Maureen Barnes : Down the tube Last week, in what was the most riveting programme to date, Special Assignment dealt with the extraordinary affair of Vito Palazzolo, the man who seems to have enjoyed special consideration not only from the Nats, but from the present establishment. The team did a neat investigation of the background […]

Anthony Orliange Manga and Sori are youngsters about to finish school. In the evening they meet, “to revise for exams”, as they tell their parents. Actually, they share amorous moments of tenderness in Sori’s car, or outside cafs. Tired of concealing their relationship, they try to come out. But under such dire circumstances they are […]

Martina Hingis is still smiling after frittering away a huge lead in the tennis rankings, reports Jon Henderson For burn out, read chill out. If Martina Hingis is indeed slipping inexorably from her pre-eminent position in women’s tennis, we could be witnessing one of the most pleasing declines in the history of sport. Rather than […]

Poor West African fishermen, prevented by an international treaty from fishing off their own shores, are forced to buy their own sardines in European cans, reports Paul Brown Mauritanian fishermen sit in the harbour gazing out to sea. In the distance, where Africa bulges out into the Atlantic, they watch sunlight glinting off other men’s […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bujumbura | Friday 9.00pm. BURUNDI’S government, opposition and rebels on Thursday wrapped up a third round of talks aimed at ending six years of civil war with an agreement to meet again in January, but with few concrete decisions. The next round is set for January 18 to continue a peace process begun […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 7.00am. EASTERN Province thrashed Boland by 62 runs in their Standard Bank League limited-overs cricket match at St George’s Park on Wednesday night, with their bowlers particularly devastating. Eastern Province scored 224 in their alotted 45 overs, with Louis Koen, Dave Callaghan and Mark Rushmere playing good innings. Koen again […]

Angella Johnson : VIEW FROM A BROAD It is a cold Saturday afternoon and Rasheda Pahad’s hands are deep in the dough she is kneading to make vetkoek. A pan of oil is bubbling away on the stove in the kitchen attached to her tiny living room. Pahad’s husband and their two young children have […]

Uganda’s president may still be popular, writes Mercedes Sayagues, but ethnic mistrust and corruption are poisoning the country When the 5Y-ANV Islander plane carrying Lieutenant Colonel Jet Mwebaze crashed in the Rwenzori mountains of southeastern Uganda last month, five lives, a stash of money – said to be US$1-million – and the reputation of the […]

Maggie Davey Forty tons of apartheid government files are estimated to have been destroyed by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in 1993, according to Professor Charles Villa- Vicencio, director of research at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Villa-Vicencio was speaking at a workshop organised by Wits Graduate School last week on future access to […]

Wally Mbhele Plans for the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report were almost ambushed this week when the African National Congress attempted to use its power to prevent its publication. This followed the ANC’s blistering opposition to some aspects of the commission’s findings on the party’s activities during the armed struggle. The […]