In October the Internet will host its first election, with registered voters deciding who will regulate this medium Lauren Shantall Only 200 South Africans will be voting for one of two African candidates for Icann, the Internet “traffic authority” – despite there being nearly two million local users. The Icann election, from October 1 to […]
Neal Collins cricket There are disturbing rumours coming from the Garden Route … of braais, rounds of golf and huge cheques, all being enjoyed in the spring sunshine by a certain Wessels Johannes Cronje. Yes, Lord Hansie of Cronjegate is alive and well and thriving in Knysna, where he hobnobs with Ernie Els and his […]
Glenda Daniels Voting at this week’s congress of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) revealed a significant ideological rift when the position for general secretary was only narrowly lost by leftwinger Dinga Sikwebu. Sikwebu, national education officer at Numsa, lost to Eastern Cape regional secretary Silumko Nondwangu by a very small margin […]
defence pleas Marianne Merten Cape lawyers are preparing an unprecedented use of “battered women syndrome” as a crucial part of a self-defence plea being mounted by a Guguletu woman accused of murdering her husband. The lawyers will seek to persuade the court that on the night of December 21 1998 Xoliswa Mngxaso was justified in […]
Neil Sonnekus CATCH ME A KILLER by Micki Pistorius (Penguin) Micki Pistorius is this country’s top profiler and has written a book about her six years’ experience in the South African Police Services. She tells us she has a kind of sixth sense (cryptesthesia) about these things and has apparently helped catch more serial killers […]
Grant Shimmin olympics For a country that produced one of the earliest 100m champions at the modern Olympics – Reggie Walker in London in 1908 – and numerous finalists in the period before World War II, the cupboard has been pretty bare in recent years as far as the blue riband event of the games […]
chaos Paul Kirk For the second time in two weeks a Durban High Court judge has demanded the Deputy Director General of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Welfare and Population Development, Eric Mhlongo, appear in his court to explain the chaos that seemingly reigns within his department. Both judges are threatening to make Mhlongo personally – […]
innovations MP3 is currently synonymous with Internet audio, but few people realise that it’s actually a proprietary standard. Not one that its owners – Fraunhofer et al – have been charging for till now, but proprietary nonetheless. That doesn’t mean that you as Ms Average User are likely to find a bill in the post […]
An estate usually associated with vineyards and high living is focusing on ecological sustainability and social development Barry Streek A pair of fish eagles has returned to the Eerste river in the Lynedoch area near Stellenbosch for the first time in generations after a R2-million clean-up of a section of the river. Meanwhile, a worm […]
Vusi Mahlasela says his songs assume their own direction, but he has been a master of his own destiny all his life Nicky Blumenfeld If South Africa’s recent history were to be described in narrative form, then Vusi Mahlasela’s life story would provide fitting material. It is also appropriate that his latest album, Miyela Afrika, […]