Suspected coup plotter Simon Mann’s fate hangs in the balance as a Zimbabwean court deliberates whether or not to comply with a request from Equatorial Guinea to extradite him to that country, where he would face trial on charges of plotting to overthrow the government. Mann, who is in prison in Zimbabwe for attempting to purchase weapons without a licence, is due to be released on good behaviour on May 11.
University of KwaZulu-Natal academic Fazel Khan, sacked after being found guilty of bringing the university into disrepute, is to fight on. Khan said recently that he would challenge the disciplinary procedure and, “if need be”, take the matter to the CCMA and the Constitutional Court. Khan’s first step will be to establish who was responsible for his dismissal.
African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Jacob Zuma’s chief lieutenants in KwaZulu-Natal — who had vowed to take on the party’s national leadership over its ”clumsy” handling of Zuma — were humbled this week when President Thabo Mbeki lorded it over them in the heart of Zumaland. However, his victory is unlikely to be permanent.
There is a veil of secrecy over the Lacey Road informal settlement in Sydenham, Durban: a purdah stitched with denialism and stigma, which home-based caregiver Bongi Hlongwa (24) believes is hampering the fight against HIV/Aids in this community of more than 500 people. “I’m caring for 10 people, of which only one has admitted to me that she is HIV-positive and is taking [antiretrovirals] ARVs,” says Hlongwa.
One thing Oppikoppi showed was that local music is in desperate need of new vision, writes Niren Tolsi.
Lying on beds, the Kennedy Five smile weakly and raise their fists as Anglican Bishop Rubin Phillip enters their hospital dormitory in Durban’s Westville Prison. It is day 11 of their hunger strike. S’thembiso Bhengu, S’bongiseni Gwala, Cosmos Nkwanyane, Thina Khanyile and M’du Ngqulunga, of the Kennedy Road shack settlement, were arrested in connection with the death of a suspected criminal, Mzwakhe Sithole.
Literary lion Ngugi wa Thiong’o tells Niren Tolsi about the hurdles facing Africa and African writers and how they can be surmounted.
The well-worn adage that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks has returned to bite social grant applicants in KwaZulu-Natal — and sparked a public spat between provincial Social Welfare Minister Meshack Radebe and the South African Social Services Agency.
The Durban heat was starting to take its toll: A1 Grand Prix crew and drivers were wandering around the pit checking out opponents’ machinery with the sort of barely disguised homoerotic longing last seen in Ben-Hur; where once there would have been the clinging stench of horse shit, petrol fumes filled the air of this charioteering recreation of ancient Rome.
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/ 23 February 2007
The African National Congress’s (ANC) influential eThekwini (Durban) region has recreated the fading momentum around ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma by again backing his presidential nomination, despite the nomination process only formally opening after the ANC’s policy conference taking place in June.