WHEN GOOD NEWS IS BAD
By Shannon Sherry
Falling agricultural commodity prices might appear to be good news at first glance, but they could signal a deepening of the world food crisis. The UN's Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says lower food prices have arisen not from a recovery ...

IF THE FANS DON'T COME
By Quentin Wray
"The question of Plan B is dead," says Danny Jordaan from a couch in his plush office at the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) offices near Johannesburg's Soccer City. "It was never real, anyway." The stadiums for the 2010 soccer World Cup w...

CHECK-IN SORTED FOR 2010
By Larry Claasen
Getting through immigration control will become a lot easier for travellers to SA during and after the 2010 soccer World Cup if a plan by the home affairs department is implemented. Visitors to SA often complain about waiting for more...

ROUGH CUT FOR BOTSWANA
By Matthew Hill
It was a haunting premonition. In March, Botswana's then President Festus Mogae cautioned the country over the perils of its excessive dependence on diamonds. Now the world's biggest diamond source, along with other mineral-rich Africa...

GOOD PLAN, LITTLE MONEY
By Shoks Mzolo
Barbara Hogan describes herself as "street wise". However, the health minister will require more than this in her new job. She will need political savvy if she's going to succeed in getting national treasury to provide more money for her department's...

MIND THE GAP
By Prakash Naidoo
Though SA continues to face a chronic skills shortage in a number of key areas, the lack of practical and hands-on experience among professionals, technicians and artisans may pose a far graver threat to the economy. Experts say that though the ...

IN SEARCH OF A FACE
By Thebe Mabanga and Prakash Naidoo
The Congress of the People used its inaugural conference in the Free State capital of Bloemfontein to make a declaration of intent. But it left unanswered questions about its leadership. "Cope has arrived," says independent politic...