In June MPs heard that domestic covert collection activities had stopped in 1996 – they were lied to Howard Barrell Defence force intelligence has continued to collect information covertly inside South Africa despite a ministerial undertaking to Parliament that it ceased doing so in late 1996. Its covert domestic intelligence activities have included surveillance and […]

Congo Hadebe’s first staged play, about a group of women living in a park, covers everything from religion to sleep deprivation Merle Colborne The small man with the brown, knobbly face, wearing a GUD labourer’s jacket and a lean, infrequent smile, seems discomfited sharing a table at the Playhouse Coffee Shop with this umlungu poking […]

Five lucky Friday readers can each win a set of nine Patricia Cornwell titles -her full backlist, which has just been reissued in paperback with new covers. They are: Post- Mortem, Body of Evidence, All That Remains, Cruel and Unusual, The Body Farm, From Potter’s Field, Cause of Death, Unnatural Exposure and Point of Origin. […]

hearings Marianne Merten and Peter Robinson The interim report of the King commission into cricket match-fixing – to be submitted to the government this Friday – is widely expected to recommend disci- plinary hearings for suspended cricketers Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams, who admitted they agreed to underperform in a one-day match in India. The […]

David Beresford Another Country Some years ago I had my first book published – the realisation of which had been a childhood ambition and the experience of which turned me against it as a profession. The publisher so far exceeded civilised parameters of incompetence that I was seized with the idea I had fallen victim […]

Nicoli Nattrass and Jeremy Seekings a second look There has been mixed reaction to the massive volunteer effort to clean and rehabilitate thousands of oiled African penguins. While most people applaud the rescue of this endangered species, others have cast moral aspersions on it. “Why help penguins rather than the poor?” asked a politically correct […]

Khadija Magardie It is not difficult to find Dr Alan Peter, despite the sheer vastness that is Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto. “You mean the white moruti [Sesotho for doctor] who lives in Soweto?” people will say, and point you in whatever direction the youthful, friendly doctor may be doing his daily rounds. The […]

Neal Collins previews the English Premiership soccer season, which kicks off this weekend with the Charity Shield Arsenal Manager: Arsene Wenger. Odds on being sacked this season: 6-1. Last season: Uefa Cup final, second in Premiership. This season: Make no mistake, the loss of Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars will cut deeply into Wenger’s carefully […]

Dot Keet crossfire South African trade negotiators must surely have learned from this country’s hard experiences with the European Union that trade negotiations have very little to do with the rhetoric of “partnership” and a lot to do with the ruthless promotion – and, where necessary, protection – of the interests of national and multinational […]

Shaun de Waal Not quite the movie OFTHEWEEK ‘This film is based on a true story,” we are told portentously, in white letters on a black screen, at the start of Wolfgang Petersen’s mari-time disaster flick The Perfect Storm. Such an announcement often serves to lend a little dignity to melodrama (life is so often […]