Phillip van Niekerk:FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK I received a phone call on Tuesday night from journalist Carlos Cordosa in Maputo. “How would you like to help stop the Yugoslavian war?” he raved at me. The suggestion: join an international call for the pope to take up residence in Belgrade. At first I thought he was […]
Jack Schofield Three of the world’s best-known companies – Microsoft, America OnLine (AOL) and Yahoo! – are locked in a billion-dollar battle to give you something for nothing: a “portal”, or gateway to the Internet, where Web wanderers can start when they go online. Portals attract millions of users, and consequently lots of advertising. With […]
Satellite technology has entered a new golden age, writes David Shapshak In the Seventies satellites -or “birds” as they are referred to in countless science fiction and spy movies – achieved a kind of cult status, linked to the glory of the space programme; then the spy satellite in the Cold War stand-off became the […]
Deon Potgieter Boxing South African boxing administration, suffering from allegations of favouritism and vested interests, is failing to transform itself as ordered by the government – which stepped in to solve the infighting. Minister of Sport Steve Tshwete set up an interim boxing commission to restructure the sport’s administration when the South African National Boxing […]
Wally Mbhele and Makhosini Nkosi There was stunned silence at an African National Congress national working committee meeting this week when Deputy President Thabo Mbeki announced his decision to axe both the Gauteng and Mpumalanga premiers. Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga was summoned to Mbeki’s Johannesburg office this week where he was told of his fate. […]
THE United Democratic Movement won its first by-election on Wednesday. The UDM’s Frederick Konstabel beat the African National Congress’s candidate by 258 votes to 148 in a by-election in Zoar in the Western Cape, UDM spokesman Dr Johna Steenkamp said on Thursday. The by-election was the third contested by the UDM. The New National Party […]
Respected journalist Max du Preez was axed this week by the SABC. This is his version of the events of the past 10 days “He who is scared of a hyena’s howling, is he who has smeared himself with fat” – old Shona proverb. Forgive me, I have just discovered a book on Shona proverbial […]
THE Judicial Service Commission has backed high court judge Edwin Cameron to fill a vacancy on the Constitutional Court, according to a report in Business Day. The majority commission view in favour of Cameron, who disclosed his HIV-positive status this week, will be communicated to President Nelson Mandela, who will appoint a judge to fill […]
LIBERIAN President Charles Taylor held private talks on Thursday with his Zambian counterpart Frederick Chiluba on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Taylor said he is in Lusaka to consult the Zambian leader and support his peace efforts. The Liberian leader left Lusaka on Thursday morning for South Africa, where he is expected […]
Apartheid was essentially about exploitation; autocratic rule by a so-called “elite” who used the mechanism of racism to kept themselves in power while guzzling piggishly at the fat of the land. The removal of that virus of racial oligarchy is what the people of South Africa of all races, religions, creeds and sexual orientations thought […]