OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 10.00am. COST of local telephone calls will rise by a substantial 19,2% from next year, Telkom announced on Thursday. This increase follows rises of 25% and 28,4% in 1998 and 1997 respectively, making it the third successive year that Telkom will institute an above-inflation increase. The rising cost of local […]

borders Gregory Mthembu-Salter `Beware,” reads a sticker, “you may be swallowed by a pothole.” The advice seems apt as our taxi bumps its way from the Zambian copperbelt town of Chingola to the Kasumbalesa Congolese border post. At a roadblock, the policeman argues with the driver. The dispute rages until the policeman gives up. “He […]

Wally Mbhele The African National Congress says the credibility of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report will be questioned if the commission continues to refuse to meet the party before it releases its findings. ANC officials are demanding a meeting with the commission to discuss the report’s implications for the party. The commission has […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 8.00pm. STATE witnesses in the Bronkhorstspriut heist trail were offered cars, houses and salaries to testify, counsel for three of the accused suggested in the Pretoria high Court on Friday. Fifteen men are have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attenmpted murder, robbery and car theft. The court heard […]

The Judicial Services Commission this week signalled the end of the old boys’ club on the Bench, writes Mungo Soggot The judiciary was shaken to its roots this week when the commission which regulates appointments to the Bench selected junior black judges for key posts instead of senior white candidates. The Judicial Services Commission sent […]

battleground On October 23 1942, the battle of El Alamein began. James Ambrose Brown, a young soldier, carried into battle a diary in which he recorded the horror of all he saw This year there will be no old soldiers at the graves of comrades who died at the battle of El Alamein. Like those […]

Angella Johnson It was not the welcome South African backpacker David Martin (23) expected when he tried to enter Morocco during his 16-month adventure-packed tour across the continent. Despite having a valid visa, the University of Cape Town graduate was stopped at a military border post, marched through a minefield and forced to wait four […]

Jean-Marc Ela: A SECOND LOOK The paradigm of bankruptcy has become the context for every analysis of modern Africa’s economic and social history. Samir Amin evokes this picture: “The 1960s were marked by the great hope that we were at the start of an irreversible process of development throughout the Third World, and especially Africa. […]

He is wanted in Italy and the US, but the SAPS can’t reel in Vito Palazzolo, writes Chiara Carter Red tape stands between convicted Mafia money launderer Vito Palazzolo and an Italian courtroom. The Ministry of Justice said this week that Italian authorities asked for Palazzolo to be extradited earlier this year on the basis […]

Howard Barrell and Stuart Hess Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma has vigorously defended her decision not to allow the state to pay for pregnant HIV-positive women to be treated with AZT, an expensive drug that could reduce the risk of their children being born with the virus. The decision by Zuma and the nine provincial […]