smuggling Jan Breytenbach, a legend in the former SADF, describes how he discovered that senior officers were using ivory-smuggling routes for their own corrupt ends Jonas Savimbi’s headquarters was at a place called Jamba, a sort of squatter camp 10km south of the Biongue omuramba (flood plain) and about 15km south of the Luiana River. […]

Mungo Soggot The man at the centre of the state oil scandal, Don Mkhwanazi, has asked the government to more than triple his salary to R1,2-million a year. Mkhwanazi, who works part-time at the Central Energy Fund as its non-executive chairman, recently sent a written proposal for an increase to the department of minerals and […]

Lesley Cowling : Material World Defence scientists in the United States are working on the ultimate smokescreen. They have developed an artificial fog that will keep the enemy in the dark but not the soldiers advancing under its cover. The new stealth camouflage, called Magic Vision, will not just confuse the gunners on the other […]

Trevor Lawson Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the motorway in your lead-free petrol, fuel-efficient, catalytic-converted car, along comes a report which suggests that your exhaust pipe is just the tip of a very noxious pollution iceberg. According to a report by a British environmental group, vehicles, like people, decay […]

festive season Stuck in Jo’burg over Christmas and new year? Bridget Hilton-Barber provides some good ideas for things to do 1 Top Star Drive-In. Just because the council can’t afford to switch on the Christmas lights in downtown Jo’burg this year, doesn’t mean festive Gauties should go without a spectacle. The Top Star drive- in […]

Andrew Muchineripi : Boxing Welcome Ncita and Sugarboy Malinga could be nicknamed the comeback twins for both are making returns to the ring after long layoffs. Ncita (32) is scheduled to fight Hector Lizaragga, the number one contender for the IBF featherweight title vacated by the British wonderboy Naseem “Prince” Hamed. The bout is set […]

FRIDAY, 4.00PM: AFTER three days of talks on the future of their Indian Ocean federation, Comoran separatists and government delegates have yet to agree on anything, apart from a broad offer of autonomy by the government to each of the islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli. The Addis Ababa talks, sponsored by the Organsiation […]

Don Mkhwanazi continues the Central Energy Fund’s tradition of non-accountability, writes Mungo Soggot The Central Energy Fund’s handling of Emanuel Shaw II’s appointment to a lucrative state job signals disturbing levels of cronyism in this key state institution. The chair of the fund, Don Mkhwanazi, vouched for Shaw in the Liberian politician’s application for permanent […]

Andy Duffy The man who killed a Dutch pensioner and stuffed the dismembered corpse into a suitcase is to take legal action against the Department of Correctional Services for transferring him to controversial high- security prison C-Max. Jano Nortje, convicted last year of murdering a 76-year-old Dutch family friend, and triple murderer Casper Kruger were […]

The truth commission’s hearings into human rights abuses end next week. But the emotional effects on the commission’s staff could last for many years. Angella Johnson reports Frank Mohapi was interviewing three surviving members of a family that had virtually been wiped out in a sectarian attack eight years ago when he noticed he was […]