THIRTY people died when robbers turned their guns on passengers travelling in night buses in two separate incidents in southeast Nigeria this week. In both incidents, the robbers tried to stop the buses in the early hours of Thursday morning and opened fire when the drivers tried to drive off, police in Awka said. One […]
ROB DAVIES, Cape Town | Saturday 7.35pm. A LAST-ditch effort sparked by a controversial Joost van der Westhuizen try could not see the Springboks to victory over a rock-solid England who triumphed 22-27 at the Free State Stadium on Saturday. Twenty-one year old England flyhalf and man-of-the-match Jonny Wilkinson was sublime, scoring all 27 his […]
Thebe Mabanga Veteran theatre practitioner and community worker Phyllis Klotz takes her 12-year-old outfit, the Sibikwa Community Theatre Project, to the National Arts Festival this month. Sibikwa has produced prominent stage and television talent like Grace Mahlaba and Isidingo’s bitchy maid-cum-businesswoman, Tina Jaxa. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed and were rewarded with Vita awards […]
Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH Sometimes I can’t help feeling that the “education” that we got in school was invented by a con artist, sold by a charlatan and taught by a mountebank. In my day, for example, we were often forced to memorise “recitations” containing high-minded maxims that were supposed to guide us […]
Paul Kirk A trio of former Durban policemen who openly flaunt the sizeable fortunes they amassed while in the service of the organised crime unit were arrested this week for, among other things, running an extortion racket. The suspended head of the KwaZulu-Natal organised crime unit, Piet Meyer, and two of his closest friends – […]
Lynda Gilfillan Hunters from all over the world are increasingly setting their sights on the Eastern Cape as a game-hunting destination. The game and wildlife industry is claimed to be the only growth point in the beleaguered South African livestock industry – up 40% last season – and the Eastern Cape is cashing in. It […]
Howard Barrell A Security Council resolution has given South Africa a brief respite from having to make good its various undertakings to provide military support personnel – and perhaps combat troops as well – for the United Nations peace support mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The council has decided to suspend any further […]
The dust is settling after Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel ended the acrimonious Nedcor-Stanbic battle Belinda Beresford In an age where bigger is better, the government has finally put the brakes on the growth in size and power of the “big four” banks. In refusing Nedcor permission to go ahead with an attempted hostile takeover […]
history Ebrahim Harvey LEFT FIELD The recent re-emergence of the white Afrikaner taalstryd movement has generated heated debate in this and other papers. Unfortunately, there are some historical myths about Afrikaans and the “coloured” people it seeks to win over which have been perpetuated and need to be debunked. Much as language is the lifeblood […]
LIBYA has welcomed a decision by the United States government to cease classifying Libya and six other countries as “rogue states”. The United States earlier this week dropped the use of the term “rogue state” from its foreign policy lexicon in favor of the broader categorization “state of concern”. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher […]