FORMER defence minister Magnus Malan was “doing fine” after his second heart bypass operation, Malan’s wife Margot said on Friday. Malan had the operation on Thursday morning after complaining of tiredness. An angiogram showed that one his arteries was clogged so specialists ordered corrective surgery. Malan said her husband had his first bypass 13 years […]
THE Democratic Republic of Congo’s central bank has devalued the Congolese franc, dropping its exchange rate to the dollar from 2,9 to 4,5, a fall of 55%. The new rate, announced on Wednesday, is “realistic,” according to Finance Minister Bemba Saolona. The devaluation comes on the heels of price hikes of up to 500% for […]
A PARALYSING virus has killed nine children in Angola’s Luanda province where some 206 children have been hit by the unidentified ailment, the health ministry said Wednesday. Angolan specialists have said the illness, which mainly affects children under 11 years of age, was not polio. They have sent samples to South Africa for analysis. Results […]
Adam Mars-Jones SINGLE & SINGLE by John le Carr (Hodder &Stoughton) There have been a dozen books since The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and still John le Carr seems like a butterfly escaped from the chrysalis of the genre novel but afraid to spread his wings, more than half regretting the old […]
MEMBERS of Swaziland’s parliament have called for Cosatu’s deputy general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, to be deported after he described Swaziland’s leadership as barbaric and said King Mswati had forced his people to do “compulsory labour”. The call, led by MP Marwick Khumalo, was made on Thursday afternoon. Khumalo said Vavi’s statements, made during an interview […]
Ann Eveleth The head of a KwaZulu-Natal police unit that allegedly failed to respond to warnings before the Christmas 1995 Shobashobane massacre has been promoted to lead police crime prevention efforts on the province’s South Coast ahead of the elections. Superintendent Jan Botha was head of the Umzimkulu region’s internal security unit (ISU) at the […]
THURSDAY, 1.00PM: TOURING Super 12 teams that have grown used to having the red carpet rolled out for them by the Natal Rugby Union will be disappointed. The NRU has decided to give all Super 12 teams the cold shoulder after the suspension of flanker Wickus van Heerden’s 18 month ban for biting New South […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 91.30am. CONTROVERSIAL playwright Mbongeni Ngema’s estate was sequestrated in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday in the wake the Sarafina II Aids play debacle. The sequestration follows legal action by the Heath Special Investigation Unit in its continued attempts to to recover some R14-million in taxpayers’ money spent on the […]
Nick Paul is in stitches as the NSA gallery becomes a catwalk for a unique collaboration between art and fashion Just when you think it’s time to entertain the possibility that we’ve run out of new ideas, along comes somebody and invents a backpack with only one strap. Ex fashion semper aliquid novi. Actually, those […]
Ferial Haffajee African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma will take the party’s manifesto to Free State’s Mangaung stadium tomorrow alongside Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Bets are on which leader gets the loudest vivas. Two weeks ago, ANC president Thabo Mbeki had to halt a crucial election launch speech as Madikizela-Mandela arrived late at Orlando stadium. An […]