RESPECTED journalist Max du Preez, the producer of the popular Special Assignment investigative programme, was fired by the SABC on Thursday. Du Preez was given his marching orders by editor-in-chief Phil Molefe on Thursday afternoon. “They said I am arrogant and don’t show respect,” Du Preez told Beeld . Last Saturday the programme, which will […]

Ivor Powell Some time last year those in the inner circles of the African National Congress and the party’s official spin doctors took to referring to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, in a seemingly hubristic way, as “the president”. It was only when you challenged them, insisting that the president’s name was Nelson Mandela and that […]

A number of developments this week have offered yet another reminder of how fragile is our reliance on judges to hold society together. First of all we have had the Heath debacle. The “Caped Crusader” was humiliated twice over the past week. We had Trevor Manuel playing cat and mouse with him, making fun of […]

Lisa Buckingham The Bank of England has begun a discreet investigation into index tracker investment funds. It is worried that the burgeoning growth of such “passive” stock market vehicles risk destabilising London’s financial markets. A team of senior executives in the bank’s financial stability unit is monitoring the issue amid growing fears that tracker funds […]

Matthew Krouse Down the tube Television viewers will get a glimpse of last Saturday’s Avanti Awards when they air on SABC2 on Tuesday April 20 at 9.30pm. The Avantis, held under the auspices of the National Television and Video Association, are now the only television awards in the country. This year, the ceremony was very […]

Joanna Walters An unseemly race has begun: a stampede to resume trade with Libya, a political pariah that just happens to be swimming in oil. It all depends on whether the trial of the Lockerbie suspects in the Netherlands throws up anything about government involvement in the deed- and in a host of other old […]

RWANDAN former information minister Eliezer Niyitegeka pleaded not guilty on Thursday before an international court trying him in Arusha, Tanzania, on charges of genocide, the Hirondelle press agency reported. The charge sheet at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) includes six counts of genocide, intent to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of […]

Iden Wetherell Frustrated by the refusal of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) states to support the embattled governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has crafted a weapon he hopes will deal a decisive blow to rebel movements in the region. Meeting with presidents Jos Eduardo dos Santos […]

SIEMENS (SA) announced on Thursday that it has been awarded a $15-million GSM supply contract by Zamcell, the third cellular network to operate in Zambia. Zamcell was launched in December 1998. In terms of the turnkey contract, Siemens provided the equipment for the network, which was installed in time for the first commercial trials which […]

ZIMBABWEAN authorities on Wednesday postponed without explanation an identification parade for the suspected torturers of three alleged United States mercenaries, defence laywers said. The three US citizens are facing terrorism charges after arrested on March 7 in possession of arms of war in their luggage as they attempted to board a Swiss Airline to Zurich. […]