The Eastern Cape education crisis deepened yesterday as it was announced that Modidima Mannya had resigned as Eastern Cape education department head. Eastern Cape Premier, Noxolo Kiviet, made the announcement and said the agreement was “in the best interest” of education in the province.
SABC Radio and The New Age newspaper have reported that Julius Malema’s expulsion from the ANC has been upheld. As from today, 24 April 2012, Julius Malema is no longer a card-carrying member of the ANC, and holds no office in the party, or any of it’s organs.
Both James and Rupert Murdoch are due to give new evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into press standards, starting today. James will appear first, followed by his father, tomorrow. The inquiry will now focus on the relationship between the press and politicians.
Acting national police commissioner, General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, hinted on Thursday to MP’s that police had been instructed on which cases were “off limits” to them. He said this was something that was happening a lot “of late”, and that the instructions came from “powers beyond us”.
Google, Apple, Adobe and Intel – among other companies – have been accused of restricting salary increases and restricting career development by agreeing not to poach each other’s staff; California District Judge Lucy Koh has found that there’s enough evidence to support trial for antitrust injury. Intuit, Pixar, and Lucasfilm are also involved.
The ANC centenary motorcade, currently travelling through Kwa-Zulu Natal, features at least three vehicles with the same licence plate. Photos have emerged on Facebook showing multiple vehicles with identical plates – ‘ANC 100 – ZN’ – all honouring the ruling party’s jamboree year. The fact that this is probably totally illegal is not putting a dampener on anyone’s spirit.
And you people wonder why they tried to switch the internet off. Khosrow Zarefarid, an Iranian software manager, warned Iran’s banks’ CEOs of a security flaw in the banking system. When nobody responded, Khosrow hacked 3 million accounts across 22 banks, then dropped these details — including card numbers and PINs — on his blog.
When Vusimuzi Silwanyan’s daughter was brutally murdered last week he left it to local police to deal with the matter. After they failed to make headway in the case he took matters into his own hands, and apprehended the killers in just five days.
Signs suggest that Facebook is looking to have its initial public offering launch on on May 17th, assuming that the Securities & Exchange commission rubber-stamps all of the social network’s paperwork – including documents concerning Facebook’s recent billion-dollar acquisition of Instagram. Facebook is set to be initially valued at around $100 billion.
But the miners he left jobless at Aurora mines will not get a cent from him. The embarrassment for the Zuma and Mandela family names continues as Zondwa Mandela’s assets are expected to be attached next. Mandela has been charged with fraud, too.
“People power has brought down governments in North Africa; it can surely stop this assault on our living standards.” Cosatu has shown it doesn’t mess around when it comes to voicing its opinion. But will the “mother of all protests” against e-tolls actually make any difference?
25-year-old South African serviceman, Private Jaco van Gass, lost his left arm to a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan three years ago. Now he’s testing a prosthetic ice-axe – an invention of his own design – in preparation for an attempt at Mount Everest in May, alongside five other injured servicemen.
Further concerns over the potentially large number of jobs that could be lost as a result of government’s proposed booze advertising ban, have been aired. Government is still mulling over its draft bill – which has been labelled draconian – but either way, the health department is determined to clamp down on the industry.
It’s about monitoring and enforcing adherence to the “government brand”, Manyi says. The advertising of all government departments would likely be centralised in his office very soon. The predictable news emerged while Manyi was speaking at a community media indaba on Saturday.
Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder everybody keeps forgetting about except when he talks about stuff like this, has pointed to a handful of “threats to internet freedom” – Facebook, Apple, the entertainment industry, and governments that censor their citizens. By which I guess he means threats to Google.
Mitt Romney has only just been confirmed as the presidential candidate for the Republican Party in the US, which means pretty soon he’s going to have to be answering some big question and making some tough political decisions. The most important of these has just arisen – to SNL, or not to SNL?
Julius Malema’s fall from the graces of his ANC handlers seems to have eroded much more than his political riches. The Beeld newspaper reported that Malema was allegedly unable to settle debt of R400 000 owed to his building contractor at the end of March, after which the company decided to transfer its workers to another project in Bedfordview. See more, after the jump.
Not even the most token of attempts was made by the ANCYL to wish President Jacob Zuma well for his 70th birthday yesterday. This was in stark contrast to the lengthy statements the league released last year to honour the birthdays of Nelson Mandela, Zuma’s deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe and ANC stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
In another great instance of American judges believing that their jurisdiction has no limits, a U.S. judge has ruled that Motorola cannot enforce an injunction that would prevent Microsoft from selling Windows products in Germany, should a German court issue such an injunction next week.
The art of indulging in “num-num”, or free sex with a prostitute, may be news to you and I. But it isn’t to two members of Durban’s SAPS’s Port Security Services unit, commonly known as the harbour police. After a high-speed chase, gunshots, and a bite from a police dog, the two officers and their “partners”, were eventually apprehended.
After a ridiculous amount of time at liberty, George Zimmerman – the guy who shot Trayvon Martin for wearing a hoodie – has been taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder. Due to some oddment of Florida law, a charge of first-degree murder was ruled out. If convicted, Zimmerman faces life in prison.
When Osama Bin Laden was killed, he left pretty big boots to fill as far as international criminals are concerned. So it stands to question, who would replace the world’s most notorious terrorist on the FBI’s most wanted list. A mass murderer? Perhaps a system-crashing, government-infiltrating hacker? Click through to unveil the man who replaced the face of terrorism.
According to eNews Africa editor, Chris Maroleng, police in Swaziland have detained two journalists working for E-TV. It wasn’t immediately clear why they had been detained, but it was understood that the crew were on their way to report about marches taking place in the country.
A new bill is making its way through congress – CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which is pretty much SOPA in different shoes. It’s another attempt to give copyright enforces carte blanche to spy on internet users and censor online content without just cause. Which is sort of bad.
Back in 1925, Dayton, Tennessee was home to the famous Scopes “monkey trial”, which saw teacher John Scopes violating a state statute by teaching evolution in biology. Almost a century of science, research and cultural development later they’re still dealing with the same problems.
Jet-setting street muralist, ABOVE, recently visited our shores. While he was here he got the opportunity to express his concerns about an issue that lies very close to his heart, blood diamonds. How did he express himself? By defacing the façade of Johannesburg’s largest diamond exporter, with their consent. Click through for pics.
Yesterday the Eugene Terre’Blanche murder trial resumed in Ventersdorp. One of the accused, Chris Mahlangu, claims that he killed the former AWB leader out of self-defense after being sodomised in his farmhouse. His excuse, however, was questioned in the High Court.
Two weeks ago we gleefully reported on the debut of Grade 11 Johannesburger, Jonathan Ovadia, who was introduced as protégé to troubled ANCYL head, Julius Malema. But while his mentor lip sync’s for his political life, Jonathan has his own problems, including threatening the press via SMS. More of this Celebrity Apprentice mayhem, after the jump!
Iran’s government, not wanting to be outdone by other censorship-crazed nations like China, North Korea, and Great Britain, are taking things to the next level – they are cutting off the internet, permanently. As always, they only have their citizens’ best interests at heart.
Zimbabwean Information Minister, Webster Shamu, has told the AFP that reports that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was battling for his life in a Singapore hospital are “a lot of hogwash”. It must really irritate Bob when people make stuff up about him.