15 April 2021 - The CEO of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), Dr Frans Cronje, says that he has reason to doubt parts of the version of events put out by the police surrounding the killing of two men and the injury of several others at a farm near Mkhondo (formerly Piet Retief). Four farmers were arrested for the killings and are being held in custody ahead of a bail hearing. The police maintain that the four were party to murdering the two men who, they say, were innocent work-seekers.
14 April 2021 - South Africa risks triggering a flight of scarce skills and capital if it presses ahead with amendments to the Employment Equity Act that would give the labour minister the authority to set employment equity targets for employers across the economy.
13 April 2021 - Carol Paton says little that is original in her column on land politics (“Land matters. It is as simple and as complicated as that”, April 8).
12 April 2021 - On its Climate Science Information Centre, extended in February to South Africa, Facebook states that “at least 97% of published scientists agree that global warming is real and caused by humans”.
12 April 2021 - Undeterred by the inaction and apparent indifference of the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) and other entities, residents of the Roodepoort suburb of Weltevredenpark have taken the initiative and filled more than 80 potholes along the busiest routes in the area.
11 April 2021 - The biggest risk in talking about race is less the danger of being considered offensive than the fate of being misunderstood. But the cost in either case is highest if the consequence is not talking about race at all.
10 April 2021 - In Davos in 2020, finance minister Tito Mboweni identified three “critical turnaround developments” for SA: “Government’s reform agenda must gather momentum; policy certainty needs to be secured; and investment needs to recover at a fast pace.”
9 April 2021 - After furiously denying in a sworn affidavit that the government stood in the way of private sector procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, the medicine regulator has just done exactly that.
8 April 2021 - A fortnight ago the Ad Hoc Committee responsible for drafting the expropriation-without-compensation (EWC) constitutional amendment bill (the Bill) claimed that a burning land hunger among South Africans was one of the key reasons why the Bill had to be pushed through the legislative process as rapidly as possible.
7 April 2021 - Your editorial made the very odd argument that SA’s delayed vaccination strategy can be attributed to wealthier countries intentionally withholding vaccines (“SA needs to aggressively fight vaccine apartheid”, April 7).
7 April 2021 - More than a week after last month’s attack on Palma, the Mozambican authorities claimed to be in control of the town. There is still no independent verification of this and the area remains cut off from cellphone communication.
4 April 2021 - Weird place, the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). To investigate Adam Habib and all the “pain” he caused, as well as promote “anti-racism”, its Board of Trustees has commissioned one Judy Clements. Not any old Judy Clements, but “Judy Clements OBE”. When last I checked, those letters stood for Order of the British Empire.
IRR CEO expresses concerns around Mkhondo (Piet Retief) killings
