By now, many people within South Africa’s news-following public are familiar with the recent burst of racism that took place on South Africa’s twittersphere involving a model and a “model”. Mistakes were made, but the backlash and long-term effects from a social and mainstream media clamouring may have devastating consequences on the individuals involved. Things begin to go pearshaped when the media is inaccurate with information that disperses frantically when a news story of this nature breaks.
One of President Jacob Zuma’s many sons, Edward, is being sued for R1,5 million by Functions for Africa CC. The company says Edward still owes them the shortfall from his lavish wedding that cost R2,5 million at Tala Game Reserve in KwaZulu Natal last year.
On World Press Freedom Day, the highly acclaimed writer, and Nobel Prize winner for literature, Nadine Gordimer, called for the Protection of Information Bill to be “rejected in its entirety.” She launched the scathing rebuttal in an article entitled, “South Africa: The New Threat to Freedom”, on the New York Review of Books website.
Comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter, Rob Van Vuuren, needs no introduction. Tonight, Rob will undergo severe comedic treatment at the hands of his colleagues and friends. The event, taking place at Mercury Live in Cape Town, promises to leave your stomach muscles in agony. Details after the jump.
One of the positive things to emerge from the Kony 2012 saga was the fact that discussion around some of Africa’s many problems increased. One could say that more people know about some of the things we deal with, than before Kony 2012. Charity organisation, Mama Hope, has since released a response video, seeking to break what it calls stereotypes of black African men.
It’s been the rhetorical question on everyone’s lips for quite some time: will Cricket South Africa ever get the unlawful bonus money back from those who received it? There seems to be a chance that they will. CSA is attempting to recover R3,3 million from suspended chief executive, Gerald Majola and former chief operating officer, Don McIntosh.
Nando’s didn’t hesitate accepting the challenge that Santam had set them this week. In fact, Nando’s delivered a day early, and then bettered it, showing they definitely weren’t chicken. Some might call it a very good example of symbiotic radvertising.
Egyptian-American writer, Mona Eltahawy, has penned a controversial cover article for the latest Foreign Policy magazine, entitled: “Why Do They Hate Us?” In it, she argues that women must finish the revolutions started by the Arab Spring, and a semi-nude woman models a body-paint niqab.
We all knew that they were going to be bad, but to be told that one in four of Jozi’s drivers were asked for a bribe in 2010 is quite something. 154 440 motorists were asked to pay a bribe, but only 184 cases of corruption were reported.
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.
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.
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.
While the public protector, Thuli Madonsela, wouldn’t outwardly say that the current tabulation of the Protection of Information Bill was unconstitutional, she did say MP’s could be spared the embarrassment of having it declared invalid by the courts if they rethought certain aspects of the bill.
The City of New York’s Education Department has issued a list of about 50 English words and topics that will no longer appear on standardised tests for fear of offending students’ sensibilities. Unfortunately for them, when you accommodate an entire world of cultures in a single city, students’ sensibilities become a very broad category to cover indeed! Full list of this insanity inside!
The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory has partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to launch what will arguably become the most extensive online archive of Nelson Mandela’s life. The free global access to photos, videos, letters and personal documents about his life and times will continue to expand as people across the world add their memorabilia to the archive.
This gem popped up in our social media feed yesterday, courtesy of one humorous individual. It is a billboard that’s been displayed in London Underground stations, and it advertises cheap travel to France’s northern coast. But it’s clearly an image of Llandudno beach in Cape Town.
Greg Smith, the South African-born ex-Goldman Sachs executive who resigned this month, and went on to launch a scathing attack on Goldman’s culture in the New York Times, is seeking a deal to write a book about his experiences there.
Rael Levitt is apparently readying himself to expose widespread corruption across the auctioneering industry in an attempt to save himself, but there’s still little word on exactly where he is. All the while, other skeletons seem to be freely emerging from the cupboard too.
After South African-born Greg Smith sent a scornful resignation op-ed to the New York Times last week, Goldman Sachs will now undertake a company-wide email review. They’ll be searching for terms like “muppet”, and other things that may help to reveal disgruntled employees.
This really is quite something. One might even say a “trend” is occurring. Following the publication of a whistleblowing letter by an ex-Goldman Sachs employee in the New York Times, a second honest banker has emerged. He works at JPMorgan Chase, and wrote his letter to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Goldman Sachs lost $2,2 billion of its market value yesterday after Greg Smith – a South African-born Goldman “big shot” in Europe – chose to resign and write an opinion piece letter about Goldman’s corporate culture to the New York Times.
Nelson Mandela’s former defence lawyer, and veteran human rights lawyer, George Bizos, has written to Parliament stating that the protection of state information bill is unconstitutional on several counts.
Riaan Cruywagen will release an autobiography at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival this year. It will be available in stores from April 2. The man who knows the news before the news happens, has enjoyed a prosperous 47 years in broadcasting, of which 37 were spent as an Afrikaans newsreader.
That’s right, dying just got even easier, if you live in the Netherlands. The Levenseindekliniek, or Life-end clinic, has launched the country’s first mobile euthanasia unit that will come to you if you have been given approval to die.
At first we thought this was some kind of burlesque joke, maybe even a mashup of sorts, but we’re afraid it isn’t. Paris has actually recorded this as a music video. And it’s meant to be her “latest” single. It’s a techno collaboration with the house music production duo, Manufactured Superstars.
BBC weather forecaster, Alex Deakin, managed to predict what no other weather forecaster has previously forecast on Saturday evening’s BBC World weather report. He meant to say “sunshine”, but he definitely didn’t, and instead conjured up a very strange weather prediction indeed. N5FW.
It’s going to be harder and harder for people to believe that James Murdoch didn’t know how bad the phone and email hacking situation was at News International. New evidence has emerged showing that emails sent to James that said: “it is as bad as we feared,” were deleted days before a Scotland Yard investigation began.
Cosatu has come out guns blazing at that DA Students’ Organisation poster that has raised a few eyebrows this week. Speaking in KwaZulu-Natal yesterday, Zet Luzipo, provincial secretary for Cosatu, and no stranger to speaking his mind, slammed the poster saying: “It entrenches white supremacy that we fought against during the liberation struggle.”
A Costa Cruises executive, and a woman with an obviously cold heart, has brandished her colleagues the “true heroes” of the Costa Concordia disaster. She also accused the passengers of “sensationalism” in a letter in which she discussed the tragedy that saw the Costa Concordia cruise ship capsize off the coast of Italy.
A short while ago, Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper company agreed to pay damages to 36 high-profile victims of tabloid phone-hacking. On top of this, News Corp has acknowledged to victims that executives covered up the scale of the unlawful activity by destroying evidence and lying to investigators.