democracy John Seiler A SECOND LOOK Putting district councils rather than local councils at the pivot of local development reflects a planner’s fantasy: a predictable, uniform, when necessary controllable, and ultimately lifeless process in which basic change takes place quickly and without the awkwardness of competition among disparate economic, social and cultural interests. Yet this […]

THE Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that German billionaire Jurgen Harksen is liable for extradition and that a section of the Extradition Act contested by Harksen’s attorneys is constitutional. The judgment was a unanimous decision by all of the Constitutional Court judges. Harksen is wanted on several fraud and tax evasion. Extradition proceedings will now […]

Fiona Macleod An elderly woman who long ago mastered the intricate art of a crochet needle struggles to come to terms with using a pen. Gently she is coached to hold it in her right hand and draw lines on a clean sheet of paper. Beside her a middle-aged woman is engrossed in sketching a […]

Parks Mankhlana The presidency spent considerable time the past week searching frantically for a passage in the president’s speeches which said an HIV-positive condition does not lead to Aids. Neither his private correspondence nor a reconstruction of all the discussions with either his ministers or any other authority on the question of HIV and Aids […]

support staff Marianne Merten Chief magistrates across South Africa are threatening to stop doing their paperwork unless the Department of Justice speeds up plans to give them support staff. The threat by chief and senior magistrates to ignore their administrative duties comes as the department finalised its plans on a new court management system this […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 9.00pm TELKOM announced a change in its tariff structure on Thursday that will see the costs of calls to 24 international destinations dropped. Telkom spokeswoman Amanda Singleton said the cost cuts when into effect on Thursday. Singleton said Telkom has targeted the top 30 destinations for outgoing calls from South […]

Ivor Powell THE SNAKEBITE SURVIVORS’ CLUB by Jeremy Seal (Picador) You have to acknowledge it right from the outset: a book that is not only ostensibly but also actually about people who lived to tell the tale of being bitten by the world’s four most venomous species of snake is not the most immediately engaging […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Three policemen from the Soweto flying squad appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court this week on charges of shooting, mutilating and killing a University of the Witwatersrand security guard whom they arrested on campus. The policemen, who have been suspended pending a police investigation, are accused of shooting Nicky Hlongwane several […]

THE ACT Brumbies on Friday named an unchanged side for Saturday’s Super 12 match with the Cats in Canberra. ACT coach Eddie Jones retained the same starting 15 that combined to beat the Northern Bulls in Pretoria last week to lift the Brumbies into fourth position. The Brumbies are currently lying seven places ahead of […]

Marianne Merten If the dispute with traditional leaders gave the Municipal Demarcation Board headaches earlier this year, dealing with small, white, conservative towns wanting to maintain their status quo is proving even trickier. Many of these predominantly rural administrations have told the board – which is in charge of redrawing boundaries ahead of the November […]