The TRC Special Report is slim on resources but big on ideas, writes Gustav Thiel The team responsible for television’s award-winning TRC Special Report is watching the latest edition of their programme at the Brixton, Johannesburg home of one of the producers. Situated just under the SABC’s huge transmission tower, the room is quiet as […]

Stefaans Brmmer A United States-based human rights organisation claims that South Africans have been deeply involved in the underground supply of arms and military assistance to warring parties in Burundi. It says senior government and African National Congress officials may have given the “green light” to such transactions, without actively participating. The allegations are contained […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi General Bantu Holomisa’s newly formed United Democratic Movement (UDM) this week held an intense meeting with former Transkei ruler Chief Kaizer Mantanzima and his brothers George and Ngangomhlaba in the rural village of Qamata to solicit their support as the party begins its preparations for the 1999 rural elections. The meeting forms part […]

An impressive South African collection of Buddhist art is to be sold off, writes Lorraine Pace A collection of irreplaceable Buddhist art, dating from the third century to the present day, is in danger of being broken up and lost to South Africa. Were these Christian artefacts, there would probably be an uproar. But there […]

Anton Harber : A Second Look Anyone concerned with the issues of good governance should take note of last week’s departure from office of the Director General of the Department of Welfare, Leila Patel. Patel finished work last Friday with little media attention. But when a director general with a solid reputation departs prematurely from […]

Mail & Guardian reporter This week Telkom went to court to try to win control over the provision of infrastructure for the Internet, a move that could put some Internet service providers out of business. Telkom currently rents bandwidth to service providers, who – in terms of Telkom’s claimed monopoly of Internet service provision – […]

FRIDAY, 2.30PM: ERNIE ELS is among four players who are within one shot of overnight leader American Phil Mickelson in the second round of the Nedbank Million Dollar Golf Challenge on the Gary Player Country Club golf course at Sun City on Friday. Germany’s Bernhard Langer, Jesper Parnevik of Switzerland and USPGA champion Davis Love […]

NDABANINGI SITHOLE GUILTY VETERAN Zimbabwean opposition leader Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole was found guilty in the Harare High Court on Friday of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. He was also convicted of sending men for military training with the purpose of overthrowing the government, and of possessing arms of war. The 78-year-old Methodist cleric, a […]

Eze Anaba Since Sani Abacha, head of Nigeria’s military government, dissolved his Cabinet and announced the impending release of some political detainees last month, the mood in his country has changed from elation to anxiety. Instead of releases, there has been a spate of new detentions, among them the wife of a journalist who fled […]

Al J Venter They are making guns in bush factories in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and on both sides of the Umzimkulu River further south. And while none of them would pass muster with the South African Bureau of Standards, they’re pretty nifty when it comes to killing. The slaughter they cause can be intense: eight […]