A South African-based company has developed a new DNA fingerprinting technique that has the potential, for the first time, and on an independent scientific basis, to clean up the world’s troubled diamond industry on both the quality control and ethics front. This development comes in the wake of the industry’s so-called Kimberley Process  (KP) being left in a new crisis surrounding conflict or blood diamonds due to the Zimbabwean government's recent threat to ignore the controls of the KP.

The option for Internet users to now search for real-time social media content across the Web, which has very recently become available in South Africa, has seen two worlds – still treated by many marketers as separate environments – suddenly converging into one space. As social media has been integrated into search as one of the most basic features of the Web, at least one South African marketing company has decided to extend its network to include the use of social networking tools.

Giving new meaning to the term "a loose cannon", Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu - in the irony of all ironies - when flighting the idea to reintroduce national military service recently, promised parliament a national dialogue before legislation on the subject is introduced, since “this is a sensitive issue and we need to deal with it sensitively”. The next time she went public on the matter was last week when she invited the Julius Malema-led national leadership of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) to attend a special two-week training camp in September. Her invitation came in the same week that Malema was disciplined by the senior party.

“Speaker, that honourable member should rather stay quiet, since he is only illustrating that he is the unfortunate victim of his own incompetence.” This is one of my first personal memories, as parliamentary reporter, of the quick, razor-sharp intellect of Frederick van Zyl Slabbert as leader of the opposition in the South African parliament of mid-1975. Many more memories would follow over the years.

The apparent political suicide being committed by leaders of the once hopeful Congress of the People (Cope) is undermining the chances of a viable consolidated centre-right opposition challenge to the ruling African National Congress (ANC). It is, however, a symptom of the fact that the present party political dispensation is out of kilter with what one would expect of the country’s Constitution with its proportional voting system.

The punishment meted out to controversial ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema last week for disrespecting ANC President Jacob Zuma raises questions as to whether it was appropriate and what further consequences may arise from it. Overall, the punishment given to Malema in terms of a plea bargain agreement, was able to address the issue effectively within the context of achieving the best possible outcome for the ANC itself. However, the outcome may have produced an unintentional double-edged sword for Zuma and the ANC, while also leaving some uncomfortable, unfinished 'Malema business' hovering around.

If records and statistics were conclusive, the poor Bulls will be slaughtered by the Crusaders in one Super 14 semifinal on Saturday. If history were a player on the field, there should be no doubt that in the other semifinal, the Stormers should beat the Waratahs and Soweto will not be seeing its first Super 14 final this year as the Crusaders travel south to Newlands.

The strike by an estimated 46 000 Transnet workers is now being dragged into the political arena and could also be expanded to include sympathy strikes by other unions after mediation attempts by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) failed. And the strike, with its devastating economic impact, intimidation of non-strikers and damage to property, may be a foretaste of things to come as annual wage negotiations in South Africa get under way. It also underlines the unhealthy relationship that is amounting massive conflict of interest with the presence of the trade union movement in formal government structures.

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Many years ago, Shane Warne laid into the outspoken Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga, questioning his cricketing abilities and saying he was "too fat to bat". And remember the former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek, who had a full go at women playing in the professional Women’s Tennis Association Series, saying that 80% of them were "fat, lazy pigs"? Under pressure from Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and others, he ‘edited’ his first version and said, "Okay, only 75% of them are fat, lazy pigs."

This old Chinese proverb comes to mind as the price of gold hit a record high of US$1.241 in mid-May 2010, with global currencies under pressure in the Eurozone debt crisis and the American crunch. Since 2000, gold has been rising steadily off a base of US$290.28. Here, Hilton Davies, chief executive officer of SA Bullion, argues that in the good times, people invest in gold as a commodity. However, in the bad times, gold is a currency. And we are into a generational period of bad times.