THE son of paedophile Gert van Rooyen, who escaped from a Pretoria police station early on Thursday, has been recaptured. Gerhard van Rooyen, 31, was re-arrested at 6.30pm while walking along the Old Warmbaths Road near Zambezi Drive in Pretoria North. Early on Thursday morning he apparently asked to make a phone call, then slipped […]

things to come Are universities in turmoil or in ferment? Are they collapsing, or merely in flux? David Robbins looks at the tertiary sector The troubles afflicting South African universities and technikons are many, and dramatic: campus protests, lecture boycotts, revelations of institutional collapse, widespread financial investigations, crippling amounts outstanding from unpaid student fees, rumours […]

Among other things, the new Firearms Control Bill will deny people guilty of crimes of violence the right to own a firearm. Barry Streek reports Gun-free zones, such as bars and casinos, are to be created in terms of the new Firearms Control Bill, and ordinary people will not be allowed to carry firearms there. […]

This newspaper has long exercised severe scepticism around the promises and threats of politicians and law enforcement officers to “get tough on crime”, to “wage war on crime” or, in Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete’s memorable phrase, to “kick the criminals in the stomach”. Our demand, and we believe the demand of the […]

Sipho M Pityana RIGHT TO REPLY Two articles by Howard Barrell in the Mail & Guardian of November 12 to 18 1999 present a misleading impression of what the government is doing in the labour market. Barrell’s column, Over a Barrel, refers extensively to my address at the Institute of Industrial Relations of South Africa […]

We are about to be bitten by Bluetooth. Jack Schofield reports on a fast- approaching wired-up world where your laptop could chat to your central heating via the Internet You’re rushing to the airport, late for a plane. As you enter the terminal building, your palmtop computer beeps. You accept the connection and the airport […]

THE last of the British tourists injured in the September 27 coach accident on the Long Tom Pass in Mpumalanga was discharged from a Nelspruit hospital on Thursday. Medi-Clinic spokeswoman Elsabee Coetzee confirmed that tour manager Carole Sandover, who is still in a coma, was airlifted from the hospital to Johannesburg by air ambulance on […]

Public works programmes in the Western Cape have proved to be an effective method of poverty relief, reports Barry Streek Public works programmes in the Western Cape have, in general, been successful and more cost-effective in transferring benefits to the poor using direct cash grants. Researchers at the University of Cape Town’s Southern African labour […]

in court Marianne Merten Despite seven successful asset and cash forfeitures across the country recently, the asset forfeiture unit will be in court next Monday to defend its seizure of the homes, businesses, luxury cars, jewellery and cash of alleged Cape Town drug dealer Gavin Carolus. Last week, it seized a Cape Flats tavern operated […]

Dylan Evans ALMOST LIKE A WHALE: THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES UPDATED by Steve Jones (Doubleday) Steve Jones, the lovable professor of genetics at University College, London, has re-written On the Origin of Species. His new book, Almost Like a Whale, has the same format as Darwin’s great work, right down to the chapter titles and […]