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In S. Africa, tensions rise over hiring - Whites say rules result in reverse discrimination*** The traditionally white-dominated fields of banking, mining, and insurance are prime targets of the government inspectors, Moatshe said. Companies that do not comply with employment equity guidelines after two written warnings face court action and a possible fine of between $50,000 and $90,000, Moatshe said, adding that there is, in general, a high level of compliance. ''If you don't comply, the possibility of contracting state services or contracts is low,'' Moatshe said.

A recently revised Mineral and Petroleum Development Bill will make black economic empowerment a compulsory requirement when granting mining and prospecting permits to private companies. ''Corporations in this country had an opportunity to institute affirmative action the right way, and it is fair to say they failed dismally,'' Danisa Baloyi, executive director of the National Black Business Caucus, recently told the Sowetan newspaper. ''Now they must be made to change.''

Detractors charge that black empowerment policies have been a useful tool for the ruling elite to appoint unskilled and inexperienced government cronies in the public and private sector, which they argue could potentially have dire consequences for the economy. Critics also insist that compulsory black empowerment has resulted in a brain drain, because white men in particular are leaving companies, often for opportunities overseas, when they realize that they stand little or no chance of being promoted.***

Mugabe threatens to seize food company over national salt shortage - Farmers fight to grow food ***National Foods, a publicly listed company, employs about 4,000 people and is the largest food production company in Zimbabwe. It is now financially threatened by its inability to supply supermarkets. Mr Mugabe and his cabinet routinely accuse the British government, white farmers and multi-national companies of a conspiracy to deprive Zimbabweans of food.

More than 60 per cent of white farmers were legally obliged to stop farming last week, and have to abandon their homesteads by Aug 8. Mr Mugabe accused white farmers of "disrupting land reforms." He added: "Confrontation with the Government will not work. If anything it will make us angrier than we already are. Collaborating with former oppressors such as the G8 will not save them because the land is ours."

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation says six million people, or nearly half Zimbabwe's population is in need of food aid, and identified Mr Mugabe's disruption of commercial agriculture as a main cause. Recent statistics from the Food Early Warning System in Harare show even poor countries such as Zambia and Mozambique produced more maize than Zimbabwe, which used to grow a surplus until Mr Mugabe ordered supporters to invade white-owned farms 28 months ago.***