Andy Duffy A senior Western Cape police officer, found guilty by the police force of sexually harassing a female colleague, has been given a R1,6-million golden handshake, following a decision by the provincial attorney general to drop criminal charges. The former commander of the Woodstock police station, Mario Laubscher, walked off with his bumper retirement […]
Tangeni Amupadhi and Mungo Soggot Highway heists have become one of South Africa’s favourite crimes, with gangs of well-trained operatives pulling off a spate of audacious robberies involving tens of millions of rands. Police say they have arrested about 250 suspects, but a substantial number have escaped – as in the case of former African […]
The leading Maghrebian author, Tahar Ben Jelloun, attended this year’s Poetry Africa festival in Durban. He spoke to Stephen Gray Stephen Gray: How did you come to choose French above your home language? Tahar Ben Jelloun: I was born in Fez in 1944, in a modest and fairly traditionalist family, with Arabic as my home […]
Belinda Beresford Dazed and confused by the realisation of what another 2% on the bond rate means in actual money, the average South African could be forgiven for feeling that a new nightmare has arisen from the arcane murk of the economy. First life was tough because of the gold price, then inflation became prime […]
Andrew Muchineripi World Cup Nothing happened in the first series of group matches to suggest that traditional World Cup giants Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Italy will not be heavily involved come crunch time. Argentina and Germany won without great exertion, Brazil found the going tough because the Scots proved tough, and do not read too […]
Ann Eveleth The apartheid-era homeland system and rural “betterment schemes” were the worst causes of land degradation, according to a rapid appraisal of land resources conducted in the run-up to World Desertification Day on Wednesday. The study forms part of South Africa’s National Action Programme to implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The […]
A special correspondent in Abuja There were few tears and fewer obsequies for General Sani Abacha, the late and brutal president of Nigeria. Wrapped in a sheet and carried to his home town of Kano in the cargo hold of a Nigerian air force jet, he arrived too late even to be buried before evening […]
Mark Tran in New York Basketball He is sport’s first $10-billion man. Michael Jordan, the basketball player, has not only built a vast personal fortune but has had a dramatic impact on his sport and sponsors. The cumulative economic impact over his 13- year career – on ticket sales in the National Basketball Association (NBA), […]
Most people who see Robin Williams loathe him. Sarah Gristwood asks if he’s really that bad The jokes aren’t that funny. On Albert Einstein: “There’s even a theory that his first wife came up with the theory of relativity. Which would make it the theory of relatives.” On film flying: “The harness shorts are like […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi The South African Communist Party politburo this week failed to reconcile its young radicals and its old guard on split nominations for the party’s highly contested leadership positions. On Tuesday, the politburo failed to come up with a single name for the party’s most contested position, that of the general secretary, between the […]