Belinda Beresford What Is … Rhema Church? The Rhema Church, headed by Pastor Ray McCauley, is becoming one of South Africa’s most fashionable institutions. This week the church received another seal of acceptance from South Africa’s black elite when it was chosen to host the funeral of African National Congress stalwart Alfred Nzo. Last week […]

SOUTH Africa and Hungary have agreed to intensify political cooperation, a Pretoria government statement said after a meeting on Friday between senior foreign ministry officials from the two countries. At the meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad and visiting Hungarian Political State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Zsolt Nemeth signed an agreement on political consultations.

Hard on the heels of the Booker, won by JM Coetzee for Disgrace, comes the Whitbread, with another South African on the shortlist. Former publisher Robert McCrum looks at prizes and the literary life Fiction, money and prizes are in the air in Britain once again. The Whitbread Prize will be awarded on January 26 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg, Pietersburg | Friday 3.50pm THE government plans to privatise thousands of properties and fixed assets from its R120-billion property portfolio. Business Report quotes Public Works Minister Stella Sigcau as saying that the government intends to dispose of all redundant state-owned houses within the first half of this year. Sigcau is also reported […]

Andrew Muchineripi previews Bafana Bafana’s chances at African soccer’s showpiece in Nigeria and Ghana Cometh the hour, cometh the men in the 2000 African Cup of Nations, or will it be The Boys, otherwise trading as Bafana Bafana Public Ltd under the management of Trott Moloto. Logic dictates that co-hosts Nigeria and Ghana start as […]

Mercedes Sayagues An 800m-long queue curls around a petrol station in downtown Harare. Elsewhere, queues cause car accidents and fights. Angry drivers are frantic for diesel – Zimbabwe staggers with barely a one-day supply left and erratic deliveries. Far worse than the woes of the 4×4 crowd is the problem for commuter buses and factories. […]

A recent report has dramatically changed the United Nations tone towards Unita, writes Victoria Brittain Defectors from the Angolan rebel group Unita alleged in a videotape shown to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that Unita’s leader, Jonas Savimbi, personally ordered the downing of two UN airplanes a year ago, killing 23 passengers and […]

Paul Kirk and Jubie Matlou Police and intelligence services in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape are warning of widespread violence in the provinces amid mounting discontent about proposed changes to municipal demarcations. Six people have already died and more than 30 have been seriously injured in fighting that has been directly attributed to the newly […]

SOUTH Africa should have its first woman president when Thabo Mbeki’s second term in office expires in the by the year 2009, says speaker of the National Assembly Dr Frene Ginwala. “This is the logical conclusion of where we are going,” Ginwala told the Beeld newspaper on Friday, saying it was in line with the […]

Howard Barrell Over a Barrel In response to the Mail &Guardian’s lead story last Friday predicting a “big bang” in government economic policy in the next six weeks, economist Nico Czypionka told Business Day he thought a “slightly damp fire cracker” was more likely. He may well be right. How so? Because the government may […]