Commodore Dieter Gerhardt led a double life: he was a senior commander in the South African Navy, with access to ultra-sensitive information, and at the same time a master spy for the Soviet Union. Ronen Bergman spoke to him On the morning of February 3 1983 an Israel Aircraft Industries executive jet landed in Pretoria. […]

army ‘deviants’ Paul Kirk Dr Aubrey Levin, the army psychiatrist who ran a bizarre programme to “cure” gay conscripts, has been linked to secretly – and illegally – testing drugs on homosexuals and other “deviants” in the South African Defence Force (SADF). Human rights lawyer Jenny Wild this week described Levin’s tests on conscripts at […]

Laws banning cellphone use by drivers are not yet being implemented Evidence wa ka Ngobeni, Pule waga Mabe, and Ntuthuko Maphumulo Traffic officials across the country have yet to implement the government’s tough new laws banning the use of cellphones while on the road and lowering the drinking limit for drivers. The new National Road […]

The anarchy caused by the crisis in the transport industry could end when the new Transport Act comes into force Glenda Daniels Taxi and bus wars will become a thing of the horrible past when the new integrated plan for an efficient public transport system, the government’s new National Land Transport Transition Act, is implemented. […]

Johannesburg’s newest mall is tailor-made for the younger generation, but it is already beginning to age Melinda Silverman Architects hate malls. They hate their looks -ugly boxes adrift in a sea of cars – and they hate the way shopping malls have destroyed old-fashioned city streets. They hate the combination of windowless concrete brutalism and […]

Haroon Bhorat A second look As the employment equity commission (EEC) of the Department of Labour begins to assess discrimination and inequality in the labour market, it is important to inject a series of numbers and facts early on into this debate. This is to ensure that the EEC makes proclamations and decisions based on […]

Thuli Nhlapo The South African Law Commission confirmed it is conducting research on the subject of commercial sex work within the ambit of reviewing current sexual offences legislation – but said the process was still at a “sensitive stage”. The discussion paper on the matter, according to the commission, might be available by the end […]

Tom Sutcliffe Obituary T he best-known and loved English actor of the 20th century, Sir Alec Guinness, who has died aged 86, was an unostentatious and reserved man. He undertook a great variety of roles, all informed with the wisdom of the sad clown. His spiritual severity and stillness made him an icon after his […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi The embattled Law Society of the Transvaal this week deferred a long-awaited election of its office bearers to 2001 in a move that could stall the transformation of one of the last remaining apartheid-era institutions in South Africa. The society’s bizarre decision comes in the wake of mounting calls for change from many […]

Maggie Davey T he first Caine Prize for African Literature has been awarded to Leila Aboulela for her story The Museum, which appears in the Heinemann collection Opening Spaces: An Anthology of Contemporary African Women’s Writing, edited by the Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera. One of Aboulela’s strengths, mentioned by the judging panel and borne out […]