Imaverick 05 September 2011

monday 5 september 2011
Index
a day In pIctures
It happened overnIght
south afrIca
afrIca
World
BusIness
lIfe, etc
sport
Index
monDAY 5 september 2011
A DAY IN PICTURES
tuesDAY 30 AuGust 2011
a day in pictures croatia / south korea
Blanka Vlasic of Croatia competes during the women's high jump qualifying event at the
IAAF World Championships in Daegu September 1, 2011. REUTERS/Phil Noble
a day in pictures jamaica / south korea
Damar Forbes of Jamaica competes in the men's long jump qualifying event at the IAAF
World Championships in Daegu September 1, 2011. REUTERS/Max Rossi
a day in pictures nevada, us
A participant during the Burning Man 2011 "Rites of Passage" arts and music festival in the
Black Rock desert of Nevada, August 31, 2011. More than 50,000 people from all over the
world have gathered at the sold out festival which is celebrating its 25th year.
REUTERS/Jim Bourg
a day in pictures china
Students play on their beds covered by mosquito nets inside their dormitory at Yangguang
primary school in Feidong county, Anhui province August 31, 2011. Founded in 2006, the
school was the frst civilian-run boarding school for "leftover children" whose parents left
their hometown to earn a living. It currently has 10 teachers and a total of 303 students
from the age of 3 to 14, local media reported. Picture taken August 31, 2011. REUTERS/
Stringer
a day in pictures us
Paula Davis commemorated the ffth anniversary of Justin's death in Afghanistan with a
ceremony where she also had a religious memorial service and laid a wreath at the Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier in his honour. Justin had vowed to his mom he'd never forget
his childhood memories of September 11 and enlisted in the U.S. Army one week after
graduating from high school. REUTERS/Larry Downing
a day in pictures ukraine / south korea
Olha Saladuha of Ukraine competes in the women's triple jump fnal at the IAAF World
Championships in Daegu September 1, 2011. REUTERS/Phil Noble
IT HAPPENED OVERNIGHT
briefs it happened overnight
MONDAY - 5 SEPTEMBER 2011
Mitt Romney (Reuters)
politics
libya
The Globe and Mail has
uncovered documents which
it claims show that China sold
$200 million in weaponry to
the Gaddaf regime, in spite
of United Nations sanctions
prohibiting it from doing so.
Apparently, the documents,
all written in Arabic, propose
the arms enter Libya through a
third country such as Brazil or
South Africa. The transitional
national council has said that
countries which continued
to do business with Gaddaf
would have a hard time doing
business with Libyas new
government.
Usa
The most moderate of the
Republican presidential
candidate, Mitt Romney,
was slightly embarrassed by
a small group of Tea Party
members who heckled him
during a visit. Romney has
recently begun to court the
Tea Party after his rival,
Rick Perry, shot up the polls
on their support. Romney
hasnt quite picked up that
its trickier picking up non-
traditional support than
merely showing up. Just ask
Helen Zille.
egypt
The frst witnesses in the trial
of ex-Egyptian dictator Hosni
Mubarak, four of whom were
involved in police operations
against protestors, have been
called to testify. Ten lawyers
from Kuwait are set to join
the defence team. At a press
conference yesterday the new
batch of sharks said it was to
thank Mubarak for forming
part of a US-led coalition,
which got Iraqis out of
Kuwait. One of them was then
attacked by a protester.
sUdan
The Sudanese government has
banned the main opposition
party in the country, the
Sudan Peoples Liberation
Movement. This comes after
government troops were
locked in combat against
supporters of a SPLM governor
last week.
germany
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel lost an election in her
home state of Mecklenberg-
Western Pomerania with the
Social Democrats winning
36.1% of the vote and her
coalition, the Christian
Democratic Union pulling in
23.3%. Merkels party has lost
ground in every state election
this year, largely due to her
policy of maintaining European
unity (by bailing out countries
with taxpayers dosh).
UK
Alistair Darling has revealed
the tensions between
himself and Mervyn King,
the governor of the Bank of
England, when they were
both serving under the
administration of Gordon
Brown. There was always
going to be tension when one
person is shouting give me
more money at someone who
replies were going to run out.
libya
The transitional national
council has claimed it is sure
that Khamis, son of Muammar
Gaddaf, is dead. This is the
third time this claim has been
made, but this time it claims it
has a source which saw Khamis
being buried alongside the son
of Gaddafs intelligence chief.
We remain sceptical.
yemen
Five demonstrators were
wounded by Yemeni
government forces as the
government tried to block
roads into the capital of Sanaa,
keeping demonstrators on
the outskirts of the city. Even
if the protestors could get
in, the Yemeni capital has
no electricity or fuel, so its
ground to a halt anyway.
bolivia
Cars were taken of the streets
of Bolivia yesterday in the
nations frst ever Day of the
Pedestrian. This is solely to
preserve the green credentials
of President Evo Morales, who
currently plans to build a big-
ass highway straight through
a rainforest - which many are
unhappy about.
Usa
US President Barack Obama
has pledged aid for the victims
of Hurricane Irene while he
tours the parts of the USA
which the hurricane donnered
the most. It looks like the
federal government will have
to cough up about $10 billion.
nigeria
Another religion-related attack
has occurred in Nigeria, say
state ofcials. In this instance,
a group of Muslims hacked a
family of eight Christians to
death. Earlier in the day, police
found an unexploded bomb in
a crowded market place.
bUsiness
Samsung will not display
its Galaxy Tab at one of the
worlds biggest trade shows in
Berlin as sales of the product
are blocked in Germany
in patent-related lawsuits:
an issue which is afecting
Samsung globally.
Khamis Gaddaf (Reuters)
sport
tennis
Rafael Nadal sufered an
injury scare while at a press
conference after beating David
Nalbandian in straight sets.
He should be fne to fnish
the tournament, though.
Andy Roddick made it to the
fourth round as did David
Ferrer, Gilles Muller, youngster
Donald Young, Andy Murray
and John Isner. Juan Martin
del Porto, a former champion,
crashed out to Gilles Simon of
France 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6. For
the women, Peng Shuai was
beaten by the Flavia Pannetta
and Sam Stosur beat Maria
Kirilenko. Coming up will
be Vera Zvonereva vs Sabine
Lisicki.
rUgby
Axed Kiwi winger, Hosea Gear,
will go back to provincial
rugby after he failed to make
the New Zealand team for the
World Cup. However, Gear
will move from the Wellington
Hurricanes to the Otago
Highlanders.
golf
Bubba Watson leads the fnal
round of the Deutsche Bank
Championship sitting at -11,
a shot ahead of fve players:
Jason Day, Brendan Steele,
Chez Reavie, Jerry Kelly and
Adam Scott. South Africas
Charl Schwartzel is in the
running at -9, Ernie Els is at -7,
but Rory Sabbatini is hauling
in the rear of the feld at +1.
life
Usa
Eddie Murphy has been
shortlisted to host the
Oscars next year, according
to Deadline Hollywood as
producers return to the one-
man comedy which has been
so successful in the past, unlike
last years two-pronged team
of Anne Hathaway and James
Franco, or the team of Steve
Martin and Alec Baldwin. Bring
back Billy Crystal!
france
Carla Bruni, wife of French
president Nicolas Sarkozy, has
said that the couples frst child
(although Sarkozys fourth
and her second), due in a few
weeks, will remain a private
afair. Bruni said she will not
give photographs to the press
and regretted letting media
take photos of her son in 2008.
canada
A United Airlines plane
skidded of the runway when
leaving Ottawa, but all 44
passengers were fne, in spite
of damage to the outside of the
aircraft. Last year the same
thing happened, but in a fight
with nearly 150 people.
Rafael Nadal (Reuters)
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SOUTH AFRICA
briefs south africa
Jsc endorses presidents
choice for chief Justice
The Judicial Service
Commission has reportedly
voted in favour of Judge
Mogoeng Mogoeng as the
next Constitutional Court
chief justice. Mogoeng faced
an unprecedented two-day
televised grilling where he
sought to answer his critics
and make a case for his
getting the top job in the
judiciary. There were some
tense and awkward moments
throughout the interview,
which was ultimately heralded
as a victory for an open and
accessible judiciary.
Zuma: too many police
murders
President Jacob Zuma said
on Sunday that there were
still too many police ofcers
being killed in the line of
duty. He made the remarks
at the national day of
commemoration in Pretoria.
He urged members of the
police force to wear their bullet
proof vests at all times and to
be vigilant when responding to
reports of crime.
oil spill on cape town
beach
Crude oil leaked from the
stranded Seli One carrier onto
the beaches of Bloubergstrand
in Cape Town on Saturday and
continued through Sunday. The
oil is reported to have killed
two seal pups and two birds.
The Koeberg nuclear reactor is
also on alert as the spill may
threaten its water intake basin.
Most of the oil was removed
from the Seli One when it ran
aground in 2009 and some of
the remaining oil, thought to
be negligible, leaked out as
a result of recent turbulent
conditions at sea.
south africas rich get
richer
Patrice Motsepe tops the
Sunday Times annual rich
President Zuma (Reuters)
briefs south africa
list for the frst time. The
paper put Motsepes net
worth at R23 billion, putting
him above previous-richest
Lakshmi Mittal, chairman
and CEO of ArcelorMittal.
There are 28 billionaires on
the list, down from 31 last
year. Shoprite CEO Whitey
Basson earned R2.5 million a
day last year and BHP Billion
CEO Marius Kloppers earned
43% more than the previous
year, with a remuneration of
R77.53 million. The wealth
of the countrys top 100
richest people has grown by
62.19% and can almost over
the countrys budget defcit,
according to the list.
boy in facebook racist
picture found
City Press reported that the
little boy shown in the profle
picture of a Facebook user
called Eugene Terrorblache
is alive and well. The paper
tracked him down to Bloemhof
where his father explained
that the picture was taken as
a joke and that the white man
in the photo posing next to
the prostrate boy like a hunter
with his kill is not a racist.
The Hawks are reviewing
the case docket to determine
whether the matter warrants
further investigation.
racial tensions in the da?
The Sunday Independent
reported that racial tensions
have fared up in the race for
chairmanship of the Democratic
Alliances Gauteng south region.
The paper reported that the DAs
youth leader Khume Ramulifo
was berated in a letter from the
regional leader to the national
executive for using the race
card in the partys internal
elections and for contesting
the elections in the media. The
DA had previously come under
fre for appointing an all-white
executive a claim that has not
been disproved despite claims of
being the most diverse party
in South Africa.
DA leader Hellen Zille (Reuters)
briefs south africa
fransman denies being
talked out of cope
defection
ANC Western Cape leader
Marius Fransman denied that
he and Ebrahim Rasool were
among the high-level party
members who were talked out
of joining Cope during the
split in 2009. A WikiLeaks
cable released last week said
that former ANC provincial
chairman Chris Nissen told
US consular staf that he had
talked the pair out of defecting
as a result of factionalism
in the province. Nissen also
allegedly approached Mosiuoa
Lekota, who is now locked in a
leadership tussle for Cope with
Mbhazima Shilowa.
tennis legend bob hewitt
accused of child abuse
South African tennis great Bob
Hewitt is reportedly under
investigation for child abuse in
the US, and some of the South
African women he allegedly
abused when they were young
girls are now speaking out.
The Boston Globe reported
that one of his accusers
had fled a police report
in Massachusetts. Hewitt
reportedly declined to look
at the report when the Globe
confronted him with it at his
home in Addo. Eyewitness
News reported that the South
African Tennis Association
said it would cooperate with
authorities should a criminal
investigation be launched.
new r3.5 million statue
for king shaka
A new, presumably more-
kingly looking statue of Shaka
Zulu will be built to replace
the one removed from the
Durban airport. The new
statue will reportedly cost
R3.5 million. The old statue
was removed after the Zulu
royal family complained that
it was too small and looked
like a herdboy. The new
statue will be created by artist
Peter Hall after the creator of
the original, Andries Botha,
declined further involvement.
Zuma to dissolve anc
youth league executive?
City Press reported that ANC
president Jacob Zuma plans to
dissolve the entire ANC Youth
League executive and replace
it with a 25-member interim
leadership. The paper said Zuma
will present the case to the
national executive that the youth
league cannot function as its
leadership is currently involved
in a disciplinary hearing. If
these reports prove true, expect
freworks as it is unlikely that the
frebrands of the youth league
will take this lying down.
Photo: Reuters
south africa parliament
secrecy Bill could Be first Big one for mogoeng
Lobby groups and opposition parties now be-
lieve its almost certain that the already noto-
rious Protection of Information Bill will pass
through the national assembly and the national
council of provinces lacking an important
clause which would keep journalists and whis-
tleblowers out of jail if they disclosed classifed
information in the public interest.
The groups say the bill is unconstitutional
without this defence. On Monday the parliamen-
tary committee dealing with the bill is set to vote
on it as a whole, after all of last week was spent
voting on the bill clause by clause.
The committee still has to deal with the
amendment to the memorandum to the bill,
which sets out the objectives as well as the f-
nancial implications, which have not yet been
calculated. This could cause yet more contro-
versy. The DA and other opposition parties have
said they would petition President Jacob Zuma
A challenge to the Protection of Information Bill, if its signed into law, will be one of the frst cases
that will come before chief justice nominee Mogoeng Mogoeng, if he is appointed. But frst, the bill
needs some fnishing touches. CARIEN DU PLESSIS reports.
to send the bill to the Constitutional Court if it
passed through Parliament without providing
for a public interest defence.
Parliament has not yet scheduled a date for
the debate on the bill, and the process could still
take a few weeks at least.
If the appointment of Justice Mogoeng Mogo-
eng, who was interviewed by the Judicial Service
Council this weekend, goes ahead, he would be
heading the Constitutional Court when the bill
comes before it.
Judge Mogoeng would, however, not have any
special infuence on the courts ruling on the
bill, as the opinion of all 11 judges in the
Constitutional Court have equal weight. Former
Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, for instance, dif-
fered from his colleagues on where the Hawks
crime-fghting unit should be located, but he
was in the minority and the ruling went the
other way.
south africa patrice motsepe
patrice motsepe is sas richest man
African Rainbow Minerals executive chairman
Patrice Motsepe is now worth R22.99 billion,
ofcially making him the richest man in South
Africa for the frst time ever. This was according
to the Sunday Times Rich List, which is com-
piled by the independent research organisation
Who Owns Whom.
Motsepe ousted Lakshmi Mittal, the chief
executive of ArcelorMittal, from the top spot.
The list takes into consideration only publicly
available information on South African invest-
ments, which explains how the second-richest
man in Europe can be worth less than Motsepe.
Mittals stake in ArcelorMittal SA is now worth
R20.87 billion.
Third on the list was Nicky Oppenheimer
For the frst time ever, African Rainbow Minerals executive chairman Patrice Motsepe topped the
annual Sunday Times rich list. The overall trend in the list mirrors that of the rest of the world: the rich
are getting much, much richer than before. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.
at R11.1 billion; fourth was Shoprite chairman
Christo Wise at R10.73 billion; and FirstRand
founder Laurie Dippenaar came in at ffth with
a value of R3.05 billion.
The list didnt take into consideration all of
the holdings of these billionaires, such as Mot-
sepes Mamelodi Sundowns football club.
The Sunday Times also reported that there
are two fewer rand billionaires than last year,
at 28. In two years, the net worth of the top 20
has gone from R70.57 billion to R152.72 billion.
To put that in perspective, the family of Carlos
Slim Hel, the richest man in the world accord-
ing to Forbes, is worth R518.63 billion.

read more:
1. Motsepe tops Sunday Times Rich List, on
BusinessLive Photo: REUTERS
south africa cope
Dexter Done with communicating cope maybe
After a year of infghting and a furry of resigna-
tions from the party, it was a bit of a non-story,
and didnt even make the Sunday papers:
Cope spokesperson and MP Phillip Dexter this
week made moves to walk out of his job as
party communicator.
Apparently it had nothing to do with the par-
tys faction fghts between Cope leader Mosiuoa
Lekota and wannabe leader, Mbhazima Shilowa
(who is still waiting for his day in court to chal-
lenge his suspension from the party), but more to
do with job satisfaction.
Insiders said Dexter has been asking for more
support in his role, but he hasnt really received
any. On top of that hes been going through a
tough time in his personal life, fnalising his
messy, drawn-out divorce case.
Cope spokesman Phillip Dexter is apparently trying to resign as party communications head, although
he will continue Cope-ing. For now at least. CARIEN DU PLESSIS reports.
The partys top leaders in the form of the
Congress Working Committee still have to ac-
cept his resignation at their meeting this week,
but they are unlikely to. It is expected that the
leaders will try to promise more communica-
tions support for Dexter, but its not clear how
he will react.
He refused to comment when contacted on
Sunday, but according to reports, the partys act-
ing general secretary Deirdre Carter confrmed
that he had handed in a letter of resignation. Dex-
ter gave the letter to Lekota last Tuesday.
Dexter is an experienced spokesperson. Before
he joined Cope he spoke for the SACP.
Meanwhile it was left to fellow Cope MP
Dennis Bloem to communicate at a party press
conference in Johannesburg on Sunday about
the proposed toll roads in the province.

Photo: REUTERS
south africa judge mogoeng
haters and sycophants split over
mogoeng at hearing
For the morning session of the Judicial Service
Commissions sitting there was standing-room
only, but by late Saturday the audience had
slimmed down considerably. They were a mixed
bag. Everyones favourite law professor, Pierre
de Vos, sat next to former Constitutional Court
judge Kate O'Regan, who took detailed notes
throughout. Patricia de Lille was there too, later
tweeting that she had come away with
the conclusion that Mogoeng was an apologist
for rapists.
This weekend Cape Town's lavish International Convention Centre played host to two quite different
types of events. The public interview of Mogoeng Mogoeng succeeded in attracting only a fraction of
the crowd intent on expanding their scatter-cushion collection at the Homemaker's Expo next door.
REBECCA DAVIS describes what went down.
Photo: Oupa Knosi for M&G
Many others were activists from gender and
gay rights-focused NGOs, with the Treatment
Action Campaign bussing in a large group to
protest outside the building. The public had
been warned in advance that no statements
could be made and no placards carried inside
the room, but activist groups had circulated
invitations to the hearing on email and social
networks, encouraging their supporters to
judge mogoeng south africa
attend and wear slogan T-shirts. Few were
visible, although one woman sat draped in a
rainbow fag, a silent notifcation to Mogoeng
Mogoeng that he was under hostile observation
from the gay community. Someone shouted
Down with gender violence! shortly before
the hearing began, but that was the last peep
heard out of the well-behaved audience, many
of whom were live-tweeting the event.
South Africas Twitter users tweeted the hell
out of the interview, christening the man who
would be Chief Justice MoMo and monitoring
with amusement a hufy spat playing out on
the social network between Helen Zille and
Sunday Times columnist Ndumiso Ngcobo.
(Ngcobo suggested that Zille only opposed
Mogoengs nomination because she couldnt
pronounce his surname. Zille experienced a
sense-of-humour failure about this, telling him
she was "shocked" and "disappointed". An argy-
bargy exchange followed, culminating in the
rather extraordinary fnal retort from Zille, who
seemed to be briefy channelling a 12-year-old:
Whateva. Bored now.)
Within the hearing room, Mogoengs
presence also served as a catalyst for discord. If
nothing else, the weekend was an eye-opener
regarding the divisions within the Judicial
Services Commission. Its members struggled
to agree on pretty much anything, including
the question of whether the proceedings
should be carried out publicly in the frst
place. As has been widely reported, the tension
between Mogoeng and Deputy Chief Justice
Dikgang Moseneke was at points unnervingly
evident. Moseneke was in a tight spot: publicly
interviewing the man who might be his boss,
and needing to be seen to do a proper job of it.
This notion the appearance of thoroughness
was clearly on his mind: he concluded the frst
days proceedings by saying that nobody can
say we havent done our bit.
Moseneke, whose popularity grows daily in
a manner which is directly commensurate with
the expanding fears about Mogoeng, didnt go
easy. He testily drew attention to the fact that
Mogoengs initial statement was simply a public
reading of his previously-submitted report,
and at various points implored him to hurry
up. The moment when he asked Mogoeng why
he believed he was the presidents choice had
a poignant subtext why not me? but there
were few occasions on which he betrayed any
bitterness. Concluding the Saturday morning
session with a rhetorical inquiry into whether
Mogoeng had the requisite intellectual depth
as has been widely reported, the tension between mogoeng
and deputy chief justice dikgang moseneke was at points
unnervingly evident. moseneke was in a tight spot: publicly
interviewing the man who might be his boss, and needing
to be seen to do a proper job of it.
judge mogoeng south africa
was a masterstroke. Raising the question
automatically means you have doubts as to the
answer, and the timing ensured that it was the
major thing on the audiences mind as they
trooped out for lunch.
The hearing at times had the favour of
a criminal trial rather than a job interview.
Mogoeng had a few odd turns of phrase,
referring to the gay and lesbian people and
repeatedly referencing something called
homopheabia. This might seem like a churlish
point to make about someone for whom English
is not a frst language, but it is relevant because
the jurist has been criticised for the language of
his judgments as much as their rulings. It was
not difcult to imagine Mogoeng on the priests
pulpit on a Sunday: he had a preachermans
style of oratory, frequently dropping his voice
to a kind of intense whisper when making a
particularly passionate point. And boy, was he
defensive on a number of occasions setting
up totally artifcial straw men in order to tear
them down. I am not a terrible person, he
insisted at one point. My church is not the
Ku Klux Klan. What a relief. He waxed lyrical
about traditional courts, evoking a kind of rural
idyll where everyone walks to the courts, and
he suggested South Africa look to Botswana
and Arizonas legal systems for inspiration.
Botswana, where public fogging still happens;
and Arizona, where there are currently 133
people on death row.
The panellists varied wildly in the tone and
content of their questioning. Justice Minister
Jef Radebe used the platform to express
his sympathy for Mogoeng, reading out his
achievements and inviting him to tell the
audience about his passion for extending legal
services. Mogoeng was repeatedly thanked
by the ANC panellists for his dignifed
silence and fortitude in the face of the nasty
medias horrible words about him. Possibly
unfortunately, given the racial dimension
to some of the opposition to Mogoeng, the
harshest panellists were the whiteys. Engela
Schlemmer expressed her unease with his
lack of experience. CP Fourie grilled him about
his endearingly quirky little habit of defending
judgments by referencing Bible verses. And
Koos van der Merwe went all out, describing
him as "so arrogant" on Saturday and on Sunday
following up with an invitation to Mogoeng to
kindly remove himself from consideration.
Its hard to know whether Mogoeng will have
won any new fans from the public through his
performance, spirited though it was. He took
every possible opportunity to lay it on thick
about his hatred for rapists, tolerance of the gays
and love for women at one point actually saying
I am a man who loves women, giving him at
least one thing in common with JZ but when
the agenda for the hearing was read out, it was a
pretty disturbing indictment in itself. We have
gender sensitivity, we have homophobia, we have
the issue of religious faith, Moseneke summed
up. A rather chilling list of concerns about the
man who may be given the most important legal
post in the country.
Yet the concerns of activists are unlikely to
count for very much now. With the JSC having
voted 16 to seven in favour of Mogoeng, he takes
a big step forward on the road to assuming the
mantle of Chief Justice. But is anyone really
surprised? After all, its what God wants.
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judge mogoeng grootes assessment
mogoeng: a 'divine ChoiCe' and
other worrisomes
Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng is not an urban
sophisticate. Thats not necessarily a bad thing.
But it is something we should know about him.
He also has a thin skin. During the two-day
meeting of the Judiciary Services Commission
in Cape Town this weekend, he made damn
sure everyone knew that he had been unfairly
criticised in an unprecedented fashion. He
Watching someone for two days does not give you a complete picture of the person, their character, their
sense of self, or even some of their more cherished beliefs; still, it can give you a good idea, especially
about how they react when they are under pressure. You get a sense of what makes them get up in the
morning, of where they will take the country if they get to be in charge of the one of crucial branches of
the state. We failed to be impressed. By STEPHEN GROOTES.
Photo: Oupa Nkosi for M&G.
used the world unprecedented a lot, in fact,
all the time. As though something, if new, must
be bad or wrong. That may not be an entirely
unfair way to characterise him, though: hes
not someone who likes change. Or criticism.
Mogoeng spoke about his ruling in the McBride
Case in which he said dignity is as important
as freedom of expression. He pointed out that
he was reminded of this when he saw some of
the cartoons and reports about me recently.
Oh please. Welcome to the big time. Thats
what public life in this country entails. Its a
vibrant place. You need sharp elbows. Grow up.
Just before the hearing started there was a
small protest by a group of HIV campaigners
(not sure how else to refer to them, as they
were wearing purple HIV T-shirts and singing
songs about sexism). I cant help but think
there might have been a more constructive, and
perhaps more appropriate, way of protesting.
That might have really given us an answer to
the question that hung over this entire hearing.
Is Mogoeng homophobic in the sense that he
is scared of gay people? Is he anti-gay, in that
homosexuality is a disease, something that,
God forbid, could even be contagious?
Or is he just forgetful when it comes to writing
dissenting judgments, like the one in Le Roux
vs Dey that involved images of gay sex? We
didnt get a complete answer.
The Judicial Service Commission did several
dances around this question. But in the end it
went down to that usual tango of This is what
I believe followed by the chorus We dont
believe you. You know, like in Parliament.
Then we have Mogoeng the man from
the small town. He spoke movingly about
his escape from poverty, the life his mother
endured. The size of Mafkeng (where he served
at Judge President of the North West for seven
years) was shown in a fnal set of questions
by the IFPs Koos van der Merwe. Mogoeng
admitted the entire division has just six judges,
and around 30 advocates. Van der Merwe
pointed out that the North Gauteng High Court
alone has 30 judges.
What this means is that Mogoeng is used
to being a massive fsh in a small pond. Hes
now moving up in the world, but he hasnt
necessarily had time to learn all the lessons
that one should in that process. I must admit
to a certain urban bias to this. And yet,
Mogoeng is probably far more resonant to
the people of South Africa than I am. But I
do expect lawyers and judges to be the most
sophisticated people there are. In short, I
expect their punchlines to be in Latin. Thats
not the case here. Perhaps there is a strong
case for saying thats how it should be, that
Mogoeng is actually what we need.
Im not convinced of that, however. Most
of the lawyers and judges hell deal with will
come from oceans, not puddles. He needs to
oh please.
welcome to the
big time. thats
what public life
in this country
entails. its a
vibrant place.
You need sharp
elbows. grow up.
manage them well. He also needs to know that
in a bigger pond, people bump up against each
other; there is not the same amount of space,
its crowded. He should swim carefully. An
abrasive style is not a good thing.
And an abrasive style he has. You could
hear a pin drop when he told the Deputy
Chief Justice: You dont have to be sarcastic,
Sir. It was the mark of a man whos lost his
temper. And that was relatively early in the
proceedings. It wasnt the losing of a temper in
a volcanic, Julius Malema style, but it was very
un-judicial. It should never have happened.
He apologised, several times. But the damage
was done. Losing ones temper in public in
front of microphones and cameras is a mistake
that can never be undone. It has been, and it
will be, replayed endlessly. And it does show a
certain temperament.
Mogoeng is nothing if not confdent. Hes
a short man, but theres a slight swagger to
him. Its the confdence that may come from
walking with God behind you. One of the more
telling moments came when van der Merwe
(who really has a gift for this sort of thing)
asked Mogoeng if it was true that he had told
a colleague (sadly unnamed) that he believed
God wanted you to be Chief Justice. It really
was an amazing question and an astonishing
thing to say.
The problem that a religious person faces
when asked such a question, is that they are
bound to tell the truth. And they want to tell the
truth. Thats what their faith demands of them.
Its also because they are proud of it, its what
defnes them. And it certainly defnes Mogoeng.
I want you to know, he said, I am one of
those people who believes there is a God, and
God does speak, so when a position such as
this one comes up, knowing my limitations
without Gods strength I will fail, and fail
dismally. I prayed, and I got a signal that it was
the right thing to do.
So God wants you to be Chief Justice
followed up van der Merwe.
I think so came the reply.
The nature of that signal wasnt exactly
clear. But this is really the nub of the problem.
Its not that someone has beliefs that is an
issue. As Mogoeng has rightly pointed out,
mogoeng is nothing if not confdent. hes a
short man, but theres a slight swagger to
him. its the confdence that may come from
walking with god behind you.
there are judges all over the world who are
religious. Muslim candidates for a judgeship
at the JSC could probably expect to face the
question about what comes frst, God, or the
law. The issue is the brand of religion. Are you
a Christian or a Klu Klux Klanner? A Muslim or
a member of Al Qaeda? One mans religion is
another mans poison, one womans Pius
(I was wondering how long it would take you to
use that word in a story about chief justices
Ed.) is another womans freakily happy-clappy.
Mogoeng said many times that the law comes
frst, the Constitution comes frst.
But religion, and God, seem to be such a big
part of his life that its hard to take him purely
at face value. In short, his particular brand of
religion would seem to demand that he, in fact,
place it before his duty to uphold the law and
the Constitution.
In the fnal analysis, it was never going to
matter. The JSC was always going to confrm
Mogoeng. So what kind of chief justice will
he make?
His real power is not going to come on the
Constitutional Court. Hes likely to continue
to be very quiet on the bench. His real power
is going to be chairing meetings of the JSC.
Moseneke used his powers as JSC chair with
great afect, nudging, pushing, making sure
questions were asked, and, more crucially,
answered. Mogoeng is someone for whom
respect is very important. That doesnt
augur well for those who enjoy a good rough
cross-examination in their hearings. It would
appear to mean that candidates will be more
protected than they have been. And this will
extend to those judges who are brought up on
disciplinary issues.
Mogoeng is also likely to have a higher
profle than previous chief justices. He likes
the limelight. In a way, and this is an unfair
comparison to both of them, hes going to be
a little like Tito Mboweni on speed. Hugely
important, but often saying things he shouldnt.
It will be rather entertaining, but possibly
rather damaging all round. The fip side, and
this could happen, is that Mogoeng may turn
out to be independent. He has all the signs of
not enjoying being pushed around. And at some
point the politics may push him one way, but
his higher master may push the other. Maybe
this could backfre on Zuma after all.
Grootes is an EWN reporter.
his real power is not
going to come on the
Constitutional Court.
hes likely to continue
to be very quiet on
the bench. his real
power is going to be
chairing meetings of
the jsC... ...mogoeng
is someone for whom
respect is very
important.
anc youth league south africa
monDAY - 5 september 2011
youth league to party even as its
world is ending
The kids are really putting the ANC
disciplinarians through their paces. The
legal team of ANC Youth League leader Julius
Malema and his fellow league ofcials have
persuaded the mother bodys disciplinary
committee to postpone disciplinary hearings
until next Sunday, a day before the Leagues
The ANC Youth League is way beyond retirement age, but the unprecedented disciplinary action its
leaders are facing will energise its 67th birthday celebrations like never before. CARIEN DU PLESSIS
puts on her party hat.
Photo: Phillp de Wet for iMaverick.
birthday on 12 September.
The disciplinary committee is expected to
hand down judgment frst on the charge that
Malema and his fellow four League ofcials
deputy president Ronald Lamola, secretary-
general Sindiso Magaqa, his deputy Kenetswe
Mosenogi and treasurer Pule Mabe stormed
a meeting of the ANCs top six ofcials, and
then it will listen to Malemas case over the next
three days.
Its been reported that in their hearing
on Friday the youngsters used the defence
that ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe
invited them to the ofce to come and see for
themselves that their meeting with the ANC
ofcials had been cancelled.
Another story claimed Mantashe had ofered
the young lions fruit at the meeting, but these
turned out to be poisoned in the metaphorical
sense of course.
Meanwhile League spokeswoman Magdalene
Moonsamy confrmed that the Leagues plans
for its birthday celebrations would go ahead. She
said there was a programme for activities in all
provinces, but she did not have the details with her.
On 18 August the Leagues national working
committee declared it would unveil details of
mass protests next Monday, on its birthday.
This would include marches by young people,
unemployed youth and informal settlement
dwellers on strategic sectors of the economy,
which it listed as the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange, the Chamber of Mines, AgriSA and
the Union Buildings.
The League was criticised for the chaos that
broke out on Tuesday, the frst day of Malemas
hearing, when stones and other objects were
hurled at journalists and police, and when a
crowd of Malemas supporters attempted to storm
Luthuli House. City Press reported that long-time
Malema ally Jacob Lebogo, the Leagues secretary
in Limpopo, co-ordinated the action, despite
denials by Malema and the League that they had
any knowledge of any coordinated activities.
Businesses in Johannesburgs city centre, as
well as the DA in the province, have appealed
to the ANC to stick to its decision last week to
move the hearing to outside the city centre. The
ANC was forced to reverse this decision within
hours of announcing it after Malema objected.
Johannesburg CBD law frm BDK attorneys
has threatened to take legal action to prevent
the hearings from taking place at Luthuli
House, saying their business was disrupted as
clients were too scared to enter the city centre.
The Gauteng provincial government building
has also laid charges after 18 windows of its
city press reported that long-time Malema
ally Jacob lebogo, the leagues secretary in
limpopo, co-ordinated the action
read More:
1. Aluta continua for Malema as his charges stand,
in Daily Maverick
2. Good call, bad call or better not to venture a call at all?,
in Daily Maverick
roads and transport building were broken.
Meanwhile, more dirt surfaced about
Malemas business dealings in City Press (his
business partner and tender king, Lesiba
Gwangwa, paid R200,000 towards his Sandton
house) something which has become a regular
Sunday feature by now.
Malemas suspension from the ANC could
mean that he would be left to fend for himself
if the Hawks moved to arrest or charge him
for his apparently dodgy dealings, but it is also
understood that he was planning to appeal his
suspension all the way to next years Mangaung
conference if necessary.
Also on Malemas case are those brave
defenders of President Jacob Zuma, the ANCs
Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans
Association. The ex-soldiers took aim at
Malema and his cohorts during its weekend
deliberations, but only after fghting about
money among themselves frst.
The ANC on Friday dismissed Malemas 22
arguments on why the charges against him
should be dropped. Supporters again gathered
in the city centre and rolls of razor wire were
put out by the police around Luthuli House, but
the day proceeded mostly without incident
and without a public appearance by Malema.
But the young ones on Friday challenged
the ANCs patience again by making blatant
pronouncements about the partys succession
battle, calling for Deputy President Kgalema
Motlanthe to be elected in Zumas place at
the ANCs conference in Mangaung next
year, and Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula to
replace Mantashe. Some Malema supporters
also brandished printed posters with calls for
Motlanthe in 2012.
This is set to present a new challenge for
the ANC, after Mantashe last month put down
his foot and declared the succession debate
closed for now, following a decision of the
partys national executive committee. Party
spokesperson Jackson Mthembu could not be
reached for comment on Sunday.
Malemas suspension
from the anc could
mean that he would be
left to fend for himself
if the hawks moved
to arrest or charge
him for his apparently
dodgy dealings
broadcasting south africa
government listens to public
broadcasting coalition's sos
On Friday afternoon the SOS: Support Public
Broadcasting Coalition met with minister of
communications Roy Padayachie, to present
its views. The SOS Coalition (originally called
Save our SABC), was formed in 2007, to lobby
for the strengthening of public and community
broadcasting in the public interest broadly, with
the aim of ensuring excellent programming
At a meeting with the SOS Coalition on Friday, the minister of communications announced that a
broadcasting policy review will be launched. With the SABC lurching from crisis to crisis over the last few
years, it's about time something is done to fx our public broadcaster. By THERESA MALLINSON.
Photo: REUTERS
for South African audiences, particularly on
the SABC. Members include a broad swath
of interested parties, including trade unions,
industry organisations and NGOs.
Given the turbulence at the SABC over the
last few years, SOS clearly has quite a bit of
lobbying to keep it busy. It strongly opposed
the 2009 draft Public Service Broadcasting
Bill, to solve the problems by increasing direct
government involvement. The thing that was
interesting about it (the bill) is that it was
trying to tackle the crisis at the SABC head on,
so it came up with some fairly bold ideas. If you
were coming from a government perspective,
(seeing) the SABC lurching from crisis to crisis,
(with) current structures unable to solve it;
(it) needed government to step in and solve
these problems, said William Bird, director of
Media Monitoring Africa, part of the coalition.
Efectively it gave government extraordinary
powers. The only one who had more powers
than the minister was Superman, and that was
because he could fy.
As such, when the bill was withdrawn in
November 2010, SOS welcomed the decision
and particularly Padayachie's commitment
to launching a comprehensive policy review.
The coalition has been waiting to hear more
since. At a press conference on Thursday, SOS
co-ordinator Kate Skinner said the ministry
indicated it would like to listen to SOS's
concerns. They know we've been pushing for
a policy review process incredibly hard, she
said. The agenda (of Friday's meeting) seemed
like it was quite open, with a lot of space for us
to shape it, which I have to say we were happy
about. It felt like we were being heard, because
we've put out a lot of letters, and requested a
meeting on numerous occasions.
There is a multitude of problems at the
SABC, and SOS has neatly packaged them into
fve main areas. These are:
1. The lack of a coherent vision for public
broadcasting in South Africa;
2. The legal structure of the SABC, which is
a public company with the minister as sole
shareholder;
3. The lack of clarity around the SABC's
oversight and governance structures;
4. The SABC's funding model (80% advertising;
18% licence fees; 2% government); and
5. The SABC's culture of secrecy and lack of
accountability.
Friday's meeting between the minister and
SOS showed government was committed to
fxing these. The minister announced that a
broadcasting review would be undertaken,
with a white paper ready by 2013. SOS is
We believe this is a crucial process that is long
overdue and we fully support the ministers
process of being thorough, transparent and as
broadly consultative as possible.
read more:
1. Minister, SOS Coalition meeting over broadcasting policy,
in Bizcommunity
2. SOS Coalition website
meeting with him again this Friday to propose
suggestions about the formation of the panel
that will conduct this review, as well as specifc
areas that should be addressed in terms of
content. The 2013 deadline will allow time
for all issues to be exhaustively examined,
previously a 2012 deadline had been suggested
and SOS had been worried this would not be
sufcient time.
SOS stated the coalition fully supported
Padayachies commitment to getting the
review on the road, so to speak. We believe
this is a crucial process long overdue and
we fully support the ministers process of
being thorough, transparent and as broadly
consultative as possible, Skinner said. We are
optimistic that, if the process is followed, we
will have a strategy that will not only develop
public broadcasting, but will also see policy
made for our digital future.
However, Bird is concerned that there
are no current plans for the Independent
Communications Authority of SA Amendment
Bill to be relooked. At our meeting on Friday,
I specifcally asked the minister about the bill,
Bird said. That bill efectively strips the power
from Icasa in a fundamental way; it's deeply
problematic. Looking at an institution that's
not functioning efectively, it delegates all that
power to the minister.
But given the openness with which the
department of communications is welcoming
input, it doesn't seem completely out of the
question this bill too will be redrafted in the
next few years. In general, Bird commended the
manner in which Padayachie was taking action.
At last we have a minister that sees the value
of broadcasting to South Africa, unlike some
previous ministers who seemed to treat it as
their fefdom, rather than something of national
signifcance, he said.
at last we have a minister that sees the
value of broadcasting to south africa, unlike
some previous ministers who seemed to treat
it as their fefdom, rather than something of
national signifcance.
AFRICA
briefs africa
DRC President Joseph Kabila (Reuters)
angolan police clash
with protesters
Police arrested 24 anti-
government protesters at a
rally organised by an Angolan
youth movement. The
protesters were calling for
the resignation of President
Jos Eduardo dos Santos
who has been in power since
1942. Reuters reported that
protesters, journalists and
police ofcers were injured
when police tried to prevent
the group from marching
on the presidential palace to
demand the release of other
protesters arrested last week.

electoral fraud
allegation leads to
clashes with police
Police in the Democratic
Republic of Congo used
teargas to disperse a crowd of
protesters who were accusing
the electoral commission of
fraud. The police claim the
protesters turned violent,
forcing them to use teargas.
The DRC goes to polls in
November and opposition
candidate Jacquemain Shabani
has claimed President Joseph
Kabilas party has duplicated
names on the voters roll. Al
Jazeera reported the electoral
commission has admitted
there are 20,000 duplicate
names on the voters roll.
16-year-old girl killed
in tunisian protest
Tunisia, credited with being
the trigger of the Arab Spring,
still faces protests almost nine
months after the overthrow
of president Zine al-Abidine
Ben Ali. Reuters reported
that in recent clashes, police
opened fre to break up fghts
involving hundreds of people
in Sbeitla, 200kms south-west
of Tunis. A 16-year-old girl was
killed in the chaos and four
people were injured. Police say
briefs africa
she was fatally injured in the
ensuing stampede, but a local
resident claimed she was killed
by police fre.
eritrea accused of hiding
its famine
Despite the Eritrean
governments claims of a
bumper harvest and having
escaped the 2011 Horn of
Africa famine, reports are
emerging that up to two out
in three Eritreans are going
hungry, BBC reported. About
900 Eritreans a month are
now crossing the border into
neighbouring Ethiopia. Eritrea,
which is notoriously secretive
and has no free press, has been
accused of hiding its famine.
The government has expelled
most foreign aid agencies.
Violence in central
nigeria claims 40
Forty people were reportedly
killed in clashes in and around
the central Nigerian city of
Jos, according to the BBC. The
clashes between Christian and
Muslim groups have claimed
1,000 lives in the past two
years. Religious leaders have
called for calm over the latest
eruption of violence, which is
also spurred on by political
diferences. Both groups have
accused the security forces of
using excessive force to break
up the violence.
Zimbabwean mps reject
call to be circumcised
MPs have baulked at deputy
prime minister Thokozani
Khupes suggestion that
they should get circumcised
to set an example for other
Zimbabwean men. Several
MPs rejected the idea,
some calling it madness,
according to the BBC. Khupes
suggestion follows reports that
circumcised men are less likely
to be infected with HIV. Last
year, the government launched
a campaign to circumcise 80%
of the countrys young men.
ethiopian goVernment
denies rebel attacks
Ogaden rebels claimed they
killed 25 Ethiopian soldiers
near Jijiga. According to
the BBC, the rebels claimed
the troops were part of a
military escort for employees
of a Chinese oil frm. The
Ethiopian government,
however, denies the attacks
and called the rebels claims
unfounded.
Ethiopia's PM Zenawi (Reuters)
briefs africa
spanish warrants
unfounded: kagame
President Paul Kagame
rubbished warrants issued by
Spanish courts for the arrest of
40 Rwandan soldiers, calling
them a political indictment
that cannot be sustained in
a court of law, Africa Review
reported. The warrants were
issued in 2008 and relate
to the genocide and crimes
against humanity that took
place between 1994 and 2000.
Kagame claimed those who
were issued with warrants had
wanted to appear in court, but
the Spanish government had
refused to let them.
rwandan opposition figure
to appear in court
Victorie Ingabire, a leading
Rwandan opposition fgure
who was jailed of fomenting
insecurity and promoting
ethnic divisions, will get
her day in court today. She
will appear with her co-
accused after fve months
of delay in the proceedings,
mostly at the request of the
defence. Ingabire, arrested
after her arrival in Rwanda
following a 17-year stay in the
Netherlands, stands accused
of giving support to a terrorist
group and planning to cause
state insecurity.
swaZiland tries to stop
global week of protests
Trade unions in Swaziland say
they are undeterred by the
governments attempt to block
their pro-democracy protests.
Sapa reported that the court
ruled in favour of King Mswati
IIIs government, which sought
to force trade unions to remove
certain items from their list of
demands, like excessive perks
for politicians. Swaziland has
been going through a fnancial
crisis, which is said to be
worsening as the government
refuses to cut its soaring public
wage bill.
sao tomes da costa
sworn in for second term
Manuel Pinto da Costa was
sworn in as President of Sao
Tome on Saturday following
his victory in the recent
presidential run-of. Da Costa,
in presidency characterised
by authoritarianism, had
previously ruled the country
in the 15 years after its
independence from Portugal.
He promised on Saturday
that he would not tolerate
corruption and that he would
fght poverty.
Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda (Reuters)
africa ivory coast
Drogba may be playmaker in ivorian trc goals
Truth and reconciliation commissions are the
must-have accessories for any kind of post-con-
fict government these days, popular as much
for their lofty ideals of forgiveness and reconcil-
iation as for the get-out-of-jail-free cards which
they dole out to grateful rapists and murderers.
Cote dIvoire is no exception. Even while
the new administration of Alassane Ouatarra
is locking up pro-Gbagbo ofcials, journalists
and militias accused of extrajudicially killing of
soldiers who fought on the losing side, a TRC is
being established to heal the wounds of the bit-
terly divided country.
But, in addition to the usual mix of respected
jurists, religious fgures and academics which
make up such panels, Cote dIvoire has added a
little star power and international attention in
the form of Chelsea striker Didier Drogba. Out-
tara apparently thinks that in addition to bag-
ging 20-plus goals a season, Drogba can help
return peace to the country.
Bad news for Chelsea fans Didier Drogba might be a little distracted this season. In addition to
battling Fernando Torres for his place in the team, he also has an entire country to unite and a
whole lot of bad guys to forgive as the highest-profle member of Cote dIvoires new Truth and
Reconciliation Commission. By SIMON ALLISON.
This isnt as crazy an idea as it might seem.
Drogba was one of the few fgures who tran-
scended Cote dIvoires political divide, and his
captaincy of the national team was marked by
two genuinely brave moments. After a 2006
World Cup qualifer, Drogba got down on his
knees in the changing room and made a his-
toric appeal on live TV for his countrymen to
lay down their arms and live in peace. Later, on
his request, an African Cup of Nations qualifer
was played in the northern rebel stronghold of
Bouake, the frst time since the start of the war
the national team played in the north.
Its unclear exactly how Drogba will juggle
his footballing commitments with the work of
the TRC, which starts on Monday.
reaD more:
1. Soccer star Drogba to join Ivorian truth commission
on Reuters Africa
2. The power of football how Didier Drogba united a
country on AllAfrica Photo: REUTERS
africa somalia
somali pirates vs al shabab vs the government
The Somali pirates operate happily of the
coastline of a northern Somali region called
Puntland. Although part of Somalia, Puntland
operates as its own state, with its own
government and law and taxes. It is probably
the worlds frst-ever pirate state, operating
almost exclusively to the beneft of its modern-
day buccaneers, and has little time for the rules
and regulations of the Somali government,
which is bogged down in Mogadishu.
Until this week, when the Somali president
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed paid a surprise
visit to the Puntland capital Garowe, and pulled
of the unlikely diplomatic coup of getting
Puntlands government to agree to attend the
Somali consultative meeting held in Mogadishu
this weekend. Doubtless President Sharif
dangled a few fnancial carrots Puntlands way
(easy to do given that the government controls
almost all the aid which comes to Somalia),
but its hopefully an important step towards
the eventual reconciliation of Somalia, and
addressing the piracy problem.
But Al Shabab, the Al Qaeda-linked
Islamist militant group which still controls
The good news that pirate haven and breakaway territory Puntland was in peace talks
with the Somali government was swiftly tarnished by an apparent Al Shabab attack on
a Puntland border town. Wars are hard to fght when theres more than two sides, and
even harder to solve when no one really knows whats going on. By SIMON ALLISON.
most of the country, wasnt happy with this
cosy arrangement and was quick to make
its displeasure felt: clashes in the Puntland
border town of Galkayo left 30 dead and more
than 100 wounded, and a senior Puntland
army commander was shot and killed. At least
Puntland claims that it was Al Shabab it could
just as easily have been dissatisfed elements
from rival clan militias in the Galkayo area, who
resent Puntlands partial control of the city. Or
rival clans and Al Shabab.
This incident embodies the difculties and
the complexities of politics in Somalia: here
are pirates, terrorists, governments, clans,
money, peace and violence all featuring in one
typical incident. It reads like a bedtime story for
anarchists. But anarchists dont have a country
to run and people to feed; Somalis do, and so
far its not working out so well for them.
read more:
1. Central Somalia clashes claim 30, many wounded,
on BBC News
2. Somalia: The Transition takes a detour through Puntland,
on Puntland's Garowe Online
zimbabwe africa
No more dilly-dallyiNg: mugabe
aNNouNces zim electioN timeliNe
Robert Mugabe announced the much-disputed
timeline for Zimbabwes next elections in
typically imperious fashion. We cannot go
beyond March next year. I will defnitely
announce that date. It does not matter what
anyone would say. Once I announce the date,
everyone will follow... We cannot continue to
have this dilly-dallying, he told a Zanu-PF
meeting at party headquarters.
The date of the next election has been a
bitterly contested issue in Zimbabwean politics,
not only between Zanu-PF and the Movement
for Democratic Change, their uncomfortable
partners in the unity government, but also
between rival factions of Zanu-PF itself.
Swatting away the wishes of both the MDC and his partys warring factions, Robert Mugabes settled on
a compromise about when the next Zimbabwean elections will be that pleases no one but himself and
even hes not that happy. By SIMON ALLISON.
Photo: REUTERS
Elections are in theory supposed to take
place sometime in 2012 or 2013, but theres
plenty of debate over when exactly they
should be held (or outside of it, as Zanus less
conciliatory members want). Mugabes apparent
preference for early 2012 is, despite his blunt
announcement, the wily old leaders attempt at
compromise.
The MDC wanted a later date, because its
still thinks theres plenty the government of
national unity still needs to accomplish. Top of
the to-do list is writing a new constitution and
putting it to a referendum. Mugabe, in public at
zimbabwe africa
least, doesnt buy into that argument. This year
is coming to an end. This is September. The
inclusive government has run its full course and
whatever time it is having now is actually stolen
time, he said in his election announcement. He
went on to attribute the delay in constitution-
drafting to the MDC people involved in the
process, who he accused of enjoying their daily
allowances too much and deliberately slowing
down the drafting process to delay the next
election. We have those who fear elections
and there are many in the MDC who feel
intimidated by thoughts of another election.
They fear to lose, he said.
After the precedent set by the last polls, the
MDC has good reason to fear another election.
Despite winning the 2008 vote overwhelmingly,
the vicious round of killing, rape and torture
unleashed on MDC support by Zanu and the
state security apparatus forced the opposition
to accept the government of national unity, with
Mugabe remaining as head of state.
Privately, Mugabe is said to recognise the
importance of allowing the new constitution
before the next election, which is why he didnt
push for an election this year. Politburo sources
said Mugabe conceded for the frst time on
Wednesday that he could only call for elections
once Zimbabwe had a new constitution, putting
paid to the mantra that he could proclaim
elections with or without a new supreme law,
wrote the Zimbabwe Independent last week,
just before Mugabe outlined his electoral
timetable.
But Mugabe has more serious things to
worry about than his troublesome partners
in government. After all, his mandate is not
really from the people, but from his party,
and its them he has to please. As he gets
older, the Zanu faithful are thinking more and
more about what a post-Mugabe world might
look like, and theres plenty of jockeying for
position, especially in light of the death of
party stalwart Solomon Mujuru, whose wife
Joice is Zimbabwes vice-president. According
to reports, Mugabes under pressure to hold
early elections to make sure hes ft enough to
run, with some senior Zanu ofcials thinking
hes unlikely to be able to conduct a proper
campaign in two years time. The more militant
wing of the party, dominated by fgures
involved with state security, wanted Mugabe to
set a 2011 election, reasserting his and Zanus
absolute power over Zimbabwean politics, and
giving the party plenty of time to organise an
orderly internal succession, rather than having
to promote a new face at the ballot box. This
was Mugabes preferred option.
Only one problem: Mugabe doesnt have
absolute power over Zimbabwes politics, and
realpolitik forced him to accommodate the
MDC by calling elections within the mandated
time, and allowing enough time (provided the
drafting committee gets a move on) to pass a
new constitution. This is a telling indication
that everythings not going Zanu-PFs way
anymore, but an equally telling indication that
Mugabe is still playing politics, and is hanging
on to his position with everything he has.
read more:
1. Polls next year, says President in Zimbabwes The Herald
2. Mugabe concedes defeat over election date in the Zimbabwe
Independent
WORLD
briefs world
Israel protests attract 450,000 people (Reuters)
libYA
Libyan rebels are within a
whisker of victory. On Sunday
they circled one of Gaddaf's
last strongholds, the town
of Bani Walid, warning
the local leaders that they
should surrender or prepare
to have their town taken by
force. There are rumours
that Gaddaf may be hiding
out there, despite the earlier
intelligence that he was in
Algeria. The truth is, nobody
has a clue where he is. Check
under your beds before you go
to sleep tonight.
Us
Countdown to the 9/11
anniversary: six days to
go. The FBI and Homeland
Security are now warning
about the potential for attacks
involving small aircraft.
Authorities say there is no
specifc intelligence about any
particular plot, but they're
not taking any chances after
discovering an Al Qaeda
memo detailing the group's
interest in training terror
operatives to fy small aircraft.
isrAel
Israel experienced the largest
protests in its history this
weekend, with 450,000 people
briefs world
turning up to participate in
a national demonstration
demanding lower living costs.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu pledged to carry
out economic reforms and fx
social distortions, but made
no mention of Palestine.
Us
Turns out that the CIA and
the Gaddaf regime were real
close. So close, in fact, that
the US shipped terror suspects
to Libya for interrogation and
supplied the questions to be
asked. This is all revealed
in documents just found in
Libyan intelligence ofces.
So close that they took steps
to establish a permanent
presence in the country in
2004. The US has defended
this by saying that by 2004
Libya had taken positive
steps forward, like giving up
its nukes.
JAPAN
Poor Japan is getting seriously
moered by the weather gods
this year. This weekend
Typhoon Talas struck the
island, killing at least 19. Fifty
more people are missing and
around 450,000 people were
ordered to evacuate their
homes. The worst-hit areas
were western and central
Japan. Pity the new prime
minister, not even a week into
the job.
irAN
Iran connected its frst nuclear
power plant to the national
grid this weekend. It was
originally scheduled to begin
in 2009, but technical glitches
and global disapproval have
slowed things up a bit. The
project also sufered problems
last year, which are now
believed to have been the work
of hackers messing with its
computer systems.
Us
The editor of a US science
journal has fallen on his
sword after publishing a
report claiming that man-
made climate change had
been exaggerated. The Remote
Sensing journal published
a piece by Roy Spencer and
William Braswell claiming
Iran's President Ahmedinajad (Reuters)
briefs world
that computer models of
temperature changes were
infating the fgures. The piece
was lapped up by climate-
change denialists but the
ex-editor says now that it
contained methodological
errors and false claims. Of
course, the climate-change
conspiracists will fnd his
resignation further evidence
of the sinister climate-change
Illuminati at work.
Us
President Barack Obama's
government is launching a
last-ditch attempt to prevent
Palestine lobbying the UN
for statehood. It's bidding for
recognition at the General
Assembly, which kicks of on
20 September. Palestine wants
statehood because, apart
from everything else, it would
strengthen its ability to pursue
cases against Israel at the
International Criminal Court.
The US says it's opposing it
because it fears a Palestinian
state will cause further
instability in the region, but
we all know how cosy Israel
and the US are.
iTAlY
Italy has been given a stern
smack on the wrist by the
European Central Bank for
failing to pass measures
considered critical to its
austerity plan. Italy is in debt
to the tune of 1,9 billion and
Berlusconi isn't doing enough,
according to ECB chief Jean-
Claude Trichet. Berlusconi is
so deep in personal scandal at
the moment that he probably
hasn't had time to think it all
through yet.
frANCe
Dominique Strauss-Kahn is
safely back home. He returned
to Paris from New York early
on Sunday morning, cheerfully
smiling and waving as he
disembarked from the aircraft.
He will face a mixed response
from the Socialist Party, and
he wont have much time to
kick back: he'll have to start
gearing up for the two rape
cases currently awaiting his
attention in France.
JAPAN
South Africa isn't the only
country busily appointing
inexperienced candidates to
high ofce. Japan's new prime
minister Yoshihiko Noda
has unveiled his cabinet, and
is now facing charges that
they are too young and lack
sufcient experience. Sound
familiar? In particular he
has been criticised for his
appointment of Jun Azumi,
who is virtually unknown, as
fnance minister. Let's hope he
exceeds expectations he'll
have his work cut out for him.
Silvio Berlusconi (Reuters)
world russia/ukraine
ukraine takes it to russia,
but Mexican stand-off looMs
There is a whif of Russian empire in the air
again. And Moscows neighbours dont like it
one bit. Not that there is very much they can do
about it, besides complain.
Ukraine has been criticising its neighbour
Russia for selling it natural gas at what it reck-
ons are infated prices. Last week, Ukraines
President Viktor Yanukovych said at a meeting
of the regions nations in Tajikistan that Russias
terms for cheaper gas were utterly unacceptable.
Russia wants closer economic ties between the
two countries, and for Ukraine to sell half its
energy company, Naftogaz, to Russias energy
company, Gazprom.
"It will not happen, was Yanukovychs re-
sponse. Any pressure on these issues, (is) humil-
What does it take to tell your stronger, wealthier, more aggressive neighbour where to get off?
In Ukraines case, it takes Russia trying to stiff them on natural gas prices. Ukraines leaders have
strongly rejected Russias terms for cheaper gas. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.
iating for us. First, we are cornered, and then we
are dictated terms. It's humiliating today, not for
me personally, it's humiliating for the nation and
I cannot allow it.
Kiev would be pushing for separate energy
talks with Russias President Dmitry Medvedev.
As these things do, it may boil down to a
question of the less painful path for the Ukraine:
either economic independence and higher gas
prices, or cheap fuel and a repeat of Soviet-era
relations of greater dependency on Russia.
read More:
1. Ukraine snubs Russian push for closer ties
in Wall Street Journal
2. Ukraine rules out concession in Russian energy
dispute in AFP Photo: REUTERS
iowa, us world
View from middle america: dissent in
the michele Bachmann heartland
On Monday afternoon 29 August, in the head
ofce of the International Writing Program
at the University of Iowa, a senior member
of staf informed us of the Wednesday night
flm club. It was the frst day of orientation for
the 2011 group 37 writers from 32 countries,
including myself and another South African
and the morning had been spent getting to
know each other. Now it was down to business:
how our non-writing time would be structured;
the various panels, readings, and lectures that
required our active participation. But it was
the opening screening of the flm club that got
What does the Michele Bachmann phenomenon look like in close-up? In Iowa City, an island of
progressive secularism in the vast prairie bible belt, the intellectual set makes a (cautious) sport of
ridiculing her. But that doesnt mean she hasnt got her supporters in this university town, or that the rest
of her native state necessarily thinks shes the best person for the Oval Offce. By KEVIN BLOOM.
Photo: Michele Bachmann, REUTERS
everyones attention The Night of the Hunter,
adapted for the screen in 1955 by the inimitable
James Agee, a movie that would apparently give
us some insight into how the religious Right
operates in these parts.
The Night of the Hunter, for those who havent
seen it, is a flm thats infuenced the styles of
modern-day directors all the way from David
Lynch to the Coen brothers and Spike Lee. It was
deemed culturally, historically and aesthetically
signifcant by the United States Library of
iowa, us world
Congress, and has appeared on countless
greatest of all time lists. In short, its supposed
to be a pretty good movie, and the majority of
our group whod never heard of the work (myself
included) showed up with big hopes.
We werent disappointed. Least of all because
the subtext, as prompted, was the philosophical
background and contemporary persona of
one Michele Bachmann candidate for the
Republican presidential nomination, and native
of Waterloo, Iowa, a town about 110 kilometres
from where we were sitting (the cinema in
the journalism faculty building in Iowa City).
The atmosphere of fundamentalist evangelical
menace was superbly achieved, the director
Charles Laughton infusing each owl, toad and
rabbit with an inner darkness that bordered
on the horrifc (incidentally, The Night of
the Hunter also scores high on a number of
scariest moments in flm lists). The key image,
though, was the Ohio River, and especially the
two children foating down it in a boat, feeing
the evil intentions of a psychopath disguised
as a preacher.
As Margaret Atwood, who once named The
Night of the Hunter her favourite flm, wrote
of that representation some time ago: It's
a quintessential American image the two
foating innocents recall Huckleberry Finn and
Jim, and, behind them, that favourite American
biblical image, the Ark riding the Deluge with
its Saving Remnant in this case, the deluge
that has overwhelmed the children's mother.
That this particular deluge is all mixed up with
adult sexuality, and also with the repression
of it, is quintessentially American as well it
being the nature of Puritanism to produce a
world which repudiates sexuality but is also
thoroughly sexualised.
Which of course is where Bachmann
comes in. Earlier this year, famously, the
congresswoman shaped in her outlook by a
strain of hardcore Christian theology known
as Dominionism (as noted in a Daily Maverick
piece in mid-August, Dominionists seek to
replace secular law in the US with Mosaic
law) described homosexuality as sexual
dysfunction. She has a husband who routinely
tries to convince gays that they are straight, and
she cites the direct word of God as the source of
her inspiration.
So to the trillion-dollar question: can
Bachmann get in? Its a question that, in
the medium term, is here to stay. Recently,
progressives and centrists across the United
States began asking it with a new urgency,
mainly due to her win in the Iowa straw poll a
few weeks ago. And in Iowa City, an island of
so to the trillion-dollar question: can
Bachmann get in? its a question that, in the
medium term, is here to stay.
iowa, us world
read more:
1. Why I love Night Of The Hunter, by Margaret Atwood
in the Guardian
2. Bachmanns Irene joke not in the least funny,
in The Daily Iowan
3. Bachmann faces complications in Iowa, in CNN Online
progressivism and intellectual rigour in a vast
prairie sea of Creationist fervour, the question
is doubly urgent nobody wants to be from the
state that sank the country for good.
Unless, that is, you support Michele
Bachmann; which some, even in this highly
thought-of university town, do. In the short
time Ive been here, Ive heard of virtual
catfghts breaking out in sororities between
pro- and anti-Bachmann factions, Ive heard
heated arguments in bars and a whole lot of
angry swearing. And the scary thing is that
these altercations arent about the womans
religious afliations, nor are they mainly
between secular students and Christian
students theyre most often about the politics.
It took two very strong leaders on the
world stage, one a woman and one a man, to
reverse the course of their respective countries,
Bachmann said to a group of US armed forces
veterans on 2 September, comparing herself
to Thatcher and Reagan. We should heed the
lessons that they hold for those who seek to
wreak havoc on peace and on democracy across
the world today.
This is the kind of fnely-honed political talk
weve heard before from a Republican candidate
who should never have been president, the
kind of vague and yet efective campaign speak
that does wonders at the polls. Still, Bachmann
has made more than her share of gafs. Just
last week she ofered a comment that implied
Hurricane Irene was Gods way of telling
Washington to listen to the American people.
Her campaign spokesman quickly said it was a
harmless joke, but the damage had been done.
A Christian columnist writing in the The Daily
Iowan explained why the joke wasnt funny:
First, more than 40 people have died. If God
is trying to get the attention of the politicians,
then why did he take out 40-plus people who
have not been elected to any ofce? What about
the fooding on the Missouri River this spring?
What political missteps have the elected
ofcials in Iowa, North and South Dakota, and
Nebraska taken that has garnered the attention
of the Most High God?
Meaning, there is a measure of dissent in the
ranks. The word here now is that Rick Perrys
entrance into the presidential race has dented
Bachmanns chances, with even volunteers in
the latters campaign considering a switch of
allegiances. Will President Perry be healthier
for America and the world than President
Bachmann? Thats another question entirely.
Just last week she
offered a comment
that implied hurricane
irene was Gods way
of telling washington
to listen to the
american people.
2012 us elections world
Fear and loathing on the 2012
us campaign trail
For the men and one woman who would be
the Republican Partys nominee for president,
this is their best penalty-free chance to try out
applause lines and those dog whistle soundbites
as they try to elbow each other out of position
or even deliver an early knockout punch to
one of their number. Meanwhile, the Obama
administration is working hard to repackage
him as the essential man internationally, but
one with his eye fxed frmly on the economy.
It is a worry for them that the presidents
For many Americans, Labour Day on 5 September is the last chance to savour a fnal visit to the beach
or wherever before the return to work and school. Thats because after this weekend, the election
battles well and truly start. By J BROOKS SPECTOR.
Photo: White House photo-stream
popularity continues to fall, but the positive in
the polls is that the public has even less regard
for Congress capabilities to do its job.
On foreign policy, over the past week,
Obama, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have
ofered sharply difering assessments of
Obamas record. Obama has claimed success
with a lead from behind and multilateral
rather than go-it-alone strategy, while his
Republican challengers charge his policies have
been weak, rudderless and an endangerment to
American security.
The Washington Post noted: The clashing
visions, which emerged in speeches (on)
Tuesday from Obama and GOP presidential
candidate Mitt Romney before gatherings of
military veterans, highlighted what is sure to
be a sharp point of contention during the 2012
campaign. The debate centers on approach
as much as on policy, and in some ways it
reverses the critique that Obama leveled against
the previous administration. But Romney
and, a day earlier, Texas Gov. Rick Perry
has accused Obama of weak, overly cautious
leadership. Have we ever had a president
who was so eager to address the world with an
apology on his lips and doubt in his heart?
Romney told a convention of the Veterans of
Foreign Wars in San Antonio.
Now the candidates are back with speeches
on job creation, unemployment and the state
of the US economy. The frst Republican debate
this month comes on Monday evening in South
Carolina, followed two days later in California
at the Ronald Reagan Library. Embedded in
these debates and speeches is the key challenge
for politicians the thing closest to the bone
right now is the state of the American economy.
To carry his message forward, Barack Obama
asked to address a joint sitting of the House of
Representatives and the Senate on 7 September.
But, in a virtually unprecedented move, the
House Republican leadership declined, forcing
Obama to move his speech to the following
night. This puts it cheek-by-jowl with the kick-
of of a widely anticipated university football
game pulling audience attention away.
It was also apparent Republicans were
determined to infict another defeat on Obama
to show him whos in charge in Washington.
The Republicans held fast, despite media
criticism. Coupled with Obama's retreat on
an environmental measure, these moves have
made some members of his party unhappy
with him as their leader, and Republicans
increasingly exultant they have his number.
But for Republicans, too, there is a lurking
danger in their increasingly strident challenge
on the economy. Even as Barack Obama
gears up to propose new stimulus measures,
Republicans have already signalled they oppose
things like an infrastructure bank, instead of
further relaxation of business regulations.
The danger down the road, of course, is
that even as each of these candidates paints
themselves as uniquely competent to do the
job, they simultaneously serve up critiques
now the candidates are back with speeches
on job creation, unemployment and the state
of the us economy.
read more:
1. For presidents, the legacy of Sept 11 has no end in the AP
2. Romney, Perry criticize Obamas foreign policy as weak in
the Washington Post
3. Obama Draws Line on Possible Cuts to Veterans Programs in
the New York Times
Democrats will draw upon in the future. Some
of the sharpest mutual critiques will be about
health care Romneys plan for Massachusetts
was the model for Obamas health care reforms,
while Rick Perrys state leads the nation in people
without medical insurance. Others will be about
who can produce conditions for job creation,
rather than drawing jobs from the rest of the US
in a race to the bottom in business regulation.
Or, as The New York Times observed: Rick
Perry is privately being coached to come
across as more presidential cautious in his
comments, deliberate in defending his Texas
record while building on his fast start
by trying to consolidate support across the
Republican spectrum, from the Tea Party and
evangelicals to the party establishment.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts
is steeling for a long and combative fght for
the Republican nomination, dropping his front-
runners strategy and preparing to confront
Mr. Perry on immigration, his quarter-century
in government and his claims of creating
jobs in Texas.
Representative Michele Bachmann of
Minnesota is working to shatter the notion
that the race is becoming a two-person contest,
scaling back her campaign appearances to study
Mr. Perrys spending record in Texas in an efort
to raise scepticism about his candidacy among
Tea Party supporters.
Of course, this preliminary knock-out
strategy doesnt always work out as expected
recall when George Bush charged in 1980 Ronald
Reagan was using voodoo economics in his
reliance upon the so-called Lafer Curve to push
lower taxes to generate self-sustaining growth. In
the end, of course, Reagan won the nomination
and then the presidency. In ofce he started with
voodoo economics - and as the national debt
ballooned, he gave in on tax increases.
Over on foreign policy, Obama may just
catch a bit of a break with the tenth anniversary
commemorations of 9/11, if he can tie his
defnition of foreign policy success in the
demise of Osama bin Laden and the evident
collapse of Qaddafs Libyan regime together.
In a curious reversal of a half-centurys worth
of polling, this Democratic president is seen as
stronger on international security than any of
the Republican challengers.
The conundrum for Obama is that since 9/11,
as the Afghanistan war and Iraqi operations
recede in visibility, the economy has taken
front place as a measurement of government
competence. As a result, while Republicans may
slug it out in comparative obscurity in these
early debates, the stakes for Obama in ofering
new economic measures and being seen to
deliver a major success in his upcoming speech
couldnt be higher. A speech deemed a failure
by supporters, the media and the public will
make it that much harder for him to set the
terms of the debate in the election - or to do
battle with Republicans in Congress.
BUSINESS
briefs business
(Reuters)
south AfricA
The JSE All Share Index closed
down 1.8% to 30,519. Weaker-
than-expected jobs data
out of the US caused global
markets to drop, with the
South African exchange no
exception.
Combined Motor Holdings,
the franchise holders for the
sale of Nissan, Fiat, Toyota,
and Volvo products, rose 18%
on the back of August sales
fgures. Optimum Coal, subject
of M&A interest by Glencore
International PLC, rose a
further 5.8% as the ofer by
Glencore to increase it stakes to
43% was confrmed. Assore, the
mining holding company shed
5.9% with Northam Platinum
also losing 5.3%.
us
The Dow Jones Industrial index
fell 2.2% with Bank of America
leading the fall with an 8.3%
drop. Hewlett-Packard, the PC
manufacturer, for now, fell 5.2%
with other fnancial services
also taking a pounding. Job
growth in the US stagnated
for August, as most analysts
expected a 68,000 gain, further
increasing pressure on the
administration to intervene
with recovery measures. The
unemployment rate as a result
stayed constant at 9.1%
Government treasury bonds
rose, pushing the yield to on the
10-year notes to below 2%, on
the back of poor payroll data.
The 30-year yields fell to lowest
levels since January 2009.
JP Morgan and Bank of
America are among 17 US
banks being sued by the
Federal Housing Finance
Agency in eforts to recoup
$196 billion spent on mortgage-
backed securities by Freddie
Mac and Fannie Mae. The
basis of the lawsuits centres
on the false and misleading
descriptions of the products as
marketed by the banks.
Short selling of the S&P 500
rose to its highest levels in nine
months, as bearish traders
placed bets on further market
turmoil. The proportion of
the S&P 500 in short positions
rose to 3% from 2.3% at the
beginning of the month.
The dollar fell for a third
day versus the Swiss franc,
its longest losing streak in a
month. At one stage the dollar
was down 3.1% against the franc
to 77.12 centimes, its biggest
intraday drop since 9 August.
AOL Inc, has invested in a
new technology start-up fund
briefs business
Samsung (Reuters)
that will be led by Michael
Arrington, founder of the
TechCrunch blog, now owned
by AOL. The fund has raised
$20 million from AOL and
other venture capital frms like
Sequoia Capital.
uK
The FTSE 100 fell 2.3%,
following global trends on
the back of US economic
data. Financial stocks were
hammered with Barclays PLC
shedding 8.4% and Lloyds
Banking also dropping 7.1%.
Glencore International, bidding
for South African coal producer
Optimum Coal, fell 6.7%
new ZeAlAnd
The near-record strength of
the NZ dollar, and high prices
of the RWC have afected the
number of tourist planning
to travel to the country for
the event. Air New Zealand
has blamed the currency, the
global fnancial crisis and
earthquakes for reporting a
45% slump in annual profts.
europe
Samsung was unable to
showcase its new Galaxy
tab at the Berlin Electronics
show, after Apple won a
second injunction against
the electronics company. A
Dusseldorf court granted
Apples request to prevent sales
and marketing of the Galaxy
Tab 7.7 in light of patent
infringements claimed by the
iPad manufacturer.

Middle eAst
Israeli shares dropped the
most in a month over the US
jobs data announcement and
demonstrations by more than
400,000 people protesting
the high cost of living in the
country. The TA-25 index fell
4.4%, its biggest decline since
early August.
chinA
China Telecommunications
Corp., the fxed-line operator
is in talks with British carriers
to lease network capacity
with a view to selling mobile
services in Britain, by the time
the London Olympics kick of.
The move is aimed at servicing
the 500,000 Chinese nationals
living and working in the UK,
as well as the growing number
of Chinese tourists that would
see roaming costs slashed by
up to 90%.
business us/switzerland
us demands swiss banks rat
on tax dodgers
According to Swiss newspapers, US deputy attor-
ney general James Cole has written to the Swiss
government, demanding it hand over data on US
citizens using Swiss bank accounts, or see Credit
Suisse and nine other banks face charges.
The Swiss government is still reportedly mull-
ing over the threat and is in talks with the US on
the issue. The tiny European country is synony-
mous with secret bank accounts.
The Swiss have laws which protect bank se-
crecy, but bent them last year to allow UBS to
hand over the details and information on 4,450
clients to avoid facing charges in the US. UBS
The US department of justice has sent an ultimatum to banks in Switzerland, demanding they reveal
information on US citizens who may be hiding their riches from the taxman in the European country. A
Swiss bank has caved in before to Uncle Sams pressure. And he is back for more.
By SIPHO HLONGWANE.
also paid a $780 million fne to avoid losing its
banking licence in the US.
The US is looking for information on all US
individuals and institutions that have deposited
at least $50,000 in Switzerland between 2002 and
2010.
Switzerland has built a $2 trillion banking
industry mostly on the back of its legendary se-
crecy, which is now being severely tested.
read more:
1. US presses Switzerland for data over tax evasion in AFP
2. US sets ultimatum in Swiss bank dispute in Reuters.
LIFE, ETC
briefs Life, eTC
Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong (Reuters)
Us
Green Day lead singer Billie
Joe Armstrong has learned
the hard way that he really
needs to pull up his damn
pants. The rocker got kicked
of a plane at Oakland airport
after a Southwest stewardess
requested that he hoist his
sagging jeans up a bit, and
he declined to co-operate.
Southwest seems to have some
vendetta against overpaid
celebrities. Last year they
ejected director Kevin Smith
from a fight, claiming he was
too fat to ft in his seat.
Us
A new US flm claims that
Shakespeare was a fakespeare.
Anonymous, directed by
Roland Emmerich, better
known for Independence Day,
claims that the true author was
the Earl of Oxford, Edward de
Vere. Shakespeare scholars are
up in arms, calling it nonsense.
They should be careful what
they put out there you know
American audiences are going
to believe it.
AUsTrALiA
Australian authorities have
found the remains of Ned
Kelly 131 years after his death.
The iconic outlaw was hanged
in 1880 for murdering three
policemen with his gang. His
briefs Life, eTC
body was buried at Melbourne
Gaol, but when it closed all
the bones were exhumed to a
mass grave at a newer prison.
Scientists tracked down Kelly
by using DNA from his great
nephew. It's unclear what
they'll do with the bones.
sA
The Cornfake Girl is on her
way over. Tori Amos will
play Johannesburg on 12
November and Cape Town on
17 November. She's appearing
at Emperor's Palace in Jozi and
Grand West in eKapa. The
thought of her warbling among
the slot machines is slightly
incongruous, it must be said.
sA
Don't we love it when one of
our own does good? Durban-
born actress Nondumiso
Tembe is not only starring in
the fourth season of HBO's
vampire series True Blood,
but has also released a debut
album which has just been
nominated for one of the
South African Traditional
Music Awards. What do you
mean, you've never heard of
the SATMAs? Anyway, three
cheers for Ms Tembe.
sA
Sushi-lover Kenny Kunene
is ofcially at war with
comedian Loyiso Gola. Gola
was recruited to provide
some laughs at the launch
of Kunene's reality show, So
What. But the comedian lost
his rag after Kunene boasted
about his extravagant lifestyle,
and instead of telling some
concluding jokes he went on
a sweary rant, yelling: How
can you fucking come here
revving your Lamborghinis
while outside here people
are starving? Kunene said
ominously that he would deal
with him in my own time.
Loyiso, we salute you.

UK
A campaign is gaining steam
to force UK fast-food outlets to
print calorie counts on menus.
Consumer-rights groups
Tori Amos (Reuters)
briefs Life, eTC
say that chains like Nando's
(sorry, UK) are misleading
people about the nutritional
content of their food. The US
has recently passed legislation
forcing chain restaurants
with more than 20 outlets
to print calorie counts, and
the research shows it may be
working. Step away from the
chicken wings, England.
Us
Bill Clinton had a brush with
the law this week. The former
president tried to walk one
of Hillary's doggies on the
beach in the Hamptons, but
the beach was cordoned of for
safety after Hurricane Irene.
That didn't stop old Bill, who
strolled along regardless until
a cop chucked him of. He was
in the area to celebrate his
65th birthday, which he did
with a party at a steakhouse
with ten pals. Jon Bon Jovi
happened to be in the same
restaurant, sources reported,
and apparently the two of
then had a fat chat. The mind
boggles as to its content.
HOLLAND
Remember that English flm,
The Man Who Went Up
A Hill And Came Down A
Mountain? It's happening for
real in Holland. The Dutch are
considering building a fake
mountain in their famously
fat country. The current
highest point in Holland is
a hilarious 323m. The fake
mountain would be 5km wide
and 1km to 2 km high, making
it the world's tallest man-
made structure. Engineers and
skiing companies are already
discussing plans.
GerMANY
Everyone can fnally relax:
the runaway cow has been
caught. Yvonne, the fugitive
bovine whose antics have
captivated Germany, was
fnally tracked down three
months after she went on the
run. She didn't go quietly,
either, requiring a double dose
of tranquilisers. There are
rumours that the team who
found her will be sent to Libya
to hunt down Gaddaf.
Bill Clinton (Reuters)
life, etc the 'fifth beatle'
Klaus beyer, the fifth beatle
Back in the early 1980s, Beatles fanatic Klaus
Beyer began translating the lyrics of his favourite
band so that his non-English-speaking mother
could understand them. By the mid-80s, he
was performing The Beatles in German, and in
1988 released his frst Beatles album Klaus
Beyer sings The Beatles. It's taken him 13 years
to record the Beatles' complete catalogue; Das
Weisse Album was released in August.
In 1994 flm maker George Maas made a
documentary Das Andere Universum des Klaus
Beyer (The Other Universe of Klaus Beyer),
focusing on Beyer's obsessive project. And
listening to Beyer's rendition of Hey Jude on
YouTube, it really is as if you've been transport-
ed into a parallel universe one where John,
Paul, George, and Ringo are transmogrifed into
a single German-speaking composite who is
Klaus Beyer has made it his life's work to record every single Beatles song in German. Last month,
his magnum opus was complete, with the release of Das Weisse Album (The White Album). The
results are truly disturbing. By THERESA MALLINSON.
unable to carry a tune (and that's putting
it kindly).
Translation isn't an easy art, especially for
someone armed only with basic English and
a dictionary. A writer for Sign and Sight com-
mented: The idiosyncrasy of the lyrics mean
that his recordings are really Klaus Beyer's vari-
ations on a Beatles theme. On translating I am
the Walrus, Beyer told Spiegel: With that one I
had to give free rein to my imagination.
Even without factoring in Beyer's caterwaul-
ing, something will always be lost in transla-
tion. Running German text from Beyer's website
back through Google translate, one learns that
his White Album features: Bonus songs with
arsonists and the stars. Guess you need a Ger-
man sensibility to get that one. Or to want to
listen to Beyer in the frst place.
mandela vs de klerk life, etc
the Prize Of Peace was real thOugh
its dreams were nOt
Wouldnt we like to know and so far the duo have
kept mum as we would expect. Nobody can
know how their discussions and conversations
went, yet Les Morison, a practicing advocate, has
made a well-researched attempt to capture it in a
play, The Prize Of Peace.
Its set in a hotel in Oslo where one table
far too large for two men dominates the stage.
Neither Owen Sejake as Mandela nor Eric
Nobbs as De Klerk look much like the men
they portray, but that doesnt detract from
When Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in the tumultuous,
untrusting times of 1993, what did they say to each other? Their conversation over dinner the night
before must have been fraught with undercurrents and tensions. By LESLEY STONES.
Photos: DAVID BATZOFIN
their performances. Both have the gravitas and
the demeanour to carry of their characters
convincingly. They are fuent and fuid as they
banter and argue, reminisce and regret.
The supporting actresses are Elise van
Niekerk as a chef whos cooking up more than
a lamb shank and Mathuti Komape as the
security guard who also has murder on her
mind. Hopefully the two women will grow more
mandela vs de klerk life, etc
comfortable in their roles, because on opening
night both seemed to be playing in a skin that
didnt quite ft.
Its the script that stretches incredulity
more than the cast, however. The Afrikaners
are plotting to murder Mandela by poisoning
the milk he drinks before bed. The blacks are
plotting to kill De Klerk with poisoned meat,
turning his triumphant moment on the world
stage into his last supper.
Both Mandela and De Klerk are only made
aware of these conficting plans on the night,
and both manage to thwart the murderous
intentions. We will take our battle to the ballot
box, De Klerk says angrily in a powerful scene
with the secret agent chef.
Perhaps a double murder plot really was
thwarted that night, in which case our
struggling nation owes an even greater debt to
these two men than we realise.
Yet conducting that plot on stage involves
a couple of contrived moments to move the
protagonists out of earshot so the secret
saboteurs can argue with their venerated leaders.
As the men confound the women by
swapping seats and two conficting murder
plots are revealed, I couldnt help thinking that
this would make a perfect, if irreverent farce.
The script, enhanced by director Clare
Stopford, has a good mixture of humour, insight
and intellect as Mandela argues for De Klerk to
use the Peace Prize stage to apologise for the
evils of apartheid.
One clever scene has the two women
simultaneously slating the other race with all
the bigotry and ignorance they can muster,
neatly showing how neither side is better or
more tolerant than their other.
The Prize of Peace highlights both how far
we have come, and how far we still have to go.
The Prize Of Peace runs at Sandtons Old Mutual Theatre
on the Square until 24 September.
read mOre:
1. www.lesleystones.co.za
hollywood life, etc
And... Action! how the deAth of the shoot em
up presAges the irrelevAnce of hollywood
Several weeks ago, the Hollywood trade
paper Deadline informed the world of some
dispiriting news. Tony Scott, the man who
helmed Top Gun and Crimson Tide, has
been tapped to direct a long-in-development
remake of Sam Peckinpahs 1969 classic The
Wild Bunch. Pick fve random, spastic minutes
from any Tony Scott opus, and you have a prcis
description of modern action flmmaking.
Since he made the ur-blockbuster Top Gun
for schlock producers Don Simpson and Jerry
A recent video essay on the Press Play website makes a compelling case that action flmmaking is a
debased art form, and coins the term Chaos Cinema. What does this mean for the rest of mainstream
flmmaking, and can the art be saved? By RICHARD POPLAK.
Photo: The Wild Bunch poster,
Bruckheimer in 1986, his career has spanned
a quarter-century of decline in the quality of
action flmmaking, and a subsequent slide in
the aesthetic of cinema overall.
Tone deaf as Scott may be to subtlety and
nuance, he is remarkably attuned to what
audiences are willing to put up with, which
is not the same thing as knowing what they
want. This is not to blame him for ruining the
hollywood life, etc
movies; he fnds himself in excellent company.
Along with his brother Ridley (who made some
fabulous flms early in his career), Bruckheimer
stable-mate Michael Bay, and others including
Christopher Nolan, Paul Greengrass, Gore
Verbinski, Peter Berg and Jon Favreau, he has
presided over a plunge in attendance at the
cinema, and an erosion of the popularity of flm
in general. To be sure, good flms are still made
in Thailand, South Korea, Romania and, less
commonly, in America. Who cares about action
ficks, the flm buf wonders, and in what way
does Hollywood action flmmaking matter to
the overall health of the art form?
In a recent, essential video essay published
in Press Play, scholar and flmmaker Matthius
Stork bequeathed a new, chillingly dystopian
coinage on modern action flmmaking: Chaos
Cinema. While action is not the only genre
that fnds itself riddled with the bullets of
irrelevance, Stork hints at why it may matter
more than other mainstream genres. Sure, the
romantic comedy has literally hit the toilet,
where the excretion of bodily fuids has become
a default punchline and screwball has been
replaced by balls caught in zippers. Yes, the
adult thriller has all but disappeared, and the
musical has been so thoroughly debased that
even the biggest budget examples resemble
nothing so much as a botched high-school
talent show. I would argue, and Stork would
probably agree, that the downward spiral
follows the fall of the action flm. Like a canary
in a mine, action flms warn us that we are in
fact losing the language of cinema.
Firstly, the fundamentals: We must attribute
Hollywoods decline, in part, to industry
vicissitudes, which is another way of saying flms
cost a fortune. When studios are ultimately
responsible to shareholders rather than patrons,
script and craft will necessarily take a backseat
to proper and responsible management of the
product. Toys are made into movies, which are
made into video games, which are made into
toys. Then cometh the sequel.
All this does nothing to explain the drop in
quality of the shoot em up, given that action
flms are assumed to be script resilient. Yet no
type of flmmaking demands more precision,
planning and conceptual consideration than
action flms. They are written twice: frst as
a narrative, then as a series of standalone
sequences that clip into the narrative, adding
to it. Historically, action flms have always
functioned as cinemas soul. They shirked of
the early trappings of theatre, and created the
backbone of classical cinema that has been, in
Storks opinion, abandoned over the last 15 years.
In cinemas early days, spectacle did not
mean emptiness. There was a fuid conversation
between the work of Harold Lloyd and that
of his contemporaries, like Buster Keaton and
like a canary in a mine, action flms
warn us that we are in fact losing the
language of cinema.
hollywood life, etc
Charlie Chaplin. Lloyd and his peers took the
notion of the action flm, exemplifed by
1903s The Great Train Robbery, and built
upon it. Action scenes functioned as coherent
narratives embedded within a story. They
were expressions of a characters will: the will
to overcome chaos; the will to triumph over
adversity; the will to survive. These scenes
were the ultimate expression of the heroic, and
when we watched Harold Lloyd dangle from the
hands of a clock, something elemental about
our life-force was revealed to us.
Action scenes demand virtuosity. The
very tincture of cinema, they should unfold
in coherent space and time, with an arc of
their own. Every shot, meticulously chosen, is
assembled into a sequence that has the rhythm
of an aria. From silence to climax, the action
sequence is primordial, sexual. And its language
is distinctly cinematic.
This language once travelled across the
spectrum of genre flmmaking. It informed
the visual gag in comedies, the dance sequence
in musicals, the suspense scene in thrillers,
the coup de grace in horror. One watches the
superbly calibrated rhythm of Hitchcocks
opening sequence in Strangers On A Train,
and posits this against a scene from Keaton.
This intra-genre conversation built towards
the great flms of the late 60s and 70s and the
beginning of postmodern moviemaking, where
the seven-decade grab-bag of international
cinematic history was plundered to make
tough, adult flms, created by erudite directors.
That, it turns out, was Hollywoods high
water mark, although the eighties were perhaps
the action flms fnest decade. We came
to know Indiana Jones in motion, through
the wit and resolve he displayed under fre.
Spielberg crafted wondrous set pieces, in which
Indy came fully alive by dodging bullets and
boulders, properly expressing his essence
through action. We remember Die Hard
not just for John McTiernens superb action
flmmaking, but for the long set ups, and the
rewarding pay ofs. Who can forget Bruce Willis
as John McLane, anguish written all over his
face, revealing the stakes involved in trying to
save a skyscraper from a bunch of terrorists,
hobbled by the fact that his feet are cut up by
shattered glass?
These flms, and their action set pieces, were
ballasted by a century of classical flmmaking.
No longer. The fnal shoot em up in Peckinpahs
The Wild Bunch, perhaps one of the most
studied sequences in the mediums history,
will soon meet Tony Scotts ADHD-plagued
camera. In a recent GQ-published jeremiad on
the state of cinema, writer Mark Harris singled
out Top Gun as the beginning of the end
the fnal shoot em up
in peckinpahs the
wild Bunch, perhaps
one of the most studied
sequences in the
mediums history, will
soon meet tony scotts
Adhd-plagued camera.
hollywood life, etc
for flm as a legitimate art form. He describes
the oeuvre of Scott and his ilk as flms that are
stitched-together amalgams of amphetamine
action beats, star casting, music videos and
a diamond-hard laminate of technological
adrenaline all designed to distract you from their
lack of internal coherence, narrative credibility
or recognisable human qualities. They were
rails of celluloid cocaine with only one goal: the
transient heightening of sensation.
Harris attributes the decline to the modern-
day studio executives who came of age during
the Simpson/Bruckheimer age. Their teenage
sensibilities are a result of the chronic arrested
development that plagues their caste. It
compels them to greenlight the flms of their
boyhood, too terrifed to support anything that
may resemble a good script and therefore a
risky proposition. If movies were now seen as
packages, then the new kings of the business
would be marketers, who could make the
wrapping on that package look spectacular
even if the contents were defcient, writes
Harris. The science of marketing has been for
flmmaking like a vat of weed killer dumped on
a solitary pansy.
If Hollywood executives are fnancing
action flms in such quantities, surely this has
led to some good action flmmaking, if only
by default. Not so much. And here the blame
must be placed squarely on the shoulders of
the flmmakers. Lets start with Christopher
Nolan, perhaps the most celebrated commercial
flmmaker of his generation. For a man playing
with hundreds of millions of dollars, he has an
astonishing lack of fair when it comes to his set
pieces. He is bright in the way of a precocious
middle-school kid, and his tick-tock plotting,
as far as Inception and Memento are
concerned, result in some small satisfactions.
Yet for a flm set in successive dream worlds,
Inception is absent any sense of the oneiricism
that better flmmakers capture as a matter of
course. Nolans grasp of space is non-existent,
and his scattershot approach to action burdens
his flms with a leaden quality that reveal his
inner hack. Batman is not the lithe and lethal
crime fghter we suppose him to be, but a
Kevlar mannequin. Souplesse, the wonderful
French word that translates as suppleness, is
entirely missing from his aesthetic. Nolan goes
big, and then we go home.
Tony Scotts most recent flm, a men-at-work
thriller called Unstoppable, is the directors
best since True Romance, which isnt saying
much. Two rail engineers, portrayed by Denzel
Washington and Chris Pine, must use the
locomotive they are piloting to stop a rogue
train full of explosive chemicals from smashing
into Pittsburgh. The conceit, based on a true-
ish story, is standard ticking clock fare, and
Scott cant even get this right. His camera swirls
and dips and dives, unwilling to rest for even a
moment on the face of his appealing actors. The
plot, simple as it may be, derives its momentum
from cutting back to the live television
coverage of the event. Scotts afectations
reveal that he doesnt have the tools to tell
a straightforward story without borrowing
from the machinery of news television. This
isnt style, nor is it postmodern. Simply put,
modern action flmmakers have lost the ability
to employ the language of cinema.
No current director has done more to bring
Chaos Cinema into prevalence than Michael
Bay, director of The Rock, Armageddon
hollywood life, etc
and the Transformer trilogy. Bay, a favourite
punching bag of the cognoscenti, has worked
almost exclusively with Jerry Bruckheimer, and
his style doesnt iterate the pubescent mind
so much as reinvent it as broad caricature.
The slapstick set-ups of the three Transformer
flmsthe hour-long comic hi-jinks that
precede the actionare so odd, so drenched
in gay panic and terror of the female, that they
play more dreamlike than anything Nolan
conjured up in Inception. Like all Bays work,
they are an attempt to deliver the subconscious
teenaged mind to rapt teenagers, and display
the subconscious of 80s-bred studio executives
who are destined to misremember their youth
in a Groundhog Day loop of cacophonic,
unintelligible celluloid. Mostly, though, Bays
flms are a spaghetti tangle of smash-cut,
semi-related images, the purest form of Chaos
Cinema you will fnd.
Bad Boys was the frst time I, or any other
Hollywood flmmaker for that matter, used that
fast editing style, Bay recently informed the
website Moviehole of his debut flm, a buddy
cop picture starring Will Smith and Martin
Lawrence. And I only did that because we didnt
have a lot of money. What happened though
is that that style became a trend, and all these
movies started using it, which is fne, but I get
blamed for every flm that uses fast-editing.
Bay has described his style as fucking the
frame, which is gloriously apt, and should be
the standard-issue bumper sticker for most
modern action flmmakers. But we must take
careful note of his comments regarding Bad
Boys for they are revelatory. Bay comes from
a school of music video directors who plied
their trade in the late 80s and early 90s, and
perfected the scattershot approach to montage
that would come to defne MTV. Music videos
are to flms what press releases are to novels,
and yet the production style of the music video
has come to dominate how action and suspense
sequences are shot. Because time and money
are short, the trick is to flm as much footage as
is fnancially plausible, and fx it in post. The
primary goal of the director is to bank footage;
the driving force of the creative process is the
editor, who assembles this jumble according
to the beat of the music, sense be damned.
Editing, and now the computer, have replaced
planning and conception and script. Everything
can be salvaged in dark comfort of an after-
efects suite.
The music video approach infected
flmmaking like the Ebola virus, chewing
through comprehensibility, space, time and
rhythm, leaving a lump of rotting necrosis in
its wake. Chaos Cinema, its proponents would
argue, hints at the violence and incoherency
of the modern world, dominated as it is by
streams of endless and ultimately meaningless
information. It is the equivalent of the news
the music video approach
infected flmmaking like
the ebola virus, chewing
through comprehensibility,
space, time and rhythm,
leaving a lump of rotting
necrosis in its wake.
hollywood life, etc
reAd more:
1. Chaos Cinema Video Essay in Press Play
2. Part 2 of Michael Bay interview on Moviehole
3. The Day the Movies Died, in GQ
ticker rolling under a babbling talking head, the
ultimate expression of violent nonsense and,
therefore, an accurate parsing of our reality.
But this doesnt wash. Paul Greengrass, in
the acclaimed latter two Bourne flms starring
Matt Damon as a memory-challenged killing
machine, has proved without a shadow of doubt
that Chaos Cinema is more about expediency.
It is a tic that Greengrass would argue he
borrowed from the documentary (see his frst
American flm, United 93, which religiously
apes cinema verite, pretending to us that we
are there, observing a moment rather than a
replication of a moment.) Surely the shaky-cam
style of the Bourne flms suggests immediacy,
and the violence is more visceral for it?
Yet Sam Peckinpah reminds us that chaos
is best expressed through virtuosity; the fog
of war he depicts with excruciating precision
at the climax of The Wild Bunch has a
relationship with real violence, real human
madness, that the nonsense cut-ups in the
Bourne flms come nowhere near capturing.
Chaos Cinema does not represent the insanity
of everyday life in the 21st century. Instead
it represents the loss of virtuosity and, more
distressingly, the loss of the need for virtuosity.
Stork and others have pointed out that Chaos
Cinema relies on sound design to root the
incomprehensible and ground the viewer. Noise
makes up for the lack of visual sense. (Stork
reminds us that when we lose one sense, the
others jump in to compensate.) Thus, in what
is perhaps the stupidest afectation in cinema
history, we hear a whoosh when a fashlight
sweeps the frame. Action is jacked up on high
fructose extreme sound design. Sound, once
the most subtle and playful of cinemas tools
recall the child killer whistling Peter the Wolf
in Mis now another cudgel.
Crank and its sequel, Crank: High
Voltage, by the directing duo of Neveldine
and Taylor, come closest in tone and spirit
to parodying Chaos Cinema. Starring Jason
Statham as an (almost) indestructible tough,
the flms dial up the fash-cut tics to 11, with
intentionally hilarious results. The directors
have clearly studied their Michael Bay, and they
knowingly throw the detritus of the last 15 years
up on the screen. Crank tells us there is still
somewhere to go in terms of the action flm,
and now that we know how bad things have
become, we can start remedying the rot.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn is an
example of a flmmaker referencing the 70s,
especially in his upcoming movie Drive. Rise
of the Planet of the Apes lets us know that
spectacle can still be smart and nuanced. Mark
Harris, in his GQ piece, tub-thumps Inception
as the kind of daring flm that Hollywood
should be making. Hes wrong. Id take solid,
comprehensible flmmaking, coherent and
full of voice, over the industrial sensibility of a
Nolan product any day of the week. Films soul
is found in the action sequencethe kernels of
its language exist therein. Nolan, along with too
many of his peers, makes action flms without
possessing the ability to shoot action sequences.
And so, flms soul is in real peril, because
Chaos Cinema rules the day.
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Now there are more than enough reasons to put the old workhorse to rest.
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SPORT
briefs sport
Caster Semenya wins silver medal in 800m (Reuters)
south AfricA
The Sharks continued their
dominance over the Blue
Bulls, running out easy 39-27
winners in Pretoria. The Bulls
had many fringe Springboks
back in their ranks, but were
outplayed by the men from
Durban. With fve minutes to
go, the Bulls trailed 39-15.
Western Province registered
a fne 41-32 win over Griquas
to consolidate their position
among the frontrunners in the
Currie Cup competition. In an
entertaining match, played at a
frenetic pace, the visitors came
back after trailing 15-0 to lead
21-15 at the break. Both sides
showed a willingness to run
the ball and there were 12 tries
scored in the match.
The Free State Cheetahs
thrashed the Leopards
64-17 in their Currie Cup clash
in Potchefstroom on Saturday.
The Cheetahs outscored the
home side by nine tries to two
and had the result sealed by
half time. The tries continued
to food in and, in the second
half, the Cheetahs scored a
further six while the Leopards
scored two.
Cricket South Africa
opened sales of tickets for
the upcoming domestic and
international season. Australia
will be touring South Africa
this summer and ticket prices
for all forms of the game have
been made accessible for all to
join in the action. Test match
entry starts from just R20 a day.
KoreA
Usain Bolt made up for
his disastrous 100m fnal
disqualifcation when he won
the mens 200m gold and then
anchored the Jamaican relay
team to victory in the 4x100m
event at the IAAF World
Athletics Championships in
Daegu. The 25 year old won
the individual event in a time
of 19.40, the third fastest of
all time, and thereby silencing
critics that were beginning to
doubt his dominance in the
sprint events.
Caster Semenya fnished
with a silver medal for
South Africa in the womens
800m. Semenya was beaten by
Russian rival, Mariya Savinova,
who fnished in the fastest
time of the year, 1:55:87.
New ZeAlANd
Shane Williams, the prolifc
Welsh winger, echoed coach
Warren Gatlands sentiments
that the Boks should be losing
sleep over the upcoming
encounter at the RWC.
The 34-year-old veteran says
briefs sport
Usain Bolt wins 200m at the World Chamio (Reuters)
the team are fed up with
recent losses to the Boks and
are targeting the opener for a
shock victory.
uK
Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool
and England midfelder,
has set his sights on a 18
September return against
Tottenham Hotspurs. Gerrard,
the Liverpool FC captain,
has spent fve months
recovering from a groin injury,
missing out on the teams
most successful start to a
Premiership season in years.
Bernie Ecclestone has shot
down a leading Liberal
Democrat MP's request
for an explanation over the
decision to switch F1 from the
BBC to Sky. Last month it was
confrmed that, as of 2012, Sky
would be showing all Formula
One races live while the BBC
would only show half the
Grands Prix as they happen.
As for the other half, it is still
not clear whether the BBC will
show extended highlights or
full reruns three hours after
the race. The deal is believed
to be worth 45 million a year.
The frst ODI between
England and India at the
Riverside was abandoned
because of rain. India made
274 for seven with opener
Parthiv Patel contributing
95 and Virat Kohli hitting
55 runs. Praveen Kumar
dismissed both England
openers as the hosts stuttered
to 27 for two in 7.2 overs before
the heavens opened. The
players were unable to return
and the match was called of
shortly before the cut-of time
of 17:40 BST.
Rohit Sharma is the latest
India player to sufer a
potentially series-ending
injury during the tour of
England. The left-handed
batsman took a nasty blow on
the right hand from a Stuart
briefs sport
Virgin Racing (Reuters)
Broad ball in the 38th over. It
was the frst delivery he faced
in the opening ODI of the
fve-match series at Chester-
le-Street and he was forced to
retire hurt.
europe
Reigning world champ, Jorge
Lorenzo, won the San
Marino MotoGP ahead of
countryman, Dani Pedrosa
and closed the gap on overall
standings leader, Casey Stoner.
Lorenzo riding a Yamaha, is
now 39 points behind Stoner,
who fnished third.
Thomas Bjorn fred a
superb nine-under-par
62 to claim a four-stroke
victory over Martin Kaymer in
Switzerland on Sunday. Only
seven days after winning the
Johnnie Walker Championship
at Gleneagles, Bjorn has
triumphed at Crans-sur-Sierre
to claim the Omega European
Masters. It's the Dane's 13th
European Tour victory and his
third of the year.
Virgin Racing will
reportedly introduce a
major update to the rear of
their MVR02 ahead of next
weekend's Italian Grand Prix.
The team has struggled this
season, falling short of their
own expectations and their
main rivals, Team Lotus.
Virgin's woes resulted in
the team parting ways with
Nick Wirth and bringing
in technical consultant Pat
Symonds, who opted to delay
the introduction of the new
rear until the Italian GP.
sport golf/tennis
federer pains for tiger strains
Federer was trying to surpass Pete Sampras's
record of 14 Grand Slam wins, which he fnally
did by equalling the record at the 2009 French
Open, and then surpassing it a few months later
at Wimbledon.
Woods was hunting Jack Nicklaus' record
of 18 Major championships. He won his 14th at
the 2008 US Open, but hasn't won another one
since, with Nicklaus' record seeming stronger
and harder to surpass with every passing day
that Woods shows few signs of being the player
he once was.
And for Federer, at least, it's been hard
to watch.
"It's hard to follow, because you know what an
athlete wants to do," he said. "He wants to be out
there and compete, and that's what he's not able
Swiss tennis star Roger Federer admits that it's "been hard to watch" his friend Tiger Woods struggle
lately. Federer and Woods struck up a friendship a few years back as both were hunting their
respective all-time Grand Slam/Major records. By Golf365.com
to do with his injuries right now," Federer said
on Saturday after his third-round win at the US
Open. He said he and Woods spoke briefy on
the phone earlier in the week.
At the time both men were the undisputed
masters of their chosen sports, they were also
represented by the same agency and even worked
together on the same ad campaign for Gillette.
When Federer won the 2006 US Open, Woods
was in his guest box to watch him win, and they
shared a celebratory toast afterwards.
But since then so much has changed for
Woods - damaging revelations about his per-
sonal life became public leading to divorce and
numerous injury problems have prevented him
from performing as he'd like to on the course.
"It's been tough for him the last year. He
knows that," Federer added. "It's been hard to
watch. I only wish him the best."

Photo: REUTERS
sport wales rugby
boks predictable, were ready
for them wales coach
Wales are in a Pool D that also features Fiji,
which knocked them out at the group stage four
years ago, and a Samoa side which recently beat
highly-fancied Australia.
But Gatland insisted there was no way his
adopted country would keep their powder dry
against the Springboks to concentrate on the
threat posed by the Pacifc Island nations. And
he said Wales were looking forward to playing
South Africa frst, despite the Springboks well-
known qualities.
"They are very good at what they do," Gatland
said at Wales' hotel on Saturday. "They put the
ball up in the air and use power runners. We
pretty well know what we are going to get.
"They'll play to their strengths and that's what
Warren Gatland has promised Wales will feld their strongest possible side to face RWC champions
South Africa in their frst pool match in Wellington. By PLANETRUGBY.COM
they are good at doing. They are certainly a hard
side to beat. But playing them frst up in this
competition is a great opportunity for us."
Wales go into the match on the back of
warm-up wins against England, runners-up to
South Africa four years ago, and Argentina, third
in 2007.
But Wales have beaten South Africa just once
in their history and have lost their last 12 match-
es against the Springboks.
"The last three times we have played them
there's been very little in the scores. We have
scored them seven tries to six. Now we've just got
to get over the fnal hurdle and get that win.
"We can match their forwards. We are going
to put out the strongest side we can. I don't think
that in the last few times we've played them we
have been far away from them as a team.
"It's one game at a time for us and we have got
a squad capable of winning this game.

Photo: Wales' coach Warren Gatland (R) hongis with Toa
Waaka during the offcial welcome for Wales to Wellington
ahead of the 2011 RWC September 4, 2011. REUTERS/
Anthony Phelps
rugby world cup sport
the rugby world cup:
a look through the ages
New ZealaNd aNd australia: 1987
South Africans will remember this tournament
for the wrong reasons - mainly for not being
invited because of the global anti-apartheid
sports boycott. New Zealanders on the other
hand, will remember this one for the right
reason, being the only time they ever lifted the
William Webb Ellis trophy. In an incident now
believed to be fctional, William Webb Ellis, a
schoolboy at Rugby School in Warwickshire,
England, supposedly caught the ball in his arms
during a football match (which was allowed)
With RWC fever set to grip the nation, and a global TV audience of more than 4 billion viewers,
we thought a little look at tournaments gone past was in order. By STYLI CHARALAMBOUS
Photo: Springboks, 1995 RWC winners. REUTERS
and ran with it (which was not) in 1823
thereby sparking events which would ultimately
create the sport of rugby union football.
The hosts emerged from a decade of internal
discord and division created by the country's
continuing rugby association with South Africa,
with an exciting new team that swept aside all
challengers.
With the Bokke not there to challenge the
All Blacks, it was left to Australia and European
champions, France, to ofer resistance to the All
Blacks' supremacy.
France won an enthralling semi-fnal in
Sydney climaxed by last-gasp try by Serge
Blanco, but were unable to reproduce that
form in the fnal, going down 29-9 at Eden
Park in Auckland. The Kiwi side containing
John Kirwan, Michael Jones, Sean Fitzpatrick
and Wayne Buck Shelford, went on to attain
legendary rugby status over the next few years.
Semi-Finals
13 June 1987
Australia 24 30 France
14 June 1987
New Zealand 49 6 Wales
Final
20 June 1987
New Zealand 29 9 France
uk, irelaNd aNd FraNce: 1991
This tournament may well have been called
the David Campese show, with the rugby
genius at the peak of his powers on the wing
for Australia. He cut through the All Blacks'
defence with a wonderful solo try in their
Dublin semi-fnal to spark a thoroughly
deserved Wallabies' victory.
Their opponents in the Twickenham fnal
were England, who had played some of the best
all-round rugby the previous year, but who had
reverted to type shortly after beating Scotland
en route to a European Grand Slam.
England belatedly tried a more expansive
game against the Wallabies in the Twickenham
fnal after their forwards had taken them
Five Nations glory and the World Cup fnal,
but succumbed 12-6 on the day to a side who
were deserved winners. Prop Ewan McKenzie,
current coach of the Reds Super Rugby team,
scored the only try of the fnal.
Semi-Finals
26 October 1991
Scotland 6 9 England
27 October 1991
Australia 16 9 New Zealand
Final
2 November 1991
Australia 12 6 England
south aFrica: 1995
Need we say anymore about this tournament
that hasnt already been said, written or
flmed? The tournament sparked a special
time in the history of a country torn apart
by politics, where the nation stood united
as an underestimated team won against all
odds. Post-apartheid South Africa was back in
the world of international sport with Nelson
Mandela, released from 27 years imprisonment,
their president for a home World Cup.
Who could forget Madiba wearing a replica
of captain Francois Pienaar's No. 6 Springbok
jersey in the fnal in Johannesburg against the
All Blacks? And who could ever imagine what
that gesture did for the morale of the team
and for the entire country.
New Zealand had brushed all opposition
aside with South Africans replaying Jonah
Lomus trouncing of Mike Catt, with extra-
special pleasure. Heavy favourites going into
the fnal, New Zealand encountered a resilient
Bok side that kept the giant wing at bay and
went on to win 15-12 through a Joel Stransky
drop-goal, in extra time. Cue sales of the
countrys most popular bar room photo.
wales, eNglaNd, scotlaNd, irelaNd
aNd FraNce: 1999
France, with stand-in fyhalf Christophe
Lamaison playing the match of his life in the
semi-fnals, turned around a 24-10 halftime
defcit to beat the All Blacks 43-31 at Twickenham
in one of the great upsets in rugby history. And
one of the greatest matches ever played.
South Africans will forcefully endure
memories of fyhalf Stephen Larkham kicking
Photo: England's Jonny Wilkinson, 2003. REUTERS
the frst, and wobbliest, drop goal of his career,
in the other semi-fnal as he broke the 21-21
deadlock in extra-time. Many England fans that
watched the quarterfnal against the Boks are
still receiving counselling from having watched
Jannie de Beers world record of fve metronomic
drop-kicks in a Test match.
Wallaby captain John Eales had a superb
game in the fnal at the Millennium Stadium
in Wales, beating France 35-12. In a bittersweet
twist of fate, Eales a staunch republican, whose
movement had lost out in a referendum against
the royalists back home, on the same day,
received the Webb Ellis trophy from Queen
Elizabeth II.
Semi-Finals
17 June 1995
South Africa 19 15 France
18 June 1995
New Zealand 45 29 England
Final
24 June 1995
South Africa 15 12 New Zealand
australia: 2003
Martin Johnson, a towering giant in the second
row, led a confdent England side into the
World Cup. Dubbed Dads Army because of
the relative age of the squad, Johnson had a
group of men that had taken on, and beaten,
both Australia and New Zealand in the previous
years tour down south.
Their progress through the World Cup
was somewhat patchy as they ended up in the
fnal courtesy of a French team that failed to
adequately deal with the wet conditions.
The semi-fnal was billed as the match-up
between two fyhalves, Johnny Wilkinson and
Fredrik Michelak, one Prince Johnny won with
ease.
Australia defeated New Zealand in the other
semi-fnal, a Stirling Mortlock intercept sealing
the All Blacks fate. In the fnal, a battle of
attrition between the old enemies, was resolved
on the stroke of fulltime when Jonny Wilkinson
drop-kicked a goal with his weaker right foot to
give England a 20-17 extra time win.
Semi-Finals
15 November 2003
New Zealand 10 22 Australia
16 November 2003
England 24 7 France
Final
22 November 2003
England 20 17 Australia
FraNce: 2007
Argentina upset co-hosts France in the
opening match that set the tone for the most
entertaining tournament to date - unless youre
a Kiwi, that is.
In the pool stages, Georgia held Ireland to a
four-point winning margin, Fiji defeated Wales
and Tonga gave a second-string Springbok side
a mighty scare.
France then upset New Zealand in their
Cardif quarterfnal, the earliest exit ever for
the All Blacks, while England, who had been
humiliated 36-0 in their pool match against
South Africa, bounced back to beat Australia
and France in the knockout stages.
By contrast with the early excitement,
the fnal between South Africa and England
at the Stade de France failed to deliver on
the entertainment levels of the rest of the
tournament. South Africa won 15-6 in another
tryless fnal to join Australia as the only teams
to win the trophy twice.
Semi-Finals
13 October 2007
England 14 9 France
14 October 2007
South Africa 37 13 Argentina
Final
20 October 2007
South Africa 15 6 England
Photo: Jake White and Brian Habana, 2007. REUTERS
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