invasion Swapna Prabhakaran Some political allies of the African National Congress have remained strangely silent in the wake of the destruction of Maseru that resulted from South Africa’s military intervention in Lesotho last week. While the ANC’s highest organs have supported the intervention, its alliance partners appeared unable to draft a quick response. Human rights […]

handouts Jacqui Boulle Since 1994 there has been much talk about developmental social welfare and the need to move away from grants and handouts to more sustainable programmes. While this approach – which underpins the Department of Welfare’s campaign during welfare month – has had some success, its impact is limited: nearly half the poor […]

Has Narcissus taken over London’s art world? Adrian Searle reports Top TV prof Jonathan Miller, the gangling polymath, does it again: how can a mind be so full without exploding? His latest project, the exhibition Mirror Image: Jonathan Miller on Reflection, at the National Gallery in London, is a great idea. If you want to […]

unit busted Chiara Carter Several senior National Intelligence Agency (NIA) members face suspension and possible prosecution following a preliminary investigation into claims of missing money and misconduct. They were members of a special unit set up to find apartheid’s missing millions. Instead the unit, headed by former Umkhonto weSizwe commander Thabo Kubu, became embroiled in […]

politics Cameron Duodu: LETTER FROM THE NORTH The Democratic Republic of Congo has always aroused two contradictory emotions in me as an African: the ecstasy created in the soul by appreciation of some of the best music on the continent, and the fear and anger aroused in the mind by irrational, blood-spattered politics that resurfaces […]

Ben Laurance Share World It was Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty who created the precedent. “When I use a word,” he said, “it means exactly what I want it to mean – neither more nor less.” Now, 127 years after Through the Looking Glass was published, Alice has come to Wall Street. A hedge fund – […]

Maureen Barnes Down the tube It’s probably age, but I got competely confused last week between the shots of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) invasion of Bophuthatswana and those of the South African National Defence Force marching into Lesotho. Scenes of the AWB fiasco were screened on TV in the wake of the truth commission hearing […]

Keep South Africa Beautiful closed its files this week after its funds dried up, writes Wonder Hlongwa South Africa’s biggest waste management and environmental awareness organisation has closed shop because of corruption, mismanagement and lack of funds and direction. The closure of Keep South Africa Beautiful comes at a time when government departments are struggling […]

LEONARD NDZHUKULA and SHARON HAMMOND, Nelspruit | Friday 10.00pm. THE leopard that attacked six Northern Province villagers in Huntington village near Hazyview on Wednesday was in a healthy condition, but had not eaten for four or five days before the attack, the state veterinarian at the Kruger National Park, Dr Dewald Keet, said on Friday. […]

Lesotho rebel soldiers this week invited reporter Sechaba ka’Nkosi to view their secret camps Rebel soldiers of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), who ignored this week’s ultimatum to report back to their bases, claim a large quantity of arms are in their hands at safe houses around the capital Maseru and in surrounding villages. The […]