The Mercury (South Africa) back issues from October 2008:
Hop away from this one.(Life)
Oct 01, 2008 ... THE fact that Adam Sandler's Happy Madison company produced this new film should have been fair warning that it wasn't going to be the most witty or wonderful of comedies. And so it proves. Laden with weak and stale humour, and with a tired, unoriginal and drawn-out plot, as ...
Guarding against 'banana skin' lawsuits.(Network)
Oct 01, 2008 ... In a recent case decided in Pietermaritzburg, the presiding judge stated: "The duty on the keeper of a supermarket to take reasonable steps is not so onerous as to require that every spillage must be discovered and cleared up as soon as it occurs. Nevertheless, it does require a system ...
Overview of global and local markets.(Network)
Oct 01, 2008 ... The credit crunch has gained significant momentum, sparked by the failure of Lehman Brothers and the big banks of the United States. The result of all of this has been panic selling across the globe - with no sectors being spared. A renewed shift towards risk aversion ...
Delegates given a sneak preview of life in the not so distant future.(Network)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Lyse Comins Personalised advertising. Augmented reality. Electronic paper. Biometric payment. Telemetry. Digital pens. Artificial intelligence. Holograms. Six terabyte hard-drives. This may sound like science fiction mumbo-jumbo, but all of the above have ...
Municipality hands out a prime contract.(Network)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Network reporter Leading South African information communication technology company Business Connexion has been awarded a multimillion-rand contract to implement a human resources management information system for the eThekwini Municipality. The new "Dynamic ...
New Bill ends customary succession rules.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: SIPHO KHUMALO A bill proposing radical changes to how estates, inheritance and succession should be handled in traditional communities has been well received by communities in KwaZulu-Natal, and is most likely to receive support from the provincial legislature. ...
Police turned a blind eye to weekend beachfront disgrace.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... I am disgusted with the state of the beachfront over the weekend, and even more disgusted that the SAPS chose to turn a blind eye. On Sunday, my children were involved in a surfing competition, and we had to be at the beach at 7am. From the turn-off near George ...
Remant Has Destroyed Our Bus Service.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... As a long-suffering client of Durban Transport/Remant Alton for the past 11 years, I fully support the bus drivers and their colleagues in their fight to be re-employed by the municipality, rather than be messed around further by their current employers. Remant Alton have made the drivers' ...
Renting premises generates no return on the expense.(Network)
Oct 01, 2008 ... Entrepreneurs are always seeking solutions to their needs and with regard to business tenure are looking not only for sound investment options for different stages in their business's life cycle, but for real added-value services like mentorship and property management. Business ...
What Business Partners Offers.(Network)
Oct 01, 2008 ... q Specialises in risk finance for small and medium enterprises from R150 000 upwards; q Focuses on viability when considering investment/ funding decisions rather than security; q One hundred percent financing ...
On course to business success.(Network)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Network reporter IN MID-September, 18 young entrepreneurs started the special entrepreneur's course, "Eight Steps to Business Success" , at the KZN Business Training Centre in Westville. What makes this unique, however, is the fact that this group has been ...
The misfit and the superstar.(Life)
Oct 01, 2008 ... PLATINUM-CERTIFIED teen heart-throb rock trio The Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin and Nick) head the cast of a new film headed for DStv's Disney Channel (channel 303) at 7pm on Friday. It's CAMP ROCK, a movie that has got channel executives crossing fingers in the hope it will become ...
Cost-cutting holidays in South Africa for locals.(Network)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Network reporter South African Tourism and hotel and giant Southern Sun are working to persuade South Africans to travel more - by making it more affordable to venture away from home for holidays. "Last year, South Africans undertook 39 million trips within ...
Pupils show off their business skills.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: HIGHROAD REPORTER THIRTEEN years on and a partnership between Sapref and The Mercury is still promoting business skills among young entrepreneurs in the province. Started in Richards Bay in 1995, the Sapref Mercury School Entrepreneurs' competition attracted ...
Benchmarking service for SA.(Network)
Oct 01, 2008 ... THE first benchmarking service for corporate occupiers of property in South Africa has been launched by Investment Property Databank (IPD), the company announced recently. According to the firm, this was in response to a strong need for such measures expressed by real- estate ...
Power-sharing or power-snaring? It's not clear who benefits economically from Thabo Mbeki's Zimbabwe deal.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: PATRICK BOND THE Zimbabwe elite deal-making process could achieve another milestone if Robert Mugabe honours his pledge to form a government of unity. Even if not genuine democratisation, we must still ask who will win the economic chimurenga - a liberation ...
Black business teams up with KZN developer.(Network)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Network reporter Members of the National African Federation for the Building Industry (Nafbi) convened at the Riverside Hotel in Durban recently to learn more about property development from the KZN-based eLan Group. The objective of the conference was to ...
Shackled by myth of free trade.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Tony Carnie THERE has been much talk about lame-duck presidents. Now that comrade Thabo Mbeki has been recalled to the nearest ditch, comrade Kgalema Motlanthe is warming the presidential seat as we await the messiah, Jacob Zuma - provided he, too, is not rendered lame ...
Motownon deck.(Life)
Oct 01, 2008 ... NEXT Thursday marks the return, to the Upper Deck restaurant on the ship at uShaka Marine World, of the popular cabaret, Motown on Deck, saluting soulful sounds of the 60s and 70s. Scheduled to run until November 9, the show stars Clive Gumede, Pumi Zondi and Khaya Mthethwa and ...
Last night of the proms.(Life)
Oct 01, 2008 ... RICHARD Cock will conduct the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, Durban Symphonic Choir, the Caledonian/NMR/Durban Regiment Pipe Bands and guest soloists, including Brian Myandu, Kwazi Makhanya and Melusi Khubeka, who comprise the Opera Kings, at Saturday's Last Night of the Proms. ...
Call for temporary homes to be fast-tracked.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: GUGU MBONAMBI Thousands of frustrated residents at the Foreman Road informal settlement in Clare Hills, Durban, are calling for the eThekwini Municipality to fast-track the construction of temporary shacks after more than 2 000 shacks were destroyed by fire two weeks ...
Sharks aiming for greater awards.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: MIKE GREENAWAY Yesterday at Absa Stadium, Sharks coach John Plumtree and his scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar were awarded miniature replicas of the Absa Currie Cup for their heroics over the past month, and as they stood on the pitch their common wish surely was for the replicas ...
Shipbuilding parastatal mooted.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: NATHI OLIFANT THE government has set out plans to create a South African state-owned shipbuilding parastatal to enhance the viability of the shipping industry. The plans are outlined in the transport department's draft South African Maritime Policy 2008. ...
Outrageous script.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... IF ANYONE had written a film script of what is going on in New York and Washington right now, it would have been rejected as outrageously far-fetched. The globalised capitalist economy threatens to go into overnight meltdown. Legislators gather in Washington to put together an ...
Chinese Spacewalk.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... When the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed the Shenzhou 7 spaceship landing under clear skies in the grasslands of China's northern Inner Mongolia region on Sunday afternoon, it sent the nation into throes of ecstasy and pride. Three Chinese astronauts emerged from their ...
School language policy was unfair.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: WENDY JASSON DA COSTA The Equality Court has found that Durban High School's former language policy had discriminated against pupils whose first language was Zulu. Yesterday, magistrate John Sanders ruled that offering Afrikaans at a higher level than Zulu ...
Westville couple intended to abscond to Dubai, court hears.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Kamini Padayachee A Westville couple, who have been accused of stealing about R2 million from an American lawyer and then fleeing from justice, intended to abscond to Dubai. This is according to papers filed with the Durban High Court yesterday. ...
Court hears details of Lotters' murders.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: TANIA BROUGHTON Murdered teacher and Westville resident Riekie Lotter was electrocuted with a "shock" gun, her hands were tied with cable ties and her mouth was gagged with a sock and taped with duct tape before her killers tried to inject air bubbles into her veins. ...
She was in charge, says Mathew Naidoo.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: TANIA BROUGHTON That he is a man in love - besotted, in fact - is the picture that murder accused Mathew Naidoo, 22, is trying to portray. "She was white, beautiful, religious, owned a band, had a car, studied music and lived in Westville. She was everything I ...
Swimming coach accused of abuse.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: GUGU MBONAMBI A group of Durban parents who believe their children were molested by a well-known swimming coach have laid charges of sexual assault against the man. The parents became suspicious and investigated after their children began to emulate adult ...
ANC responds to legal challenge.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: MATTHEW SAVIDES THE ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has taken a swipe at IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, saying he is "merely respected as an old politician, inkosi (chief) of the Buthelezi clan and as an elderly citizen who is well-known in the province". ANC ...
Amla ruled out.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... THE Dolphins' premier batsman, Hashim Amla, has been forced to pull out of the team for their SuperSport Series match against the Titans starting at Kingsmead tomorrow. Amla, who struggled with ankle problems during the last week of the Proteas' tour of England, has not recovered ...
Cadbury reassures consumers.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: YUSUF MOOLLA & Kanina Foss SOUTH Africa did not have an agency that dealt solely with food safety while increasing food and product imports from foreign countries. This criticism was issued by the National Consumer Forum after one of the world's largest ...
Court's 'no' to job for apartheid policeman.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Karyn Maughan & Louise Flanagan JOHANNESBURG: An apartheid police bomb expert and killer won't be getting his job back any time soon, thanks to the Supreme Court of Appeal. Five Appeal Court judges yesterday dismissed Brig Wybrand Andreas Lodewikus "Wal" du ...
Changes to playing conditions.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... DUBAI: In line with a decision made earlier this year by the International Cricket Council chief executives' committee (CEC), a range of new playing conditions for cricket comes into effect from today. These amendments, which were unanimously approved by all 10 full members and ...
We'll delay Tendulkar record bid, say Aussies.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Hyderabad Australia skipper Ricky Ponting said yesterday his team would do their best to make India batsman Sachin Tendulkar struggle to reach his world record in the upcoming test series. Tendulkar needs just 77 runs to pass West Indies batsman Brian Lara's ...
Runs in my blood, says H D.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: PATRICK COMPTON "I JUST love batting," says H D Ackerman with the infectious smile of a 25-year-old, even though he officially weighs in at 10 years older. The Dolphins, for whom Ackerman has signed a one-year contract, will be happy to hear that his ...
KZN team study fire fighting in Australia.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Sinegugu Ndlovu KwaZulu-Natal's political head of disaster management, Mike Mabuyakhulu, and a delegation are scheduled to return from Australia this week after a tour to acquire more information on veld fire management. Mabuyakhulu's spokesman, Lennox ...
ANC tables its plan to replace Scorpions.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Deon de Lange The ANC wants the organised crime-fighting unit that is to replace the doomed Scorpions to have no independent crime intelligence gathering capabilities and says it must report to the minister of safety and security, be subjected to stricter vetting ...
Parliament abandons Travelgate debt.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: XOLANI MBANJWA The Democratic Alliance has slammed parliament's decision to scrap millions of rands in Travelgate debt allegedly owed by MPs. DA chief whip Ian Davidson yesterday questioned the manner in which this controversial decision was taken by ...
Motlanthe has to decide on presidential pardons.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Chiara Carter President Kgalema Motlanthe has extended the deadline for a multi-party reference group to look at applications from political offenders for presidential pardon by two months until the end of November. The original deadline for the group to ...
Cycling safety measures sought.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Kamini Padayachee The Durban cycling community will today propose that popular cycling routes be better policed and that cameras be used as a deterrent for reckless motorists. The proposals will be made at a cyclists' workshop. It is being held by ...
Free Market.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... SUDDENLY, it seems, nationalisations are in fashion in the very temples of the free market economy. In their headlong rush to shore up crumbling financial systems, governments and central banks in the United States, Europe and parts of Asia have thrown away the book of rules of ...
St Andrews this time owes it to Ernie Els.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Grant Winter St Andrews (Scotland): On the green for two and down for seven. It doesn't sound like Ernie Els, but that is what happened to South Africa's favourite golfing son a year ago here in perhaps the most spectacular meltdown of his long and brilliant career. ...
Woods faces long road back from injury.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... WASHINGTON: Tiger Woods expects it will take another 18 months before he recovers from the left knee surgery that he underwent in June, even though he will be back competing some time next year. The 32-year-old Woods elected to have the cruciate ligament surgery after he won the ...
Ferrari chief labels Singapore track 'circus'.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... MILAN: Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has poured scorn on Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, saying the "circus" track and the use of the safety car had been humiliating for Formula One. Formula One's first night race drew rave reviews from participants and onlookers, ...
Zille, De Klerk, Manuel are 'optimistic'.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: ANEL POWELL & CHIARA CARTER DEMOCRATIC Alliance leader Helen Zille says she is feeling "more optimistic" about the country's political future, despite the upheaval of the past week following the axing of former president Thabo Mbeki. "There has been an earth ...
Anglican bishop of the Highveld dies.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... JOHANNESBURG: The Right Reverend David Beetge, Anglican Bishop of the Highveld and the second most senior bishop in the South African Anglican Church hierarchy, has died in Gauteng. He was 59 and contracted septicemia, the Anglican Church said in a statement yesterday. Beetge ...
Buses could be running by Friday.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: NOMPUMELELO MAGWAZA The troubled bus company, Remant Alton, is ready to hire 800 new bus drivers with the hope of resuming Durban's bus service by Friday. The company advertised vacancies for drivers in Durban newspapers this week. The company ...
Solar vehicles arrive in Cape.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: MICHELLE JONES CAPE TOWN: Don't be alarmed - spaceships haven't landed. But some very strangely shaped vehicles will be in Cate Town today as the South African Solar Challenge stops over. The race is the first in South Africa to demonstrate the use of ...
'Car guard' trapped in vehicle.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Hanti Otto PRETORIA: A suspected car thief managed to "imprison" himself when the vehicle he allegedly wanted to steal outsmarted him with technology. Hemman Mathebe, 23, of Mamelodi East, was trapped in a Golf 5 for at least two hours while the driver was ...
Zim deal on the brink of collapse.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Basildon Peta Zimbabwe's much-vaunted power-sharing deal seems to be dead in the water after Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai failed to break the deadlock over allocation of cabinet portfolios yesterday. Tsvangirai and Mugabe met in Harare after the ...
Shosholoza to take part in European regatta.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Mercury Reporter South Africa's yacht, Shosholoza RSA 83, will take to Italian waters to race in the Trieste Barcolana next week. The regatta is one of Europe's biggest international sailing events, and the only regatta to set a single start line, measuring ...
Zuma prosecutors hit out at judge.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Karyn Maughan The "political meddling" inference by Judge Chris Nicholson that cost president Thabo Mbeki his job should never have been made. This is the contention of Jacob Zuma's prosecutors, who yesterday slammed the ruling that stopped Zuma's prosecution ...
Markets rally after Monday crash.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Louise Flanagan Don't panic! That's what economists are telling South Africans who are watching the United States economy crash. "One must be careful, but don't panic," said SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry economist Richard Downing. He ...
Snow on Mars.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... WASHINGTON: In an unprecedented discovery, Nasa's Phoenix Mars Lander had found snow falling from clouds on Mars, scientists said yesterday. A laser instrument collecting data on ...
Fifa up in arms over Polish changes.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... WARSAW: Poland risks losing the right to co-host Euro 2012 after Fifa and Uefa, soccer's governing bodies, said they did not recognise the administrator appointed by the Polish government to run the country's football association. "Fifa and Uefa will immediately start joint ...
Real maintain buoyant form.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: St Petersburg Real Madrid maintained their unbeaten start in the Champions League group stage with a 2-1 win over Zenit St Petersburg yesterday, making it the first time in five years that they had won their opening two matches. Uefa Cup and Super Cup holders ...
SA may sign cluster-bomb treaty.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Peter Fabricius The South African government yesterday gave "encouraging signs" that it would sign a convention banning cluster bombs on December 3 this year. But SA left a little room for doubt by not joining 28 other African countries who gave firm ...
Mabizela's career in doubt after 'accident'.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Nkareng Matshe Johannesburg: Confusion still reigns over the real reasons why Mbulelo Mabizela did not report for the Bafana Bafana camp at the weekend. It emerged yesterday that Mabizela had been involved in a car accident at his hometown in KwaZulu-Natal, ...
Thanda's Parker the hero for three-goal Bafana.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: Jonty Mark Germiston: As Daine Klate fired Bafana Bafana into a three-goal lead yesterday, cries of Shosholoza filled the Germiston night air. Irrelevant as this victory was in the grander scheme of things, at least it gave the country's ever-more-despairing ...
Arsenal thump hapless Porto.(Sports)
Oct 01, 2008 ... BYLINE: London Arsenal demolished a feeble Porto side 4-0 in the Champions League at the Emirates Stadium, in London, last night with two goals each from Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor firing them to the top of Group G. Arsenal have four points from two ...
Big bucks.(Life)
Oct 01, 2008 ... ACTOR Richard Dreyfuss reportedly raked in some $100 000 recently when he signed movie memorabilia at the Hollywood Collectors's Show, where fans paid up to ...
Part of provincial government's job to maintain customer service.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... The letter "Ndebele has set an excellent example" (The Mercury, September 22) refers. Since 2004 the KwaZulu-Natal government has taken a leading role in ensuring the citizens of the province receive quality government service. In 2005, KZN was one of the first ...
Criminals are opportunists; A team of dedicated police officers, who often go the extra mile, are helping to bring house robbers to book in Durban, write Jeff Wicks and Kamini Padayachee.(News)
Oct 01, 2008 ... ABOUT 90% of house robberies in KwaZulu-Natal were committed by opportunistic robbers taking advantage of home owners who failed to take simple security precautions. Capt Ronald Pillay, head of the SAPS provincial house robbery task team, said in the majority of cases that came ...