Ann Eveleth A government probe into job reservation at a private construction giant blamed a single official for racist hiring practices, but ignored the role of three managing directors when it effectively exonerated the company. Thuso Ramaema, the department chief director tasked by Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Kader Asmal to probe allegations of […]
Anton Marshall On stage in Cape Town If it’s very difficult talking to comics about serious issues, it’s hell talking to comics about funny issues. Somewhere in Church Street, central Cape Town, there is a unique little coffee lounge that is called – well, The Coffee Lounge. It is unusual in that one floor above […]
Ferial Haffajee The government has slashed the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s (IBA) budget by millions, and the organisation is haemorrhaging skilled staff who are leaving to avoid a troubled merger with the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Satra). Five departments are without heads and insiders say other essential staff are “looking [for work] or leaving” before […]
Tim Radford meets the Princeton professor whose warning on human genetic engineering has drawn fire from critics but growing acceptance from scientists Watch out for Homo proteus, the species that changes its own shape. Last month Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking told President Bill Clinton – at a millennium lecture at the White House – that […]
The Discovery Channel will show films made by South Africans in its upcoming South African Visions series, reports Janet Smith Isicathamiya is not only about singing in perfect harmony, wearing white gloves and a three-piece suit. It is also about heartbreak and love and survival, as viewers in the process of re-educating themselves about this […]
grant Wonder Hlongwa KwaZulu-Natal Premier Ben Ngubane’s office says it is going ahead with a R5-million grant to an anti-crime scheme managed by controversial double agent Mohammed Amin Laher – alias Mark Todd – in spite of Laher’s murky past. Laher, who is under investigation for alleged fraud, assault and misrepresenting his identity, featured prominently […]
Everything on Wall Street is excessive: buildings, bonuses – and sexual harassment of female clerical staff by male brokers. But women are striking back. Joanna Coles reports from New York Wall Street is a place of excess: the seven- figure salaries, the soaring, self-reflecting buildings of chrome and glass, the bonuses bigger than the national […]
South African and Mozambican investigators have failed to contact a potentially crucial witness in the McBride affair, writes Mungo Soggot A close associate of Robert McBride, who has offered information to counter allegations that the foreign affairs official was smuggling weapons in Mozambique, has still to be contacted by Mozambican and South African authorities. As […]
Mukoni T Ratshitanga The University of Zululand – one of the hardest hit by government subsidy cuts and student debt – spent more than R1,7-million on curtains in three years. However, university representative Carl de Villiers said this week a preliminary report on the linen spending spree “does not show any criminal activity”. The probe […]
Ferial Haffajee Here’s the dream: industrial development zones (IDZ) will bring prosperity to some of the country’s poorest areas, where new industries will fuel the renaissance of the economy as exports grow. An advanced labour relations system will solve disputes in record time as thousands of workers will be trained to service new industries. Here’s […]