Mark Milner It was in use before a written language was invented. Today it is being studied as a possible means of staving off ailments ranging from bowel cancer to gallstones. It has been used to provide heating and lighting for centuries. Even the trendiest of today’s celebrity chefs does not disdain to slosh it […]

A MAN suspected of murdering his lover’s three-year-old son over the weekend has been handed over to police. The suspect’s brother found him hiding in a mealie field at Rietfontein 7 farm, 30km from Lydenburg, where both of them work. Provincial police spokeswoman Inspector Olga Marais said the suspect was taken to the farmer, who […]

Dale T McKinley CROSSFIRE Is it a revolutionary change of course or merely a more overt expression of the predictable (if somewhat uneven) evolution of African National Congress’s socio- economic strategy and policy? President Thabo Mbeki, in his State of the Nation address, finally gave an unapologetic, institutional and public affirmation of the ANC leadership’s […]

answered It is insufficient merely to make allegations in order for these to constitute prima facie findings or prima facie violations. Before a person can fairly and reasonably be said to be implicated in anything there must at least be some evidence which has formed the subject matter of an investigation leading to the making […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 7.00pm. ZIMBABWE’s minister of transport and energy resigned on Friday, saying he is unable to alleviate a critical fuel shortage in the country, worsened by heavy floods in the region. Petrol stations are running dry across Zimbabwe as floods and rain cut back fuel deliveries. All South African border posts […]

Donna Block The co-founder of New Africa Investments Limited (Nail), Jonty Sandler, tried to claw his way back from the business wilderness this week, appealing to shareholders in full-page advertisements to block Nail’s long-awaited restructuring. The disgraced former executive resigned his post last year after it emerged that Sandler and three other directors had hatched […]

Peter Dickson In a move the police have codenamed Operation Beetle, a squad of 200 armed public order officers has been deployed to Uitenhage to keep the peace after car-maker Volkswagen’s sacking of 1E300 factory workers. Police hope Operation Beetle will prevent further incidents of post-strike intimidation that has already resulted in the hospitalisation of […]

Last week in this column, bell hooks made a distinction between romantic love and true love. The former, she told us, quoting from Toni Morrison, is “one of the most destructive ideas in the history of modern thought”. She may be right, but then hooks goes on to define “true love” in terms that don’t […]

Charlene Smith Crime killed the corner caf. And made us part of global mediocrity. As a real caf society develops, and we all sit on pavements delicately sipping caffe lattes and double mochas, the corner Greek, the owner of the local “kaif”, has packed up and gone back to Mykonos or is now managing one […]

Barry Streek Sport, welfare, arts, culture and environmental sectors, represented by NGOs, have launched an umbrella body, the Peoples’ National Lottery Coalition (PNLC), to monitor the allocation of the proceeds from South Africa’s national lottery, which is due to be launched on March 1. The PNLC intends to engage with the government “in a proposed […]