the ball game The US media is obsessed with impeachment. But the people believe life has rarely been so sweet, says Ed Vulliamy During the week that the first impeachment trial of a United States president this century began in earnest, another record bit the dust. This one concerned the proverbial diamond-in-the-dust, as it happens: […]

Chiara Carter Northern Cape Premier Manne Dipico is convinced the African National Congress is positioned to wrest coloured votes from the New National Party and win the province outright in the coming elections. The province’s election race is likely to be closely watched because it is one of few where the government could change hands […]

The police version of the Boipatong massacre is beginning to unravel, write Mail & Guardian reporters Former Vaal policeman Sergeant Gerhardus “Pedro” Peens has admitted that he was in the Vaal Triangle township of Boipatong on the fateful night of June 17 1992 when 46 people – including women, children and a four- month-old baby […]

postponed Mungo Soggot The sacked rector of the Vaal Technikon, Professor Aubrey Mokadi, has told the institution’s council he is suffering from an “anxiety disorder” that justifies a postponement of his appeal against the disciplinary probe which fired him. Mokadi has sent the Vereeniging technikon a copy of a clinic’s letter that states he is […]

NIGERIAN former military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo has won a promise of support from key leaders of the centrist Peoples Democratic Party in his bid for the presidential nomination. Obasanjo said on November 3 that he wanted to run for the country’s highest office 20 years after he last held power, and will be the […]

Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week The concept of characters moving in and out of film and television screens seems to have become a distinctive new genre. Woody Allen’s fabulous 1985 comedy- fantasy, The Purple Rose of Cairo, had Jeff Daniels climbing down from the big screen, driven by his passion for a member of […]

of the past Sergeant at the Bar The past year may well prove to be a watershed in the history of the post- apartheid judiciary. In 1998, the Judicial Service Commission made a few appointments which were not only controversial, but perhaps precedent setting. As a result, Judge Bernard Ngoepe became the judge president of […]

ago Jill Treanor and Phillip Inman Punters who invested 100 on the London stock market at the end of World War Iwould have been able to buy their dream millionaire mansion by the end of last year. The gamble on stocks would have catapulted the punter into the exclusive six-figure club much faster than those […]

probe Mungo Soggot The Heath commission is in possession of an affidavit signed by a person who claims to have been present when a Gauteng MEC and other top officials received bribes of at least R1-million related to the award of a casino licence. Sources in the Gauteng legislature and sources close to the commission […]

ceasefire bid Howard Barrell South African diplomacy lay behind the potential breakthrough achieved this week in attempts to end the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo when five neighbouring countries involved in the fighting committed themselves to signing a ceasefire agreement. Ironically, however, South Africa was sidelined from the summit in the Namibian capital, […]