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Mboweni may head overseasPosted on 10/22/2009 at 9:02 PM - 0 Comments - Post Comment - LinkJohannesburg - South African central bank Governor Tito Mboweni, who is about to retire after 11 years in the job, took a gentle dig at his "difficult" colleagues on Thursday when making his last interest rate announcement. Fifty-year-old Mboweni, who steps down on November 6, displayed his trademark humour at a news conference, saying he was looking forward to a leisurely retirement. "I feel good. In many ways I feel relieved that I'll be a pensioner soon. I don't have to worry about having to pearl beads have many meetings with the difficult deputy governors," Mboweni said. "They are very difficult, they look very humble and well- organised and gentle now but when they are in the meetings they are the most difficult people," he added, drawing laughter from his audience. Respected by markets for steering the bank on a prudent monetary policy path during his two 5-year terms as governor, Mboweni was however vilified by the government's labour union allies who said the bank's inflation-targeting policy worsened the plight of the poor. Some analysts have speculated that the powerful unions pressured President Jacob Zuma not to extend Mboweni's tenure, but the governor reiterated on Thursday that he was asked to pearl jewelry wholesale stay on but was more than ready to bow out. "I've had a good innings here, I've enjoyed it very much (but) that which doesn't come to an end is a taboo," he said, hinting that he might explore "offshore" job opportunities. "Anything can happen. I could get a nice deployment - I was told - if I behave very well. So, maybe I just have to behave well," he said in a later interview with state broadcaster SABC. Mboweni has said in the past he may lecture at several of the country's universities during a "cooling off" period during which he cannot work for pay. He has also joked about wanting a cushy diplomatic post. Asked to freshwater pearl "cast his eye" over the outlook for South Africa, currently grappling with its first recession in 17 years, Mboweni quipped that he'd much rather cast a fishing rod. "I'm likely to be casting my flying rod over the trout waters ahead. That I can tell you about. It's going to be fascinating," Mboweni said. Stand down, UFS critics urgedPosted on 10/22/2009 at 8:58 PM - 0 Comments - Post Comment - LinkBloemfontein - Critics of the University of the Free State's recent decision to pardon the "Reitz four" should stand down, the SA Institute of Race Relations said on Thursday.Although critics may disagree with UFS Rector Jonathan Jansen's inauguration comment on one point, almost every other announcement he made might lead to wholesale pearl jewelry the transformation of higher education in South Africa, the institute's deputy CEO Frans Cronje said in a statement. "It is now time for the professor's critics to stand down." Four former students who stayed in the now-closed Reitz men's residence - RC Malherbe, Johnny Roberts, Schalk van der Merwe and Danie Grobler - filmed a mock initiation of five black staff members into hostel activities in 2007. The employees, four women and a man, were seen turquoise necklace on their hands and knees eating food which had apparently been urinated on. The students will go on trial for crimen injuria on October 26 in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court. UFS at odds with values Cronje said the incident showed the UFS was at odds with values of equality, human dignity and equal opportunity, which were central to South Africa becoming an equal society. "It required dramatic intervention in order to freshwater pearl align it with those ideals. Professor Jansen has provided the university with a roadmap to meet those ideals." Cronje said the path Jansen charted for the university also contained many elements necessary for the country's success. He commended the rector for standing his ground and refusing to be intimidated or bullied, especially by politicians. "Further to his credit is that he must have foreseen the controversy that he was courting, but had the courage of leadership to cultured pearl jewelry proceed regardless, on the grounds that he believed his action to be in the best long-term interests of the university." Jansen was recently appointed SAIRR president. Student union rejects move On Thursday more criticism of the move, which Jansen announced at his inauguration as UFS rector on Friday, was heard. The SA Union of Students (SAUS) rejected Jansen's announcement with "contempt". Whilst acts of reconciliation were highly commendable and appreciated, Jansen's move was an attempt to win the hearts and minds of "intransigent whites" within the institution, the student group said in a statement. SAUS said it was in discussions with the student representative council of UFS to biwa pearl ensure the former Reitz students would not be allowed back before "proper correctional and judicial processes" had taken place. The National Education Health and Allied Workers Union supported this call. The union said it was convinced the decision was creating more division than unity in society. Fourie: It's about the emotionPosted on 10/22/2009 at 8:56 PM - 0 Comments - Post Comment - LinkJ.J. HarmsePretoria ¨C He can probably rightly be viewed as the most influential player in South African rugby and the number of trophies he has won, is indicative of that. Even so, Fourie du Preez feels just as passionate about the Currie Cup as he did in 2001 when he represented the Blue Bulls for the first time as leisure chairs a 19-year-old. And while he has sipped champagne from the cup, he is very thirsty as the Bulls have not won the trophy outright since 2004. They shared it with the Cheetahs in 2006. ¡°It is one of those unique aspects of South African rugby. The emotion the Currie Cup stirs in you, you won¡¯t find anywhere else,¡± said the 27-year-old in spelling out his motivation for next Saturday¡¯s final against the Cheetahs. Du Preez is also extremely competitive and refuses to lose, even on the golf course. That is one of the reasons that he is so successful at international level ¨C he simply wants to freshwater pearl be the world¡¯s best scrumhalf. It is even more intense at provincial level as he is a dyed in the wool Blue Bull. His father, Fourie du Preez sr, played for the team in the late 1960s when they won the Currie Cup. The Cheetahs will have to be on their guard for the driven scrumhalf, even though a mistake in the 2005 final led to the visitors unexpectedly winning. A seemingly harmless high kick landed between Du Preez and fullback Johan Roets, and Meyer Bosman was allowed in to score the winning points. Since then, Du Preez has showed why he is so highly rated. In the World Cup group match between the Springboks and England in 2007 he destroyed the English with three flashes of individual brilliance inside 18 minutes. The Chiefs received even less mercy. Du Preez was even more clinical in the Super14 final and it took him only 7 minutes to pearl strand wholesale rip the heart out of the visitors with 2 tries. ¡°The Cheetahs are a side that does not give up easily,¡± said Du Preez, dismissing thoughts of an easy win. ¡°However, we showed in the Super14 match in Bloemfontein last year that we are capable of posting a big score against them.¡± Kids' killing not about revengePosted on 10/22/2009 at 8:52 PM - 0 Comments - Post Comment - LinkCape Town - Former police officer Marius van der Westhuizen was on Thursday granted leave to appeal a 24-year jail sentence for killing his three children.He appeared in the Western Cape High Court, before Judge Willem Louw, who also granted him leave to freshwater pearl necklace appeal his three murder convictions. The judge extended his bail, pending the outcome of the appeals, despite strong objections by prosecutor Mornay Julius. Louw said he was satisfied the convictions were correct, and that the jail sentence was not "gruesome", as contended by defence attorney Milton de la Harpe. Qualified for minimum sentence However, it was reasonably possible that the Supreme Court of Appeal might conclude otherwise, he said. Van der Westhuizen had in fact qualified for the minimum sentence of 15 years on each of the three murder charges, that had not been planned or premeditated. Had the seriousness of the murders been the only factors to coral necklace consider, the minimum sentence would in fact have been imposed. Louw said Van der Westhuizen had shot dead his three children to punish his wife, Charlotte, also a police officer, for having lied to him. Minutes before the shootings, Van der Westhuizen had given his wife the ultimatum to choose between her job, or him and their family. She responded that she was unable to make such a choice, which Van der Westhuizen had understood to potato pearl mean that she had chosen her job over her husband, home and family. 'You made your choice' The judge said Van der Westhuizen had been firm in the belief that a husband was the head of the household, and as such had to be respected by his wife. He said Van der Westhuizen had then taken his service pistol, and with each shot at the children had said to his wife: "You made your choice - now you must face the consequences." After the first child, asleep in bed, had been shot dead, the wife had begged him to stop, which had given Van der Westhuizen time to pearl strand come to his senses. Instead, he proceeded to the second child's bedroom, then to the third. The judge said: "The shootings were not about revenge, as in an eye-for-and-eye, and in passing sentence the court has to consider the severe shock that the mother suffered as she witnessed her husband shoot dead their own children." Party politics 1st, delivery 2ndPosted on 10/22/2009 at 8:47 PM - 0 Comments - Post Comment - LinkJohannesburg - Poor co-ordination between the three spheres of government and political interference in local government were two key factors hampering delivery at municipal level, a local government indaba heard on Thursday.Executive director of the Democracy Development Programme, Rama Naidu, said the needs of communities were often "relegated to the backburner" due to game machines inter and intra party political struggles at municipal level. "Political interference is a critical problem... we have to look at to what extent we are willing to have our own agendas scrutinised in order to improve the lives of our people," he said. He was speaking on the sidelines of the indaba in Boksburg. A state of local government report released at the indaba identified a "contested political/administrative interface" at local government level which caused instability. Other problems The report also freshwater pearl jewelry identified deployment issues, a lack of distinction between councils and administrations and poor political management as some of the root causes of this problem. Another cause was "no clear framework or lack of understanding of party-municipal relations". Fezile Dabi District Municipality human resources director, Gilford Mxoli, said some political parties attempted to influence recruitment processes, despite this being an administrative function. This posed a problem especially in light of the high number of vacancies in many municipalities. Mxoli said many problems municipalities in his district faced were directly linked to high levels of poverty and unemployment. The backlogs, in electricity, water and the delivery of other services, arose due to a lack of capacity and the finances to pearl strand wholesale build that capacity. The non-alignment of the local municipalities to the district also posed a problem. This went further with poor co-ordination between local government, provincial and national government, he said. Political will needed Dudu Mazibuko, mayor of the Emnambithi Municipality, said the political will to improve services had to be strengthened. She added that councillors needed better training to respond to challenges such as unemployment - which many communities looked to their municipalities to assist with. People failed to pay for services as they are unemployed which led to financial constraints on municipalities. Councillor at the Dihlabeng Municipality, Thoko Tshabalala, said the indaba was an eye-opener in many ways and assisted her to multi-strands pearl necklace think of better ways to do things. "It showed how important communication with the community is... and [the importance of] ward committees working together," she said. "They have to work hand in glove with councillors." All about the money A Matatiele councillor, who preferred to remain anonymous, said local government problems could be solved with money. "People always talk about capacity but they don't always say capacity is money. If you have money, you can do anything," he said. Spetho Eloff from the Pixley Kaseme Municipality said capacity was a major challenge because money was allocated to municipalities in relation to pearl necklace how many people lived in the area instead of the vastness of the area. "This is a problem... they don't take into account the size of the area... this formula must change," he said. Green paper The co-operative governance department would be submitting a green paper on a more "co-operative" format of governing, Shiceka said during the indaba. This would be aimed at boosting co-ordination and co-operation between the three spheres of government. Plans were afoot to revitalise the ailing local government arm of government - which has seen dissatisfied residents taking to the streets to voice their frustration and anger. The indaba wrapped up on Thursday with a declaration to guide government's turn-around strategy for this sector. |
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