, and that also includes the position of the PLO and internal reconciliation. They are issues of the utmost importance for us and are central to the Palestinian cause. So to make a decision like that or take such a stance, you have to reassure yourself that all those questions have been taken into account,” he said. Awad went on to stress that the bid before the UN to gain recognition for the PA and thus contain recognition for just those Palestinian people living within Gaza and the occupied territories and not Palestinian refugees. “You have to be sure that demanding recognition of a state at the UN will guarantee the rights of the Palestinian people. At that point we could support such a move. But we refuse to go the UN knowing we’ve got no alternative and ignoring what will happen afterwards if there’s a refusal, and the consequences of such a refusal,” he said. One of the greatest criticisms of the statehood bid is that it does not truly represent the will of the Palestinian people. Commentators argue that the PA under
palestine
Abbas has lost touch with the sentiments of the Palestinian people and has been caught in the bright lights of Western approbation. Even proponents of the statehood bid like Dr Barghouti concede that the PA as it currently stands does not represent the Palestinian people, and until it is reformed to include marginalised groups like Hamas, it will continue to falter in its representation of the Palestinian people. “We mediated and we will continue to do everything we can to have this agreement implanted because this is in the best interests of the Palestinian people,” Barghouti said. The Hamas foreign minister made a very succinct point in his interview with Euronews. He asked: “Why haven’t we taken a single step towards national unity first, and warned the Palestinian people about the different consequences of these moves, and THEN go to the UN? That way, we’d all be responsible and we’d avoid this fog which is hanging over this step.” Before Abbas can heed the call of Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu to direct negotiations with Israel, he will first have to face Hamas again. Until the Palestinian leadership speaks with one voice, peace will remain a prosaic construct in speeches at the United Nations General Assembly.
Read more: 1. Hamas in Gaza A proper state already in The Economist 2. Hamas quietly hoping for failure of UN bid: analysts in AFP 3. A Nervous Hamas Voices Its Issues With a Palestinian Bid for U.N. Membership in The New York Times
friDAY - 23 september 2011
world
saudi arabia
Ethically oily: Saudi Arabia sues NGO for calling it ‘repressive’ As if Saudi Arabia doesn’t have enough problems. The oil-ocracy now finds itself in an escalating international flap with an NGO called EthicalOil.org, which recently ran an ad on Canadian television deriding nasty Saudi crude, while lauding happy-go-lucky Canadian car juice as 100% oppression free. What is unfolding may be the dumbest bilateral contretemps fossil fuels have ever wrought. By RICHARD POPLAK. Sepia. Whenever an NGO runs a public service announcement in that muted, evocative hue, you know they’re serious. You’re about to see puppies dying, children with flies crawling on their eyeballs, mouths lousy with cold sores eating a final morsel of UN air-dropped rice. So it is with EthicalOil.org, an NGO devoted to telling consumers about their, um, oil
choices. It’s produced a sepia-tinted advert that paints Saudi Arabia’s sweet, sweet crude with the brush of female oppression, and reminds viewers that the gunk pulled from the Alberta Tar Sands is—to coin a term the NGO may want to adopt as its own—100% Freedom Oil. Photo: Saudi Arabia's royal family, an easily offended bunch. REUTERS
friDAY - 23 september 2011
world
saudi arabia
Enter the Saudi Arabians, who, for every barrel of oil they extract, a local woman is denied the right to drive an SUV at high speeds while simultaneously talking on the phone and applying her make-up. Like most NGO’s, EthicalOil’s messaging resembles a 19th century Victorian novel. First, craft a vivid setting—like Dickens’ London, or Thomas Hardy’s Wessex. In this case, it is the bucolic and oppression-free province of Alberta, a place so pristine that the oil it produces works as a sort of Botox on your car engine, an automotive fountain of youth. Then, populate that setting with a stew of villains. Enter the Saudi Arabians, who, for every barrel of oil they extract, a local woman is denied the right to drive an SUV at high speeds while simultaneously talking on the phone and applying her make-up. The PSA opens with the word “Fact” emblazoned over an oil barrel submerged in sand. “Last year,” a stentorian, computerenhanced female voice informs us, “North Americans bought over 400 million barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia.” Helpfully, we are shown a map of Saudi Arabia, which we learn is nestled between Egypt, Bahrain and a place called, mysteriously, Kuw. “We bankrolled a state that doesn’t allow women to drive,” insists the narrator, warming to her theme, while we see a figure in what look to be Jedi robes looking out over what might be Tatooine. “Five Saudi women drivers arrested!” screams a superimposed headline,
courtesy of Associated Press. (In Ethical Oil’s eyes, the one universal and inviolable human right is the right to operate a vehicle. You got it wrong, John Locke!) Now things get racy. A vaguely Mediterranean-looking gal wrapped in a headscarf appears on the screen, her comehither eyes detracting from the fact that she isn’t wearing a hijab, a niqab or any other Islamapproved clobber, but rather something the wardrobe department divined from looking at images of the 2003 Paris Fashion Week. “[The regime] doesn’t allow them to work, or leave their homes without their mail guardians’ permission,” moans the narrator. Then follows the pièce de résistance—an image the Marquis d’Sade couldn’t have framed better, one that probably has S&M enthusiasts lining up at the travel agent booking flights to Riyadh: The same model, her eyes closed in what can only be the throes of ecstasy, mouth tightly shut with an emphatic masking-taped X. Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me? And while the PSA can’t recover from this image, the ad races on until we are reminded of the alternative: A shot of green, lake-riddled Alberta. “Today there is a better way,” the now cheerful narrator tells us. “Ethical oil, from Alberta’s oil sands. A choice we have to make.”
friDAY - 23 september 2011
world
saudi arabia
Saudi Arabia, without seeming to try too hard, always makes it onto the annual Best of The Worst Theocracies List.
Indeed, it is a choice the Saudi Arabians have made, and their choice appears to be “no thanks”. Duly offended and determined to fight for their rights against this unimaginable slander, the Saudis have retained the law firm Norton Rose, which sent out cease and desist letters to Canadian broadcasters. This has perked up politicians after a summer of torpor, who in turn told the Saudi’s to mind their own business and stop trampling on freedom of speech, which isn’t such an idle threat if you look at Canada’s recent record. Because here’s a little secret about Canada: The “true north strong and free,” as the national anthem puts it, is a bastion of right wing ideologues hiding behind pine trees, waiting for the right moment to lace Libya or some other developing-world backwater with Natoapproved smart bombs. Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes Rick Perry look like a Nancy-boy liberal from the East Village, while the mayor of the country’s largest city, His Honourable Worship Rob Ford, makes the Tea Party look
like a bunch of spendthrift pinkos. (Recently, the left-wing leader of the opposition perished of cancer and every Canadian who lived in or near a gay village wrote messages in chalk on the ground, and cried on television. The rest of the country went on driving their pick-up trucks and shooting possums.) And Alberta? Alberta, according to the laws of relativity, can’t have a right wing because it doesn’t have a left wing. Let’s just call it big-C for Conservative, and leave it at that. So Saudi Arabia better watch its step. And while the thought of Canadian-flown American fighter jets battling Saudi-flown American fighter jets over Montreal or Jeddah is genuinely appealing, it’s probably unlikely. What’s less unlikely is that this will develop into a proper diplomatic row, given that the ruling Tories have zero tolerance for countries that don’t have Evangelical Christians or Nicolas Sarkozy running the show. But back to EthicalOil.org. Saudi Arabia, without seeming to try too hard, always makes it onto the annual Best of The Worst Theocracies List. This year, what with shoring up their cousins in Bahrain and continuing to be the de facto sponsor of international terrorism while fighting international terrorism, they may be right at the top. The West’s obsessive focus on the regime’s repression of women implies that life for men in Saudi Arabia is one long visit to the harem, but it isn’t— having been there myself, I’d argue that it’s one of the most depressing, wretched places on Earth, regardless of the equipment you’re sporting under your dish-dash. Which doesn’t mean that EthicalOil has a point, mostly because there is no way of giving
friDAY - 23 september 2011
world
saudi arabia
EthicalOil.org smacks of a diversionary technique. Bash the Saudis, and let’s conveniently lay aside those YouTube videos of rabbits drowning in rivers of sludge. Women’s rights or bunnies your choice, pal.
consumers a choice at the pumps. “No Saudi for me, please chief,” is a nonsensical statement, because oil isn’t like food—you don’t know where it comes from, there’s no information on the packaging and there never will be. EthicalOil knows this, of course, and one comes to think that it may be rather sneakier than we give it credit for. The Alberta Tar Sands, a mainstay of the Canadian economy and a huge driver of employment, is nonetheless an environmental and social disaster. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline, from the Sands all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, would slice through some rather picturesque landscapes, summarily destroying the habitat of endangered foxes and farmers alike. The Tar Sands are an accident of history—a scheme dreamed up in the 1970s when oil cost $8 a barrel, to distract Albertans from the fact that they weren’t Texans. The caper was denounced as technologically untenable and ridiculously costly. Now, when oil routinely hovers around $80 a jug, the Tar Sands are the biggest game in town. That they have hardly been a boon to certain native
groups, certain rivers and certain members of the wildlife community are facts routinely touted by celebrities too afraid to go to Darfur. EthicalOil.org smacks of a diversionary technique. Bash the Saudis, and let’s conveniently lay aside those YouTube videos of rabbits drowning in rivers of sludge. Women’s rights or bunnies—your choice, pal. Thing is, it isn’t a choice. Or rather, the choice comes down to this: We either all make like Saudi women and get out from behind the wheel, or we will continue to fund brutal theocracies and environmental disasters alike. The two things aren’t necessarily morally equivalent, but it’s a bracing reminder that there is no good way to get oil. As for the Saudi’s, I look forward to their counter campaign. Let’s see some shots of those drowning bunnies. In sepia, of course.
Read more: 1. “Saudis ripped for trying to block pro-oil sands ad” in the National Post 2. Watch Mark Ruffalo make a case for the environment on YouTube
friDAY - 23 september 2011
BUSINESS
friDAY – 23 september 2011
business
briefs
Heading The JSE ALL Share Index fell in line with most world markets, shedding 3.2% to close at 30,323. Luxury goods retailer, Richemont led the losers, down 6%, followed by paper company Mondi and clothing retail companies. Miners also suffered heavy losses as most industries suffered as weak Chinese data sparked renewed fears of a global recession. The single day fall was the biggest in 16 months. The rand suffered its biggest five-day plunge since 2008, as commodities retreated and emerging market currencies and stocks lost out to more developed market assets. The rand fell 4.6% to touch R8.27 to the dollar. The Reserve Bank kept interest rates unchanged at its 30year low of 5.5% in efforts to assist economic growth. South African retail sales accelerated 2.8% in July boosted by low interest rates, but this data did nothing to help the sector in Thursday’s trading. SABMiller CEO, Graham Mackay, managed to buy out
ZAR plummets against the US Dollar (Reuters)
the largest Australian brewer without so much as a visit to the country. Mackay met his Aussie counterpart at a conference in Istanbul during negotiations that eventually turned hostile, although Mackay was confident a deal was never far off. The initial offer of AUD $4.90 per share was finally accepted at AUD $5.10, for the maker of Fosters and Victoria Bitter beers.
UK The FTSE 100 index fell 4.7% to 5,041 as markets across the globe choked on poor data out of China, a bearish statement by the US Federal Reserve and Moody’s downgrade of three US Banks. The world’s largest manufacturer of computer mice, plunged 12% after cutting forecasts for the second time in two months.
Rio Tinto, the world’s second largest miner, fell 10% as copper prices fell for the fifth straight day. Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, moved a step closer to joining US counterpart, Ben Bernanke, in stimulating the economy through a programme of quantitative easing. The BOE is set to purchase £50 billion of assets in November as the central banks focus less on inflationary pressures as they fight to avoid a slide back into recession. British two-year bond yields fell to record levels as the negative statements by the US Federal Reserve saw investors climb into Treasury assets and flee the riskier equity asset class. The pound weakened to its lowest level in a year versus the dollar.
fridAY - 23 september 2011
business
briefs
collapse than ever before. BOA shares were down 4.5% on the downgrade, exacerbated by other bad news.
Meg Whitman (Reuters)
Europe Stocks across the continent suffered big losses as the world markets reacted badly to even worse news. Greek officials said they would accelerate budget cuts, this time targeting civil servant wages and public pensions, in efforts to avoid default. In order to receive its next bailout payment, deficit reduction targets of 110 billion euros need to be achieved. US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, said Europe would need to “act with more force” if it wishes to resolve the current debt crisis. Geithner was speaking as finance ministers and central bankers gathered in Washington for IMF and World Bank annual meetings. Rogue UBS trader, Kweku Adoboli, has been charged with fraud and false
accounting that may have resulted in a $2.3 billion loss at the Swiss investment bank. The 31-year-old Ghanian didn’t apply for bail, although he did say he was “sorry beyond words” for what had happened.
PC manufacturer, HewlettPackard is about to unveil former eBay CEO, Meg Whitman, as it’s new chief executive. Leo Apotheker lasted just 11 months in the role and he was ousted on Thursday. Rumours abound whether the appointment of Whitman would be an interim measure or a permanent replacement for Apotheker.
Service and manufacturing output in Europe fell for the first time in two years as the worsening economy of the region pushed it closer to recession. A composite index, based on purchasing managers survey, fell below 50, indicating contraction, for the first time since July 2009.
The Chicago Board Option Volatility Index, or VIX, rose for a fourth day in its longest streak since July. The index serves as benchmark for US stock options and gauges volatility of derivative equity instruments. European equivalent indices also rose as global recession fears gripped markets.
US
US commercial real estate prices rose for a third straight month in July, as deals for smaller properties led to a surprising rebound in the flagging economy. The Moody’s/Real Index surged 5% from June, and sits 13% higher than the lows of April this year.
Moody’s, the rating agency, downgraded the credit of Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citibank. The downgrade was a result of Moody’s perception that the US government is more likely to let banks
fridAY - 23 september 2011
business
Twitter acquires social analytics firm Julpan The talk has been of Twitter being bought out by a company like Google. But Twitter still has an appetite for growth, as displayed by its purchase of social analytics company Julpan. By SIPHO HLONGWANE
Photo: Twitter's Founder and CEO Dick Costolo (REUTERS)
“I am very proud to announce that Julpan has been acquired by Twitter,” wrote Ori Allon, the former founder and CEO of Julpan, on the company blog. “We founded Julpan more than a year ago. In that time we've created innovative, early-alphastage search technology that analyses social activity across the web to deliver fresh and relevant content to users.” For his sins, Allon is now a director of engineering at Twitter. The amounts that changed hands is not known. In 2006, Allon sold Orion, a search algorithm, to Google, and went on to join the company (Orion is still an important part of Google’s search engine). Last year, he left it to start Julpan, a company that focused on analysing information pouring into social networks. Twitter’s acquisition of Julpan is a necessary step in helping the company keep tabs on what is being said on the social network, with a possible view to sell this knowledge to advertisers. “We acquired them because Ori Allon and his talented team have taken social search to an entirely new level. This will quickly enhance our ongoing efforts to surface more relevant content to users in real time," Twitter spokesman Lynn Fox said.
Read more: 1. Twitter buys social analytics firm Julpan in PC World 2. Twitter acquires Julpan in TechCentral
friDAY - 23 september 2011
business
Google squares with Senate on antitrust complaints Hoo-boy. Here we go. Google has been dragged before a Senate committee to explain why it shouldn’t be treated as an unfair bully in the online playground. Google chairman Eric Schmidt went out to bat for Google and stressed that they weren’t like evil Microsoft at all. By SIPHO HLONGWANE
google vs US SENATE
Is Google squeezing its competitor products out of search results, or do those results happen to be a reflection of the best available information online? That is the nub of the question that Google chairman and former CEO Erich Schmidt had to answer when he faced a Senate antitrust panel on Wednesday. The panel was convened following a complaint by Google’s competitors, who said that the company was pushing its own products up in online search results. Google’s rebuttal, as the New York Times put it, was that they are “zealously dedicated to helping people find the most useful information on the Internet, and Google’s prosperity and the economic opportunity it has created for many thousands of American businesses all flow from that high-minded mission”. Senator Herb Kohl (WI, D), chairman of the Judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee, asked Schmidt whether it was possible for Google to be unbiased as a search engine, while still holding onto a vast portfolio of web products and services. In his riposte, Schmidt repeatedly pointed to Microsoft, and said that they had learned the lessons offered by their rival’s antitrust battles. “We get it,” Schmidt said. “We get the lessons of our predecessors.” We’re still a long way away from a giant lawsuit against Google, but it looks increasingly likely that some form of antitrust litigation will take place, either in the States or in Europe.
Read more: 1. Google’s competitors square off against its leader in New York Times 2. Google chief to defend search service as criticism mounts in Wall Street Journal
friDAY - 23 september 2011
business
woA/Mxit
MXit says bye to Heunis, hi to Knott-Craig It’s the end of an era as “Mr MXit” Herman Heunis takes a sabbatical from what has been Africa’s fastest growing mobile social network. World of Avatar’s Alan Knott-Craig comes in as CEO and brings in a new COO, but apart from that everything at MXit remains as is. By MANDY DE WAAL. World of Avatar, the investment vehicle founded by Alan Knott-Craig, has acquired MXit from Naspers and former MXit creator Herman Heunis for an undisclosed sum. “We bought MXit because it is the biggest digital community in Africa, and as far as we are concerned it has the best chance of success for any social network here,” said Knott-Craig who has been eyeing MXit for five years. Previously Heunis and the former head of iBurst couldn’t agree on price, but this year’s different. “About eight months ago I called him
out of the blue and we had a cup of coffee. One thing led to another and here we are.” MXit has more than 43 million registered user accounts in 120 countries. Some 250 million messages are sent every day. The growth volumes at MXit were unprecedented after its release in 2003 as part of the communications platform for a mobile multiplayer game. MXit revenues are derived from content and advertising sales. Photo: Alan Knott-Craig.
friDAY - 23 september 2011
business
MXit has more than 43 million registered user accounts in 120 countries. Some 250 million messages are sent every day. Knott-Craig said the MXit founder’s departure was a valid concern, but that a new chief operating officer and the existing team were well placed to stabilise and consolidate the business. “Herman knows the business inside out, but the reality is he has worked very hard on this for the past 15 years. He is tired and he needs a holiday. He is completely disengaging, but we feel he took the business to a point where it is a real business. It is not just one of those one-man operations where if the founder leaves it is all over.” “Creating and building MXit has been an enormously interesting journey for me, and I have had a lot of fun, but it is time to inject new energy into the company, and I believe Alan and his team will do a superb job,” Heunis said. Heunis will be taking a six month sabbatical before deciding what next to do with his life. The mobile social network has a current team of 138 which will be supplemented by Knott-Craig and David Weber, the new COO. Weber was the founder of systems and software company Stone Three before becoming a partner at private equity company, Acorn Group. The former academic describes himself
woA/Mxit
as “one of those weird engineers who believes technology isn’t the goal, rather, the goal is adding value for humanity.” Weber is respected for his ability to both innovate and manage innovation cycles to completion. Knott-Craig said market speculation that the price of MXit had been set at R500 million was unfounded. “This is a rumour, and unfortunately the sale agreement is confidential so we cannot comment on the price.” In terms of the sale World of Avatar will acquire 90% of MXit while the remaining 10% will be housed in a staff trust. MXit’s sale to World of Avatar is subject to conditions. Knott-Craig says big changes aren’t on the card for MXit. “We want to ensure the ship is stable, although we do want to consolidate a couple of things. MXit is a community of people and if you stuff around with the engine you will upset that community and it is not something we want to do. We have some plans for the future, but I don’t want to elaborate now.” MXit is the latest in a series of acquisitions by World of Avatar which has a suite of investments focused on mobile applications that, as KnottCraig says, “helps Africans make money and build community over their mobile phones.” There are no immediate changes to the service or terms of use. Knott-Craig says the MXit service will continue to operate as it did before. Editor’s disclosure: Alan Knott-Craig and World of Avatar are invested in Daily Maverick and iMaverick.
Read more: 1. Alan Knott-Craig buys MXit, Naspers exits at TechCentral 2. MXit CEO Heunis steps down on News24
friDAY - 23 september 2011
business
nouriel roubini
The Gospel of Storm, according to Nouriel Roubini Maybe Gustav Mahler’s self-description as “three times homeless: a Bohemian amongst Austrians, an Austrian amongst Germans, and a Jew throughout the world” gives a clue to the mind of Nouriel Roubini. And background to the man dubbed “Dr Doom” for his prediction of the near-collapse of the world financial system, is even more complicated. By J BROOKS SPECTOR. Born in Istanbul of Iranian-Jewish parents, Roubini grew up in Italy, went to university there and then on to Harvard where his mentor was Jeffery Sachs. He is now one of the stars at the Stern School of Business at New York University and the head of his own influential consultancy, Roubini Global Economics. Perhaps the world-weariness of such a life’s journey could predict a predisposition towards sorrow and thus the apocalyptic warnings that have come from Roubini. Alternatively, though, maybe this journey has given Roubini a global
perspective that transcends a narrower view. Either way, one might imagine Dr Doom living in a gothic-like aerie – lit by candlelight observing the foibles of humankind from afar, rather than his loft in New York City’s ultratrendy Tribeca neighbourhood. This is where his other moniker, “The Playboy Economist,” seems to originate. New York Magazine quoted Roubini saying,“An economist is someone who knows 1,001 sexual positions, but doesn't have a Photo: Nouriel Roubini. (Reuters)
friDAY - 23 september 2011
business
“Exacerbated by a draconian fiscal austerity, its public debt is heading towards 200% of gross domestic product. To escape, Greece must now begin an orderly default, voluntarily exit the euro zone and return to the drachma.” girlfriend.” But the magazine went on to observe “judging by the company kept throughout the night [at a charity event], we never saw him without a drink in hand, and at least two girls on his arm — this was false modesty.” This is also the same economist Foreign Policy put at number four on its list of the top 100 global thinkers. Roubini himself acknowledged “The recession has been great for me.” And as for that eye candy, Roubini, said, “They love my beautiful mind. I am ugly, but they're attracted to the brains. I'm a rock star among geeks, wonks, and nerds.” A day before arriving in South Africa for the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit, where he joined Brazilian entrepreneur Ricardo Semler, South African banker Maria Ramos, behavioural economist Dan Ariely, Graça Machel, Wired editor Chris Anderson, local education innovator Taddy Blecher and Al Gore, Roubini had written on about the eurozone crisis for the Financial Times. He had called for decisive action to break the logjam: Greece should default and give up on the euro as its currency as the way out of its downward spiral, low competitiveness and its
nouriel roubini
gathering economic depression. He wrote “Exacerbated by a draconian fiscal austerity, its public debt is heading towards 200% of gross domestic product. To escape, Greece must now begin an orderly default, voluntarily exit the euro zone and return to the drachma.” Roubini has been busy burnishing that Dr. Doom reputation. In his Johannesburg session, Roubini did offer one modest upbeat note. While there would be real pain if – or when - a second recession in the developed world occurs, emerging market nations like South Africa may be able to avoid a fully fledged slump themselves. But just in case anybody in the audience was beginning to feel slightly better, Roubini added. “These shocks are going to keep on occurring. Thinking the problems of the eurozone are going to go away is delusional…. The risk is actually that there is going be deceleration and the beginning of an economic contraction.” Roubini noted that as the eurozone crisis has spread to French banks, as well as some of the other PIGS, such as Spain and Italy – these countries are thought to be too big to be allowed to fail – but they may also be too big to bail out. And if that was not bad enough, economic and financial policy makers in the US and eurozone countries are running out of tools to promote stimulus. As if to underscore Roubini’s argument, the US Federal Reserve Bank that same day decided to use one of its last available tools - Operation Twist. In this, the Fed will be buying $400 billion of long-term Treasury Bonds and then sell shortterm bonds in the same total amount. Selling these short-term bonds should cause the price of that debt to fall, and to drive up their interest rates.
friDAY - 23 september 2011
business
Roubini did see some positives for the global economy. Firstly, there is the rise of the emerging market economies. In the next decade, a greater share of global growth will come from Asia, the Middle East, Central Europe and even SubSaharan Africa than from the mature economies. Concurrently, there will mean the rise of political heft of those same nations. The real governing body for international economics, now, is the G20, not the G7 because of this. Moreover, large corporations are sitting on lots of cash that can be invested to fuel future growth. Despite the problems of the past several years, the universal trend of globalisation is something that has not been reversed. A challenge, now, is to ensure this ongoing drive is fair to all. Ultimately real economic progress will depend on increases in productivity. Having said that, while it is impossible to pick with certainty which industries are future winners, many industries do have real potential for upward growth and are not limited to those in the OECD nations. On the other hand he argued that a doubledip recession was likely because the recovery from the previous one has been coming in the shape of a ‘U’, rather than the more usual ‘V’ shape. Moreover, because this was a financial recession rather than the more usual recession, fiscal stimuli alone are not much help. The debt overhang produces a slow recovery as deleveraging slowly works itself out. But the slowdown in spending now means a recovery becomes a hard, slow slog. In the US, economic growth in the 1% range has been too slow to prevent a rise in unemployment. Many thought this was simply a bevy of black swan events - growth would go back up to 3%, but the current situation is like
nouriel roubini
Despite the problems of the past several years, the universal trend of globalisation is something that has not been reversed. an airplane approaching stall speed – either you accelerate or you crash. For the mature economies, the fundamental question is whether there will be acceleration or free fall and a nasty landing. From what he’s seen so far, Roubini’s bet is on an economic contraction as he argues that the austerity measures being imposed by governments actually have recessionary effects on output. If eurozone nations are forced to undertake fiscal austerity, other countries that can still provide short-term stimuli are going to have to step up. Although monetary policy has a limited impact when there is excessive debt and insolvency rather than illiquidity, credit easing can be helpful and inflation should be the last thing central bankers worry about, given the dis-inflationary pressures. As a result, to restore credit growth, Roubini says public financing is going to have to strengthen eurozone banks and banking systems that are undercapitalised in a Europe-wide programme. Debt burdens like Greece’s that cannot be eased by growth, savings, or inflation will have to be dealt with through orderly debt restructuring, debt reduction and conversion of debt into equity. But even if Greece and other peripheral eurozone countries get real debt relief, economic
friDAY - 23 september 2011
business
Finally, Roubini argued that emerging-market economies actually have more policy tools left than the advanced economies. growth won’t resume until competitiveness is restored. And, without a rapid return to growth, more defaults cannot be avoided. The sole viable alternative is for Greece to depart from the eurozone. Only a return to a national currency, and a sharply depreciated one, will restore competitiveness and growth. More broadly, the advanced economies’ high unemployment and anaemic growth evolve from structural reasons such as the rise of competitive emerging markets. Roubini explained the right response to this should not be protectionism, but the restoration of competitiveness and jobs with investments in high- quality education, job training and human-capital improvements, infrastructure and alternative energy instead. Finally, Roubini argued that emergingmarket economies actually have more policy tools left than the advanced economies. As a result, they can ease their monetary and fiscal policies. Countries like China that rely on net exports now need to come to the global party and accelerate reforms, like more rapid currency appreciation, and increased domestic demand. In his Business Day article, echoing his comments in Johannesburg, Roubini wrote: “The risks ahead are not just of a mild double-dip recession, but of a severe contraction that could turn into
nouriel roubini
a second Great Depression. Wrong-headed policies during the first Great Depression led to trade and currency wars, disorderly debt defaults, deflation, rising income and wealth inequality, poverty, desperation, and social and political instability and eventually the rise of authoritarian regimes and the Second World War. The best way to avoid repeating such a sequence is bold and aggressive global policy action now.” In his lecture, Roubini asked rhetorically, how do we turn this around now? Is it a mission impossible? Answering his own question, Roubini charged the current response has been to muddle through, but the world cannot keep kicking that tin can further down the road. Eventually the question turns into: who bails out the IMF? Roubini insisted that we are not in a stable equilibrium – albeit an unpleasant one. Rather the situation now is that it is an unstable disequilibrium. There is a real likelihood of a slow-motion train wreck evolving out of Greece’s tragedy and spreading still further. “There are no more rabbits, no more bullets. We need proper deleveraging and emerging markets can generate more growth, but things will be darker before they get any better.” With predictions like this, it is easy to understand why he keeps getting introduced to audiences as Dr Doom – as well as why he is in such demand as a speaker, analyst and writer in explaining where we are, how we got there and what we have to do now.
For more, read: 1. Nouriel Roubini Greece should default and abandon the euro in the Financial Times 2. The Twist in the Fed's Stimulus Plan: Banks in Time 3. No Extra Credit in The New York Times
friDAY - 23 september 2011
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LIFE, ETC
friDAY – 23 september 2011
SECTION
HEADING
USA A new study by Rebtel has found differences in the way men and women communicate. Fancy that! Well, technically they found differences in the way they use different communication channels. Women are significantly more likely to use social media to connect with friends, family and co-workers, while men use voice/phone communication more than women. The survey polled 2,631 US adults to reach this groundbreaking conclusion.
USA Remember the out-of-control satellite that is going to hit earth shortly, and has a one in 3,200 chance of hitting humanity? Initially they said they couldn't be any more precise than saying it would either hit on Thursday, or Friday, or Saturday, thus condemning us all to a threeday stay in our underground bunkers. However, now Nasa has narrowed it down
Avatar (Reuters)
to Friday evening. They said they should be able to give us about 12 hours warning. Another awesomely reassuring detail they've just released is that the debris could fall across an area 400 to 500 km wide. How nice.
Pandora, the fictional planet in which the film is set. Considering that “Avatar” is the highest-grossing movie of all time, they shouldn't struggle for visitors.
USA
The film adaptation of John van de Ruit's bestselling book “Spud” is to be exported to the world. Universal UK has the rights to it, with the cinema release set for early 2012. It'll also go on screen in the Middle East, in Scandinavia, and on airlines. Next year will also see the sequel film being shot, and the fourth “Spud” book published. Isn't John van de Ruit running out of material yet?
If you loved James Cameron's move “Avatar” so much that you didn't want the experience to end when the credits rolled, we have some amazing news for you! Disney has signed an agreement to build an Avatar theme-park in Florida, with construction set to begin in 2013. They will essentially be building a recreation of
SA
fridAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
briefs
SA
worth it saying, "Nobody has a life story even close to his". Of course, Schwarzenegger has a ghost-writer, who began working on it with him in 2010.
Saturday is Heritage Day, Wednesday was World Peace Day, and Thursday was both Hobbit Day and World Rhino Day. Phew. A small group of people demonstrated in Cape Town, holding placards aimed at raising awareness of the plight of rhinos, who are being poached at a rate of more than one a day. Four rhinos have been killed by poachers in KwaZulu-Natal game reserves alone over the past few weeks.
USA Ah, you gotta love Brad Pitt. On yesterday's episode of the “Ellen” show, he reiterated to Ellen de Generes that he would not marry Angelina Jolie (or anyone else) until everyone in America is free to tie the knot. Look, as far as gestures go, it's not quite on a par with Zackie Achmat refusing to take ARVs until they were freely available, but it's quite sweet. Brad said, in a casually racist parody of an Italian-American accent, the fact that gay people can't marry in all states "make-a no sense to me. It make-a no sense".
USA Take that, Google! Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is officially richer than Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, according to Forbes's
BELGIUM
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Reuters)
annual “Richest People in America” list. It's the first time Zuckerberg has beaten out Brin and Page. He is now at number 35, with a personal net worth of $17.5 billion. Bill Gates is still top of the pops, with Warren Buffett at number two and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison at number three.
USA Thrilling news! Arnold Schwarzenegger is to publish a memoir next year! “Total Recall” which appropriately sounds a lot like it could be a schlocky action film, will be released in October 2012. Publishers Simon & Schuster have declined to reveal how much they're paying him, but they obviously think it's
The EU HQ in Brussels is trying to get their civil servants to work an extra 2,5 hours a week as part of a drive to save taxpayers £870 million a year. But the civil servants are having none of it. They say a 40-hour working week would ruin the "attractiveness" of their jobs. They also said it was a "socially-backward step" (presumably meaning it would leave them less time to socialise) and that they "emphatically" rejected it. Sorry, taxpayers.
UK Rogue trader Kweku Adoboli appeared in court in London yesterday, with his barrister saying that he "is sorry beyond words for what has happened here". Adoboli attracted widespread condemnation for turning up to court last week with a silly grin on his face, photographs of which were promptly splashed all around the world. His lawyer had clearly had a word with him, because yesterday he looked as if he was attending his own funeral (which, in fairness, he pretty much is).
fridAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
Google won’t fix Rick Santorum Former US Senator, now Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has a very embarrassing Google problem. And Google says it won’t help him “fix” it, which Santorum says is indication of the company’s Democrat leanings. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.
google/santorum
If you have no idea what we’re on about, just Google, “Santorum”. Be warned though, it is very graphic. The first hit on Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s name on Google is probably not his personal website, or his Wikipedia page. Instead, it’s a website that gives a neologism to “santorum”. The site was created in 2003 by sex columnist and writer Dan Savage, in reaction to anti-gay comments senator Santorum made. The campaign has caused Santorum immense mortification. On Tuesday, in an interview with Politico, Santorum said that Google would have removed the offending site if he were a Democrat like US vice president Joe Biden. “If you're a responsible business, you don't let things like that happen in your business that have an impact on the country,” he said. “To have a business allow that type of filth to be purveyed through their website or through their system is something that they say they can't handle, but I suspect that's not true.” In response, Google said that content that showed up on search results was reflective of what was available on the web, and that individuals who wanted stuff removed needed to contact the webmaster. The Google spokesman added, “We do not remove content from our search results, except in very limited cases such as illegal content and violations of our webmaster guidelines.” If it makes Santorum feel any better, the people of America aren’t in the habit of electing oak trunks to the White House anyway.
Read more: Photo: REUTERS
1. Santorum contacted Google, says the company spreads “filth” in Politico 2. Santorum asks Google to clean up search results for his name in CNN International
friDAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
julian assange
Julian Assange in his own words "Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography" went on sale in the UK yesterday despite Assange's best efforts to prevent its publication. We're proud to present an exclusive sneak preview of the first page of the memoirs (or how we imagine it might go, anyway). By REBECCA DAVIS. Multiple times a day, people stop me in the street. “Julian, how do you do it?” they ask. If they’re attractive women (no bigger than size 8), I humour them. After all, they’re only human: who ISN’T interested in knowing how yours truly manages to break the global stranglehold on information control daily and still retain such unflappable calm?
I’ll be honest with you, it isn’t easy being Julian Assange. As I was saying to my good friend Jemima Khan just the other day, some mornings I wake up with the weight of the world on my shoulders. All the haters, all the doubters: they don’t understand the Photo: REUTERS
friday - 23 september 2011
life, etc
importance of my work. Without Wikileaks, the world would still assume that their global security was in safe hands, rather than resting with a bunch of imbecilic diplomats who communicate like teenage bitches passing notes in maths class. They hate me, of course. They all hate me. Between you and me, they all want me dead. I rarely leave the house without a disguise these days. I like to dress as a black woman most of the time. It’s not that I’m scared of dying. What can God tell me that I don’t already know? But my early death would be nothing less than the greatest tragedy the information revolution
julian assange
has ever known. I owe it to humanity to stay alive. Possibly also to breed. Of course, I can’t have anything to do with raising children – I’m an international fugitive! But I owe it to the world to spread my seed as widely as possible. As I said to my good friend Bianca Jagger the other day, genes like this come along once, maybe twice in a millennium. We’re in a tight spot at the moment, as you probably know. Those dinosaur media outlets that hated us so much for the speed and freedom of our epoch-defining revelations are revelling in our current financial difficulties. I’m not bitter, of course. I will only say that without the immoral crusade waged against us by the credit-card companies who have blocked donations to our site, we would likely be raking in two, three, four billion US dollars a day. You can buy my laptop on eBay at the moment. The bidding has only reached $300, which I’m disappointed by, but it’s inevitable: the CIA has eBay in its pocket. They’ve got them all in their pocket. The other day the man behind the counter in Starbucks overcharged me by 25p for my latte. You think that’s coincidence? They’re trying to break me. But they won’t succeed. I look at other martyr-heroes the world has known. Mandela, for instance. Great guy, take nothing away from him, but he didn’t think big enough. His revolutionary impact was limited to one country. Julian Assange is for the whole world. Julian Assange is for all time.
friday - 23 september 2011
life, etc
pirate tapes
The Pirate Tapes Touted as a gripping documentary in which a young Somali-Canadian risks his life to expose the secret workings of Somalia’s pirates, “The Pirate Tapes” offers never-before-seen footage of Africa’s marauders. But emerging film maker Mohamed Ashareh says the real pirates in this documentary are not the Somalis, but the Canadian post-production company who he alleges stole his footage and sabotaged his film. By MANDY DE WAAL. In July 2009, Mohamed Ashareh did an incredibly brave or very foolish thing. A Somali-Canadian studying computer science at Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada, Ashareh abandoned his studies to go and make a film that could have cost him his life. The film is a documentary called “The Pirate Tapes” in which Ashareh poses as a financial backer representing a group that
wants to invest in a pirate operation. Because of his family connections, Ashareh came across as plausible enough to be let into the inner sanctum of pirate operations in Puntaland, a coastal region of Somaliland. “Mohamed was busy getting a degree in computer programming when he first started Photo: Mohamed Ashareh
friDAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
"... Pirates don’t go after smaller ships or armed vessels, but go after giant tankers that move slower and are worth a lot more money..." speaking to us about doing a film,” says Andrew Moniz of Palmira PDC, the Canadian company that financed the documentary. “His father was an MP so there was a lot of respect for him and his family name in Somalia, and we were assured that this name would keep Ashareh relatively safe.” Moniz says Ashareh wasn’t a filmmaker so Palmira gave him a crash course in cinematography. “We went over a lot of the basic elements of hand-held filmmaking as well as teaching him to use all the cameras that we were going to be using.” Moniz adds that Palmira usually makes fictional films or corporate movies, and that this was their first documentary. He says they veered away from documentaries because they’re traditionally tough to make, difficult to control and usually don’t make money. “The Pirate Tapes” has received a fair amount of attention globally. It tells the story of Ashareh infiltrating a gang of marauders, interviewing
pirate tapes
pirates about how they work and scoping out the nature of the “business operation”. “Pirate operations are very well set up. Some groups have access to information about which ships are coming in, while others are a bit more opportunistic. Generally speaking, piracy is all about greed and money so it is about getting the most valuable ships and cargo. Pirates don’t go after smaller ships or armed vessels, but go after giant tankers that move slower and are worth a lot more money,” says Moniz. “The bulk of the money goes back to investors. Some people believe that the investors come from overseas, others believe the investors are local but wherever the money’s coming from it buys guns, ammunition, engines, boats and everything that’s required to start up a pirate operation. Investors can invest as little as $25,000 in a pirate start-up operation and can come out with millions. It’s a syndicate operation really,” says Moniz. “The heads of the operations have people who work for them and the pirates at the top make most of the money.” The Economist reports that piracy is getting worse and that last year some 1,181 people were taken hostage off the coast of Somali. “Half were released after the payment of ransoms, a few have died of abuse or neglect and around 760 are currently in captivity,” The Economist report says. Prisoners are normally held on their own hijacked vessels which serve as the launch for the next pirate operations. “The problem has worsened sharply in recent years. There were 219 attacks last year compared with 35 in 2005. Ransoms paid last year climbed to $238 million, an average of $5.4 million per ship, compared with $150,000 in 2005,” the report reads. The
friDAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
Photo: Mohamed Ashareh during filming of Pirate Tapes
economic cost of piracy is set at some $5 billion to $7 billion a year. The Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR) recently did a transnational investigation into piracy and graft on the continent, called “Pirates, smugglers and corrupt tycoons and African development”. FAIR says pirates earn three times more annually than the entire state budget for Puntland, and their investigation shows that just one father-son operation hijacked seven vessels in 2009 ranging from passenger cruise liners, fishing ships and container carriers. “The amount paid in ransom to this band of pirates in 2009 alone could be as high as US$ 7 million,” FAIR reports. And where there is crime, high stakes and
pirate tapes
loads of cash, there is of course dangerous and unpredictable behaviour. “Mohammed almost didn’t come back. He had a difficult experience there and almost died as a result of creating this film. In the end he did come back through the efforts of his family, but he is lucky to be alive,” Moniz says. “The Pirate Tapes” premiered at the Canadian international documentary festival, HotDocs earlier this year and was brought to the local small screen by Fox FX. When iMaverick asks Moniz where Ashareh is and what he’s up to, the producer is hardly forthcoming. He says that the young film maker is probably staying with his parents but that the production company has no idea what he’s up to. “Mohammed is very reserved person who wasn’t keen on opening up to us a lot.” However if you look for Ashareh on Google you’ll find that he is anything but shy. The Somali-Canadian has accused Moniz and his colleagues at Palmir Productions of being the real rogues of the documentary, and says the production company stole his tapes. “Hi, my name is Mohammed Ashareh. I am a film maker. Back in 2009 I filmed my first documentary. I went to Somalia on a journey to film and document the issue of piracy and toxic waste that has affected Somalia for over twenty years. I wanted to finally bring this issue to light truthfully. So I picked up my backpack and camera and went to Somalia,” says Ashareh in his recording. “I returned back to Canada to complete my mission. I hired a Canadian postproduction company by the name of Palmira PDC. Unfortunately Palmira destroyed the film, compromised the truth and Palmira
friDAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
compromised the voices of the Somali people. They literally took my footages (sic), destroyed the film and annihilated my existence.” When this YouTube video was raised with Moniz by email, he was a little more forthcoming about Ashareh. “In response to Mohamed's allegations of Palmira ‘stealing his footage’ I would like to say that he is totally wrong. Filmmaking is a collaborative effort and early on before he went to Somalia it was clearly written and discussed in contracts that Palmira would retain ownership of the footage and the film, it's the production company who funded the entire film after all. “I don't know what is wrong with Mohamed but in his head he has decided to create some sort of a false and negative interpretation about us in an attempt to claim the film as his work entirely. We have tried many times to work things out with him but in the end he has gone totally rogue from the production and has decided to slander our good name in a petty way. The truth is we've always tried to keep this out of the press because what actually matters is the film and what it has to say to the world, not the productions indifferences behind the scenes. The real scoop is Piracy,” writes Moniz. But Ashareh would beg to differ. iMaverick was able to track Ashareh down through Facebook and he is living in Toronto, the same city as Moniz, and says the real documentary pirates are Palmir Productions. “I am legally dealing with the situation at the moment, and I am working on a documentary to tell the truth about what happened with ‘The Pirate Tapes’,” says Ashareh. “I picked up and went to Somalia in the hope of being a voice that would transcend cultural
pirate tapes
“… When I was being held captive they left me for dead in Somalia… boundaries. I took great risks filming with Palmir’s equipment but as a young filmmaker I have learnt some really difficult lessons.” Ashareh says he was filming and sent discs of footage back to Palmir via Kenya, thinking that they would work on the footage as his agreed production company. When Ashareh was captured, almost executed and put in prison the film equipment was returned to Palmir, but Ashareh says he was left high and dry. “When I was being held captive they left me for dead in Somalia. Basically they stole my footage, arranged for additional material to be shot, falsified the ending of the film and have now distributed it across the world.” Ashareh says he used his scholarship to make the documentary but doesn’t consider himself to be a victim. “I will get my footage back, and I will deliver the truth. Palmir were money hungry and sloppy and they will get what’s coming to them.”
Read more: 1. Somali pirates open up to student with camera in Toronto’s The Star 2. “The Pirate Tapes” Website 3. Mohamed Ashareh’s YouTube Channel 4. Watch the trailer of “The Pirate Tapes”
friDAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
coetzer vs olivier
Diane Coetzer takes on Eban Olivier over abusive Facebook comments Criticism is a bitter pill to swallow, but people involved in the arts have to deal with it professionally. It should go without saying that resorting to threats of violence is unacceptable. But when Diane Coetzer criticised the Parlotones' recent show in a Daily Maverick review, Eban Olivier, whose company Catalyst Entertainment was involved in the production, flew off the handle on Facebook, posting comments threatening Coetzer and her family. As the situation has escalated, Coetzer is now suing Olivier for R150,000 in damages and an unconditional apology. It's set to be the first case in South Africa concerning defamation via a social network. By THERESA MALLINSON. A couple of months ago, on 14 July, to be precise, journalist Diane Coetzer wrote a review of the Parlotones' Dragonflies & Astronauts production at Monte Casino for Daily Maverick. The subtitle of her article, “great theatre, lousy music”, pretty much sums up her take on the show. In the review Coetzer referred to “amateurhour choreography and dancing”, “costuming that fell abysmally short of promises that it would be 'another character in itself'”, and “the
dancers'... miserable attempt to evoke a postapocalyptic world with some of the lamest robotic dancing this side of YouTube funnies”. About the costumes, she wrote: “Actually, if anything, the get-ups most likely chosen by the production team at Catalyst Entertainment (no programme meant no clue as to who is actually responsible) made me feel faintly squeamish”. Photo: REUTERS
friDAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
coetzer vs olivier
... under a photograph he'd posted of a truck, Olivier wrote: “ON A HAPPIER NOTE... I am going to build something like this! Using my Subaru as a base for the chassis and HELL as the inspiration... then I am going to drive over Diane with it!!! Build will start on Saturday!” Eban Olivier, of Catalyst Entertainment, was stung by this review, and on 25 July unleashed a torrent of abuse at Coetzer on his Facebook page. Much of this invective was hateful speech, rather than hate speech per say, but a couple of comments crossed the line, with threats of, and incitement to violence. Under a photograph he'd posted of a truck, Olivier wrote: “ON A HAPPIER NOTE ….I am going to build something like this! Using my Subaru as a base for the chassis and HELL as the inspiration ….then I am going to drive over Diane with it!!! Build will start on Saturday!” And next to a photograph of Coetzer, which Oliver had uploaded to his Facebook profile, he wrote: “So after this bitch pissed me off to the end degree today I decided to put a snap shot of miss happy on facebook, so should you feel the need to walk past her and give her a PK [poes klap] you know who dish it out to!” When mutual friends alerted Coetzer to Olivier's comments on Facebook, she was shocked and upset. “You know, writing for the Daily Maverick, which I had been doing on an ad hoc basis, any story, review, column that gets put up, there's space underneath for comments by users. So I'm kind of used it. The thing I wrote on Die Antwoord got quite a lot of personal comments, but they were still within
boundaries. They were hard-hitting, but not intensely personal, and not frightening, like these were,” she told iMaverick. “When I went and had a look, it was shocking. I basically burst into tears. The first thing I saw was that photo he found of me and the request: 'This is what she looks like, if you see her, beat her up.' It was shocking; I was very upset. And of course, my family could see I was upset, and that's when my 12-year-old daughter came, and I didn't stop her from having a look, and she was very upset, about the comments against her as well.” One of the comments stated: “This bitch must get hit by a fucking 18 wheeler...and then the 18 wheeler must hit her daughter – her husband and then DIE ANTWOORD”. Coetzer said: “Everyone was shocked by the level of it. If he'd just said, 'fuck Diane Coetzer, what the fuck does she know, she's a bitch,' that's one thing. But it escalated over a period of hours. This is unacceptable behaviour. I wasn't the only person to review (the show), and I wasn't the only one to review it badly. There was nothing personal in it.” Later on 25 July, Olivier removed many of his comments (although not all of them), and posted an apology in the form of a Facebook note. “In honesty.... I have taken it tooo far as I am so passionate as to what I do for a living...
friDAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
For Coetzer, this just wasn't good enough, especially as some of the offensive comments, including the one about driving over her, were still up on Olivier's Facebook page, and removed only on 15 August. (Olivier has subsequently removed his entire profile.)
I did not decide to not print programs... I did not engineer the shortfall if any... I did not make the opening night a media evening as it was suppose to have been a rehearsal night. I did not ask for criticism aimed at my company but I did hope for objective crit from people like DIANE in the industry that my partner and I respected. She was not even open to calling us to our 5 cents worth. We can take criticism, but her crit was a personal attack for some reasons, I obviously think – for the literal people out there – I offended her and her family – I apologise for that – it was unnecessary..... It was more an Arri Gold moment. I am just sooooo sick and tired of sideline coaches in this country that can always do something better yet they are not able to organise a piss up in a brewery! So call me an arsehole etc. But I put my bloody heart and soul into this project – if someone want do DISS and not Critt – then I can not help to stay vocal about it!”
coetzer vs olivier
For Coetzer, this just wasn't good enough, especially as some of the offensive comments, including the one about driving over her, were still up on Olivier's Facebook page, and removed only on 15 August. (Olivier has subsequently removed his entire profile.) “I forwarded (the comments) to my lawyer. It was really when he saw the the threats to me and my daughter that he said it was completely out of order. So we asked Olivier for an apology. We emailed it to him, and he came back – well his lawyer came back – and said he'd taken the stuff down,” said Coetzer. “On 29 July, we sent a letter, saying please apologise in the manner of which you spread it around, ie on your Facebook page, which was an open one, not a private one. Already we asked for some damages.” A back-and-forth exchange of letters between the two sets of lawyers ensued, with Olivier's lawyers referring to the apology he had already published on his Facebook page. “I don't consider that an apology to me or a full retraction, because he half apologises, and then goes into slating me again,” Coetzee said. She has now issued a summons to Olivier, citing defamation and/or injury to her dignity and reputation, and claiming R150,000 in damages; as well as requesting that he publish an unconditional apology to each of the people listed as his friends on Facebook during the period the comments remained up. Olivier's lawyers responded to the summons on Thursday morning, indicating his intention to defend the case. A previous letter stated: “Any action will be defended and the appropriate counter claim instituted”. Olivier, for his part, told iMaverick: “First and foremost, I'm the most chillest, relaxed
friDAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
coetzer vs olivier
human being on earth. What Diane has written in that article on a public platform, about our company, was a complete lash out. There's so much emotion in this issue, and I apologised in my own capacity on the same day when I was asked for it. “It's funny how the apology is never talked about. Everybody gets an idiot moment in life where you really go all out and say 'go to hell!' Are you going to sue your child every time they say, 'I hate you so much, I want you to die'? I've apologised. I'm an adult. I apologised publicly the same night. I did it out of my own consent. I'm really sorry.” Olivier was advised by his council not to answer further questions we sent him, but he did respond with the following three points, stating: • I apologise for what was said; • I had no violent intent; and • I still do not understand why Diane had to rip us apart on this one aspect of a much bigger picture. The theatre show was an element in the 3D streaming worldwide. This event opened up the door for South African artists to be exposed in areas never imagined in the past, and is already creating extra growth and revenue from abroad in the film and commercials market. But although Olivier repeatedly referred to his “closed Facebook community” in a brief
conversation with iMaverick, his profile was accessible to anyone with a Facebook account, meaning that his statements had the potential to be read by people far beyond his immediate circle of friends. If we consider the comment that incited violence, inviting people to give Diane a “PK”, Olivier could not control how people would react to it – whether his own intentions were violent or not. “We think we've got a pretty sound case, if I can put it that way,” said Coetzer's lawyer, Cleo Artemides of Christelis Artemides Attorneys. “It's really the simple intention to defame her, and the publication thereof, and the failure to apologise, and, that notwithstanding demands, the consistent publications after demands.” Faber Goërtz Ellis, the law firm acting for Olivier, submitted his intention to defend the charges on Thursday morning, and now has 20 court days to submit the reasons for defence. Gavin Goërtz told iMaverick in an email: “I will not comment on the matter as the matter is the subject of existing litigation. Please refrain from further contacting me.” If the case does go before a judge, rather than being settled out of court, it will set a precedent, whatever the final ruling. Although there have been a plethora of defamation cases in South Africa recently – with some being taken to court, and others debated in the court
If the case does go before a judge, rather than being settled out of court, it will set a precedent, whatever the final ruling. friDAY - 23 september 2011
life, etc
of public opinion – this would be the first one involving a social media network. “In South Africa I don't think we have a decided case on defamation by way of public disclosure through the social network media,” Artemides said. “Although there are comments on it, I don't think that there has been a decided case on it.” Coetzer, meanwhile, strongly defends her right to write what she likes in her reviews. “It was a review, it is opinion. As journalists should we be scared to write what we feel about a production, because this kind of episode could happen? Are we now living in a time where we write a review, and someone can use their Facebook page to lash out in a deeply worrying way? To me there was a level of hate speech in what he said, and I think we need to take a stand against that,” she said. “I don't mind having critical comments under something I've written, if it's moderated, so that death threats are filtered out. That allows for reasonable comments that defend (Olivier's) production, or put his point of view across. The fact that he can just shrug it off shows that he has no sense of the kind of hurt, damage, anxiety and worry that he caused me and family.” And the Parlotones – the band whose show unwittingly provided the catalyst for Coetzer and Olivier's skirmish – has a firm position on Olivier's Facebook comments. “We in no way share or support what Eban said, and in fact asked him to remove it,” frontman Kahn Morbee told iMaverick. “We're saddened about his reaction to criticism and the fact that this negativity even warrants a story. We are not newcomers to the world of critique and even with the truckloads we've received, we have never and will never react in the manner in which he did.
coetzer vs olivier
Coetzer, meanwhile, strongly defends her right to write what she likes in her reviews. “We personally sent Diane a message on discovering the comments and expressed our separation from the comments, and let her know that despite the critique, we felt no ill feelings and were very upset by Eban's comments and respect her as a journalist,” Morbee continued. “We're well aware that in show business there will be cheers and jeers; we tend to listen to the cheers and only momentarily focus on the jeers if something can be learnt from the critique (not vendettas).” Morbee would not be drawn for comment on whether the Parlotones would work with Olivier again, but did say: “I think what he did was wrong, but to condemn someone forever would also be wrong”. That this situation has gone as far as it has is regrettable, if understandable. The irony is that Olivier has ended up damaging his own reputation much more than Coetzer ever did. Our advice to him? Publish a proper apology, one that doesn't include a “but”; try to settle out of court; and take on some pro bono work for a good cause to repair his credibility. While a proper court case would be interesting in terms of setting precedent, Olivier has very little to gain from it.
friDAY - 23 september 2011
SPORT
friDAY – 23 september 2011
sport
briefs
Richie McCaw (Reuters)
Rugby England manager Martin Johnson has brought back Mike Tindall at centre as one of seven changes for his side's clash against Romania at the Otago Stadium. Tindall captained England in the 13-9 victory over Argentina - although he captured the headlines for the wrong reasons following his involvement on a squad night out in Queenstown. Richie McCaw will return to lead New Zealand in his 100th Test match in one of four changes ahead of Saturday's Rugby World Cup
clash with France. McCaw is back after a minor calf strain forced him to miss the Japan Test, while Israel Dagg has recovered from his abdominal strain and been named at full-back. Piri Weepu is at scrum-half with Andy Ellis on the bench and Dan Carter has also recovered from his stiff back to start. New Zealand coach Graham Henry admits he agonised over who would be the All Blacks full-back to play France before opting for Israel Dagg. The decision leaves veteran Mils Muliaina - capped 98 times for New Zealand - at risk of ending an illustrious career just short of 100 Tests.
Scotland have recalled Chris Paterson for their key World Cup clash against Argentina in Wellington on Sunday. Paterson is one of five changes that also sees Ruaridh Jackson start at fly-half ahead of Dan Parks because of his superior running game. Up front, prop Geoff Cross, lock Richie Gray and flanker John Barclay replace Euan Murray, Nathan Hines and Ross Rennie, Murray ruled out of Sunday's match because of his religious beliefs.
Golf Geoff Ogilvy says he is already looking forward
fridAY - 23 september 2011
sport
briefs
season players have to play in all four Grand Slams and eight Masters 1000 events, added to which they also have to enter four other tournaments. However, as their ranking points are made up from 18 tournaments, players are effectively forced to play even more events or suffer a dip in their rankings
Martina Navratilova (Reuters)
to the Presidents Cup after booking his place in the International team. The Australian finished third at the BMW Championship at Cog Hill last week to make sure he would be part of the 12-man international team competing at Royal Melbourne in November. The former US Open champion will get the chance to play on home soil this year, having first experienced the event as a spectator at the same course in 1998 when the Internationals triumphed by nine points over the US.
Tennis Switzerland against the US is the pick of in the firstround of the 2012 Davis Cup World Group draw. The 32-
time champions US will travel to Switzerland for the 10-12 February matches. Spain, who are looking to win their fifth title in December, have been paired with Kazakhstan while fellow 2011 finalists Argentina will face Germany. Draw: Spain v Kazakhstan Austria v Russia Canada v France Switzerland v US Czech Rep v Italy Serbia v Sweden Japan v Croatia Germany v Argentina Martina Navratilova has backed tennis's leading male players as they consider strike action in a bid to take control of their overcrowded schedules. During a single
Cricket Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has decided to call time on his international Twenty20 career, saying he wants to focus on Test and ODI cricket. Haddin, who has played 25 games for Australia with his last outing against Sri Lanka in the recently completed tour, will continue playing for Sydney Sixers in the KFC Big Bash League and the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. Somerset will play in the 2011 Champions League Twenty20 group stage after beating the Kolkata Knight Riders by 11 runs in their qualifier in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Kolkata, though,
fridAY - 23 september 2011
sport
briefs
Owen Hargreaves (Reuters)
also qualify for the main draw by virtue of having a better net run rate than Pool B runnersup Ruhuna. The English county put in an excellent all-round display, posting 166 for six in their 20 overs before limiting their opponents to 155 for eight. Ottis Gibson is refusing to dwell on the absence of his stars for the two Twenty20 internationals against England, saying his inexperienced players are eager to impress. The visitors will be sans Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Darren and Dwayne Bravo and Lendl Simmons for
the games at The Oval due to their Twenty20 Champions League commitments in India while Chris Gayle and Sulieman Benn are also absent due to their dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board.
England defender was labelled “derisory” during the transfer window. However, ahead of Saturday's Premier League tie between the two clubs, the Scot heaped praise on Wenger and insisted there was no leftover animosity.
Football
New signing Owen Hargreaves was relieved to emerge from his Manchester City debut unscathed following three seasons of virtually no game time. The midfielder made just 27 appearances in four years at former club Manchester United before moving to local rivals City in August.
Bolton boss Owen Coyle has claimed there is no tension between himself and Arsenal's Arsène Wenger over the transfer debacle involving Gary Cahill. A war of words broke out between the Frenchman and the Trotters after the Gunners' bid for the
fridAY - 23 september 2011
sport
RWC
Boks pronk to victory over Namibia South Africa romped to an emphatic 87-0 World Cup Pool A win over Namibia on Thursday reminding one of the iconic pronk display for which the four-legged antelope is famous. By PLANETRUGBY.COM Veteran wing Bryan Habana's first-half score saw him set a new Test try-scoring record for the Springboks, finally breaking Joost van der Westhuizen's long-standing benchmark. The Namibian scrum was under the cosh from the start, meaning South Africa's backs had plenty of quality ball and the men in green and gold raced to a 31-0 lead at the break. The defending champions had the bonus point secured by half time thanks to tries from
Gio Aplon, Habana, Jaque Fourie and a penalty try against the Namibian scrum. Aplon added a second after the restart while Francois Hougaard and Juan de Jongh both also touched down twice. With the Namibian defence dead on their feet, the game turned into a try festival as Frans Steyn, MornĂŠ Steyn and Danie Rossouw added their names to the scorecard. Photo: REUTERS
friDAY - 23 september 2011
sport
Aplon was the first man to cross the whitewash after Hougaard beat three defenders to put him clear, but the moment all of South Africa had been waiting for came on 22 minutes when Habana had an easy run-in to collect his 39th Test try. With the Namibian scrum buckling, referee George Clancy raised his arms under the sticks for the Boks third try before a magic off-load from Frans Steyn unleashed Jaque Fourie for the bonus-point try. The utility back was in the mix again to score South Africa's first try of the second period - meaning Steyn has scored in all three of the Boks games in the tournament so far. It was one-way traffic in the last quarter with seven tries being scored in the last 20 minutes. Morné Steyn, and his replacement Ruan Pienaar, made sure that no points were left behind as they slotted all 13 of their kicks at goal. If ever there was any doubt about the Springboks' capacity to defend their title, the rout in Albany confirmed they mean business.
Man of the match Hard to pick a single player because the Boks dominated all over the park. The official award went to Willem Alberts, who didn't score, but left plenty of Namibians bruised. We'll go for Francois Hougaard, however. Something always seems to happen when he has the ball in hand as illustrated by his two tries.
Moment of the match Twelve tries to choose from, but one had special significance. Bryan Habana's recordbreaking try was a long time in coming, but is just reward for a distinguished career.
RWC Villain of the match There was none.
The scorers For South Africa Tries: Aplon (2), Habana, penalty try, Fourie, F. Steyn, M. Steyn, De Jongh (2), Hougaard (2), Rossouw Cons: M. Steyn (6), Pienaar (6) Pen: M. Steyn
the teams South Africa: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn , 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp. Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Francois Louw, 19 Heinrich Brüssow, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Juan de Jongh. Namibia: 15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Danie Dames, 13 Danie van Wyk, 12 Piet van Zyl, 11 Heine Bock, 10 Theuns Kotze, 9 Eugene Jantjies, 8 Jacques Nieuwenhuis, 7 Jacques Burger (c), 6 Tinus du Plessis, 5 Nico Esterhuyse, 4 Heinz Koll, 3 Marius Visser, 2 Bertus O'Callaghan, 1 Johnnie Redelinghuys. Replacements: 16 Hugo Horn, 17 Jane du Toit, 18 PJ van Lill, 19 Rohan Kitshoff, 20 Ryan de la Harpe, 21 Darryl de la Harpe, 22 Conrad Marais. Venue: North Harbour Stadium, Albany Referee: George Clancy (Ireland) Assistant referees: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Tim Hayes (Wales) TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
friDAY - 23 september 2011
sport
SA athletes are doping a lot more – anti-doping institute There has been a massive spike in South African athletes taking dope, the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sports said in its annual report. The increase from last year is by 178%. By SIPHO HLONGWANE
doping
The number of athletes taking performance enhancing drugs has increased almost threefold, according to the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sports. In their annual report, released on Tuesday, they said that of the 2,308 athletes tested between April and March this year, 53 tested positive for doping. Last year, only 18 out of a 2,284 athletes tested positive for substance abuse. The 178% figure is based on an a yearon-year percentage increase from 0,8% last year to 2,3% in 2011. Of those tested, 42% were using anabolic steroids as their drug of choice, the institute’s CEO Khalid Galant said. According to Galant, these numbers could be blamed on the increasing availability of sports supplements that contained banned substances like anabolic steroids, hormones and stimulants. “We have embarked on a huge drive to warn athletes about the dangers of taking supplements that have poor scientific evidence of benefits, and present the athlete with a high risk of contamination with prohibited substances,” he said. He also said that though the athletes in question would have to face the consequences of their actions, the institute felt a bit sorry for them, and would offer counselling. “In response to the surge of doping cases, many of the affected athletes suffer severe emotional strain and risk being socially ostracised for bringing their sport into disrepute,” Galant said. The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sports is a public entity established to ensure our athletes don’t cheat by chemically enhancing their abilities.
Read more: Photo: REUTERS
1. Surge of doping cases in SA in Sport24 2. Doping athletes increase by 178% in a year in TimesLive
friDAY - 23 september 2011
sport
Big Easy and manager part ways Ernie Els has parted company with Chubby Chandler and his sports management company, ISM. By GOLF365.COM
Photo: REUTERS
golf
Both Chandler and Els released statements confirming their parting of the ways after an association going back to 2004 and which, in many ways, was the foundation stone of Chandler's successful sports management business. Chandler said, "It was just something that happens. There are no hard feelings and I suspect he and I will have a few beers at the Dunhill. A change may do him and his game a lot of good." Discussing the development on his website, Els said he was making the move as a way to "consolidate" his management team and make it more convenient to his US home-base in Jupiter, Florida. Golf Digest reported there had been some speculation that the Big Easy, a three-time major winner and one of the game’s most prolific world-wide winners ever, could eventually end up working with Vinny Giles and Buddy Marucci when the former US Walker Cup captains get their golf-management business fully operational in Jupiter. ISM players won the first three legs of this year's Grand Slam and four of five majors going back to last year's British Open. Chandler's plan a year ago was to open an office in Florida at Old Palm GC in Palm Beach Gardens, but that fell through. "I want to thank Chubby and all the ISM team for our time together and am proud to have been associated with one of the most talented stables in world golf, including as it does my fellow major winners; Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke as well as the current World No. 2 Lee Westwood," Els said in his statement.
friDAY - 23 september 2011
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