Thuli Nhlapo The director of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), South Africa’s top labour body, has been called to explain her remote German ancestry before a commission of inquiry following allegations of racism by disgruntled staff members. The bizarre decision to call the director, Thandi Orleyn, to testify about her ancestry was […]

Barry Streek Last-minute bargaining over the details of South Africa’s new gun control law continued this week, particularly over the numbers of weapons owned by people such as farmers and the protection of women and children in cases of violence. The latest amendments, due to be voted on in the safety and security portfolio committee […]

Barry Streek At least 1,5-million African people fled their homes during the first eight months of this year – an average of 50 000 new refugees every week – because of war, violence and political repression, says the United States Committee for Refugees (USCR). At least 10 African countries suffered significant population flight between January […]

Stewart Hennessey Body Language >From Samuel Richardson’s instructive novel for young women, Clarissa (1747), to What a Young Woman Ought to Know (hot in the early 1900s), to the modern dating bible, The Rules, all the oh-so-earnest advice being dispensed to young women can be distilled into one dull command: don’t put out. This is […]

Andy Colquhoun Harry Viljoen is set to irrevocably change the face of South African rugby when he becomes Springbok coach in Cape Town today. Viljoen is likely to announce that he will be taking 10 black players in the 40-strong Springbok squad for the four-Test end-of- season tour to Argentina, Ireland, Wales and England. And […]

EIGHTEEN people died and 39 were injured when a bus hit a crowd as it swerved to avoid the presidential motorcade in Tanzania. The accident happened on the outskirts of Mwanza on the shores of Lake Victoria. Drivers in Tanzania are expected to pull over when the presidential motorcade passes. The brakes of the bus […]

STELLA MAPENZAUSWA and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Friday ZIMBABWE state telecommunications officials have outlawed an independent radio station and confiscated its broadcasting equipment after President Robert Mugabe’s government bulldozed hasty new regulations into law. Officials from the Post and Telecommunications Corporation dismantled antennae and other equipment from Capitol Radio’s studio at a central Harare hotel […]

Ebrahim Harvey Left field Coming on the heels of the Seattle, Davos and Washington battles against the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Prague last week has reinforced the rising power of the international mass movement against globalisation. Despite some major weaknesses it holds […]

Tangeni Amupadhi Namibia’s Minister of Home Affairs, Jerry Ekandjo, has perfected the art of jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Having barely recovered from a humiliating forced apology, he has now courted fresh controversy with statements that dwarf Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s gay-bashing. Ekandjo, who is in charge of the police, caused a […]

Belinda Beresford answers some of the most frequently raised claims put forward by the so-called dissidents A virus cannot cause a syndrome The orthodox viewpoint is that the human immunodeficiency virus – HIV – causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome – Aids. HIV is just another virus. Different viruses tend to have preferences for attacking particular body […]