BY NOVELL ZWANGENDABA – JOHANNESBURG – A new study shows that South Africa’s international reputation declined significantly between December 2009 and June 2010. Perceptions of SA immigrants living in the UK and the SA government took a knock along with intentions to visit the country in future. Confidence in the ability of the country to host the World Cup is also low. Only 14% of the public in the United Kingdom agree that South Africa has a good-overall reputation, relative to other developing countries. This is according to a survey by South African marketing research consultancy Acentric, conducted between the... Continue Reading
By Shout-Africa – The Zambian Watchdog publication will lead a two-day seminar in Lusaka that will give participants useful tips on ways to maintain and protect their reputations online. Deadline: June 10. The workshop, on June 24 and 25, will also cover basic skills such as creating mailing lists, databases, and blogs. For more information and the application form, email adverts@zambianwatchdog.com, or call Nelly Kasabo at +260 977510485
By Shout-Africa – Angola, the world’s fifth-biggest diamond producer, is working on a new law for the mining sector that will regulate the way diamond companies will distribute their revenues from projects in the African nation, an official from state-run diamond company Endiama said. Under the new law, diamond companies will use 50 percent of their revenues to pay for operational costs. The remaining 50 percent will be used to pay taxes, investors and to help develop the local community, the official, Sebastiao Panzo, said. He gave no further details. The current law stipulates that mining companies in Angola pay... Continue Reading
By Shout-Africa – ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS The Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) say it supports the need to keep industry and members abreast of the way that waste is disposed of. IWMSA is firm about strengthening activity of Re-use, Recycle and Recover as a way to manage waste. In a press statement released today, th organisation lammented that with 125 known landfill sites on record, only 83 have been authorised (66%). “This has partly been due to the lack of regular auditing, and lack of political support at local government levels and also factoring in serious non-compliance and... Continue Reading
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad reports from Mogadishu where presence of US drones reveals western anxiety over country’s conflict. On a side street off Mogadishu’s Wadnaha Road frontline a young officer is explaining the unwritten rules of the city’s intractable civil war as his men exchange fire with an unseen enemy. The fighters shooting at him are from the Hizb al-Islam, he explains. He knows this because they fight longer than al-Shabab, the other main Islamist group besieging Somalia’s tiny government-held enclave, but also because they told him. “We have friends there. They tell us before they leave their base that they are... Continue Reading
