The findings of the first clinical trial of the traditional African medicinal herb Sutherlandia could bring succour for people living with HIV/Aids, but probably not for beleaguered Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. The trial, which will begin in September, was announced this week with the results expected in August 2009.
A year or two ago, an old friend of mine, Jones, was sitting in her home when she heard the sound of a coconut hitting concrete. Intrigued, she wandered outside. Her house borders Steurhof station in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, and, hearing a commotion, she peered over her wall.
”I searched every newspaper afterwards for a political leader condemning the murders [of lesbian activists] Salome Masooa and Sizakele Sigasa two weeks ago. There was nothing. If it had been any other sort of murder, there would have been an outcry,” says Dawn Cavanagh, the director of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women.
Why have not very many people heard of Nanda Soobben? Niren Tolsi reports.
The unit investigating alleged corruption among eThekwini metro police is keeping a tight lid on investigations that could have serious implications for high-ranking officers, some of them connected to the African National Congress’s powerful eThekwini region. An informed source said the probe is at a ”sensitive” stage.
Niren Tolsi reviews the documentary The Glow of White Women, showing at the Encounters film festival this year.
Sitting in the shade close to his 4×4, the portly ”land invader” overseeing two workers constructing makeshift shacks in the Mkondeni area near Pietermaritzburg was the antithesis of the dispossessed. No rags, no wheelbarrow containing all his belongings and definitely no hungry glint in his eye.
Violent crime in northern KwaZulu-Natal — thought to be the work of Mozambicans filtering through the porous border — reached new heights this week. An armed 14-member gang stormed the Thonga Beach Lodge in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, tied up staff and guests and made off with five 4×4 vehicles.
Attempts to claim guardianship of the ANC’s icons and traditions as a weapon in the party’s leadership battle appear to lie behind the postponement of celebrations commemorating the 40th anniversary of the death of former ANC president Albert Luthuli.
A new exhibition documents the lives of people in polluted environments, writes Niren Tolsi.