Mukoni T Ratshitanga The African National Congress in the Northern Province this week met one of its allies, the Congress of South African Students (Cosas), in a bid to iron out differences between Cosas and MEC of Education Joe Phaahla. Relations between Phaahla and Cosas hit an all-time low last week when the provincial chair […]

Nedlac has come to the negotiation table with a proposal which could keep teachers in their classrooms, reports Sechaba ka’Nkosi A last-minute proposal tabled by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) to the government and the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) could prevent the country’s biggest teacher strike next week. The strike […]

Charl Blignaut On stage in Johannesburg From the parking lot already, it is obvious that this is not going to be a regular evening at the theatre. There are large, mounted candles burning outside on the lawn of the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereenigings’s Trap der Jeugd national monument building in Cottlesloe, Johannesburg, and there are […]

The prospect of state schools closing their doors to the nation’s children next week is undoubtedly the biggest crisis this country has faced in four years of democratic government. The signs are everywhere that education has come off the rails; should there be a strike now, this schooling year might just as well be written […]

theNet Mukoni T Ratshitanga A Singapore-based agency which sells customers “camouflaged” bank accounts, driver’s licences and college degrees is also selling “Southern African passports and identity documents” on the Internet. The agency, Expat World Special Services, offers in the June edition of its monthly newsletter “an official Southern African Government Immigration Program” which gives permanent […]

Robert Kirby: Loose Cannon Say what you like, the African National Congress is proving itself a paragon of what many modern democratic governments should strive to become. No more so is this ranking emphasised than in the ANC’s great resilience and, with that, fortitude, vision, determination, tenacity, sheer nerve and, when all else fails, that […]

Ferial Haffajee The bid to challenge the country’s first private television licence hung by a thread this week. The powerful Free to Air consortium has lost the support of Primedia for its court battle, and the industry is speculating that two other shareholders will withdraw their support. Rival bidders for the lucrative licence earlier indicated […]

Neil Manthorp Cricket As far as records show, there were no Bears in the South African touring sides that sailed for England in 1924, 1929 or 1960, the only three occasions on which South Africa have played England at Edgbaston before. In 11 series against the colonisers, the colonised have won just three – and […]

and clothes Andy Duffy An independent probe has found that the Student Representative Council (SRC)of the troubled University of the North (Turfloop) spent more than R1,3- million last year on items such as hired cars, catering and clothes. Poor controls had also left the SRC accounts open to fraud – more than half the expenditure […]

Adrian Turpin Profile: Sam Rockwell To become a star every actor needs a quirk in his or her private life. A handy hook, preferably unconnected with work, something that allows people to say, “Yeah, that’s the guy who …” For Sam Rockwell, it’s what he does in bed. “My mother, let’s just say, was a […]