• South Africa: SA Braces Itself for Fourth Industrial Revolution

    Pretoria - South Africa must build its skills base in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry if it is to cement its position in the fourth industrial revolution. "As we exist in the digital age and in the midst of a universe that is continuously shrinking to become a global village, ICT and innovation are elements that underpin our future growth and development. "If we are to dream of a brighter future for our country, it is essential that training in ICT and business development become integral in our education system. That is the best way we can cultivate the landscape for the prosperity of future innovators," said Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation,

  • South Africa Needs a Sensible Debate About Its Reserve Bank. Here's a Start

    Debates on monetary policy in South Africa over the last couple of decades seem to have come from a madhouse. First, in the 1990s the country had old discredited Washington Consensus policies rammed down its throat. This was done with little regard for alternative progressive ideas and little or no democratic debate or public participation. And then recently the country's Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane released a report that made sweeping populist recommendations about the South Africa Reserve Bank. The report favoured revising the country's constitution and a binding recommendation for a monetary policy regime that excludes any reference to price stability. A mandate like this simply doesn't

  • Kenya: Moi Exit Plan Marked Start of Nicholas Biwott's Slide

    A little-known fact is that when the young political tyro Uhuru Kenyatta accepted President Daniel arap Moi's invitation to be his chosen successor, he accepted on the condition that he would be allowed to craft a new-look Kanu not weighed down by the baggage of the past. Among the politicians he insisted must go were the powerful troika of Vice-President George Saitoti, secretary-general Joseph Kamotho, and organising secretary Nicholas Biwott. Mr Biwott was, until he died on Tuesday, the last surviving member of the trio. Once feared as the most powerful man in the county other than the President, Mr Biwott's gradual exit from the centre stage of national life marked polar opposites with the rise of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto.

  • South Africa: Bird Flu Confirmed On Two Farms

    Pretoria - Bird flu cases have been detected on two commercial layer chicken farms in Gauteng and Mpumalanga. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Wednesday said the two farms were immediately placed under quarantine by the state veterinarian after the HPAI H5N8 virus was confirmed. The department said the necessary measures have been taken to contain and eliminate the disease as efficiently as possible on both farms. "Forward tracing was done and cull chicken depots were identified, which had received live cull chickens from one of the affected farms in the last 21 days. The records of these cull depots are being followed up to trace as many of these chickens as possible."

  • Liberia: Education, Agriculture, Others Top Liberia, Turkey Bilateral Talks

    The government of Turkey yesterday held discussions with the Liberian government in an effort to help strengthen investment opportunities in the country. The Turkish government is now poised to help Liberia in the commercial, education, and agriculture sectors, while also assisting to digitize Liberia's Center for National Documents and Records Agency (CNDRA). Those were highlighted at a joint press stakeout where Foreign Affairs Minister Marjon V. Kamara and her Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, addressed the media at the Foreign Ministry in Monrovia. Minister Çavuşoğlu who was on a one-day visit to Liberia stressed the need to increase trade between the two countries, which he believes

  • South Africa: Zuma Mourns Veteran Musician Phiri

    Veteran South African Afro-Jazz musician, Ray Chikapa Enock Phiri has died. He was 70. Phiri, who was the lead singer of Stimela, died of lung cancer in a South African hospital where he had been admitted and being attended to by an oncologist. Tributes to the late singer were pouring in as news of his death filtered through, with the most notable ones being from South African President, Jacob Zuma and the opposition Economic Freedom Front (EFF) led by former African National Congress Youth League chairperson, Julius Malema. In his condolence message to the Phiri family, Zuma described the late musician as a Musical Giant. "This is indeed a huge loss for South Africa and the music industry as

  • South Africa: Youth Winners to Represent SA in Stockholm

    Pretoria - Three learners from Limpopo, who won the South African Youth Water Prize (SAYWP) competition, will this weekend jet off to Stockholm in Sweden to represent South Africa at the annual World Water Week. The SAYWP is one of the projects that the department is implementing in its education programme called 2020 Vision for Water Education Programme. The project is aimed at educating Grade 9-11 learners about efficient use of water and protection of water resources. During this year's SAYWP competition held in Pretoria on 2 June 2017, the 16-year-old learners, Mokgotho Temogelo Thami, Mmola Desmond Kutullo and Nkwane Wayne Luka, who are in Grade 11 at Lebeko Senior Secondary School in Phalaborwa,