Is the expiry of the benchmark RSA encryption patent an Internet watershed? Karlin Lillington At a large security software conference held recently in Florida, United States, the most popular T-shirt among the 1 000 delegates was the one you could get for free from the exhibition stand for a company called RSA Security. On the […]

Despite an international ban, many governments still torture their political opponents Heather van Niekerk In the past three years people reportedly died as a result of torture in more than 80 countries. Torture or ill-treatment by state agents was reported in more than 150 countries and was widespread in more than 70. Palden Gyatso is […]

Nawaal Deane It’s boom time in Nelspruit. Set in the subtropical vegetation among granite rocks, the lush town – strategically placed between Mozambique and Gauteng – boasts an economic growth rate far in excess of other urban areas in the country. For the past six years the town’s economy has seen an 8% growth rate […]

Timothy Trengove-Jones crossfire In the rather tautologous words of the famous song, the times they are a-changing. It was reported last weekend that President Thabo Mbeki has told the African National Congress’s national executive committee that he is to withdrawEfrom public debate over the science of HIV/Aids. His contributions, he repeated, have “caused confusion”. In […]

David Le Page AFRICANFRONTIERS The downside is, South Africa is one of the world’s top 20 polluters. At least 93,5% of South African electricity is coal-fired. Eskom is the world’s single largest producer of carbon dioxide. Acid rain created by power stations causes fences near Bethel to disintegrate in just three years. The upside? Southern […]

Two years after taking to the stage in his first one-man show, Marc Lottering is the most popular performer on Cape Town’s burgeoning stand-up comedyscene RyanFortune It’s an unseasonably cool Thursday evening in Cape Town, but On Broadway in Green Point is packed to capacity for Marc Lottering, the lank-limbed, bushy-haired comedian who seems unstoppable […]

Paul Kirk Pension officials in KwaZulu- Natal are in hot water after an ageing pensioner was called a baboon while waiting in a pension queue and the official representative for Prince Gideon Zulu, Mike Gumede, claimed that pensioners enjoyed queuing in the hot sun as it gave them a chance to gossip with their friends. […]

up Evidence wa ka Ngobeni A principal at a North West school has admitted to beating students for failing to contribute towards the salary of another teacher at the school. LS Thwane, headmaster at Montshioa Memorial Middle School near Mmabatho, made his startling admission to the Mail & Guardian this week after students and teachers […]

A who’s who of mayoral candidates in the forthcoming local government elections. Howard Barrel and Jaspreet Kindra report Johannesburg The political heavyweight in the African National Congress’s list of mayoral candidates, Amos Masondo, stands to become the first citizen of the country’s chief industrial and financial centre , with a gross domestic product that stands […]

transformation’ There seems to be a lack of trust in the abilities of black people in the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, claim staff Fiona Macleod One of South Africa’s favourite politicians, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Mohammed Valli Moosa, faces a revolt in his department amid accusations from disgruntled staff that he […]