Professor Mary Metcalfe's report on the Limpopo textbook debacle paints a grim picture of the state of that province's education department. However, the national education department has
welcomed her report, saying that it "adequately captures the complexities of the Section 100 (1)(b) intervention in that province and the difficulties experienced by national government in terms of the provision of textbooks to schools in Limpopo". The bottom line is that their department of education's handling of this disgrace has failed Limpopo's pupils badly.
Possibly manufacturing a little alarm of his own... According to
Times Live, trade and industry minister
Rob Davies has warned businesses: invest, or lose BEE points. He apparently wants investment in enterprise, supplier, and skills development.
Food, glorious food... possibly not...Phakamani Hadebe, Land Bank CEO, is reported to have said that
22nd century food-security is not guaranteed. He could be right, which is all the more reason why the issue of land redistribution needs to be handled very carefully, and properly.
In the property sector, indications are that there's real transformation in
SA's real estate market. Research indicates that almost half of all home loan applications are now being made by black buyers, compared with only about 12% a decade ago.
Finally, on the automotive front, extreme weather over the past few days saw the
N1 and N12 closed following heavy snowfalls and rain. And on the petrol-head front, motoring editor Henrie Geyser reckons
Hyundai is continuing to strengthen its grip on the local car market, with the i30, for instance.
Rod Baker, content director
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tourismnews@bizcommunity.com. Exclusive contributions may be sent to
contributors-tourism@bizcommunity.com.
Following the announcement of the 2012 winners of the coveted Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards, the Victoria & Alfred Hotel in Cape Town stands proud as one of the top 15 most loved luxury hotels in the Africa and Middle East region. 
Adding to its growing list of international accolades, Cape Town's Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa has been voted the Top Hotel Spa in Africa and the Middle East in the Travel + Leisure 2012 World's Best Awards. The hotel was also ranked in the Top 100 Hotels overall, and awarded the third place on the list of Top City Hotels in Africa and the Middle East. 
Ryan Houston has recently been appointed as executive chef at African Pride Irene Country Lodge in Centurion, Pretoria. His first assignment has been to review the entire food offering at the five star lodge. Apart from revamping the menus, Houston has set about ensuring that every dish coming out of the kitchen tastes and smells as good as it looks. This award-winning chef hopes guests will appreciate the culinary art addition to the buffets and a la carte menus. 
South African Airways (SAA) has been voted the best airline in Africa for the 10th year in a row. "SKYTRAX (a global aviation research organisation) has again confirmed that SAA, with our excellent service and very convenient connections to 26 African destinations via our Johannesburg hub, ranks with the best in the world," said SAA chief executive officer Siza Mzimela yesterday. 
So which is the best season to take a Northern Hemisphere holiday? If you say summer, you'd be wrong - even though summer is clearly a great choice. Trafalgar, however, has devised a brand-new, expanded Europe & Britain autumn, winter and spring brochure designed to give you a wide selection of places to visit and enjoy. 
