South Africa’s economic decline is the main reason for the president’s fall in popularity, suggests a recent survey Howard Barrell President Thabo Mbeki’s standing among South Africans has plummeted in recent months, according to the results of a wide-ranging public opinion poll released on Thursday. Only one in two South Africans (50,2%) approves of the […]

A RURAL traditional healer has been arrested on allegations that he kidnapped and kept a teenager as a sex slave for five days in Northern Province. The 43-year-old man was arrested after the 14-year-old girl’s family members, who were afraid to fetch her, reported the matter to police doing patrols in the area. She told […]

first Paul Kirk The University of Natal’s psychology department has helped produce a guidebook that teaches children how to cope when HIV/Aids wipes out their parents and leaves them in charge. As the Aids pandemic sweeps through South Africa large numbers of households may soon be headed up by children too young to even vote. […]

Barry Streek The Democratic Alliance (DA)hit out this week at the government’s threat to consider expropriating farmland for redistribution, charging that Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza raised the issue as a smokescreen for the local government elections. “It is a complete lie to the say there is no farmland available,” says the […]

Glenda Daniels African men work a longer week than any other South Africans, while white women work the shortest number of hours – almost a day a week less, according to statistics released this week by the Department of Labour. When the department released its report on the feasibility of achieving a 40-hour week – […]

Ebrahim Harvey left field The stand-off between the rural-based traditional leaders and the African National Congress-led government over their role and powers in the new municipal structure, though in abeyance, in order not to disrupt or prevent the local government elections in December, strikes at the heart of the most important democratic principles our struggles […]

It’s not just the oil price that makes off- shore investing a slippery business Neil Thomas Trying to take a view on world investment markets right now, particularly equity markets, entails an intricate egg dance. And it’s a curate’s egg you have to dance on. It’s been a long time since international markets have looked […]

process Gregory Mthembu-Salter The surprise summit in Maputo on October 16 of all the heads of state whose countries are at war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, barring Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos, marked the start of South Africa’s best opportunity yet to end the two-year conflict. Presidential advisers hope a positive outcome will […]

DUMISANE LUBISI and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietersburg | Friday A PIETERSBURG brother and sister’s 20-year incestuous relationship – which produced two children – has been exposed after their younger brother spilled the beans after a blazing family row. Police say the man is in his early 40s and his sister in her late 30s. They have […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The screaming started at about 10am. “Suddenly it looked as if the whole township was at war. I put my money in my cash bag and stumbled outside; that’s when I realised that something was terribly wrong,” said Daniel Mohale, a hawker who trades in Diepkloof, Soweto. “Hundreds of security guards […]