South Africa

- Following hard on the heels of the Gautrain debacle is the Gauteng provincial governments proposed R2,5-billion government precinct. Critics have blasted the idea as a white elephant that will cost much more than predicted -- already costs have ballooned 100%.

 But Neil Fraser, an architect with the Central Johannesburg Partnership, expressed shock as he and a quantity surveyor had done a rough cost estimate of R1-billion.
"Even at that price it would have been a stupid and worthless exercise. What are we getting? Messed-up traffic patterns, the reduction of four lanes to two (in Market and Commissioner streets), a place which independent assessors have said fewer people will use than currently do now, and, above that, they are demolishing perfectly good buildings. "We will be getting less than we have for R2,5-billion."

Fraser said that objectors, including the Heritage Trust, have appealed to Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan to convene a tribunal to review Sahra's decision. "I cannot see that the city needs a huge square, poorly conceived and at the expense of good heritage buildings. "After all, the city has already got Beyers Naudé Square, and Mary Fitzgerald Square which was purpose-built to host events and gatherings of up to 50 000 people."

 

- Is back-door amnesty on the cards for those who did not apply to the TRC? According to IOL, a draft document setting out guidelines for post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) prosecutions is being circulated. "The draft also proposes allowing the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to hold closed-door meetings with perpetrators to decide whether to prosecute them or not." In this humble bloggers opinion, a bad idea! Both apartheid functionaries and liberation cadres knew the stakes when they decided not to testify, now they must accept responsibility for their (in)actions.

- Al-Jazeera is heading to SA (great news, the more diversity in news we have the better!).  “For South African viewers, a fresh approach means two things. We will treat any African story as a normal news event, and we won’t fall into the trap of only dealing with Africa when there’s war,” explains Claude Colart, the senior producer at AJI’s Johannesburg bureau.

- The torpedoes are in the water and heading for SAS Zuma, the crew is getting ready to abandon ship -- fast!